According to the State Department's just-released inventory of diplomatic gifts, in 2007 President Bush recieved a "$150 bronze platypus paperweight from an Australian official," among other items that look equally ridiculous when written down. Laura Bush recieved "two $100 red, white and blue hand-embroidered pillows with American flag designs and the names and images of first dogs Barney and Miss Beazley" and "a $700 porcelain Limoges box with the two pets painted on it and a stuffed black fleece Scotty toy valued at $100"–and all that was from the first lady of Japan alone.
