O, wretched excess, what do you have to say for yourself now?
With the death of yet another American cultural icon this weekend, arguments can now be expected to run non-stop over whether this is a death-by-three moment or whether Ed McMahon counts as four and the cosmos is about to lurch into turmoil while the Earth tilts on its axis.
Because we have little else to talk about.
As they say in teevee, there's always more, more, more ...
Seen on a newspaper front page somewhere deep in America's Heartland ...
Thousands gather to mourn beloved star
Tampa (APP) -- Americans are reacting with a mixture of shock, sadness and disbelief at the sudden death Sunday of pitchman and TV star Billy Mays.
Mays collapsed Sunday at his Tampa home after complaining of "not feeling well" and was pronounced dead later that day at Tampa Memorial Hospital.
Thousands of mourners gathered outside the hospital after the news went public, many of them carrying bottles of Kaboom and plastic OxiClean containers. Others held aloft copies of Mays’ autobiography, "Loud, Rich and Gifted."
"He stood beside me in the battle against soap scum, so this is the last I can do, to be here at this awful time" one man said. "I’ve been a fan since OrangeGlo days. He changed the business."
Cable news networks scrambled to prepare lavish retrospectives and the SellStuff and GetRich channel suspended all regular program for the next 48 hours as it ran Mays' greatest hits along with biographical features and live reaction from his legions of fans.
At dusk on Sunday, in the full glare of the TV lights, civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson held a press conference on the lawn of Mays’ palatial Tampa home.
"I have spoken to the family and we will stand beside them throughout this ordeal," Jackson said. "He was more than just another pitchman or ballplayer; he was the Say Hey Kid who helped break the shame of baseball’s color barrier and we will not let anyone forget that."
In Washington, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Coppertone) told reporters, "Health care reform wouldn't have saved a damn one of these people. Waste of time."