Dear America,

I would be remiss if I didn't bring it up; for I am just a girl, her name is Gretchen, a day in the life of an American girl...

So how about that Miss America last night?  What a beautiful flip of the hair to the irony of the times, no?

Never mind Miss Colorado, and the return of pageant's past in flubbing the dreaded question portion of the evening, for I have no idea what she said. Let's just race to the finish and the first nationalized, Arab-American girl, Rima Fakih -- from the state of Michigan, no less -- being crowned our nation's most beautiful girl in the world.

Now think back fifteen minutes.

There she was, Miss Morgan Woodland of Oklahoma, answering the most controversial question of the night -- judge, Oscar Nunez, could barely get the question out of his mouth before a bevy of boos came at him from the crowd of commoners in the background...he's like, 'now hold on...you haven't even heard...' 

It didn't matter where Nunez was going with it -- the audience wanted no part of it; he asked it anyway.

And without skipping a beat, the poised American maiden replied,

"I'm a huge believer in states' rights.  I think that's what's so wonderful about America.  So I think it's perfectly fine for Arizona to create that law,"

adding also, that she doesn't approve of illegal immigration and her concern for racial profiling.  In less than a minute, she honestly maneuvered around the most volatile subject of our day with compassion and rare American-girl guts, grasping the founder's intentions without blinking an eye, but quite possibly, with a wink.  She nailed it and she knew it.

Tell us what she won, Johnny?

Little Miss Morgan from Oklahoma got first runner up and was beat out by the only immigrant in the bunch -- for the baby girl born in Lebanon, a far cry from one of our fifty states, took home the prize; and with a twist of immigration nation kicks and giggles it was over. (Rima's question, if birth control should be covered by insurance...please, and you call that equal billing with immigration reform, coupled with protests and boycotts, but I digress.)

Truth be told, Rima is actually the second "Arab-American", but who's counting anymore right -- for the first was a California girl back in 1983 -- Julie Hayek; this born and raised American girl's father came, too, from Lebanon, fleeing from a country taken over by radical Islamic terrorism.

But in the spirit of this fine nation, in the spirit of this nation's LEGAL immigration policy, in the spirit of this nation's open door to all who wish to come through the front door and maybe end up center stage at any one of our umpteen venues displaying the best and the brightest, the fastest or the strongest, the prettiest and the luckiest, play out their live long dreams -- it is here, only in America! for God Bless the USA!

Baby Rima was not even born here and she is now Miss America -- she couldn't be President, so she decided to go for Miss USofA.  Is this not a beautiful country, or what?

Sure, one could make other noteworthy claims after this year's extravaganza -- like how many girls get boob jobs now, or how the more things change, the more things stay the same, when watching a spectacle of this sort.  It still gets down to girls prancing around in bathing suits and evening gowns with pasted white smiles across their well-spackled faces and bouffant hair dos.

This year is no exception -- except for that itsy-bitsy minor error in sound judgement, allowing the girls to masquerade around in their undies, and shoot artistic stills in black and white for cover.  We somehow went from poo pooing any suspect modeling backgrounds, frowning upon any display of sexual deviation from the dignified and reserved head shots and completely clothed portfolios, to a new era featuring the Guess model -- fifty of them.

Interesting that the pictures came out of nowhere, just days before the televised event...hmmmm...and who says sex doesn't sell...

Interesting to note further, even though the Maine girl fully approved -- by the likes of her answer anyway, while still  in the top five -- the photo shoot wasn't something where the girls had a choice.  If they were in it to win it they did it, no questions asked.  I mean seriously, can we really expect Maine to say, you trashed the contest in front of millions of Americans and be able to live to take first place?

So what kind of litmus test is in the future for contestants coming of age down the road?  Or have we broken that barrier too? Does Miss America become just a stage of talking tits, I don't know -- or is that just the way it's always been...hmmm....time will tell... at least it use to...for we certainly don't wait until we are deep into middle age to get a boost anymore, now do we. (not me, of course)

The genuine American girl is becoming a thing of the past -- it may not matter where you are born -- or even if your boobs are real -- but one thing's for sure, if the next Miss America is an illegal alien from Tijuana, you know we've got problems.

Make it a Good Day, G

and go world peace.