Why is it that these delightful, fun-loving, unrepressed young women are not demanding apologies from us, from their culture, for our cowardly projection onto them of our own disallowed sexuality, our disallowed freedom, our fear of becoming real and true?

Am I missing something?

Why was an ex-Miss AMERICA chosen by Salon to comment on the controversy surrounding the current Miss USA? Although superficially similar, the two pageants are quite dissimilar in concept and image.

Miss America is, in fact, supposed to represent a wholesome-yet-pretty "ideal." The centerpiece of the award package is a college scholarship, not a movie contract or wardrobe. The talent requirement (which, despite the popular image, does often yield excellent performances) raises the qualifications bar quite a bit higher than for similar competitions. And the winners are expected to dedicate a significant portion of their year's activities to social service. Which is why l'affaire Vanessa Williams (and a few smaller scandals) really WAS such a big deal. It really DID appear to be a betrayal of what that pageant stands for. (Of course, Ms. Williams ended up with the last laugh, but that's another story.)

On the other hand, Miss USA - the prelim for Miss Universe - is a "pure" beauty-poise-and-personality competition. It's a commercial enterprise whose prizes are strictly of a material nature. The winners' efforts at good works are subordinate to their efforts at good looks. Thus this recent dustup is less about the betrayal of some sort of "ideal" than a simple case of girl-gone-wild.

The really interesting aspect to this whole brouhaha, of course, is The Donald Vs. The Rosie. Now THERE'S a controversy that's worth our attention - if only as an entertaining distraction to the real problems of the world today.

...well, forever.

I find it odd that now that teenage girls and very young women are embracing their sexuality (and their thirst for fermented beverages), it is suddenely a national, cultural crisis. That's absurd. Men - and apparently some women - have always been frightened by women's erotic power. While it can be wonderful to behold, a woman's sexaulity fully unleashed can also be a bit disturbing. Well I for one find it more wonderful than disturbing, and I think we all need to give the young ladies in our midst a break.

And if you doubt the HUGE difference in sexual potency between men and women, go to the website "Beautiful Agony" and compare. You'll not only learn something, it's guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

You say "we are a country running perilously low on heroes. We desperately need someone (Barack Obama?) to capture our national imagination."

Except that we tear down our heroes. Bill Clinton was the American ideal. A guy who came from nothing - had no connections, no power, no money - to become president of the United States. We used to tell our kids "Anybody can grow up to become president of the United States. If you work hard enough and keep focused, even you can become president."

Then we're surprised that focused, ambitious people --- people who spent the majority of their lives pursuing a goal --- have strong drives? A strong sex drive, or a strong drive for attention? Come on. Competition calls for killer instinct. The nicest person in the world doesn't always beat out the most qualified, most driven, most clever person.

And the media focuses on that. The media tears down our most qualified, cleverest, most driven people. Then it steps back and says "Where are all the heroes?"

And what about the false, stomach-churning "heroes" out there? Rudolph Giuliani is no more a hero than thousands of other New Yorkers who went down to Ground Zero on 9/11 and afterwards. to help. In fact, those other New Yorkers were more heroic because they didn't get to stick their faces in front of cameras, they didn't get media attaention, they didn't get to make millions of dollars post-9/11 conjuring up security firms, consultant positions and speaking engagements like Giuliani did. And the media calls him a hero and "America's mayor". America is still in love with Rudy and his false hero status despite the fact that we New Yorkers keep telling them that 48 hours of good behavior is just about as much good behavior as Rudolph Giuliani can muster before he reverts back to his dementedly vindictive self. The man is a destroyer. Thousands of jobs left New York, thousands of units of affordable middle-income housing were converted into "luxury residences" during Giuliani's tenure. New York City turned from a flawed but vibrant city into a city of multimillionaires, trust fund babies and retirees who bought apartments with the profits they made selling their suburban homes.

Who is a hero in this world?

What is a hero in this world?

George W Bush inspires adulation in a good deal many people. He was viewed as a hero after 9/11. He is partly responsible for that catastrophe. It is a matter of public record that this man ignored repeated warnings - the last warning a very strongly worded one - and America treated him like a hero, a genius, a strong world leader. He has always been a coward, a liar and a cheat and that too, is a matter of public record.

In a country where craven profiteers like Rudolph Giuliani and Donald Trump are admired, and where a pampered, spoiled heir is considered God's chosen hero, why are we even bothering to look for heroes? Barak Obama gets elected to one office, and he's treated like a great American hope. Hope for what?

I don't get it. I really don't get it. We don't need heroes, we don't need Prince Charmings, we don't need fairy tales and myths. We need some clear-eyed realism. We need to throw off our need for mythical Miss Americas and to own up to the fact that we are a nation steeped in PR. We're the guinea pigs of marketing firms and Madison Avenue, buying into whatever myth the media and the politicians are selling this week.

We don't need heroes, we need some common sense.