The new Miss Universe

It had to happen sometime: my favorite Miss Universe ever – also the only one I can name – handed her crown over to the newest Miss Universe…um, sometime in the last couple days, I guess.

That’s Dayana Mendoza, the outgoing Miss Universe, helping Stefania Fernandez, the incoming Miss Universe, with her sash. I’ve written about Mendoza a couple times before.

I understand that Fernandez’ win is kind of historic, because it means back-to-back Miss Universes from the same country. Venezuela. I guess that means Hugo Chavez hasn’t nationalized the Miss Venezuela program yet.

This is her:

We at the Trog look forward to bringing you news of whatever scandal she becomes embroiled in. Um…say, Steph? You do plan to have a scandal, right? Oh, you absolutely must. They’re all the rage. All the beauty queens are having them these days.

We can hope. One tidbit from the contest, in which she didn’t quite reach Carrie Prejean levels of shock:

During a question-and-answer segment with the five top finalists, Fernandez said she believed women have overcome obstacles such as hitting the proverbial glass ceiling.

“I feel we have reached the level that men are at,” she said.

Hey, good for you, Steph. Don’t let those feminists hold you down!

Still, we breathlessly await the actual upcoming scandal. You will have to do better than that.

One more thing: Miss USA Kristen Dalton made the contest’s top 10, but was unable to crack the top 5.

I’d like to see the judges’ scoring sheets, please.

Just when you start to think you might never have an excuse to post about Carrie Prejean again…

Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza poses topless for Maxim.

Usually when a beauty queen has topless pictures released, it’s a huge scandal. Not this time around, though.

Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza is appearing topless in the September issue of Maxim magazine, on stands August 18, with the full support of her pageant (they gave Maxim the photos!), and FOXNews.com has exclusive shots from the pageant-sponsored shoot right here.

Sorry, no topless photos here. You’ll have to click the link. Safe for work, I suppose, unless you work in a convent. There’s no actual nudity.

Former Miss California Carrie Prejean was, readers will remember, harshly criticized for having posed topless in her pre-Miss California days. Now she and Dayana have something to talk about!

And that’s not all they have in common: longtime readers will remember Miss Mendoza’s blog post about her visit to Guantanamo Bay…and how wonderful she thought it was there.

Politically incorrect. No?

Miss Prejean, of course, became a political and social lightning rod following her statment in support of traditional marriage at the Miss Universe pageant.

Oh, fine, have a picture of Prejean. But no topless ones.

Uh-oh…nobody tell Meghan McCain. She’ll write 1200 words on the upcoming “war in the Miss USA Pageant.”

Miss California caused a ruckus by honestly speaking her mind.

If there is a YouTube moment from Sunday’s show, it may be Miss California’s answer to a question about legalizing same-sex marriage. The tall blonde stumbled some before giving an answer that appeared to please the pageant audience.

“We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage,” Prejean said. “And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”

She “stumbled,” I’ll bet, because she knew she was about to say something unpopular. Good for her – takes guts to stick to your beliefs when you know they’ll be taken badly.

Or she may just have stumbled, trying to answer the question.

Anyway, YouTube gleefully snatched from Donald Douglas:

More: I just loved this paragraph, later in the same story:

The pageant had enjoyed a scandal-free year until earlier this month, when Miss Universe 2008 Dayana Mendoza was skewered for a blog posting from a trip to Guantanamo Bay. The entry described having “aloooot of fun” at a base that houses the notorious military prison; it was later deleted from the pageant’s Web site.

I blogged about that here.

It was a “scandal” when the reigning Miss Universe said she had a great time at Guantanamo after having a great time at Guantanamo (she was supposed to be horrified, even if she didn’t see anything horrible), and it’s a “scandal” when Miss California states her honest opinion (assuming that that’s what it was) about marriage (she was supposed to toe the politically-correct line).

I think we need a little Rule 5 to clear our heads (this one’s for Mike). Miss Wisconsin, Alexandra Wehrley:

Miss Universe…censored

The Miss Universe Organization has removed Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza’s blog (linked yesterday) about her trip to Guantanamo Bay, replacing it with a bureaucratic explanation that she sure didn’t mean to suggest that the place isn’t a hellhole of terror.

Yesterday, her blog said this:

This week, Guantanamo!!! It was an incredible experience.

… we had a wonderful time, this truly was a memorable trip! We hung out with the guys from the East Coast and they showed us the boat inside and out, how they work and what they do, we took a ride around the land and it was a loooot of fun!

…We visited the Detainees camps and we saw the jails, where they shower, how the recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books. It was very interesting.

…The water in Guantanamo Bay is soooo beautiful! It was unbelievable… of course I bought a necklace from her that will remind me off Guantanamo Bay

I didn’t want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful.

Clearly, the ditz has no idea what Guantanamo Bay is all about. Or those military jackasses only showed her the good stuff and bullied the “detainees” she met into telling her how “nice” it is there. Or even disguised U.S. military as detainees! Or…maybe her innocent little head just couldn’t process it all. She’s having a psychotic episode, right? Her subconscious must be blocking out what she saw – it was all too horrible!

Just so we’re all clear on who we’re talking about:

Today, her blog says this:

Dayana Mendoza’s comments on her blog were in reference to the hospitality she received while meeting the members of the U.S. military and their families who are stationed in Guantánamo.

The Miss Universe Organization echoes the mission of the USO, which is to lift the spirits of U.S.troops and their families wherever they serve. We will continue to show our appreciation and express our gratitude to the military personnel who serve our nation.

In other words: dammit! If she’d said how awful it was we’d have been on the front page of the Times! Twice, minimum!

Miss Universe says: Gitmo is the Awesomest!

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Miss Universe and Miss USA have taken a firsthand look at the U.S. prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

The beauty pageant winners took part in a VIP tour to entertain American military personnel at the prison in Cuba.

That’s Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza:

And Miss USA, Crystle Stewart, here shown recovering beautifully from a fall she took during the Miss Universe pageant, evening gown event:

Here’s a slightly more dignified picture of her:

Being a girl of her generation, Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza blogged the experience, and…let’s just say her descriptions probably don’t comply with New York Times stylebook regulations:

This week, Guantanamo!!! It was an incredible experience.

We arrived in Gitmo on Friday and stared going around the town, everybody knew Crystle and I were coming so the first thing we did was attend a big lunch and then we visited one of the bars they have in the base. We talked about Gitmo and what is was like living there. The next days we had a wonderful time, this truly was a memorable trip! We hung out with the guys from the East Coast and they showed us the boat inside and out, how they work and what they do, we took a ride around the land and it was a loooot of fun!

We also met the Military dogs, and they did a very nice demonstration of their skills. All the guys from the Army were amazing with us.

We visited the Detainees camps and we saw the jails, where they shower, how the recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books. It was very interesting.

We took a ride with the Marines around the land to see the division of Gitmo and Cuba while they were informed us with a little bit of history.

The water in Guantanamo Bay is soooo beautiful! It was unbelievable, we were able to enjoy it for at least an hour. We went to the glass beach, and realized the name of it comes from the little pieces of broken glass from hundred of years ago. It is pretty to see all the colors shining with the sun. That day we met a beautiful lady named Rebeca who does wonders with the glasses from the beach. She creates jewelry with it and of course I bought a necklace from her that will remind me off Guantanamo Bay :)

I didn’t want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful.

I know, she probably didn’t write that herself. Either that, or an editor had to take out all the “Marines are so hotttt!!!!” lines.

Natch, if she’d come back talking about how awful and brutal and inhumane the place was, she’d have been on the Times’ front page. Twice, minimum.