Thank goodness you exposed the nefarious Sarah Palin link.

I'm personally going to go with "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

I could see from one of Jack's earlier posts how Ms. Berry might have read the rules for the Miss Three Rivers/Willamette Valley pageant she won as not requiring the 6-months residency, and then assuming that winning the local pageant made her eligible to run in the state-wide pageant. The Miss Oregon folks in turn assumed that if Ms. Berry won the local title she was eligible to run in their pageant, and didn't bother to check out if she really was eligible.

So I mostly see incompetence. The only conspiracy I see is in the shameful way Miss Oregon threw Ms. Berry under the bus.

Maybe the tooth fairy was involved.

Ehh. The Trump pageants attract the much prettier ones anyway.

Glad the right girl got the crown though.

Jack, I can't remember but did you ever mention how you got wind of this story? Did someone tip you off, or did you just start your own investigation?

I don't think we want to encourage law enforcement to spend any dollars on Berrygate. Someone with a badge might be running for office and actually take us up on it. It would be similar to launching an investigaiton into any cult like closed society. I would expect few results and a monumental tab in the end. If there was any real crime here it was putting an Oregon crown upon the head of a valley girl.

Did someone tip you off, or did you just start your own investigation?

I always check up on Miss Oregon, ever since the Kari Virding state-jumping episode in 2007.

A Matryoshka doll if I ever saw one.

I always check up on Miss Oregon, ever since the Kari Virding state-jumping episode in 2007.

Oh, okay. For some reason, I assumed Nichole or someone from her camp tipped you off.

It sounds like no one at Miss Oregon cares much about the rules.

I'll tell you where they went wrong here. They didn't go big with it. All these contestants want to be famous so to resign without a whimper when you're staring at a possible run in the media, is counter-productive.

Rachel Berry should have gone to the cameras with Gloria Allred in tow and started complaining about how she is getting screwed. I'm not saying I enjoy this kind of move and I don't endorse it, but it works. The problem here is that Rachel viewed this scenario as a defeat, instead of what it really was: An opportunity.

If this is the path she wants - fame and fortune - she should have started by ignoring her agreements and telling the dingbat in Seaside to shove it. And though there would be talk about how mortified everyone was, everyone involved would probably be loving it. Escalate it. Talk about a mud-wrestling match at a casino at the coast between Nicole and Rachel. One crown, two contestants.

Don't worry about being tacky. You're in a beauty pageant. It's already tacky.

Now that she gave up the crown it's an opportunity lost.

Look, the comedy business is like a thermostat. One week a story could be too silly to make it big. Another week, it could fit the national mood completely.

It is my opinion that a silly clash of beauty pageant contestants - after the horror of last week - could have really played. And after that, who knows? A reality show? An audition with a network?

You don't think these TV executives aren't starved for ideas?

There are currently 2 TV shows about alligators, and a second show about picking. By the way, the new show about picking, has an episode tomorrow night that also features an alligator.

This situation had wacky news potential. It's better than the OctoMom, right? The wacky news business is a beast. And like a hungry alligator, the beast must be fed.

The way into fame and fortune for a beauty pageant contestant is through the wacky news business. Nobody gives a damn if you can sing or tap dance, but if you're Miss Oregon and they're trying to strip you of your crown, you have a way in. She shouldn't have given up so soon.

This wasn't about right and wrong or honesty or rules or any of that stuff. If we're getting our moral compass from a beauty pageant, we're already f*cked.

Besides, it's my guess that almost everyone involved here is still shoveling large amounts of BS, but that's not the point.

The point was they didn't go big enough with it. This wasn't some morality play - give me a break. This was a blown opportunity.

If this is the path she wants - fame and fortune - she should have started by ignoring her agreements and telling the dingbat in Seaside to shove it. And though there would be talk about how mortified everyone was, everyone involved would probably be loving it. Escalate it. Talk about a mud-wrestling match at a casino at the coast between Nicole and Rachel. One crown, two contestants.

Don't worry about being tacky. You're in a beauty pageant. It's already tacky.

This.

Ms. Berry never should have resigned. She should have lawyered up and forced the pageant officials to remove her crown.

For my money, I don't think she just randomly moved up to Oregon to compete for Miss Oregon. I think someone in the pageant world recommended it to her. And my guess is that this happens all the time in many of the smaller states across the US.

You missed the link to the Muslim Brotherhood

Maybe I am missing something about beauty pageants in general, but is there any real gold at the end of the rainbow? A $10k scholarship just ain't that great in today's economy. What does that buy, tuition for a year at a state school in Oregon, not including room and board? And have any beauty pageant winners actually gone on to become rich and famous? My sense is that they grow up to have kids who they enroll in beauty pageants: wash, rinse, repeat.

Bill seems spot on: if you want to get rich and famous, you better do something a little weird that makes everyone feel like they should look away (but they don't).

I don't believe that Ms. Berry misinterpreted the Miss Oregon contest residency rules, Eric. I just can't subscribe to a "lone Guffman" theory.

Miles: she also gets paid for making "appearances". If I recall correctly, Jack posted previously that those fees run to around $120k.

Trust me, Miss Berry will take full advantage of every opportunity in this situation. Just wait and see.

Not meaning to be snarky, but why should we care about the Miss Oregon pageant? My God, you've put a lot of time into this.

About those "appearance fees": I wonder (barely), does Miss Oregon Pagent, Inc. (or whatever the corporate entity is called) get the lioness' share of those revenues, too?

There is no way Miss Oregon makes anywhere NEAR $120,000 in appearances....she's lucky to make gas money....I bet she doesn't pull in $10,000 a year in appearance fees....wouldn't the nonn-profit paperwork prove this?

Sometimes the fact that a thing exists is evidence enough that humanity is de-evolving and that anyone participating in or paying attention to that thing should kill themselves.

When that thing does something else affirmative, such as corrupt itself, to prove that the people involved are seeking to de-evolve more rapidly and draw more people into their downward spiral, the proper thing to do is ignore it, unless and until it actually starts to affect you, at which point you start offering assistance with the "kill themselves" part.

Justin Morton should yell "BINGO!"

"For my money, I don't think she just randomly moved up to Oregon to compete for Miss Oregon. I think someone in the pageant world recommended it to her. And my guess is that this happens all the time in many of the smaller states across the US."

This is exactly what happened and what does happen in other states. And for my money, Connie and Queen Dana need to step up and accept their roles in this.

Rachel can be held responsible for her terribly bad judgement. I know her. She is generous, bright, ambitious, a hard worker, and person of faith. I hope that someday she can forgive herself for going with something she had to know was wrong. But those other two are absolute chicken $#!ts for letting her take all the heat. Pathetic!

I think they're worried about NCAA fines.

She can always try for "octo-mom 2".

I'm a wacky news expert. I'm not proud of that, but that is part of what I follow for my radio job. Maybe that's why I try and keep up on serious things - to compensate for the tons of wacky news trivia I'm forced to wade through and write jokes about.

For example, I can tell you why this had potential compared to the LAST wacky beauty pageant story. In that one Miss Pennsylvania stated that her pageant was rigged. I think it was Miss Universe, but who cares? The point is the scandal went nowhere. In fact Donald Trump is suing her for suggesting it. Infuriating the Donald is not the wisest move you could make on this earth. It's not a fun story.

The thing that this one has is Orange County. The Orange County part is a perfect detail. It's what could have made this fun for weeks. She came up from Orange County to run these shenanigans on the People of Oregon? I sensed great potential here, but she had to refuse to yield the crown to make it happen.

Oh well.

Sorry to burst any bubbles, here - but according to yesterday's KATU story, this blog had nothing to do with anything:

Berry resigned the title after a KATU News report raised questions about her claims of residency and eligibility.

http://www.katu.com/news/entertainment/New-Miss-Oregon-steps-into-role-after-title-is-resigned-163572866.html

It seems they were on it for "about a year".

Not that it matters any more, but where is Miss Berry now? Still in Oregon...or has she moved to a different state? And, does the real Miss Oregon get a crowning ceremony?