The whole beauty pageant brouhaha reminds me that I have an article in the U.K. Spectator about the rise of political paranoia and discontent in the West.  The opening paragraph:

Polio vaccines in Nigeria are part of a Western plot to make African women infertile. Foreign zombies are replacing indigenous labourers in South Africa. Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is a secret Muslim who hates the United States and wants to institute ‘death panels’ to govern the healthcare system. The United States triggered the earthquake in Haiti to expand America’s imperial reach.

Go read the whole thing and see if I'm onto something.... or whether the powers that be have gotten to me already.   

[I'm noticing a trend of zombie references pervading your work.  What's up with that?--ed.  Oh, you're just being paranoid.]