Turn the clock to zero, buddy.
Don't wanna be no fuddy duddy
Started up a brand new day.
- Sting in "Brand New Day"

Welcome to 2007.

As Sting sang, it is indeed a brand new day. There are many people thankful for the re-boot: There's the guy who sells champagne, the salesclerk at the calendar store and, last but certainly not least, Miss USA Tara Conner.

Last year we discovered that Conner allegedly visited bars and drank alcohol while she was underage. There was also a particularly provocative rumor about her smooching with Miss Teen USA.

National news programs were all over it. Would she lose her crown? Would she be forced to leave in shame? And would she come back as Vanessa Williams did after losing her Miss America title?

But it turned out The Donald would not be firing her. Instead, Trump held up for her, offering her a very public "second chance" at a Dec. 19 press conference: "She left a small town in Kentucky and she was telling me that she got caught up in the whirlwind of New York. It's a story that has happened many times before to many women and many men who came to the Big Apple. They wanted their slice of the Big Apple and they found out it wasn't so easy."

And oh, the down-home folks of the Heartland cried huge tears of compassion. "We understand, Tara. Yer jest a small-town gurl. You'll make it!"

Excuse me if I don't buy it - any of it.

First, it's hard to believe that a Miss USA, who travels with handlers and chaperones, walked into bars and partook of the sauce unbeknownst to said entourage. Second, I don't know that those same handlers and chaperones weren't around when she and Miss Teen USA were allegedly making out.

What I do buy is that the Miss USA pageant needed to revitalize interest - the public relations version of a defibrillator to a dying program.

And what catches America's attention better than girls gone wild?

There's Lindsay Lohan, the cute star of "Mean Girls," who began attending Alcohol Anonymous meetings. Does the fact that she is underage worry us? No. Instead we wait for another slip-up to feed the need for scandal.

Speaking of scandal, Britney Spears kept it going after splitting from Kevin Federline, the man who had two young children with actress Shar Jackson when Spears first hooked up with him. After the separation, did Spears play it safe, spending time with her tots? No. Instead, she hooks up with Paris Hilton and gets caught panty-less on camera.

And then there's Paris. We will always have Paris. Homemade porn, snotty remarks and public feuds - she's a walking Jerry Springer show.

You know, I'm not that old. But all this crap - pardon my French, but that is really what it has become - has really tired me out. I am sick of it.

I am disappointed that, after women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought so hard for women's rights, young women, such as Lohan, Spears and Hilton, who should be vigilant of their responsibilities to the public, are blowing it.

And now Miss USA steps into the fire. I wouldn't be surprised if some well-oiled PR machine set up this "scandal" to reinvigorate a waning public interest, to make an old American ideal relevant to an intellectually starved society. It will surely be interesting to see how many people tune into the pageant this year.

My resolution this year is to give it up. I want to appreciate women who are doing something meaningful with their lives. Despite the yellow journalism, I believe there is a hell of a lot of those women out there that we don't hear about.

Hawai`i, thankfully, is well represented. Just look at our government: We have Gov. Linda Lingle, U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, and a terrific state legislature, which includes Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, a woman - no, a person - for whom I was fortunate to have worked.

This year I ask that we all devote more time to honoring progress rather than celebrating regress. Remember the women who are making something of their lives rather than spoiled girls who are squandering their chance.

It's not too late, America. After all, as The Donald demonstrated, we all deserve a second chance.