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Ear to the Ground

Miss Universe ‘Didn’t Want to Leave’ Gitmo

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Posted on Apr 1, 2009
Miss Universe
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

The 22-year-old beauty queen spent several days visiting the camp, where 240 prisoners are still held.

Without a smidgen of irony, reigning Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela called her visit to Guantanamo Bay last week “a loooot of fun,” making it quite a shame that the prison camp will likely be closed by early next year.

The BBC:

Life may be tough for its full-time residents, but for Miss Universe a day out at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay was simply “a loooot of fun!”

Venezuelan beauty queen Dayana Mendoza visited the centre and wrote about it on the Miss Universe blog on 27 March.

Her remarks that she “didn’t want to leave” the “calm and beautiful” place attracted some scathing reactions.

Her blog entry has now been removed, while a statement has been uploaded explaining the motives of her trip.

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By The Watcher, April 2 at 5:44 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

This is absolute brilliance. Just when the beloved Q&A phase of the pageant was presumably over, she comes through. Her words define grace and all that her crown stand for which sits upon her empty pinhead. Humanity is sickening from legislated morality to entertainment. I wish I were swimming with dolphins somewhere deep in the ocean.

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By C.P.T.L., April 2 at 3:58 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

I wasn’t able to read her post. I like to think it was an unfortunately misunderstood affecting consideration of tragic mankind impulsively unable to abide by history’s verdict that the ends imagined of high purpose are subverted by brutal short cuts; and of the poignant folly of self-consequence, frail and trivial against the incomprehensibly majestic tide of time; and of our sad intrusion into and reckless scarring of the wonderous gardens of the world; the whole as it were momentary, inevitably to be swept away, unnoticed, not lauded or even laughed at by the cold uncaring universe.

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By Paracelsus, April 2 at 6:59 am #

@Folktruther

“A good will tour of beauty queens to American torture camps?  It’s no wonder that the novel is dying, you simply can’t devise fiction that can compete with reality.”

Yep! That’s has Kiss of the Spiderwoman all beat to hell.

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By samosamo, April 2 at 6:18 am #

I wonder if the visit was her special idea of her take on issues of the world which I believe the Miss america ‘contest’ has each contestant give, you know on hunger, homelessness, downtrodden and etc.etc.etc. and what they plan on doing to fix those needful situations.
But with the arcane use of presenting ‘beautiful’ women as the most concerned and compassionate people is like trying to present all those great athletes as heroes and vastly superior people with all the grace of god behind them, national treasures in other words. All of it being that special trigger to take the 75’s attention away from the reality of the world. Good job MSM.

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By Outraged, April 2 at 1:57 am #

Re: Boniface

Your comment: “Think about it folks, the waters are of the Caribbean, which so crystal clear, the scuba diving is fantastic, there’s boating, fishing, beaches, coral cliffs, rolling hills, and off in the distance, a mountain range as a backdrop to the whole picture.  In addition to the natural environment and native wildlife, there swimming pools, spas, tennis courts, a golf course, night clubs, and back then, eight movie theaters that charge no admission.”

While I think you’re partially correct in assuming that some think the whole place is a prison, it’s impossible to disregard THE PRISON.  She did claim to have toured (at least a portion) of that too.

Almost makes what she said EVEN MORE ignorant than it already is.  I mean how often do the “detainees” partake of the “niceties” of Gitmo.

Reminds me of the bible verse which states something to the effect, “they whitewash the outside but the inside is full of dead mens bones”.

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By coloradokarl, April 2 at 1:56 am #

Did your hear the one about the Venezuelan beauty queen and the Moroccan cab driver walk into a bar and the doorman says what’s with the bloody parrot?.......

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By Boniface, April 2 at 1:20 am #

First let me say this:  “I lived on the Naval Station GTMO for over a year.”  Next, when she’s talking about “beautiful” she seems to be talking about the waters around the base and the scenery, NOT the prison there.

Having lived there, when I was in the Navy, I can tell you that the prison is not even half of one percent of the entire station, maybe even less.  As for the rest of GTMO, it is absolutely beautiful! 

Think about it folks, the waters are of the Caribbean, which so crystal clear, the scuba diving is fantastic, there’s boating, fishing, beaches, coral cliffs, rolling hills, and off in the distance, a mountain range as a backdrop to the whole picture.  In addition to the natural environment and native wildlife, there swimming pools, spas, tennis courts, a golf course, night clubs, and back then, eight movie theaters that charge no admission.

I was stationed at GTMO back in 1978 and I still to this day have dreams of returning and living there, it was so beautiful.  People have seen the prison pictures on the news and have gotten the idea that that’s all there is to GTMO, it isn’t!  So much for the intelligence of people who judge things without ever having seen them.

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By purplewolf, April 1 at 11:31 pm #

Another blonde airhead. She is the poster child for the dumbing down of people everywhere, not only the world, but the universe. After all she is Miss(as in lacking any sign of intelligence) Universe.

No offense to blondes who have and use their intelligence wisely.

Time to retire this crown permanently.

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By Nap, April 1 at 11:22 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Well that’s great, (Duh). May I recommend Abu Ghraib next? bondage and humiliation is in fashion now.

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By Folktruther, April 1 at 10:10 pm #

A good will tour of beauty queens to American torture camps?  It’s no wonder that the novel is dying, you simply can’t devise fiction that can compete with reality.

as if that weren’t bad enough, I saw in the supermarket checkout line, where I receive my biweekly imput of popular culture, that Evangilene is barely speaking to Brad. The paper didn’t say why.  That’s the reason why Amerians are so lacking in culture, they don’t receive an indepth analysis.

But I suppose its inevitable; they’ve been tegether for what seems like weeks now so its natural they would get restless.

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By samosamo, April 1 at 5:08 pm #

Well? She’s a blonde isn’t she. Actually it is hard to tell under all that paint she wears.
And spent ‘several’ days there where there are 240 prisoners? What was she doing while she was there? But there is one very evident fact, she ain’t there now.

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By mill, April 1 at 3:20 pm #

Can you say “Ditz!”  ?

Apparently the brains part of the competition wasn’t weighted as heavily as other aspects when this Miss Universe won her crown.

Why would such a figure visit a controversial prison?  Why would her remarks warrant repetition?

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By bogglesthemind, April 1 at 1:00 pm #

See, science can be wrong. Turns out it is possible for life to exist in a vacuum.

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