Miss Universe says had "lot of fun" in Guantanamo

Tue Mar 31, 1:07 PM

By Pascal Fletcher

MIAMI (Reuters) - A "relaxing, calm, beautiful place" may not be everyone's description of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the United States holds about 240 prisoners in a detention center that has drawn condemnation from around the world.

But this was the opinion of reigning Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela, who visited the U.S. naval facility in eastern Cuba this month on a trip organized by the United Service Organizations (USO) which supports U.S. troops.

The Guantanamo Bay base, whose presence Cuba's government has contested as illegal for years, is used by U.S. authorities as a prison camp for foreign terrorism suspects. Critics have condemned it as a symbol of abuses in Washington's war on terrorism launched after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Caracas-born Mendoza, 22, who visited the facility March 20-25 along with Miss USA Crystle Stewart, 27, enthused about her Guantanamo trip as an "incredible experience" in a blog entry posted on the Miss Universe website dated March 27, 2009 (http://www.missuniverse.com/missuniverse/blog.php).

"It was a loooot of fun!," Mendoza wrote, describing how she and Stewart met U.S. military personnel and took rides around the camp, which is encircled by a barbed-wire fenced, minefields and watchtowers. She said they also visited a bar on the base and the "unbelievable" beach there.

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

"I didn't want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful," she added.

Former detainees and human rights groups have alleged the use of torture, including "waterboarding" (simulated drowning) and other physical abuses, at the Guantanamo prison.

Britain announced last week it would investigate whether members of its secret services were complicit in the torture of a British resident released from Guantanamo Bay last month.

Spanish prosecutors may decide this week whether to start an investigation of six former officials from George W. Bush's administration in connection with the torture of Guantanamo detainees.

In one of his first acts in office, U.S. President Barack Obama has set a one-year deadline for shutting the prison.

The Pentagon said last month it had received renewed reports of prisoner abuse during a recent review of conditions at Guantanamo, but had concluded that all prisoners were being kept in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

Recounting her "memorable" trip, Mendoza, who was crowned Miss Universe 2008 in Vietnam, said: "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."

Before the visit, USO had announced Mendoza and Stewart were being "deployed" to Guantanamo on an entertainment tour to visit U.S. troops abroad to "boost morale."

(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton, editing by Vicki Allen)

Oeconomic Suicide

Women vs. men: Handling economic stress
by Kiri Blakeley, Forbes.com
Wednesday, January 14, 2009provided byforbes

Last week's suicide of Chicago real estate auctions mogul Steven Good is the latest instance of what could be termed "econocide"—suicide due to the poor economy. While Good, who shot himself, did not leave a note indicating his motivation, his death comes a month after he made comments about the collapse of the real estate industry at a business conference.

Good's suicide follows that of Kirk Stephenson, a financier who jumped in front of a train in England after his private equity firm suffered losses; French financier Rene-Thierry Magnon de la Villehuchet, who slit his wrists after losing US$1 billion in the Bernard Madoff scheme; and German billionaire Adolf Merckle, who threw himself in front of a train after massive investment losses.

These tragic figures had something in common besides economic hard times: They were all men.

In 2005, the latest statistics offered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25,907 men killed themselves, versus 6,730 women. A big part of this discrepancy is that men use much more successful methods of suicide. Each of the four moguls who took their lives did so in a decisive fashion. "Men take far more permanent measures," says Manhattan psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, who counsels many Wall Streeters and their families. "Women might make gestures that are not as strong, that are more a cry for help or attention."

The financial crisis offers serious and perhaps widespread motivations for male suicidal behaviour. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Dr. Leslie Seppinni, a Beverly Hills, Calif., clinical psychologist who counsels many millionaires, both male and female.

Seppinni notes this is the first time in her 18-year career that businessmen are calling her with suicidal impulses over their financial state. In the past three months, she has intervened in at least 14 cases of men seriously considering taking their lives. "There's been a rapid increase in the numbers," she says. Especially vulnerable are men over 50: "They've already built their empire one or two times, and they don't necessarily have the emotional energy to rebuild."

High net-worth individuals may be more susceptible to suicide in tough economic times, not only because they have more to lose from a financial standpoint but also because they tend to be haunted by the idea that they had a hand in their financial downfall. "They feel guilt and shame because they think they should have known what was coming with the market or they should have pulled out faster," says Seppinni.

Seppinni says her female clients, many of whom are chief executives, are more likely to "roll up their sleeves and become a cook somewhere or bake cookies and sell them—whatever needs to be done. She's not thinking her life is ruined; she just wants to put food on the table." Seppinni notes that not one female client has called her about feeling suicidal due to the downturn.

"Men traditionally are the breadwinners," says Alpert. "Particularly with big-name people, so much of their image, reputation and ego depend on financial success."

Which is why women, experts say, are more likely to take their lives when they've had long-term depression problems or suffer from mental illness, rather than over their financial condition. In Seppinni's opinion, "women do not kill themselves over finances."

For three million years, men have been the hunters and protectors, explains Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University. "Around the world, from the Zulus to Eskimos, women look for men who provide resources. When men lose that profoundly basic role and purpose, they get depressed."

Which isn't to say that women don't get stressed about the economy too. They are just more likely to manifest their stress in different ways.

Women, say experts, are more likely to take "healthy" approaches to dealing with stress. They work out, eat well, get plenty of sleep and look to family and friends for emotional support. Men, especially risk takers in the financial world, have a tendency to isolate themselves, clam up or "escape" through drugs, alcohol and sex.

Lynn Mayabb, senior adviser at Kansas City, Mo.-based BKD Wealth Advisors, which manages US$1.4 billion for wealthy individuals, has had her share of downturn-related stress—some clients have blamed her for their losses.

During times like these, Mayabb takes a deep breath, concentrates on what she can change rather than what she can't, and refocuses her clients on long-term financial goals. When one of her male clients broke down crying in her office, Mayabb chose to deal with his more cool-headed wife. "The men are a little too focused on 'What did I lose this quarter?' Women are more able to see the big picture," she says.

"I cannot picture one of the men I work with being able to handle the issues I've had to deal with," says Amy James, 41, CEO of sixThings, which monitors educational materials for compliance with federal regulations. Since September, James has personally fired 34 employees (70 per cent of her full-time workforce), relocated her company from New York City to Oklahoma City and been sued three times.

She notes that male friends suffering business malaise "disappear" from her social circle or refuse to talk about their travails, while James relies heavily on bonding sessions with her female friends. "They are the biggest stress relief I have."

Grief Media

Online social networks used in disasters to share information and grief
By Luann Lasalle, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Facebook and Twitter devotees often use the online networking tools to post gossip and idle details about their lives. But the sites have also become a crucial means of communication during disasters like the shooting that unfolded in a German town Wednesday morning.

Shortly after a teenage gunman killed 16 people including himself, users were sharing news of the tragedy and posting condolence messages.

One user of the micro-blogging website Twitter tapped out text messages saying his girlfriend who lived in the town, Winnenden, had just phoned to say there was rampage at a school and that she was afraid to leave her office. She was then tracked down by a French news agency to give an account of her experience.

Also in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Twitter users from around the world began reaching out to the town.

"Prayers for the victims and families of the German school shooting," wrote one person.

It's a scenario that has been played out in other recent tragedies, such as last year's terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the US Airways crash in New York's Hudson River.

Social networking tools allow people to instantly share their grief, says Jeannette Sutton of the University of Colorado's Natural Hazards Center.

"What more can you do when there's this kind of destruction of human beings other than saying, 'I care and I am sad,"' said Sutton.

The sociologist has studied how social networking plays a role during disasters, beginning with the shooting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute two years ago when a student killed 32 other students and professors and then turned the gun on himself.

"What we've seen in disaster research for 60 years now is that people converge to a disaster, but we're seeing them converge now online," said Sutton.

She said her research shows that people are using social networks to share information, ask questions, organize donations and encourage each other.

Sutton and another colleague also studied online forums and news sites to see how people were communicating during the wildfires that ravaged Southern California in the fall of 2007.

Web developer Nate Ritter turned to Twitter, with its limit of 140 characters per message, to get out information more quickly than his blog posts.

"I was using Twitter but didn't understand what it could be used for until this happened," Ritter said from San Diego.

"I found it very powerful," he said, adding he had 350 followers on Twitter during the fires.

Toronto Mayor David Miller has been using Twitter since last December. He said his city will use social media to add to the ways it's already reaching citizens during emergencies.

"I think Twitter, Facebook and other social networking media significantly add to our capacity to get the facts out in a simple, calm, clear way," Miller said.

The American Red Cross, Homeland Security and Los Angeles Fire Department are among public organizations using Twitter in the United States.

Sutton will speak at the World Conference on Disaster Management in Toronto in June about the role social media networks play in disaster communications and how public officials can use them.