They put a new traffic light on Lakeside on the way to the house. Alas, this is not really exciting.

12:32 <jorm> http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/01/29/town.satan/index.html
12:32 <jorm> i love this country.

Is this submarine cursed? Or just persistently manned with morons?

Isn't it convenient how our Crusade against Islamic fundamentalism is a "war" for the purpose of limiting American civil rights and mustering public support, but conveniently fails to be a war when it would require obeying the Geneva Convention in holding captured prisoners? Isn't America great? Isn't our lobotomized leader terrific?

He has something like an 80% approval rating. I'd be remiss in not saying America continues to make me ill. I maintain that the terrorists won.

One thing the government finds convenient about holding the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is that anyone brought onto U.S. soil has certain rights with regards to how they must be treated; however, Guantanamo is not U.S. territory. We have an indefinite lease, for which we pay (according to that link) US$2000 annually. However, Castro has demanded for years that Guantanamo Bay be returned to the Cuban people; naturally, the U.S. won't listen, and no one else in the world cares enough to argue. He probably doesn't cash the check, though.

So by holding the prisoners on territory that we control but is not ours, the government is not obligated to treat them humanely (setting ethics aside, which is one of the things government is good at), although they could definitely have it a lot worse: the BBC has taken some interest in the issue, with an overview and a deeper description. Someone on chat pointed out that Castro could screw things up a little bit by ceding Guantanamo Bay to the U.S.: if they accepted, then the prisoners would have rights, and if they refused, I'm not clear what the legal status would be, but it would definitely make the U.S. look bad, and draw attention to our behavior.

We leave at 0045 tonight for Indiana, with stops in Salt Lake City, Denver, and St. Louis. Woo hoo!