Off topic: Quote of the day on the subject of torture:

...The United States was torturing prisoners, the professor suggested, because the al-Qaeda detainees were subjected to female interrogators, barking dogs, and loud music. As fundamentalist Muslims, the detainees were not "comfortable" with women "speaking down" to them, the professor contended. Nor were they fans of the heavy metal music played in their cell. Additionally, as Middle Easterners, they were accustomed to a society where dogs are undomesticated, dangerous animals -- think: the way Westerners perceive wolves -- or so the professor’s argument went.

It was at that moment that I realized how similar these "torturous" acts were to my own everyday lifestyle. "Wait a second," I interjected. "Being in the same room with a dog, listening to Metallica, and getting reprimanded by a female for something she thinks I did wrong? That's not torture. That's my Friday night!"

(Before anyone sends me a finger-waggling e-mail, I do recognize that there is a legitimate issue as to what constitutes torture vs. appropriate interrogation techniques in a wartime context.)