Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion

Meow, meow, meow, meow ... take the skin and peel it back?

Apparently Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor isn't happy his music has ousted waterboarding as the torture of the future.

Or maybe he's just upset that his respected classic, "March of the Pigs," was used for the same purpose as the Meow Mix jingle at Guantanamo Bay.

Possibly, he's just upset because he's Trent Reznor, and he seems to be discontent with most things most of the time.

Either way, this time Reznor has the right to be steamed. His personal expression and livelihood was played at ear-bleeding levels until foreign prisoners spilled the beans. The depth of Nine Inch Nails' music is something that is obviously personal to Reznor, and it is also a project that he has spent the past decade perfecting. It's understandable that he would be offended and hurt that human beings were tortured by his art.

However, there is a much larger issue at hand here, and that is that our Department of Justice is torturing prisoners - plain and simple.

How we all gasp when the evening news interrupts our lovely family dinners with reports and grainy video of Americans being held captive and tortured in other countries.

Sure, the United States hasn't decapitated any prisoners yet - that we know of ­- but the sad truth is that we are no different.

From the inhumane and sexually deranged prisoner abuse committed by our military, to what seems like a lesser offense of rocking a prisoner into oblivion, the 'progressive' United States has proved that it is no worse than any of the 'savage' terrorists of the Middle East.

What's worse is that the CIA recently obtained handwritten notes from Department of Justice officials that see the prosecution of a CIA employee that threatened to rat out the department for threatening prisoners with power drills.

Not only are factions of our government committing terrible acts against humanity, they are also threatening legal action against those who think the American people need to know the truth.

It is inconceivable that these kinds of things are happening in 2009, on the watch of a president who just won a Nobel Peace Prize.

Other artists such as REM and Pearl Jam have called the torture tactics 'un-American' and have joined Reznor's cause to close down Guantanamo Bay. And they're right. It is un-American.

However, I don't see this 90s alt-rock supergroup having much influence on policy and the interworkings of our Department of Justice.

I do hope, though, that our fearless leader and crusader for peace, President Barack Obama, follows through with his endless promises of change and puts a permanent stop to such disgusting acts committed by Americans.

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