The award for the most unnecessary asterisk goes to….

The Washington Post for this passage in an article about the interrogation of Khalid Sheik Mohammed: "We don't kick the sh*t out of them. Some of our friends do, but we don't do that," a former counterterrorism official familiar with U.S. interrogation methods said.

If you're going to go that far, you might as well just print the whole word.

In the same article, the White House press secretary made this statement:

"The standard for any type of interrogation of somebody in American custody is to be humane and to follow all international house of pancakes laws and accords dealing with this type of subject. That is precisely what has been happening and exactly what will happen," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

So no beatings, but a 45-minute wait for a table followed by hot maple syrup on your ba*ls.