Somebody please…make ‘em stop!!

Remember the National Review's "Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs"?

Well, it turns out [dear sweet Jeebus have mercy!] there's a sequel.

Among the songs ranked 51 through 101:

Little Red Corvette — Prince  A cautionary tale: “Honey you got to slow down / Little red corvette / ‘Cause if you don’t you gonna run your little red corvette right in the ground.”

Gotta Serve Somebody — Bob Dylan  “It may be the devil or it may be the Lord / But you’re gonna have to serve someone."

Only a Lad — Oingo Boingo  A dispatch from the excuse factory: “Only a lad / You really can’t blame him / Only a lad / Society made him / Only a lad / He’s our responsibility / Only a lad / He really couldn’t help it / Only a lad / He didn’t want to do it / Only a lad / He’s underprivileged and abused.”

BWAAAHAAAHAAA! *cant…stop….laughing*  Go ahead, John J. Miller. Keep telling yourself that's what Little Red Corvette's about. Or just ask my mother, who flipped out when she heard that song coming out of my cassette deck.

Obviously, a look at the complete lyrics is needed:

I guess I should've known by the way U parked your car sideways
That it wouldn't last
See, U're the kinda person that believes in makin' out once
Love 'em and leave 'em fast
I guess I must be dumb cuz U had a pocket full of horses
Trojan and some of them used
But it was Saturday night, I guess that makes it all right
And U say – "What have I got 2 lose?"

And honey, I say Little Red Corvette
Baby, U're much 2 fast (Oh)
Little Red Corvette
U need a love that's gonna last

I guess I should've closed my eyes when U drove me 2 the place
Where your horses run free
Cuz I felt a little ill when I saw all the pictures
Of the jockeys that were there before me
Believe it or not, I started 2 worry
I wondered if I had enough class
But it was Saturday night, I guess that makes it all right
And U say – "Baby, have U got enough gas?"
Oh yeah!

Little Red Corvette
Baby, U're much 2 fast (Yes U are)
Little Red Corvette
U need 2 find a love that's gonna last (Oh, oh)

A body like yours oughta be in jail
Cuz it's on the verge of bein' obscene
Move over, baby, gimme the keys
I'm gonna try 2 tame your little red love machine

Little Red Corvette
Baby, U're much 2 fast
Little Red Corvette
Need 2 find a love that's gonna last, hey hey

Little Red Corvette
Honey, U got 2 slow down (Got 2 slow down)
Little Red Corvette
Cuz if U don't, U're gonna run your little red corvette right in the ground
(Little Red Corvette)
Right down 2 the ground (Honey, U got 2 slow down)
U, U, U got 2 slow down
(Little Red Corvette)
U're movin' much 2 fast, 2 fast
Need 2 find a love that's gonna last!

Girl, U got an ass like I never seen, ow!
And the ride…
I say the ride is so smooth, U must be a limousine

Ow!
Baby, U're much 2 fast
Little Red Corvette
U need a love, U need a love that's, uh, that's gonna last
(Little Red Corvette)
Babe, U got 2 slow down (U got 2 slow down)
Little Red Corvette
Cuz if U don't, cuz if U don't
U're gonna run your body right into the ground (Right into the ground)
Right into the ground (Right into the ground)
Right into the ground (Right into the ground)

So…we're in agreement, right? This song is about S-E-X – wild, passionate, whorish, teenage sex. No cautionary tale at all – except to watch out for fast girls with fast cars.

Why not put Raspberry Beret in that list – it'd fit just about as well. 

The Rude Pundit – as usual – says it so much better than I ever could:

John, John J. Miller, Johnny J, JJ, what the fuck ever, you over at the National Review, with your new list of Conservative Rock Songs #51-101, your sequel to the sad cry for help that is the list of 1-50. Listen to the Rude Pundit. It's not that we on the left are saying, as you put it, "Hands off my rock music, right-wing scum!" No, no, we said that back in the 1980s when the PMRC (led by Tipper Gore, you know) tried to get music like "Little Red Corvette" by Prince (in your new list) stigmatized, censored, banned, even, from the airwaves or out of the reach of teenagers, the young consumers whose minds might be influenced in a conservative direction by Prince's "cautionary tale," as you say.

Warning – the Rude One's links go directly to the National Review's site. Proceed with extreme caution! — Jenn

Torture Awareness Month

The Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International:

TASSC has declared the month of June as Torture Awareness Month (Spanish, French). Let us raise our voices and declare: “No Torture. Not Now. Not Ever.”

We must not be bystanders! Instead, let us stand together against torture by participating in the following events and activities organized by TASSC.

Let us remind the world and its leaders that we have zero tolerance for torture in the United States and the over 150 countries where this crime against humanity is practiced today.

In 2003, George W. Bush had this to say about torture:

"The U.S. is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example. I call on all governments to join with the U.S. and the community of law abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating and prosecuting all acts of torture."

— George W. Bush on Torture Victims Recognition Day, June 26, 2003

 

From Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo to secret prisons around the world, detainees are being tortured with the full knowledge and support of the administration. Far too many people are making excuses to justify the illegal and immoral torture of fellow human beings.

 

Does torture work? No. Has the use of torture stopped any terrorist attacks? No. Has the use of torture made America safer? A thousand times: NO!

 

From Amnesty International:

Earlier this year the US government submitted a report to the UN Committee against Torture, the first such report since the USA launched its “war on terror” after the 11 September 2001 attacks, in which time the world has witnessed the opening of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, the Abu Ghraib torture scandal in Iraq and revelations about the US programme of “rendition”.

On 19 May 2006 the Committee issued recommendations to the US government over its compliance with its treaty obligations under the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The committee has refuted categorically the US government’s assertion that torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the "war on terror" has been the result of the actions of a few "bad apples".

The Committee recommended that the USA:

– Close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, and ensure that those transferred are not sent to countries where they may face further abuse

- "Cease the rendition of suspects" as this violates the non-refoulement obligation not to transfer individuals to where they are at risk of torture

– Apply the Convention to all areas under effective US control. The Committee stressed that the Convention applies in times of war or peace.

– Ensure that all those responsible for acts of torture or other ill-treatment are held responsible for their actions and appropriately punished.

The US delegation to the UN stated that the USA takes its international obligations regarding torture extremely seriously.

Amnesty International calls on the USA to match action to these laudable words, and ensure that it respects its obligations at home and abroad.

Join your voice to those calling on all countries to renounce the use of torture, and tell the US government: Not In My Name!

Visit Amnesty International, The World Organization Against Torture, and Torture Awareness Month for ideas on how to help bring an end to torture.

Join Bloggers Against Torture. 100 blogs have signed on so far, and more joining every day!

Read Notes from the Middle East by Adele Welty over at Donkephant. 

As most of you already know, I was part of a delegation, puttogether with extraordinary care by Medea Benjamin and Chris Michael of Global Exchange in San Francisco. We traveled to Amman, Jordan,with medical supplies, blankets, heaters and water purifiers for the refugees in the camps outside Falluja. Global Exchange received donations of medications from a large pharmaceutical company as well as small donations of supplies and cash valued at $600,000.
Once again, my vocabulary is not adequate to describe the experience of meeting Iraqis, for whom every day is September 11th. These good people, who wept as they told their stories, risked their lives tocome to Amman to meet with us. We were Americans, some of whom had lost sons in Iraq, Military Families Against the War. I represented September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Some members of the delegation were Americans who have not lost a loved one, but have concluded that the war is wrong, that Iraq had no weapons of massdestruction (except those for which Rumsfeld has the receipts) and no complicity in 9/11. We met with Arabs whose, long history of oppression has made them cynical of Americans, but who greeted us with warmth and gratitude for caring enough to come with medical supplies and humanitarian aid. I told them that Timmy had died on 9/11 trying to rescue civilians trapped in the twin towers and that now innocent civilians are being killed in his name and we were all trying to stop it.

[snip]

Allegations were made that would not stand up in a court of law. They would be labeled hearsay, for although the storytellers were eyewitnesses to these events, we are not mandated reporters. These stories, they so movingly related, are difficult to accept. Yet we heard similar allegations repeated by different groups that arrived over the course of the week we were in Amman. Stories of atrocities committed by American troops that make Abu Graib seem like childish pranks instead of the horrible acts of violence they really were.They told us that since Abu Graib, the torture of prisoners has gotten worse, but there are other prisons in Iraq, outside of Baghdad, prisons that are underground and are not monitored by outside agencies. There, whole families are detained, the males beaten and the women raped in full view of the other prisoners.

They told us about routine instances of tanks rolling over and crushing cars on the road, cars filled with people. In one instance, a car contained a seven year old girl, whose father had just run into the market. She was screaming and banging on the window as the tank crushed the car around her. Many of the Iraqis testified to having witnessed this type of occurrence more than once. Others told of troops smashing down doors in the middle of the night and shooting the males in the household, often in front of their mothers and wives. And then there were the incidents of rape, the rape of teenage girls before the eyes of their parents and siblings. Upon learning they have made an error, the officers come back with two thousand dollars compensation and an apology for killing the heads of households by mistake. [...]