An alleged libertarian can't keep from attacking the right on the Mark Martin case

Radley Balko, a left-libertarian member of the CATO Institute, spoke about the case of the sharia-supporting judge in Pennsylvania who discriminated against the atheist who was assaulted by a Muslim who hated his Zombie Muhammed costume on Halloween. You'd almost think he had something going when he admitted that the judge was out of line by admonishing - to say nothing of blaming - the victim in this case, but then Balko has the sheer brainlessness to say that:

The worst part of this may be that in his asinine effort to protect Muslim sensibilities at the expense of the Constitution and Mr. Perce’s rights, Martin has served up a gift to the Sharia is coming! crowd. They’re already lapping this up. Don’t be surprised if we see fallout from this in the form of yet more anti-Muslim legislation in state legislatures across the country. Judge Martin probably just made life more difficult for American Muslims.

Oh, so then Balko is basically on the side of the Religion of Rape, is that it? Since when was this a "gift"? It's not a gift so much as a warning that if we let down our guard, we're going to have more judges with demonic mindsets like Martin's going around. We're not happy this took place at all. One of the commentors replying said:

This story is an example of what not to do if you are a judge. There is a quality called judicial temperament. This person on the bench lacks it.

I would assume there is double jeopardy here. But that does not mean the judge cannot face some Pennsylvanian judicial council.

I am not into xenophobia or suggesting all Muslims want to impose Sharia law on us all. But your fears that this might be lapped up by the “anti Sharia” crowd are not the issue (unless we are talking examples of them assaulting Muslims). The fact is we have gotten to the point that You cannot criticize Islam without facing violence. That is intolerable. That is fascism of a sort.

Well said. Balko should be ashamed of himself if he's going out of his way to attack the right here to trash the main issues at stake over some absurd anti-conservative bias, yet it shouldn't be too surprising he's willing to betray the athiests you'd think he'd be supporting. Eric Dondero chimed in and said:

Bwahahahaha! We’re laughing at you all.

This little issue has put you all in a bind, ‘eh? You left-libertarians are passionately pro-Atheist, nothing wrong with that. But you’re also loathe to criticize Islam.

So, what to do. What to do, indeed.

Report on it, but hope and pray no right-libertarians catch you on it.

Bizzzzzzzzzz! (Buzzer sounds). Too late. We caught you on it. And we’ll be watching from here on out.

Boy, I wouldn’t want to be you all. You’re screwed either way. If you finally acknowledge the threat of Big Islam, we pro-defense libertarians are gonna say, “We told you so…” til the cows come home. If you ignore it, we’ll be relentlessly pointing out your uttery hypocrisy.

Go take an ibuprofen. You’re gonna need it with all the headaches you all are about to have….

Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!

People like Balko are going to have to decide where they stand, or maybe they should just keep out of it.

Front Page Mag:

The Racist Ravings of Derrick Bell

By now, you may already have seen the 1991 video footage of Barack Obama, who was then a 30-year-old student at Harvard Law School, speaking in glowing terms about Harvard professor Derrick Bell, whom Obama described as a man known for “speaking the truth” and for an “excellence of … scholarship” that had not only “opened up new vistas and new horizons,” but had “changed the standards [of what] legal writing is about.” “Open up your hearts and your minds to the words of Professor Derrick Bell,” Obama urged the sizable crowd which had gathered to show their support for Professor Bell that day.

Since the release of the video, Obama’s backers have been quick to dismiss it as nothing more than a young scholar’s affectionate tribute to a liberal academic icon who not only made major intellectual contributions to his profession, but who also was a leading champion of racial “diversity” in higher education. For instance, CNN host Soledad O’Brien, when interviewing Breitbart.com’s editor-in-chief Joel Pollak yesterday about the significance of the video, described Bell benignly as “the first tenured African American professor of law at Harvard University,” and characterized the gathering merely as “a rally in support of racial equality among the faculty at Harvard Law School.” O’Brien then asked her guest, with apparent bewilderment, “What part of that was the bombshell? Because I missed it. I don’t get it. What was a bombshell?”

In a similar spirit of willful blindness, Media Matters describes Derrick Bell as “a respected academic” and “an influential figure in the Civil Rights movement.” This portrayal is reminiscent of Barack Obama’s pathetic characterization, a few years back, of Bill Ayers as “just a guy who lives in my neighborhood.” But just as the reality of Bill Ayers was far more interesting than Obama indicated at that time, the truth about Derrick Bell is likewise far more compelling than the pablum the left has provided in the wake of this latest video. For you see, by the time Barack Obama was delivering his glowing remarks about Derrick Bell in 1991, the professor had already established—and would continue to cultivate for another two decades—a reputation as someone who thoroughly, resolutely detested the United States and who viewed the nation’s institutions and its people as irremediably racist. In short, until his death last October at the age of 80, Bell was secular academia’s version of Jeremiah Wright—a raging, fulminating racist without the clergyman’s robe. And something about his philosophy resonated strongly with Barack Obama.

Derrick Bell is best known as the founding father of Critical Race Theory, an academic discipline which maintains that society is divided along racial lines into (white) oppressors and (black) victims, similar to the way Marxism frames the oppressor/victim dichotomy along class lines. Critical Race Theory contends that America is permanently racist to its core, and that consequently its legal structures are, by definition, racist and invalid. A logical derivative of this premise, according to Critical Race Theory, is that the members of “oppressed” racial groups are entitled—in fact obligated—to determine for themselves which laws and traditions have merit and are worth observing. Such a perspective’s implications for the ability of civil society to function at all, are nothing short of monumental.

Read more »

Space War (h/t to Ace):

Commentary: Is Syria 2011 Spain 1936?
by Arnaud De Borchgrave

Is Syria's civil war a prelude to a larger Mideast conflict that would involve Israel, Iran, the Arab Gulf countries minus Oman (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain) and Israel?

Some knowledgeable military observers who have served or are serving in the Middle East say that the Arab Spring, which translated into chaos and intertribal warfare from Yemen to Libya to Syria, is a prelude to a much wider conflict involving Israel and Iran.

Saudi Arabia is assisting the Syrian rebels who now call themselves revolutionaries. Some "Gulfies," the colloquial label for Arab oil states in the Persian Gulf, assisted the anti-Gadhafi NATO forces in Libya last year, and Libya today is the chaotic domain of dozens of rival tribes once suppressed by the late eccentric and bloody dictator.

In Tripoli, the Libyan capital, Aldelkadir Elhaj, a former al-Qaida chief, once tortured by the Thais under the U.S. rendition program, holds sway with a big stick.

Privately, Persian Gulf leaders say Iran has concluded the United States' days as a superpower are numbered. Iran's aging theocrats tell their visiting gulf interlocutors that America has lost two wars in 10 years -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- and is pulling out of Europe and "pivoting" to Asia where China is already dominant.

Also on a wider front, Islamist fundamentalists hijacked the Arab Revolution in Egypt and would like to loosen the constraints imposed by the Camp David accords and the peace treaty with Israel.

The fundamentalist drama is still being played out in Egypt, Syria and Libya.

Denials notwithstanding, Persian Gulf rulers are secretly rooting for Israel against Iran. Privately, some have told trusted foreign friends that if the United States and Israel cannot rein in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, they will have no alternative but to accommodate Tehran.

The Spanish civil war (1936-39) killed 500,000 as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union backed opposite sides -- and Franco's fascists emerged victorious and remained in power until 1975.

In the Middle East, Syria's civil war -- which some observers are calling Spain II, or a prelude to World War III -- has been under way since Feb. 17, 2011. Saudi Arabia is helping arm Syrian rebels who now call themselves revolutionaries. Russia and China are backing the Syrian dictatorship, which is allied with Iran.

Russia, China and Iran are on the side of Syria's "Alouite dictatorship" headed by Bashar Assad. He inherited the country's dictatorship from his father Hafez who died in 2000 after almost 30 years in power.

Last week, a hastily organized Syrian plebiscite for a new constitution theoretically dissolved one-party rule but, also theoretically, gives Bashar Assad 18 more years in power for a total of 28, just one year shy of his father's record.

Between the end of the French mandate in 1945 and the military takeover of air force chief Gen. Hafez Assad in 1970, Syria experienced 21 coups. So no one is taking any bets on Assad's political longevity.

Unless Iran's current view of a rapidly declining U.S. superpower can be reversed, a number of Arab Gulf rulers will be tempted into longer lasting accommodation with Tehran.

Iran's revolutionary guards control the entire eastern side of the Persian Gulf from the Iraqi border to the Hormuz Strait, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. All the Arab gulf states and their oil installations are in the sights of Iran's missile sites.

Some Iran-watchers consider Tehran's current narrative highly dangerous. Iran's leaders see themselves as still standing and in fighting trim after all manner of Western sanctions. They have apparently concluded among themselves and tell their Arab visitors that after the United States exits the gulf, they will still be there, the major force to be reckoned with, astride one-fifth of the world's oil supplies.

Tehran's view of its all-dominant strategic posturing is reinforced by what it sees as two anti-American powers on its right flank -- Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was Pakistan's Dr. A.Q. Khan, the world's leading nuclear black marketer, who sold Iran the wherewithal to start its journey toward becoming a nuclear power.

Today, Pakistan, in a paroxysm of anti-Americanism, brought about by last November's accidental killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers by a U.S. gunship over the Afghan border, have stalled thousands of supply trucks for NATO forces in Afghanistan. The successful SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden also rankled national sensitivities.

And Tehran's Revolutionary Guard generals also see Afghanistan moving away from its close alliance with the United States -- and vice versa. The idiotic mistake of U.S. personnel torching unwanted Korans was manna from heaven for Iran's mullahs.

In his meeting Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Barack Obama, weighing the pros and cons of his chances for another four years in the White House, knows that major differences with the Jewish state on its existential crisis would probably cost him the election.

A congressional thunder clap from pro-Israel lobby group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is the last thing Obama needs eight months before the election. Israel's prime minister reminded him that the plan to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States in Cafe Milano, Washington's celebrity-studded "in" restaurant, was the real thing, the FBI said.

On the other hand, the current correlation of forces in the Middle East doesn't favor the United States and its Western allies. The United States clearly has the assets -- bombers, drones, deep penetration ordnance and SEALs -- to deprive Iran of nuclear weapons for several years. But Iran also commands sufficient terrorist assets to unleash massive, asymmetrical retaliatory blows, including thousands of mines in the Strait of Hormuz -- i.e., 20 percent of the world's oil.

Oil at $300 or even $500 a barrel for a while? That's $12 or $20 a gallon at the pump.

Netanyahu says "None of us can afford to wait much longer" and "I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation." If diplomacy fails and Obama decides to keep the United States out of what would be its third armed conflict in 10 years, he could easily be toast in November. And if he goes in, the result may be much the same.

Know The Peace Of Islam

Al Arabiya:

Dozens of Iraqi teenagers stoned to death for ‘emo’ haircuts: activists

Iraqi activists said this picture belongs to a teenager who was brutally killed
by religious police for having an “emo” hairstyle. (Courtesy of Al Tahreer News)

Iraqi activists sounded the bell over the killing of dozens of teenagers by religious police for having “emo” haircuts.

Activists told the Cairo-based al-Akhbar daily that at least 90 Iraqi teenagers with “emo” appearances have been stoned to death by the Moral Police in the country in the past month. The violent crackdown against “emo” Iraqi teenagers came after the Iraqi interior ministry declared them as “devil worshippers.”

“The ‘Emo phenomenon’ or devil worshiping is being probed by the Moral Police who have the approval to eliminate it as soon as possible since it’s detrimentally affecting the society and becoming a danger,” according to a statement by the interior ministry.

“They wear strange, tight clothes that have pictures on them such as skulls and use stationery that are shaped as skulls. They also wear rings on their noses and tongues, and do other strange activities,” the statement added.

The statement said that Iraq’s Moral Police was granted approval by the Ministry of Education to enter Baghdad schools and pinpoint students with Western appearances.

The activists told the newspaper that a group of armed men dressed in civilian clothing led the teenagers to secluded areas a few days ago, stoned them to death, and then disposed their bodies in garbage dumpsters across the capital, Baghdad.

“First they throw concrete blocks at the boy’s arms, then at his legs, then the final blow is to his head, and if he is not dead by then, they start all over again,” one person who managed to escape told the daily.
The exact death toll remains unclear, but Hana al-Bayaty of Brussels Tribunal, an NGO dealing with Iraqi issues, said the current figure ranges “between 90 and 100.”

Activists said that leaflets were distributed in Baghdad warning teenagers from donning the “emo” style, and in some regions, teenage homosexuals were killed by battering their heads also by concrete blocks.

U. S. State Department Actively Promoting Eurabia

From Creeping Sharia:

...Obama ideologues are crisscrossing Europe on U.S. taxpayer funded trips to “export” failed American approaches to multiculturalism, affirmative action, cultural diversity and special rights for minorities.

Further, American diplomats are repeatedly apologizing to Muslims in Europe for a multitude of real or imagined slights against Islam, and the U.S. State Department is now spending millions of dollars each year actively promoting Islam — including Islamic Sharia law — on the continent....

More at the above link.

Billie Holiday
One More For The Road

As Time Goes By

Love Me Or Leave Me

The very idea of true patriotism is lost, and the term has been prostituted to the very worst of purposes. A patriot, sir! Why, patriots spring up like mushrooms! -- Robert Walpole

Yesterday we told you about the new Southern Poverty Law Center report on The Patriot Movement and how they inspire Hate Groups and Militias.

If you feel so inclined you can read the full report here.

This is the full list of Patriot Groups as compiled by the SPLC. Note that they are listed by state so some are listed multiple times. Like Oath Keepers.

Oath Keepers? Really? A group dedicated to upholding the Oath they took to support and defend America is a potential threat?

If you belong to or support any of these groups you are considered a possible threat to the republic and bear more scrutiny than someone like Jeremiah Wright or Derrick Bell. I highlighted just a very few, mostly in Pennsylvania, that I support.

Go through the list and see how many you belong to or support. See how much of a threat they believe you are to America. See how much you scare the bejabbers out of the government and it's bots.

Because the government takes this list seriously.

Believe it.

SPLC:

Active ‘Patriot’ Groups in the United States in 2011

The Southern Poverty Law Center identified 1274 anti-government “Patriot” groups that were active in 2011. Of these groups, 334 were militias, marked with an asterisk, and the remainder includes “common-law” courts, publishers, ministries and citizens’ groups.

Generally, Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the “New World Order,” engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines. Listing here does not imply that the groups themselves advocate or engage in violence or other criminal activities, or are racist.

The list was compiled from field reports, Patriot publications, the Internet, law enforcement sources and news reports. Groups are identified by the city, county or region where they are located.

ALABAMA (31)
Alabama Constitutional Militia C.O.C.*
Calhoun County
Clarke County
Coffee County
Elmore County
Marion County
Statewide
Alarm & Muster: The Modern Day Alarm Riders
Statewide
America Can Be Free
Newton
Assemblies Union of the Several States of the Union of the States of the United States of America
Childersburg
Constitution Party
Montgomery
East Alabama Citizens’ Militia*
Talladega
Freedom Yell
Ozark
Free Patriot Press
Birmingham
Get Out Of Our House (GOOOH)
Statewide
John Birch Society
Mobile
Oath Keepers
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America
Dothan
Skipperville
The Republic for the united States of America — Republic Congress
Skipperville
Statewide
South Alabama Militia*
Ashford
Pansy
Southeast Constitutional Militia*
Statewide
Tenth Amendment Center
Statewide
THREE%ER
Pinson
Watchmen of Alabama*
Statewide
We Are Change
Birmingham
Fultondale
Huntsville
Leesburg
We the People
Madison County

ALASKA (17)
Alarm & Muster: The Modern Day Alarm Riders
Statewide
Alaska Citizens Militia*
Nikiski
Alaskan Contingent Guard*
Glennallen
McCarthy
Valdez
Alaska Peacemakers Militia*
Fairbanks
Central Alaska Militia*
Delta Junction
Constitution Party (Alaskan Independence Party)
Soldotna
Get Out Of Our House (GOOOH)
Statewide
John Birch Society
Statewide
North Slope Militia*
Deadhorse
Oath Keepers
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America — Republic Congress
Statewide
Second Amendment Task Force
Fairbanks
South Central Militia*
Wasilla
We the People
Homer

ARIZONA (31)
Alarm & Muster: The Modern Day Alarm Riders
Statewide
American Patriot Friends Network
Peoria
Arizona Citizens Militia*
Douglas
Arizona Militia*
Glendale
Committee of Safety
Mesa
Constitution Party
Apache County
Cochise County
Coconino County
Goodyear
Navajo County
Pima County
Pinal County
Yavapai County
Yuma County
Freedom’s Phoenix
Glendale
Get Out Of Our House (GOOOH)
Statewide
Hour of the Time
Eagar
John Birch Society
Statewide
Molon Labe
Phoenix
Oath Keepers
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America
Coconino County
Maricopa County
Pima County
Scottsdale
Yavapai County
The Republic for the united States of America — Republic Congress
Statewide
Riders United for a Sovereign
America, Corp.
Phoenix
Shadow Mountain Bank
Ash Fork
Southeast Valley Tea Party Patriots
Santan Valley
Tenth Amendment Center
Statewide
We the People
Statewide

ARKANSAS (19)
Alarm & Muster: The Modern Day Alarm Riders
Statewide
Arkansas Militia*
Eastern
Little Rock
Northeast
Northwest
South Central Arkansas
Southwest
Western
Constitution Party
Fayetteville
Get Out Of Our House (GOOOH)
Statewide
John Birch Society
Fort Smith
Liberty Tree Rangers*
Statewide
Militia of Washington County*
Fayetteville
Oath Keepers
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America — Republic Congress
Statewide
Secure Arkansas
Little Rock
We Are Change
Little Rock
Searcy

CALIFORNIA (59)
Alarm & Muster: The Modern Day Alarm Riders
Statewide
American Armenian Militia*
Los Angeles/San Fernando
Valley Area
American Independent Party
Vacaville
California State Militia — 31st Field Force Squad Alpha/SOG*
Orange County
Constitution Party
Riverside
San Leandro
The Dorean Group
Union City
Educate Yourself
Costa Mesa
Freedom Force International
Thousand Oaks
Freedom Law School
Phelan
Free Enterprise Society
Fresno
Jefferson Home Guard*
Lookout Junction
John Birch Society
Chico
Los Angeles
Sacramento
Simi Valley
Tulare County
Northern California State Militia*
Butte County
Falcon Creek
Sacramento
Solano County
Stockton
Sunnyvale
Tehama County
Nullify Now!
Los Angeles
Oath Keepers
High Desert
Northern
Orange County
Southern
Temecula
Radio Liberty
Soquel
The Republic for the united States of America
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America — Republic Congress
Statewide
Second Amendment Committee
Hanford
State of California Unorganized Militia*
Monrovia
Tenth Amendment Center
Los Angeles
Truth Radio
Nipomo
UCC Class
Rocklin
We Are Change
Bakersfield
Chico
Fresno
Grass Valley
Hollywood
Humboldt
Irvine
La Verne
Long Beach
Los Angeles
Oakland
Ontario
Red Bluff
Riverside County
Sacramento
San Bernardino
San Diego
San Francisco Bay Area
San Luis Obispo
Stockton
We the People
San Diego

COLORADO (29)
38 Field Force/Colorado Militia*
Statewide
America First Party
Boulder
American Freedom Network
Johnstown
Colorado State Group*
Statewide
Colorado State Militias*
Lakewood
Constitution Party
Adams County
Arvada
Douglas County
Elbert County
El Paso County
Jefferson County
Platteville
Discharge Debt
Broomfield
eMilitary Manuals
Montrose
Get Out Of Our House (GOOOH)
Statewide
Javelin Press
Ignacio
John Birch Society
Aurora
Oath Keepers
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America — Republic Congress
Statewide
Team Law
Grand Junction
Tenth Amendment Center
Statewide
Tyranny Response Team
Johnstown
We Are Change
Colorado Springs
Durango
Fort Collins
Huerfano
Statewide
We the People
Colorado Springs

CONNECTICUT (17)
Committees of Safety
Weston
Connecticut 51st Militia
Terryville
Connecticut Patriot Alliance
Canterbury
Poquonock
Connecticut Survivalist Alliance
Middlefield
Constitution Party
Plantsville
Get Out Of Our House (GOOOH)
Statewide
John Birch Society
Shelton
Oath Keepers
Statewide
The Post & Email
Stafford Springs
The Republic for the united States of America
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America — Republic Congress
Statewide
Tenth Amendment Center
Statewide
We Are Change
Wallingford
Waterbury
We the People
Statewide
We the People — Constitution Lobby of Connecticut
Waterbury

DELAWARE (10)
Constitution Party
Bear
Clayton
Get Out Of Our House (GOOOH)
Statewide
John Birch Society
Statewide
Mid-Atlantic Trustees and Administrators
Rehoboth Beach
Oath Keepers
Statewide
The Republic for the united States of America
Statewide
Sovereign State Depository
Wilmington
We Are Change
Statewide
We the People
Smyrna

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (7)
John Birch Society
Washington, DC
Oath Keepers
Washington, DC
Tyranny Response Team
Washington, DC
We Are Change
Washington, DC
We the People
Washington, DC
WND Books
Washington, DC
WorldNetDaily
Washington, DC

Read more »

This Week On The Gathering Storm

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, hosted by WC and Always On Watch. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time, for 30 minutes.

The call-in number is 646-915-9870.

Our scheduled guest this week is IQ al Rassooli.

Listen to the March 9, 2012 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
Read more »

Terrorist stabs soldier during terror culprit roundup

While recapturing another terrorist released during Shalit exchange, this took place:

An IDF soldier was stabbed in the neck during a security operation in the village of Yatta south of Hebron. The terrorist was shot and wounded by another soldier during the attack. Another terrorist was shot to death. The wounded soldier was evacuated to Hadassah Ein-Kerem Hospital by ambulance. He was reported to be conscious with a gash in his neck.

The IDF reported that the stabbing took place when villagers tried to stop the arrest of Khaled Mahamrah, who was released a few months ago, with more than 1,000 other security prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit. IDF Spokesman Yoav Mordechai said that Mahamrah dealt in money used by terror organizations.

The alleged stabber was identified as Zakaria Abu-Aram. His weapons was a paper cutter. He and the other terrorist allegedly rushed soldiers at the front of Mahamrah's house. Brigadier General Mordechai said that the force acted correctly.

The IDF arrested three terrorists in the Hevron vicinity over night during a series of raids as the Purim holiday got underway.

More at the link. The soldier was very lucky he survived and the knife didn't cut deep.

the new obama campaign poster is out and I for one salute the the genius that is this administrations brave new world

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Fuck Fluke, She's a Slut

Turns Out The Problem Wasn't Calling Sandra Fluke a Slut At All, But Merely With Disagreeing With Her

 

From Ace

A professor at Rochester knocked Limbaugh's choice of words, but then made this observation:

[W]hile Ms. Fluke herself deserves the same basic respect we owe to any human being, her position — which is what’s at issue here — deserves none whatseover. It deserves only to be ridiculed, mocked and jeered. To treat it with respect would be a travesty. I expect there are respectable arguments for subsidizing contraception (though I am skeptical that there are arguments sufficiently respectable to win me over), but Ms. Fluke made no such argument. All she said, in effect, was that she and others want contraception and they don’t want to pay for it.

Note that the attacks on Limbaugh were due, supposedly, to his "misogynistic" language.
So this professor rap his language -- but goes on to say her position is ludicrous and worthy in itself of mockery.

So, no problem, right?

Wrong.

 Ooh, once again, Pastorius is being a big meany. How could I call her a SLUT?

Well, because she is.

You want me to prove she's a slut?

I mean, it's not an airtight case, but I can make a really good case that Sandra Fluke is a slut, one of two kinds. Either she is a

1) traditional slut (bad girl, one who likes sex more than almost anything else, you know, the kind of girl guy's like)

or

2) an abortion slut.

You want to see this reasonable argument I'm gonna make, right?

Well, here it is:

Some Thoughts On Sandra Fluke's Claim That A Woman's Contraception Can Cost $3000 Over 3 Years

Her numbers were no fluke. I do not believe Sandra Fluke just made her numbers up. She is a long time activist. She knows how to represent her cause. The podium she has been given here is too big and important for her to just be winging it.

The ONLY way that contraception could add up to $3000 per year is if one has used expensive services repeatedly.

The pill at $9 a year is NOT expensive. Dr. visits and Pap Smears are not that expensive. Not  $1000 a year expensive, anyway.

The services which are expensive are

ABORTIONS (which have an average national cost of $468)

and

RU-486 - which, with Dr. visits - have an average national cost of approximately $400

So, here's a possible explanation.

Doctor visit (to obtain prescription): $75

Pap Smear (usually required by the Dr.) : $200

The Pill at $9 per month = $108 per year

1 Abortion or RU-486 = $400-468 per year

or, about $851 per year.

So, $1000 per year would be approxiamtely the cost of 1 pap smear, 1 Dr. visit, the pill, plus one abortion.

Remember, abortion is part of the constellation of contraceptive options to these people.

Well, another angle here is, contraception cost Sandra Fluke $1000 per year, because she was using condoms ... A LOT. ... you know, like,

A 12 pack of condoms is about $8. So that's .75 a piece.

1000 divided by .75 a piece =  1333 condoms a year, which figures to 3.65 condoms per day.

Yeah, I used to have a girlfriend like that. She was a good girl.

So, I rest my case. Fluke is either a traditional slut, or an abortion slut, the kind of girl who uses abortion as contraception.

Which do you think it is?

By the way, have you missed me around here?

John Coltrane
Chronic Blues

Black Pearls

CBS:

Activists: Syrian hospitals are torture chamber
By Clarissa Ward .



(CBS News) In a video shot secretly inside a Syrian regime military hospital in the besieged rebel stronghold of Homs, men are blindfolded and shackled to their beds. The chains are extremely tight.

One man's chest and hand show what appear to be wounds from a severe beating. Instruments of torture lie on a nearby table - an electric cable and a rubber whip.

The hospital staffer, who risked his life to capture this footage, said he's seen doctors assault opposition activists.

"I have seen detainees being tortured by electrocution, whipping, beating with batons," the man videotaping said, adding they also break their legs by twisting the feet until the leg gives.

This is not the first account of allegations of torture in state run hospitals. This week the U.N. said it had received similar video.

Abu Abdullah is a doctor from the city of Homs. He recently came to Lebanon after he was injured in a rocket attack while he was treating opposition forces in a makeshift clinic.

He told CBS News about one patient whom he tried to evacuate from Homs. He says the convoy was stopped by Syrian army soldiers and the wounded man was taken to a military hospital.

"Two days later, they called his family and told them to come and pick up his body," Abu Abdullah said. "His body was burned and had holes from nails in it."

Most people who are injured in the fighting go to makeshift clinics for treatment. Medical supplies are limited and the conditions are basic, but the alternative - military hospitals - can be a death sentence.

Wreckovery

Gallup:

U.S. Unemployment Up in February
Underemployment is 19.1%, up from 18.7% in January
by Dennis Jacobe, Chief Economist

PRINCETON, NJ -- U.S. unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, increased to 9.1% in February from 8.6% in January and 8.5% in December.

The 0.5-percentage-point increase in February compared with January is the largest such month-to-month change Gallup has recorded in its not-seasonally adjusted measure since December 2010, when the rate rose 0.8 points to 9.6% from 8.8% in November. A year ago, Gallup recorded a February increase of 0.4 percentage points, to 10.3% from 9.9% in January 2011.

In addition to the 9.1% of U.S. workers who are unemployed, 10.0% are working part time but want full-time work. This percentage is similar to the 10.1% in January, but is higher than the 9.6% of February 2011.

As a result, Gallup's U.S. underemployment measure, which combines the percentage of workers who are unemployed and the percentage working part time but wanting full-time work, increased to 19.1% in February from 18.7% in January. This is an improvement from the 19.9% of February 2011.

Looking Ahead to the Government's Unemployment Report

The February unemployment rate the U.S. government reports on Friday morning will be based largely on mid-month conditions. In mid-February, Gallup reported that its U.S. unemployment rate had increased to 9.0% from 8.3% in mid-January. The mid-month reading normally provides a relatively good estimate of the government's unadjusted unemployment rate for the month.

Assuming the government's unadjusted rate increases -- from its 8.8% in January -- to at least match Gallup's mid-month measurement for February, then the government should also report an increase in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February. If the government's unadjusted unemployment rate increases to the degree that Gallup's has from mid-month to mid-month, then the government's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate could show an even larger increase.

However, the extent of the seasonal adjustment also makes a difference. Last February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics applied a seasonal adjustment factor of 0.5 points to its unadjusted unemployment rate for the month. If that same seasonal adjustment is applied to Gallup's mid-month unemployment rate of 9.0%, it would produce a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 8.5%. Alternatively, if it was applied to Gallup's full-month unemployment rate of 9.1%, it would produce a seasonally adjusted rate of 8.6%. Gallup therefore forecasts an increase in the unemployment rate.

Gallup in February also found a decline in its Job Creation Index, which tends to support an increase in the February unemployment rate.

The consensus forecast, however, is for no change in the government's unemployment rate. February jobless claims were running at roughly 350,000 during the month, implying a relatively stable unemployment rate. Additionally, Wednesday's ADP report suggesting that private-sector jobs increased by more than 200,000 in February is also somewhat supportive of a stable unemployment rate forecast.

Regardless of what the government reports, Gallup's unemployment and underemployment measures show a substantial deterioration since mid-January. In this context, the increase in unemployment as measured by Gallup may, at least partly, reflect growth in the workforce, as more Americans who had given up looking for work become slightly more optimistic and start looking for work again. So while there may be positive signs, the reality Gallup finds is that more Americans are looking for work now than were doing so just six weeks ago.

Gallup.com reports

You know. . .

Iran Hiding The Evidence

Fox:

Iran reportedly cleaning up nuclear work

VIENNA – Satellite images of an Iranian military facility appear to show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the site, indicating an attempted cleanup radioactive traces possibly left by tests of a nuclear-weapon trigger, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Two of the diplomats said the crews may be trying to erase evidence of tests of a small experimental neutron device used to set off a nuclear explosion. A third diplomat could not confirm that but said any attempt to trigger a so-called neutron initiator at the Parchin site could only be in the context of trying to develop nuclear arms.

The images, provided to the IAEA by member countries, are recent and constantly updated, said one of the diplomats.

The diplomats are nuclear experts accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency. All asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive information.

Iran is under growing international pressure over its nuclear program, which it insists is peaceful. Israel has warned that it may resort to a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent Tehran from obtaining atomic weapons.

The IAEA has already identified the Parchin military site as the location of suspected nuclear weapons-related testing. In a November report, it said it appeared to be the site of experiments with conventional high explosives meant to initiate a nuclear chain reaction.

It did not mention a neutron initiator as part of those tests but in a separate section cited an unnamed member nation as saying Iran may have experimented with a neutron initiator, without going into detail or naming a location for such work.

In contrast, the intelligence information shared with the AP by the two diplomats linked the high-explosives work directly to setting off a neutron initiator at Parchin.

Explaining such a device, the agency's November report said that "if placed in the center of a nuclear core of an implosion-type nuclear device and compressed,(it) could produce a burst of neutrons suitable for initiating a fission chain reaction."

If Iran did try to trigger a neutron initiator, it would harden international suspicions by adding a nuclear component to a suspected string of experiments linked to weapons development that generally have not included radioactive material.

The diplomats said they suspected attempts at sanitization because some of the vehicles at the scene appeared to be haulage trucks and other equipment suited to carting off potentially contaminated soil from the site.

Read more »

Obama's Re-Election More Important Than Israel's Security. Or Ours for that matter

New York Post:

US offered Israel advanced weaponry in exchange for delaying Iran attack: report

WASHINGTON -- The US offered to give Israel advanced weaponry -- including bunker-busting bombs and refueling planes -- in exchange for Israel's agreement not to attack Iranian nuclear sites, Israeli newspaper Maariv reported Thursday.

President Obama reportedly made the offer during Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week.

Under the proposed deal, Israel would not attack Iran until 2013, after US elections in November this year. The newspaper cited unnamed Western diplomatic and intelligence sources.

Netanyahu said Monday that sanctions against Iran had not worked, adding that "none of us can afford to wait much longer" in taking action against Iran's controversial nuclear program.

However, Netanyahu told FOX News Channel on Wednesday that he did not think war with Iran was inevitable. He added that the only way to deter Tehran was to advocate carrying out a serious military strike against the Islamic Republic.

"The paradox is that if they actually believe that they are going to face the military option, then you probably will not need the military option," Netanyahu said.

The US also believes there is still a "window of opportunity" for the dispute to be resolved diplomatically.

Obama told reporters during a White House news conference Tuesday that the US would apply pressure to Iran, "even as we provide a door for the Iranian regime to walk through" to prove its nuclear program is peaceful.

The President had met Netanyahu in the Oval Office the day before, where he reaffirmed his "unprecedented commitment" to Israel's security in the Middle East.

On Thursday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei welcomed Obama's support for finding a diplomatic solution to the Iranian crisis.

"This talk is good talk and shows an exit from illusion," AFP reported Khamenei as saying, citing the leader's website. However, Khamenei criticised the continued imposition of international sanctions against Iran.

"The US president continued saying that he wants to make the Iranian people kneel through sanctions, this part of this speech shows the continuation of illusion in this issue," he said.

A statement issued Thursday on behalf of the so-called P5+1 countries -- the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany -- urged Iran to enter into a "serious dialogue" and "without pre-conditions" on its nuclear program.

The statement was issued at a meeting of the UN atomic agency in Vienna. "We call on Iran to enter, without pre-conditions, into a sustained process of serious dialogue, which will produce concrete results," it said.

On Tuesday, the P5+1 countries accepted an offer from Iran's chief nuclear negotiator to resume talks.

A patriot must always be ready to defends his country against his government. -- Ed Abbey

Once upon a not so long ago being called a Patriot was meant as a compliment.

Now, one man speaking out against the government is a danger to the republic itself.

Three guys speaking out against the government in a bar is a Movement.

If they're in a gun club or have self defense pistols on their hips and it's a bonafide armed militia you betcha.

Imagine what they must think about folks like you and me.

NPR:

Report: 'Explosive' Growth Of 'Patriot Movement' And Militias Continues

by Mark Memmott

Southern Poverty Law Center

"Patriot movement groups" in red. Militias — armed wings of such organizations — in gray.

An enormous surge in the number of groups that "see the federal government as their primary enemy" and in some cases have militias as their "armed wings" continues, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports today.

According to the civil rights organization's researchers, the rapid growth in such "Patriot movement" groups, which began when Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, has mushroomed since. They estimate there are now nearly 10 times more Patriot and militia organizations — 1,274 in all — in the U.S.

Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the law center, told us this morning that Obama's candidacy and election has fueled the growth in groups that believe the federal government will "impose martial law ... confiscate guns ... open concentration camps run by FEMA ... and force the U.S. to become a socialist state."

"It's a conspiracy-driven movement," he added.

Also driving the growth in such groups: the recent recession, weak recovery and increasing "income inequality."

In its report, the center writes that:

"The Patriot movement first emerged in 1994, a response to what was seen as violent government repression of dissident groups at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992 and near Waco, Texas, in 1993, along with anger at gun control and the Democratic Clinton administration in general. It peaked in 1996, a year after the Oklahoma City bombing, with 858 groups, then began to fade. By the turn of the millennium, the Patriot movement was reduced to fewer than 150 relatively inactive groups.

"But the movement came roaring back beginning in late 2008, just as the economy went south with the subprime collapse and, more importantly, as Barack Obama appeared on the political scene as the Democratic nominee and, ultimately, the president-elect. Even as most of the nation cheered the election of the first black president that November, an angry backlash developed that included several plots to murder Obama. Many Americans, infused with populist fury over bank and auto bailouts and a feeling that they had lost their country, joined Patriot groups."

The center's researchers report there's been slower growth in the number of "hate groups" across the nation — organizations that focus their anger on specific types of people and "propagate known falsehoods." There were an estimated 1,018 hate groups at the end of 2,011, up from 1,002 the year before.

Beheading in America

The fruits of Pakistan's trees have landed in North Carolina.

Hearing today for Triangle woman accused in beheading plot

RALEIGH -- A woman accused of working with a Triangle man convicted of conspiring to commit terror to arrange murder of three witnesses in his case is scheduled to be in federal court this morning.

Nevine Aly Elsheikh, a special education teacher and daughter of a former N.C. State University professor, is accused of being part of a plot to have three people beheaded.

She is accused of transporting notes, photos and money from Hysen Sherifi, a Triangle man convicted of being part of a Triangle terror cell that conspired to wage jihad abroad and at home, to confidential informants and his brother.

She is being held without bond.

In a hearing today, scheduled at the federal courthouse in Raleigh, Elsheikh's attorneys are appealing that decision.

The case stems from contentions by a federal agent that Hysen Sherifi, a native of Kosovo sentenced early this year to 45 years in prison, worked with his brother and a woman on a plot to have the witnesses beheaded and pictures taken of the corpses to prove the deaths.

The agent contends that $5,000 was exchanged with a confidential informant on two different days for one of the hits.

Shkumbin Sherifi, brother of the convicted man, also has been charged in the case.

The charges have sent a second wave of shock through the Triangle Muslim community.

Some background:

On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a sealed seven-count indictment against the following defendants:

Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Hysen Sherifi, 24, a native of Kosovo and a U.S. legal permanent resident located in North Carolina
Anes Subasic, 33, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Zakariya Boyd, 20, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Dylan Boyd, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Ziyad Yaghi, 21, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina

All the defendants are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, as well as conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad. In addition, Daniel Boyd, Hysen Sherifi and Zakariya Boyd are each charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Daniel Boyd and Dylan Boyd are also each charged with selling a firearm to a convicted felon. Finally, Daniel Boyd is also charged with receiving a firearm through interstate commerce and two counts of making false statements in a terrorism investigation.

U.S. indicts 7 in N.C. for alleged terrorism plot in Israel

Terrorism case centers on unlikely suspect

North Carolina Father, Sons Among 7 Charged With Plotting 'Violent Jihad'


The Terrorist Next Door?


Daniel Boyd

Sabrina Boyd

Watch as Sabrina Boyd say's she's proud of her husband and sons

"We spend our time worrying about the U.N., the Arab League, Nato and too little time, in my opinion, worrying about the elected representatives of the United States. Do you think that you can act without Congress to initiate a no-fly zone in Syria? Without Congressional approval?" Sen. Jeff Sessions (R - AL)

"Our goal would be to seek international permission and we would come to the Congress and inform you and determine how best to approach this. Whether or not we would want to get permission from the Congress, I think those are issues we would have to discuss as we decide what to do." -- Leon Panetta

Senator Jeff Sessions (Armed Services Committee) was less than impressed with this thinking.

Breitbart:

Panetta: 'International Permission’ Trumps Congressional Permission For Military Actions

I don't know. Epa was discussing mantyhose and fruit and my brain just went here. . .

Humpday Blues

The Allman Brothers Band
Statesboro Blues

One Way Out

I hear Inspector Renault laughing

AP: Iran may be cleaning up nuke work

Two of the diplomats said the crews may be trying to erase evidence of tests of a small neutron device used to set off a nuclear explosion. A third diplomat could not confirm that but said any attempt to trigger a so-called neutron initiator at the Parchin site could only be in the context of trying to develop nuclear arms.

The images, provided to the IAEA by member countries, are recent and constantly updated, said one of the diplomats.

The diplomats are nuclear experts accredited to theInternational Atomic Energy Agency, and all asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive information.Satellite images of an Iranian military facility show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the site, indicating that crews were trying to clean it of radioactive traces possibly left by tests of a nuclear-weapon trigger, diplomats told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

Is there really any surprise?

But it’s a smart move because Khameinei KNOWS Obama et al, will grasp at ANY straw to avoid the objective reality. It isolates the jews for the action they will have to take. It isolates the jews for the blame. It isolates the jews for the election here.

This action gifts those who wish to do anything to hide from the necessity of committing any act with the fig leaf they so badly want.

Even if every satellite on earth watches their cover-up.

Imagine if this man had been president in Oct 1962

Schooling Barack

For if thou holdest thy peace at this time, comfort and deliverance shall appear to the Jews out of another place, but thou and thy father's house shall perish: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time? Esther 4:14

National Post:

Netanyahu’s Book of Esther gift for Obama a pointed reminder of Iran ‘annihilation’ threat
By Jonah Mandel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a pointed gift for Barack Obama after several days in Washington this week: A copy of the Book of Esther, which tells of the genocidal plot against the Jewish people devised by Haman the Agagite.

It’s a familiar-sounding story: In Persia, an oppressive and vengeful leader seeks the total annihilation of the Jewish people. It sounds like a line from an Israeli speech, but it’s also the story of the Purim holiday that Jews mark this week, beginning Wednesday at sundown.

This year, however, the holiday has additional meaning for some, providing historical parallels as Israel’s leaders weigh their response to Iran’s nuclear program.

Netanyahu and others in Israel fear the program masks a weapons drive and argue that a nuclear-armed Iran would create a new Persian threat to the existence of the Jewish people.

The gift, then, sent a clear message, said Israeli author Yossi Klein Halevi: “It helps Obama understand how Jews look at the world.”

Netanyahu also reportedly explicitly told Obama that Israel faced a modern-day Haman, and drew similar parallels in a speech to a U.S. pro-Israel lobby group.

“In every generation, there are those who wish to destroy the Jewish people,” he said. “In this generation, we are blessed to live in an age when there is a Jewish state capable of defending the Jewish people.”

In the same speech, he pledged that, “as prime minister of Israel, I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation.”

In Israel, others have made the connection, with senior ultra-Orthodox rabbi Ovadia Yosef warning last month: “There is now also a Haman in Persia.”

But while Netanyahu and his confidantes are said to be considering military action against Iran, Yosef noted that the Purim story teaches that salvation came through prayer.

“We do not need to attack Iran,” he said. “God will fight for us.”

Author Halevi said Netanyahu’s more activist reading of the Purim story was understandable.

“Tradition emphasizes that [the Book of Esther] is the only sacred text in the Hebrew Bible without God’s name in it, and that’s understood as an indication that this is a story that requires human initiative, that saving oneself requires human initiative, and that God’s help is implicit rather than overt,” he said.

“In that sense, Netanyahu is reading the Purim story correctly when he advocates active Israeli self defence against a perceived existential threat.”

But Micah Goodman, who teaches Jewish philosophy at Hebrew University, cautioned against reading too much into the parallels.

“History never repeats itself, and any attempt to learn from one time to another is always misleading,” he said.

“Purim is a symbol in the hearts and minds” of Jewish people, and “tapping into it is a way of getting people to listen.”

IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS

Israel is all but convinced that sanctions and diplomacy will not get Iran to rein in its nuclear drive and is speaking more stridently of resorting to military action.

The Jewish state on Wednesday cautiously welcomed the planned resumption of talks with Iran while insisting that any agreement must ensure Tehran does not refine uranium above the 5% level suitable for power plants.

“There will be no one happier than us, and the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] said this in his own voice, if it emerges that in these talks Iran will give up on its military nuclear capability,” the premier’s national security adviser Yaakov Amidror told Israel Radio.

Others were even less convinced.

France voiced skepticism on Wednesday that a planned revival of talks between six world powers and Iran would succeed, saying Tehran still did not seem sincerely willing to negotiate on the future of its contested nuclear program.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, who represents the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany in dealings with Iran, said on Tuesday they had accepted Iran’s offer to return to talks after a standstill of a year that has seen a drift towards conflict in the oil-rich Gulf.

The talks could dampen what U.S. President Barack Obama has called a rising drumbeat of war, alluding to talk of last-resort Israeli attacks on Iran that he and many others worry would kindle a wider Middle East war and hammer the global economy.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, however, raised doubt about what the talks could achieve. “I am a little skeptical … I think Iran continues to be two-faced,” Juppe told France’s i-Tele television.

“That’s why I think we have to continue to be extremely firm on sanctions (already imposed on Iran), which in my view are the best way to prevent a military option that would have unforeseeable consequences,” he said.

Iranian officials in Tehran were unavailable for comment.

Iran has pledged to float “new initiatives” at the talks, whose venue and date must be decided, but has not committed itself explicitly to discussing ways of guaranteeing that its nuclear advances will be solely peaceful, as the West demands.

Previous talks have foundered over Iran’s refusal to discuss what it deems its “inalienable” right to develop nuclear energy, and recent Iranian comments have not diverged from that line.

“With God’s help Iran’s nuclear course should continue firmly and seriously. No obstacles can stop our nuclear work,” clerical Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last month.

The Book Of Esther

The 1560 Geneva Old Testament With The Spelling Modernized

Esther Chapter 1

1 In the days of Ahasuerus [Xerxes] (this is Ahasuerus [Xerxes] that reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred, and seven and twenty provinces)

2 In those days when the king Ahasuerus [Xerxes] sat on his throne, which was in the palace of Shushan,

3 In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants, even the power of Persia and Media, and to the captains and governors of the provinces which were before him,

4 That he might show the riches and glory of his kingdom, and the honor of his great majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.

5 And when these days were expired, the king made a feast to all the people that were found in the palace of Shushan, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace,

6 Under an hanging of white, green, and blue clothes, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple, in silver rings, and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold, and of silver upon a pavement of porphyry, and marble and alabaster, and blue color.

7 And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, and changed vessel after vessel, and royal wine in abundance according to the power of the king.

8 And the drinking was by an order, none might compel: for so the king had appointed unto all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure.

9 The queen Vashti made a feast also for the women in the royal house of king Ahasuerus [Xerxes].

10 Upon the seventh day when the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs, (that served in the presence of king Ahasuerus [Xerxes])

11 To bring queen Vashti before the king with the crown royal, that he might show the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look upon.

12 But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's word, which he had given in charge to the eunuchs: therefore the king was very angry, and his wrath kindled in him.

13 Then the king said to the wise men, that knew the times (for so was the king's manner towards all that knew the law and the judgment:

14 And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face, and sat the first in the kingdom)

15 What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to the law, because she did not according to the word of the king Ahasuerus [Xerxes] by the commission of the eunuchs?

16 Then Memucan answered before the king and the princes, The queen Vashti hath not only done evil against the king, but against all the princes, and against all the people that are in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus [Xerxes].

17 For the act of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their own eyes, and shall say, The king Ahasuerus [Xerxes] commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not.

18 So shall the princesses of Persia and Media this day say unto all the king's princes, when they hear of the act of the queen: thus shall there be much despitefulness and wrath.

19 If it please the king, let a royal decree proceed from him, and let it be written among the statutes of Persia, and Media, (and let it not be transgressed) that Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus [Xerxes]: and let the king give her royal estate unto her companion that is better than she.

20 And when the decree of the king which shall be made, shall be published throughout all his kingdom (though it be great) all the women shall give their husband's honor, both great and small.

21 And this saying pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Memucan.

22 For he sent letters into all the provinces of the king, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that he should publish it in the language of that same people.

Esther Chapter 2

1 After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus [Xerxes] was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.

2 And the king’s servants that ministered unto him, said, Let them seek for the king beautiful young virgins,

3 And let the king appoint officers through all the provinces of his kingdom, and let them gather all the beautiful young virgins unto the palace of Shushan, into the house of the women, under the hand of Hegai the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women, to give them their things for purification.

4 And the maid that shall please the king, let her reign in the stead of Vashti. And this pleased the king, and he did so.

5 In the city of Shushan, there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish a man of Benjamin,

6 Which had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity that was carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah (whom Nebuchad-nezzar king of Babylon had carried away)

7 And he nourished Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair, and beautiful to look on: and after the death of her father, and her mother, Mordecai took her for his own daughter

8 And when the king’s commandment, and his decree was published, and many maids were brought together to the palace of Shushan, under the hand of Hegai, Esther was brought also unto the king’s house under the hand of Hegai the keeper of the women.

9 And the maid pleased him, and she found favor in his sight: therefore he caused her things for purification to be given her speedily, and her state, and seven comely maids to be given her out of the king’s house, and he gave change to her and to her maids of the best in the house of the women.

10 But Esther showed not her people and her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her, that she should not tell it.

11 And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women’s house, to know if Esther did well, and what should be done with her.

12 And when the course of every maid came, to go in to king Ahasuerus [Xerxes], after that she had been twelve months according to the manner of the women (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors and in the purifying of the women:

13 And thus went the maids unto the king) whatsoever she required, was given her, to go with her out of the women’s house unto the king’s house.

14 In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women under the hand of Shaashgaz the king’s eunuch, which kept the concubines: she came in to the king no more, except she pleased the king, and that she were called by name.

15 Now when the course of Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai (which had taken her as his own daughter) came, that she should go in to the king, she desired nothing, but what Hegai the king’s eunuch the keeper of the women said: and Esther found favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her.

16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus [Xerxes] into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins: so that he set the crown of the kingdom upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

18 Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes, and his servants, which was the feast of Esther, and gave rest unto the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the power of a king.

19 And when the virgins were gathered the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king’s gate.

20 Esther had not yet showed her kindred nor her people, as Mordecai had charged her: for Esther did after the word of Mordecai, as when she was nourished with him.

21 In those days when Mordecai sat in the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus [Xerxes].

22 And the thing was known to Mordecai, and he told it unto queen Esther, and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai’s name:

23 And when inquisition was made, it was found so: therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.

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