Month: August 2007

Americans for Tax Reform group supported amnesty bill?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In light of our story last week about so-called conservative groups pushing for opening the floodgates to Iraqi Muslim refugees, I just checked out the website of Americans for Tax Reform and discovered not only was there absolutely no mention of the costly Refugee Resettlement program to be found, but that this group which purports to work for reform of our tax policy supported the recent Comprehensive Immigration legislation that the people of America killed.  See all of their glowing statements about this amnesty bill here.

What is going on?   In light of my previous post, it looks like we need a blog to inform us of the activities of so-called conservative Republicans!   Anyone interested?

Thoughts on blogging

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Friends who know me well will groan when they hear I have some ideas after working out on the farm, driving the tractor, whatever.    It must be something about the combination of fresh air and mindless work, but I do my thinking then and its gotten me into many a project I wish I could get out of….

Anyway,  I thought about blogging this morning and my comments now result from my vast experience after 5 weeks of doing it.  (I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into it!)   It strikes me that it’s time for blogging to enter a new phase.   From my limited view it seems that many of the blogs I read and enjoy and learn from take news stories and evaluate them with new twists,  often adding much more information so the reader understands the full context.  People who comment are amusing, controversial, and insightful.  And, that is good and should continue.

However, I’m thinking this morning as I killed weeds,  there needs to be a new generation.  If we are to advance our conservative concerns about Islam and immigration for example, we need experts in every aspect of the work.   For literally generations we have relied on the mainstream media to do this work, but as we all know they have failed miserably.  Investigative journalism is virtually dead.

I can think of six focused areas right off the top of my head that someone could blog on, become an expert, and help advance our political concerns by encouraging citizen involvement based on knowledge of the issue.

Here is just one of those areas:  leftwing foundations.  Years ago I ran into the power brokers behind the environmental movement:  the likes of the Rockefeller Bros. Fund, Pew Charitable Trust, MacArthur Foundation, etc. on the subject of property rights (they were working against landowners).   They are responsible for the ‘greening of the churches’ too.   You know they are likely deeply involved in the immigration issue as well,  and not from our perspective.  Just yesterday the Washington Post ran a story,  “A Mexican Towns Clay Residents”, about an artist who is re-populating his town with clay figures to make a point about how many townspeople have left for the US.  The project is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and you can bet it isn’t to prod the Mexican government into doing something!

I’ve digressed, my point is, we need people to develop focused blogs where one does original research and makes the results known to us all, and guides us to the action that needs to be taken.  This is the goal I’m aiming for at Refugee Resettlement Watch.  I hope by bringing the facts to you, as I see them, that the Refugee Resettlement program of the US government will be reformed.    I know it sounds trite, but knowledge is power! 

Companies hiring refugees get tax credits

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars:

I promise to do Part 2 of the “Muslims go home” later today, but for a change of pace this morning and for our readers who are interesed in Refugee Resettlement as a financial concern, I’m writing about another federal (your tax dollars) program.

As the controversy continued in Hagerstown, MD over refugee resettlement, one of the many things citizens are interested in (besides the welfare benefits afforded to refugees) is what is the incentive for businesses to hire refugees.   Of course, the obvious answer is that grateful refugees will accept low wages.

There is more, however.  Turns out there is a tax credit, a substantial one, offered to businesses that hire people who are on, or have received, various forms of welfare.  (Refugees are immediately eligible for all forms of welfare and that is one reason that a person would much rather enter the US designated a refugee than just as a regular immigrant.)  It’s called the Work Opportunity Tax Credit which gives up to a $2400 tax credit to a business that hires a refugee and the person stays on the job for a minimum of 400 hours (10 weeks for a 40 hour work week).   

Read more about the Work Opportunity Tax Credit here.

A follow-up on Sweden from Fjordman

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

When I first threw myself into studies about radical Islam, one of the writers I studied was the legendary Fjordman so I am honored now to direct you to this piece that is a follow-up to my post earlier today about poor Sweden.   This is a tragic immigration lesson for America, indeed for the whole civilized world that must not be ignored.   “….the clock is relentlessly ticking, and ticking, and ticking.”

The Radical-Left, Islam-lovers and the Death of Sweden

It should be noted here that Sweden alone in 2006 accepted almost as many asylum applications from Iraqis as all other European countries did combined. Native Swedes, who live in a country that was one of the most ethnically homogeneous nations in the world only 30 years ago, will be a minority in their own country within a few decades, if current trends continue. Sweden is self-destructing at a pace that is probably unprecedented in history, but for the extreme Left, even this isn’t fast enough.

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In a country where the tax rate is above 60%, higher than in almost any other country on the planet save perhaps North Korea – which incidentally also has almost as much free speech as Sweden – the natives are attacked on a daily basis by immigrant gangs, yet the state seems unwilling to do anything to stop this. Although Muslims openly brag about targeting Jews and Christians, this doesn’t constitute a hate crime. But is does constitute racism and a hate crime if Muslims are not presented with halal sausages at all times or allowed to wear a burka wherever they want to.

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The British author Paul Weston believes that Britain’s national heart has ceased beating: “Our national soul is hovering indecisively above the operating table. The crash team have been called, but the politically inclined hospital switchboard have told them there is no problem, that everything is under control. The life support boys have heard otherwise, they are hurrying to get there, but other hospital staff members have switched the signage to the operating theatre and killed the lights. It is a big hospital, they only have minutes to get there, they are lost, confused, misinformed, and the clock is relentlessly ticking, and ticking, and ticking…”

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I’m inclined to say the same thing about Sweden. The Swedish nation is currently on its deathbed. We can only hope there is life after death after all.

Read the whole piece here.

Message to Iraqi Muslim Refugees—go home (Part 1)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I am going to be as blunt as Kevin Myers is in the post I wrote yesterday.  Iraqi Muslims must go home to Iraq and fix their own country.  We have Americans dying to give them a free country and they are running like rats to places like Sweden presumably to dip into the comfy life of a cradle to grave welfare system (not to mention the fact that they are surely bringing terrorism with them).   Imagine if tens of thousands of Northerners and Southerners skipped out of the US during the Civil War here because things were too tough. 

I repeat, we have Americans dying while Iraqis cower outside of Iraq!

This is from an AP story that appeared exactly one month ago in the International Herald Tribune:

Sweden, the top European destination for refugees from Iraq, will tighten its asylum rules and forcibly deport Iraqis who are denied permission to stay, immigration officials said Friday.

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The announcement marked an abrupt change in the relatively lax immigration rules that had made Sweden a safe haven for thousands of Iraqis fleeing the chaos in their homeland.

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“Sweden used to be positively unique. Now they’ve joined the rest of the gang,” said Bjarte Vandvik, Secretary-General of the European Council of Refugees and Exiles, or ECRE.

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The Swedes stood out among Europeans for their welcoming attitude to refugees fleeing the bloodshed in Iraq. More than 18,000 Iraqis have arrived in Sweden seeking asylum since 2006, the highest number recorded in Europe.

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Many of the refugees in Sweden have joined existing Iraqi communities in Sodertalje, south of Stockholm, and the southwestern port city of Malmo. Although they have generally kept a low profile and have been widely welcomed by Swedes, the influx has raised concerns over strains to Sweden’s generous social benefit system.

Poor Malmo, but that is a story for another day.    Note the last line above, “the influx [18,000!] has raised concerns over strains to Sweden’s generous social benefit system.”   I’m sure that is true.  But, that isn’t the whole reason a country is ready to commit a United Nations sin.      One of the biggest no-no’s in the refugee-saving business is refoulement, or returning a refugee to where they came from.   It must be something important for liberal Sweden to be willing to take the heat from the big bad United Nations and begin deporting those poor downtrodden refugees.

They aren’t saying it here, but you can be sure that once the refugees arrived in Sweden it was discovered that many aren’t so poor and suffering afterall, and perhaps have other plans for the future of Sweden.

Look for Part 2 (Iraqis go home) later.  I have some horse manure to shovel—literally!