Day: November 21, 2008

Brigitte Gabriel pressured Tyson’s foods not to give in to jihad

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Jamie Glazov at FrontPage Magazine interviews Brigitte Gabriel today, and she tells us something we didn’t know. Her group, ACT! for America, was behind the deluge of phone calls that hit the Tyson plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee, when they tried to pacify their Somali employees by substituting a Muslim holiday for Labor Day. (Our posts on the issue are here.) Here’s the story:

Tyson Foods in Tennessee had caved to Muslim employees demands through the union to replace Labor Day as a holiday by the Islamic holy day of Eid el-Fitr. We were outraged that an American corporation would cave to such a demand. Labor Day Holiday is a part of the fabric of America. We sent out an email action alert to our members explaining the situation and giving them the telephone number of Tyson’s customer service department. Hundreds of people from around the country contacted Tyson. In few hours they shot down their phone lines.

In addition to notifying members to call Tyson, she used her media contacts:

We also have many producers of top TV news show who are subscribers to our action alerts. They aired the story to millions exposing Tyson’s decision. Because of the massive pressure on Tyson, three days later the company announced it had renegotiated the contract, restored Labor Day, and removed Eid al-Fitr as a paid holiday for all employees after next year.

What a great achievement, and a very meaningful one:

This is the power of an organized mass movement. We knew that this issue was very important because two major players were watching Tyson’s reaction: The Islamic Lobby and other American corporations. We wanted to send a message that the American public is alive and well and ready to take action. Americans are not going to lay down and play dead.

The main point of the interview is to show that an activist organization like hers is needed, and what it can accomplish. She says:

There are many fine organizations that have been researching and publishing information on this, some for many years. And that education and information is essential to our long-term prospects for victory. But it’s not sufficient. Education must be followed by organized action. I traveled the nation and abroad the last few years speaking about Islamic terrorism and realized that once people became educated, they were asking what can I do? Give me something to do because I want to make a difference.

We’ve got some activists who comment here and email us:  journalists who write the truth, citizens who write letters and post comments in their local newspapers that educate others and those who write to their elected representatives, even people who are working in the belly of the beast — the volags and government agencies — who give us important information. All of your actions make a difference. 

We previously posted on Brigitte Gabriel here.

Minnesota: Tangled web of possible voter misconduct involving Somalis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Charges continue to fly in the Twin Cities in the wake of charges and counter charges involving a Somali-dominated polling place.  The opening lines of this article challenge the reader to try to figure out what the heck went on.

A mixture of first-time voters, translators, competing community leaders, political issues in Somalia, and clan-based allegiances in the Minnesota Somali community boiled over at the Brian Coyle Center on Election Day.

Omar Jamal, the Somali ‘community organizer’ who we have written about on several previous occasions seems to be at the center of the whole mess.   Jamal had been ordered deported in 2005, so those of us reporting on Somali intrigues in the US are wondering how he escaped being shipped back to Somalia.  Or, was it the same story as Obama’s Aunt Zeituni, he just didn’t go.   Apparently nothing is being done about Jamal’s charges because he hasn’t filed an official complaint, just yakking it up.  From The Bridge:

Omar Jamal accuses Jamal Hashi, the director of Somali Action Alliance*, of improper behavior in the polling place. Somali Action Alliance is an organization that is involved in civic engagement and social justice work, including voter registration. Hashi says that community leaders worked hard to educate Somalis as new immigrants on the election process.

The big question I have is, are these “new immigrants” citizens with the right to vote?   Are they even legally in the US?

Critics of Omar Jamal point to the following information as the reason Jamal is complaining, and supports Coleman:

….Coleman met with Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed at the beginning of the year, when he urged the president to work towards reconciliation with other Somali leaders. Coleman’s assertion that the transitional government is “credible” has irked those Somalis who feel that their government is run by warlords. Ahmed’s government has come under fire for its association with Ethiopia, whose presence in Somalia is seen by many as an infringement of Somali sovereignty.

Clan allegiances continue to be important for Somalis in Minnesota. These allegiances may play a part in fear of political retaliation, which was cited by five local Somali community leaders as a reaon for refusing to talk on the record about the controversy at Brian Coyle Center.

Some in the Somali community say that it is hard to believe Jamal is getting as much airtime as he is, as they do not find him a credible source on issues going on in their community. Some feel that Jamal, who is related to President Ahmed, supports Coleman for this reason.

Jamal is related to Somali President Ahmed?   Is that why he hasn’t been deported?  Did Jamal himself vote?

To confuse you even further, go to this report on Congressman Keith Ellison (first Muslim in US Congress) lobbying for Al Franken.

Go back and read the whole story from The Bridge and see what a mess this is.  And, sorry I haven’t helped much to sort it out and have maybe even complicated it further!

The final vote count for the  Somali-dominated ward was:

The final vote totals from Ward 2, Precinct 10, reported by the Secretary of State’s office, was 938 for Barack Obama and 122 for John McCain, 854 for Al Franken and 161 for Norm Coleman. [Ward and precinct number corrected, 11/19/08]

Just think, the US Senate, our whole US government (!), could hinge on Somali clans and the politics of that hell hole in the Horn of Africa.

 

*Somali Action Alliance was granted 501(c)4 status in 2006.  The IRS 501c(4) status allows the organization to be involved in political activity and donations are generally not deductible.  In its 2006 Form 990 the Somali Action Alliance received $235,765 in grants and gifts.   It is not clear how much this Catholic social justice organization (here) contributed.   The Form 990 was signed by Hashi Abdi.  Who knows if that is the same person mentioned above, Jamal Hashi?

Alinskyism (Day 9)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

More from Saul Alinsky’s “Reveille for Radicals”:

The radical recognizes that contant dissension and conflict is and has been the fire under the boiler of democracy.  He firmly believes in that brave saying of brave people, “Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!”*  The radical may resort to the sword but when he does he is not filled with hatred against those individuals whom he attacks. He hates these individuals not as persons but as symbols representing ideas or interests which he believes to be inimical to the welfare of the people.  This is the reason why radicals, although frequently they have embarked upon revolutions, have rarely resorted to personal terrorism.

This is simply amazing–the amount of koolaid people like Bill Ayers, lovers of all sweaty humanity, have been drinking!   Two days ago Laura Ingraham (talk radio host) had on a young man who confronted Ayers recently with a question.  The brave (in the den of political correctness) student, aspiring to have a career in the Navy, asked Ayers (speaking at Georgetown Univ.) if Ayers really meant to kill people like him when he planned the nail bomb attack at Ft. Dix.  Ayers completely avoided the question.  I guess his audience might have been stunned by what should have been his intellectually honest answer—‘yes, we wanted to kill you because you represent what we hate, no personal terrorism intended.’

Oh, one more thing, I was pleased to hear Rush Limbaugh educating his audience yesterday about the word “crisis” and how a crisis presents an opportunity for forcing “change” on the citizenry.

* In a quick look around on google, I found mention that this phrase was used by Emiliano Zapata in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, but I suspect it was probably around before then.

Vermont: loads of refugees with loads of mental health issues

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Note to readers:  This article reminded me that I have not kept up our page called “your state,”  and I noticed that lots of  you go there for information.  Sorry!  Posting is so much more fun then blog maintenence!   You will find our search function is pretty good and if you type in the name of your state, you should find anything we have written about where you live.

Anyway, back to Vermont where the folks are compassionate about their (large?)* number of refugees (5000), 50-80% of whom are suffering with some mental health problems.

When refugees arrive on American soil — in steadily increasing numbers, now nearly 5,000 in Vermont — resettlement efforts are centered on basic necessities, finding a home and hopefully a job, functioning in an utterly foreign culture. Talk to them and they tell you they are grateful. They know that they are the lucky ones. And yet. A fresh start and a welcoming community cannot shut off an inner slideshow of suffering, violence, loss and fear. The young man’s story above is both singular and part of the commonality among refugees. They all fled from something.

According to Karen Fondacaro, director of UVM’s Behavior Therapy and Psychotherapy Center, 50 to 80 percent of refugees are estimated to have significant mental health issues, primarily post-traumatic stress disorder, and symptoms related to anxiety and depression. So in July 2007 she stepped into the void, with a team of passionate graduate students, launching Connecting Cultures, a groundbreaking clinical science program with three components: community outreach, direct mental health services, and research that will allow them to formally assess their approach and offer a map for other refugee resettlement communities. To Fondacaro, the psychological and physical, spiritual and cultural are inseparable, fundamental aspects of survival.

They need funding (who doesn’t).

* For numbers of refugees to each state check out this post and follow links to databases.  You will note that Vermont is one of the smaller refugee-receiving states.    Some states have resettled hundreds of thousands of refugees and just imagine if 50-80% are suffering from mental stress.

We have a category called “health issues” (71 posts in it) you might want to check out too.  There are lots of other health related problems resettlement communities must face.