Month: November 2008

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.

Jihad on campus — another panel at the Horowitz weekend

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

David Horowitz was a radical leftist growing up, and played a big role in the new left in the 1960s and 1970s. Unlike most of his fellow radicals he came to his senses and has been one of the most effective fighters on the side of the good for some decades. In fact, one of his goals is to teach how to teach the polite right how to fight.

So instead of putting out academic papers against the jihad, he started an Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week that goes on twice a year at campuses around the country. The theme of October’s Week was stealth jihad, and it exposed the Muslim Student Association (MSA), which poses as a religious-cultural organization, for the radical Islamist group it is — a part of the Muslim Brotherhood. (“Islamist” refers to radical political Islam.)

One of the panels at the Restoration Weekend was about this project. Two very impressive students reported on what happened at their colleges — as usual, the radical Muslims make common cause with the left and try to discredit any criticism of radical Islam as hate speech.

Robert Spencer said the Week’s events exposed the contradiction between the MSA’s public stands and its private statements. He spoke at several campuses about the contradiction between Sharia law, which MSA supports, at least privately, and basic human rights. He introduced students to what Sharia is, and gave examples which shocked the students, such as the death penalty for leaving Islam. The MSA is very threatened by the Awareness Week and makes increasingly elaborate preparations for it, with counter-events and publications.

Robert brought up the issue of hate speech, which is something we are going to be hearing about increasingly under President Barack Obama. He said the Muslim students are constantly playing the hate speech card.  Every criticism of Islam is “hate speech” — even quotes from the Koran, or direct quotes from the materials of the MSA or the Muslim Brotherhood. It’s hateful to expose who they really are, you see.

He went on to talk about the larger threat of “hate speech” laws and rules. Muslim countries are trying to get any criticism of Islam or Muslim countries banned at the UN. So far the U.S. delegation has prevented this, but under Obama the policy could well be different. And we don’t know what is coming down the pike within this country. Canada and some European countries already ban some speech as “hate speech,” and we know how much Obama admires the way Europeans conduct their affairs. (I’m sure Ann and I could be brought up on charges of “hate speech” for what we write here, the definition of it is so broad.)

David Horowitz spoke briefly about the Islamo-Fascism Awareness Weeks. He said the activities, particularly the ads his group places in college newspapers, plant a seed in the students’ minds. During each of the Weeks they reach several million people this way. They are raising awareness and preparing the ground. When there is a terrorist attack, minds change overnight. He said the young conservatives he works with on the campuses are constantly attacked by the left, and have become much more sophisticated and less intimidated. If the two young men on the panel are typical, that’s certainly true. They were self-confident, good speakers, and understood the way the left operates.