Day: August 14, 2009

Prominent Muslim journalist calls for Palestinian refugees to be resettled in Arab countries

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a concept we have discussed on several previous occasions.   We believe that Arab countries have purposefully kept Palestinians from getting out of poverty by refusing to resettle them.   Such a move, as suggested by this journalist, would demonstrate true Muslim charity and go a long way to bringing peace to the Middle East.

Now a prominant member of the media has said just that.  From Memri:

Daoud Al-Shiryan, Al-Hayat columnist and deputy secretary-general of Al-Arabiya TV, recently published several articles criticizing how the Palestinian refugees have been treated by the Arab countries in which they live. He called on these countries to integrate the refugees into their societies and to resettle them before they are forced to do so by the international community.

I don’t know about that last phrase.  I can’t quite imagine Obama is going to tell his buddies in the Arab world to please take in the Palestinians.  But, that is what he should do!

Language problems confuse investigation into Liberian boys rape case

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is an update on the story from Phoenix, AZ last month where 4 young Liberian refugee boys are charged with raping an 8 year old girl.   When I saw the headline for this Arizona Republic story, “Side issue emerges in Liberian rape case,”  I thought there was something new and earth-shattering, but the article only discusses some problems with nuances in how Liberians use the English language.

The article is however worth reading as an update and to note that they have linked a bunch of previous articles on the case so interested readers can catch up.

The Liberian 8-year-old refugee speaks English. The four Liberian boys accused of brutally raping her speak English. And the victim’s father speaks English.

Yet since the July 16 incident at a Phoenix apartment complex, the interaction among police officers, child-welfare officers and the refugee community has shown how complex language can be, even when everyone speaks the same tongue.

The police inquiry into the assault, which drew international attention, suggests that not everyone tied to the case may have clearly understood what was being said during the investigation, linguists and Liberian leaders say.

It sounds like this language issue will be used to take the tarnish off the reputation of the  family of the little girl (and Liberians in general) because they supposedly claimed initially that they didn’t want their daughter back because she shamed them.   We are now heading to a language confusion defense for all involved.

Cash for flat screens! New welfare fraud scheme going on in Rochester, NY

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your stimulus dollars at work:

Regular readers know that one of my side interests is welfare/health care/food stamp fraud and abuse.  I got interested in it when we had a food stamp scam bust where I live (just type ‘food stamp fraud’ into our search function for the many cases involving immigrants around the country).   Today in my fraud alerts appeared this article from Rochester, NY.   Although there is no mention of immigrants in the article, we have written about Rochester on several previous occasions as a “welcoming” city for refugees.

You, federal taxpayers, and George Soros (LOL!) were ripped off.

I’m actually not sure you can call this fraud when every welfare recipient (with children) in Rochester received $200 extra (per child!) this month ostensibly for school supplies with no strings attached.  Big surprise!   Many went on wild shopping binges as wealth is redistributed.

(Rochester, N.Y.) – Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks said the state school supply grants handed out to New York State food stamp and welfare recipients are not being used as intended by many families. She said the program has “widespread, rampant abuse.”

“There were better ways–You don’t have to support families to buy school supplies by giving them cash,” she said.

Brooks said the county has been overwhelmed by reports, some of them from store owners, of people using the money to buy TVs and other luxury items.

“We actually received a telephone call from WalMart on Hudson Avenue suggesting that there was welfare fraud, and indicating they were going to call the FBI because people were going in and buying X-boxes, Wii systems, flat-screen television sets,” said Kelly reed, the county’s commissioner of social services. “Wegmans has indicated people are buying tickets to Darien Lake.”

The $200 per child grants showed up in welfare accounts this week. Many recipients had no idea the money was coming, and flooded area stores and ATMs.

The money is a combination of $140 million in federal stimulus funds and a $35 million donation from philanthropist George Soros. About $6.5 million went to more than 32,400 children in Rochester. Critics have said the program invited waste and abuse, because there are no strings attached to the grant money.

Actually I have been wondering if Soros (who surely helped collapse the economy last fall) is out trying to prop up the economy now because they have to be getting desperate to show that Obama’s stimulus plan is working.  This article answers my question.

CAST continues its demonstrations against Shariah law in Greeley

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Members of CAST, Coloradans Against Shariah Taskforce, continued their vigil outside the Greeley, CO, Swift and Co. meatpacking plant and handed out literature about the danger of Shariah Law taking root in the American workplace.  See all the latest here at New English Review’s Iconoclast.  For our first post on the demonstrations last Saturday, go here.

Ramadan begins on August 21st and it is believed that Swift could cave-in to Muslim demands for religious accommodations that hurt other workers at the plant.  To understand all the background on this issue that has been on-going for a year, see our special category on the topic here.

Another guilty plea in missing Somali youth case

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A third Somali, former refugee, plead guilty in Minneapolis this week.  He admitted fighting with Al-Shabaab in Somalia.    For readers who have been following this case for a long time, what is puzzling to me, is how did 3 Al-Shabaab-trained terrorists get back into the US?   Four others died in Somalia and three of those are believed to have been killed by Al-Shabaab itself  because they might return and tell who recruited them.  Why did Al-Shabaab let these three return?

So, did the three who have now plead guilty talk?  Do we know the recruiter or recruiters?

Here is the latest from AP:

MINNEAPOLIS — A third man pleaded guilty Wednesday to terror-related charges stemming from a federal investigation into Americans traveling to Somalia to fight with Islamic militants.

Kamal Hassan acknowledged lying to FBI agents questioning him in February about the case and admitted spending time at a training camp run in Somalia by al-Shabab, a group designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida.

Hassan told federal agents that he traveled to Yemen after spending time in the camp, but admitted Wednesday to a federal judge in Minneapolis that he had lied. He told U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum he fought with al-Shabab in Somalia.

Hassan also admitted concealing the identities of people he associated with in Minnesota and Somalia.

Few other details about Hassan’s case emerged in court, and his age and hometown weren’t immediately available.

[….]

He faces up to eight years in prison in a plea agreement worked out with the U.S. attorney’s office. A sentencing date wasn’t immediately set.

Court documents unsealed later Wednesday showed that Hassan had pleaded guilty in February to two other charges: providing material support for terrorism and providing material support for a foreign terrorist organization. Court documents said Hassan faces up to 15 years in prison on each of those charges.

Here is the post on the second Somali who plead guilty last month in the case.  For new readers, this is a post where I have kept a chronology of the evolving story of the missing Somali youths, unfortunately I haven’t kept it up to date, but you can see how this issue has developed over many months.  I need to get to work and put in posts since mid-July!