Month: November 2009

USCCB lobbied hard for Pelosi Health Care bill

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Cliff Kincaid at Accuracy in Media lines up some of the reasons why the US Conference of Catholic Bishops helped push the Pelosi/Obama so-called health reform bill over the finish line late Saturday night and wonders where is the separation of church and state.

Kincaid explains and suggests some reasons why the USCCB might be in Pelosi’s pocket, including their immigration advocacy.  After you read this, I’ll add one more reason he has missed.   Hat tip:  Janet Levy

The AARP and American Medical Association supported H.R. 3692, the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009, but a careful analysis of the media coverage demonstrates that it was the U.S. Catholic Church that provided the winning margin. Yet, the liberal media are failing to raise the issue of the alleged separation of church and state.

Contrary to some media reports, the U.S. Catholics Bishops never opposed a national health care scheme. In fact, their main objection was to a provision for federal funding of abortion. Once that provision was eliminated, the Catholic Bishops embraced the bill.

On Saturday, after Catholic lobbyists had finalized a deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most prominent Catholic in the U.S. Government, the Politico reported that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had “delivered a critical endorsement” to Pelosi “by signing off on late-night agreement to grant a vote on an amendment barring insurance companies that participate in the exchange from covering abortions.” The anti-abortion amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak, a Catholic Democrat, passed. Hence, the Bishops are now officially in favor of a bureaucratic plan that could spell the end to freedom of choice in health care and financially bankrupt the U.S.

“A half dozen lobbyists for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops joined negotiators in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office to come to terms,” reported the Christian Science Monitor.

[…..]

NBC’s Doug Adams reported that the Catholic Bishops were “lobbying hard.”

The shocking turn of events once again demonstrates the extreme left-wing drift of the Catholic Church, which is the nation’s largest religious denomination with 67 million members and run by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. But their role in passing Pelosicare is not the only evidence of such a turn. The Bishops poured more than $7.3 million of parishioners’ money into the corrupt left-wing organization ACORN over the last decade before publicity over the organization’s scandals forced suspension of the funding.

Please read Kincaid’s whole article.

Here is what Kincaid has missed—federal funding.   The USCCB is the largest federal contractor* for resettling refugees and running immigrant programs in the US.  That $7.3 million that went to ACORN is chump change and may not have even come from parishioners—it might have come from taxpayers.  

We recently learned that 100 Catholic Charities got a whopping $85,557,665 from the US Treasury to run their many immigrant and other welfare programs in 2009 alone!

Add to the $85 million dispersed around the US to Catholic Charities, note that the US State Department funded the DC office of the USCCB to the tune of $25 million (FY2009)!   I sure hope the USCCB is keeping their refugee money separate from their lobbying money.  Anyone doing any auditing?  What do you think, Pelosi had a little leverage here!

There is more.  We are funding with our tax dollars a multi-million dollar far left Catholic expansion of power throughout the government.   Take the case of Tennessee where Catholic Charities is now in charge of the millions of dollars that goes to Tennessee each year for refugee and immigrant federal programs.   The federal regulations mandate that a state agency manage the program for the many “church” and other non-profit groups operating to take care (LOL!) of immigrants within the state.  In Tennessee there is no state overseer, the fox essentially has the hen house.

So if one questions the issue of separation of church and state, think about the fact that Catholic Charities of Tennessee and the US State Department/Dept of Health and Human Services (the federal government!) make decisions for Tennessee regarding refugees and immigrants.  There is no decision-making role for the state or local government in deciding who is resettled in the state or how many.  The only role is that the state and local governments supply welfare assistance.  States should be guarding against this trend.

If amnesty is given to millions of  illegal aliens, as the USCCB is also lobbying for, you can be sure these Catholic offices roles will expand even further.  This is how the federal government with the help of its quasi-government agencies, like Catholic Charities, usurps the role of state governments.

We have already heard that Pelosi twisted many arms and offered loads of pork to legislators to secure their vote, certainly the USCCB had a lot of funding to lose if they didn’t go along with the program.  And, who knows what they were promised in the future.

* Here are the Top Ten federal contractors resettling refugees, running immigrant welfare programs AND lobbying!  They have 300 plus subcontractors.

More on Somali murder in Ft. Morgan: victim identified, sort of

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Ft. Morgan Times reported earlier today that the woman murdered by a fellow Somali immigrant last week is 27-year-old Warsen Aden Abdi.   When no pre-death records could be found, the only thing the Coroner’s office had to go on is the say-so of family members.  

 That is B.S.!   Unless she entered the country illegally (which is possible) someone in the US State Department, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, the Department of Homeland Security AND the agency that resettled her in the US have records for her.   If they don’t know who she is, that is downright scary because we are told refugees are thoroughly screened and surely fingerprinted in advance of arriving in the US.   Let’s hope they do a better job of tracking down documents on the accused murderer.

The victim of a Nov. 3 fatal stabbing has been positively identified by the Morgan County Coroner’s Office as Warsen Aden Abdi.

Her birth date, provided by family members, was Jan. 1, 1982.

Identification was complicated by lack of pre-death records.

The coroner’s office and Fort Morgan Police Department worked together to obtain postmortem fingerprints, a dental examination and medical examination but were unable to obtain any pre-death records for comparison.

Contact with Immigration Services and Lutheran Services, the sponsoring agency of refugees from East Africa, were unable to provide records.

Identification efforts were finalized by visual examination by family members of the victim.

A suspect in the case, Ahmed Abdi of Greeley, is being held in Morgan County jail on $300,000 bond and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Dec. 16.

Was this another honor killing?  Is that why there was an early gag order on information being released about the case?

Since the last names of the victim and the murder suspect are the same, I think it’s time to raise the Muslim ‘honor killing’ question.

Man charged with rape after Muslim “marriage” to an underage girl

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Presumably this guy is an American Muslim convert and not an immigrant, but the article doesn’t tell us about the alleged rapist’s ethnicity nor that of  his “bride.”   This is a prime example of the stealth jihad on-going in America today—they just keep pushing the envelope in hopes of changing American law and culture.   Thankfully authorities in Kansas City weren’t buying it!  Hat tip:  Blulitespecial

From the Kansas City Star:

Vincent Mosby signed a marriage contract and paid a dowry in a religious ceremony in August, police said.

Mosby, 23, of Kansas City didn’t legally wed his 14-year-old bride, however, because Missouri law won’t allow it without a judge’s order. Police said she was pressured into the union because her mother and stepfather thought she was going to be sexually active with a boy her age.

Although the bride’s stepfather arranged the “marriage,” according to court records, other relatives frowned upon the union and told police in late August. The relatives also took the girl to protect her from further sexual abuse, according to court records.

A relative told police that Mosby called and threatened violence if family members didn’t “give me back my wife in 72 hours,” according to court records. Two days later, on Sept. 9, someone fired three shots into the Kansas City home of the girl’s aunt. No one was hit.

Let’s see, daughter might have sex with young boyfriend,  parents fear that,  so parents find a man ten years older to take part in a sham marriage so the man can then come over to the house from time to time for sex.

Police said the girl’s stepfather and mother became concerned that she was going to become sexually active, so the stepfather allegedly approached Mosby about marrying the girl. The girl was “strongly encouraged” to wed Mosby, police said.

The stepfather, Mosby and the teen had several “sit downs” before the stepfather arranged for a religious ceremony on Aug. 4 at her home, not far from the stepfather’s mosque.

Two members of the mosque attended, but the bride “was not allowed to be present,” court records said. She waited in her room upstairs. Her stepfather allegedly came upstairs after the ceremony, which consisted of prayers and a contract signing, to announce that she was married.

[…..]

Court records said the couple had sex three times in August in her home, while her mother and stepfather were home. The girl did not move in with Mosby. She stayed with her parents and kept in touch with Mosby through phone calls and text messages.

Doesn’t it make you wonder how many other illegal Muslim “marriages” are happening in the US with the young girl staying at home but being ‘available’ for her hubby?  This story would not have even come to light if concerned relatives hadn’t been brave enough to intervene.

Vancouver Update: Ship tied to terrorist Tamil Tigers

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Sri Lankan ship that landed in British Columbia three weeks ago (here) has been tied to the Tamil Tigers.  The Canadian government says it will deport all those on board who are found to be connected to the terrorist group. 

From AFP:

VANCOUVER, Canada — Several of a group of 76 Sri Lankan asylum seekers picked up off the Canadian coast last month have ties to the Tamil Tiger rebels and could pose a security risk, officials said Tuesday.

The Canadian government told an immigration hearing that the “Ocean Lady” freighter used to transport the migrants has been linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), panel spokeswoman Paula Faber told AFP.

The vessel had “possibly been used for arms shipments” and the men should continue to be detained “on national security grounds,” government officials told the hearing, according to Faber.

Tests showed two of the men detained had explosive residue on their clothes, the officials said.

Similar ships with would-be asylum seekers have arrived in Australian waters, see our category on Australia for those stories.

Ft. Morgan Update: Gag order lifted in Somali murder case

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:  Victim identified, same last name as murder suspect, here.

This is a post to update last week’s reports, here and here, from “welcoming” Ft. Morgan, CO, about the murder of a young refugee woman by a Somali man.  Although earlier stories dance around the word ‘Somali,’ referring to the alleged murderer and victim as being from East Africa, it sure appears from their names and from her photo that they are both Somali refugees presumably resettled here by the US State Department.   Some resettlement agency knows the two well and might know if they had a history together.  Prosecutors and reporters should contact the US State Department and find out the details of when the two entered the US and who resettled them. 

This is one time I wish we published photos.  Go to the Ft. Morgan Times story from Friday and see the suspected murderer’s photo—he is likely a lighter skinned Somali because of the Arab influence in the Horn of Africa.  I am told that such interbreeding is common.   Think about all the people in the world who wish to come to America and make better lives for themselves and we selected this guy.

Here is the story:

Bond was set Thursday at $300,000 for Ahmed Abdi of Greeley, accused in the stabbing death of a woman tentatively identified as Warsan Aden of Fort Morgan.

Abdi, 25, like the victim an East African, was in Morgan County District Court with an interpreter for rights advisement in the case.

District Attorney Robert Watson said he was not yet certain what charges would be filed, but preliminary reports indicated that the charges could be second-degree murder and first- and second-degree assault.

Judge Kevin Hoyer rescinded an order regarding pretrial publicity, putting normal standards for release of information about the case into effect.

Earlier, Judge Douglas Vannoy had imposed a set of standards somewhat more rigid than normal.

The judge says that rumors would start if the gag order was not rescinded—good thinking judge!

“It is a matter of interest to the community and a matter of interest to the media representing the community,” Watson said as he and Sperandeo both asked the court to rescind the order. Watson said he would rather have accurate information put out than to have rumors circulating.

Besides the $300,000 bond, Abdi must — if he raises bail — surrender any travel documents such as a passport or visa and must remain in Colorado.

Not a good idea, however, to even give him an opportunity to be out on bail.  He will disappear into Canada or Mexico the minute he is free (it is a possibility that that is how he got here in the first place).  Reporters for the Ft. Morgan Times need to find out whether or not he came to be in the US legally by, as I said above, contacting the US State Department.

This is what we are told so far about the murder itself.

The affidavit in support of the arrest warrant for Abdi said that two people called police to an apartment building at 400 W. Kiowa Ave. at 11:36 p.m. Tuesday.

Witness Abshir Hirsi, 29, said the victim went to the door of an apartment where she and several other people were watching television and began talking to a man, then they heard a loud noise as the victim yelled. She then grabbed Hirsi, and he felt blood.

For new readers:   Ft. Morgan has been, in my opinion, too naive and politically correct about the Somalis and other refugees pouring into that meat packing town, see my post here last year.   You can “welcome” them, but the community needs to be fully informed about the downside as well as the upside of being a resettlement city.  Cargill isn’t luring them to Ft. Morgan because they care about the downtrodden or wish to give Ft. Morgan the joys of multiculturalism—they are cheap legal labor, that is all.

See also this post about how Somali men would not allow Somali women to attend a mixed-gender church luncheon in Ft. Morgan.

Also you should know that the US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US in the last 25 years and then last year had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.