Day: March 10, 2010

World Relief won’t hire a Muslim

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We have speculated previously about the question of whether one of the Top Ten federal contractors resettling refugees applied a religious litmus test for volunteers (here and here).  Now comes a story from Seattle that World Relief will hire only Christians. 

Saad Mohammad Ali had volunteered for six months at World Relief, helping the agency resettle arriving Iraqi refuges, when a manager suggested he apply for an Arabic-speaking caseworker job.

The 42-year-old SeaTac resident had been an interpreter for the U.S. government in Iraq before coming to the U.S. two years ago — himself as a refugee.

With a degree in statistics, strong English skills and basic knowledge of American culture, Mohammad Ali, who now works as a baggage handler at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, could help his arriving countrymen temper their typically high expectations of life in America.

But a few days after he applied for the position last December, the Muslim and father of three got an unexpected call from the same manager at World Relief: She was sorry, she told him, but the agency couldn’t offer him the job because he is not Christian.

Read it all.

Private groups should be able to hire whomever they wish, but the water gets muddy when A LARGE PORTION OF THEIR FUNDING COMES FROM THE GOVERNMENT,* as is the case with World Relief.  New readers are always shocked to hear that taxpayers are footing the bill for religious organizations, and in some cases the taxpayer money is literally keeping the religious organization afloat.

My solution continues to be—get these government contractor middle men out of this program.  The “charitable” groups could try some old fashioned charity and help refugees for free!

Anyone want to take bets on how soon CAIR will be on the scene!

* This is a principle everyone should firmly plant in your minds, especially in the age of Obama and the expansion of the federal government—-government money comes with strings!

Maine columnist senses IT too

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I can feel IT building.  Maybe you can’t if you live in a city or in a cocoon-world of far Leftwingers, but you can feel IT in the countryside.

Here are some segments of a column by Tom McLaughlin in Maine.  I don’t know Mr. McLaughlin but he describes IT well.  Tea Partiers will know exactly what he is talking about.

People are worried. More worried than I ever remember.

[…..]

They don’t know it yet, but their lives are about to get harder.

[…..]

Anybody who pays attention has seen it coming for a long time. Political leaders though, acted like it would all go on forever and most voters believed them. A growing number depend on government for everything and don’t know any other way, but with illegal immigration and refugee resettlement, we’re supporting tens of millions of foreigners as well. Some think we can support the whole world. Citizens want to seal the border, but government refuses. Republicans refuse because business constituents like the cheap labor and Democrats refuse because illegals will vote for them after amnesty. Ordinary citizens steam as their government sends so many checks to so many people it can’t cover them anymore. Rather than cut back, it has borrowed from foreigners who don’t want to lend any more. So the Federal Reserve is printing money.

[…..]　

Just as animals sense an earthquake, unease is spreading.　

[…..]

Change is coming. Not the kind for which people thought they were voting in ’08, but big change nonetheless. Hold on tight.

Read it all.

The Census: it’s all about getting your piece of the federal pie

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, it’s about keeping the racial divisions alive and well!

I just got my letter telling me that the census form will be coming next week and here is the main paragraph in the letter:

“Results from the 2010 Census will be used to help each community get its fair share of government funds for highways, schools, health facilities, and many other programs you and your neighbors need.  Without a complete, accurate census, your community may not receive its fair share [of someone else’s money!]”

It doesn’t really say that last part, but they sure want you to know its all about your “fair share.”   The Founding Fathers must be turning in their graves knowing this great nation has devolved into a bunch of squabbling interests demanding their “fair share.”

So, why do they need to know what race you are?  If you are an American who cares!  It is none of the government’s business—-what are they going to do, dole out “fair shares” based on race?

Answering question no. 9

Two days ago at National Review Online this suggestion was made on how to Answer question no.9 for your household. 

…..we should answer Question 9 by checking the last option — “Some other race” — and writing in “American.” It’s a truthful answer but at the same time is a way for ordinary citizens to express their rejection of unconstitutional racial classification schemes. In fact, “American” was the plurality ancestry selection for respondents to the 2000 census in four states and several hundred counties.

So remember: Question 9 — “Some other race” — “American”. Pass it on.

GAO Report released on Iraqi refugees’ dire situation in US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ho hum, not much here that we haven’t reported over the last couple of years, but thought you should know that the GAO (General Accountability Office) has written a report that basically says Iraqi refugees can’t find work (nor can the other tens of thousands of refugees arriving in the US this year!).   Here is CNN’s summary of the report:

Iraqi refugees face steep challenges in resettling in the United States, including homelessness and unemployment amid an economic downturn, government auditors said Tuesday.

According to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday, the dire economic situation has “has made jobs normally available to refugees, such as entry-level jobs with limited English proficiency, scarce and more competitive.”

Even though Iraqi refugees have “relatively high levels of education,” the GAO said in the report, the U.S. resettlement program, in looking for jobs for refugees, does not take into account their prior work experience and education.

“Rather, the focus of the program is on securing early employment for
refugees,” the office said.

Many resettlement agencies say that it is taking as long as six months, and in some cases, as many as 10 months, for incoming Iraqi refugees to find employment, the GAO said.

Citing the International Rescue Committee, the GAO said that there are “high levels of trauma, injury, and illness” among Iraqi refugees.

“Moreover, unemployment and homelessness threaten Iraqi refugees and other populations recently resettled in the United States,” the GAO said, citing non-governmental organizations and resettlement agencies.

Some Iraqi refugees face eviction because they cannot pay rent, the report said.

The report said that the United States admitted 34,470 Iraqi refugees under the State Department’s Refugee Admissions Program between fiscal years 2006 and 2009. In addition, the GAO said, the State Department issued 4,634 special immigrant visas to Iraqis pursuant to two programs that Congress established to help Iraqis who had previously worked for the U.S. government in Iraq.

Most of them are in California, Michigan, Texas, Arizona, Illinois and Virginia, the report said.  [many other states too-ed]

See the whole report here.  Your tax dollars at work, when we are giving you the same information for free!

Knowing all this for a couple of years as they have and we have, why would the Center for American Progress (Soros-funded outfit and home to Van Jones and John Podesta) have urged that we airlift 100,000 Iraqis to the US?  Was that to get more money for the resettlement contractors, or are the refugees just pawns in a larger political game as we learned with Clinton/Gore/Podesta and the Kosovars in 1999, here.

Ft. Wayne, IN laundromat sign: no Burmese people allowed

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update March 20th:   Ft. Wayne lawyer stirs the pot further, here.

Update March 18th:  Controversy is growing in Ft. Wayne, here.

Update March 12th:  More on this story, here.  A teachable moment for all, including for Catholic Charities.

Catholic Charities and other groups that work with Burmese immigrants should use the incident to educate newcomers about acceptable and unacceptable practices in public places.

 

Ft. Wayne, IN reportedly has the largest population of Burmese refugees in the United States and is one of the cities extensively used by the US State Department as a resettlement site for refugees of many nationalities.  So, it is no surprise that tensions are running high as you can see from the comments to this story from WANE.com:

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Ricker Oil issued an apology, Tuesday, after a sign reading ‘No Burmese Allowed’ was posted outside one of its businesses.

The sign, which completely read ‘For Sanitary Purposes, There Are No Burmese Allowed’ created a backlash, when it was spotted on a door at Ricker’s laundromat on the corner of Rudisill and Calhoun. It’s not clear when the sign went up or how long it remained there.

Angry customers turned to the social networking site, Facebook, to voice their outrage and vowed to boycott the company until it apologized.

On Tuesday, the company’s founder, Jay Ricker issued the statement below.

Read Ricker’s statement.   Then further down in the story there is this line.  We will be anxiously waiting, as I am sure the residents of Ft. Wayne will be, to find out what on earth prompted the sign.  What was the “alarming situation?”

A Ricker spokesperson would not go into detail about the ‘alarming situation’ referenced in the apology, but did say the company was working with Allen County’s Health Department and Burmese Advocacy Center (BAC).

That Portland, ME Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence (with a federal grant) has already targeted Ft. Wayne as a city whose citizens need to get their minds right on immigrants.  Now you are really going to get a whoppin’ from the group that is in cahoots with the Southern Poverty Law Center!

Citizens in Ft. Wayne should find out when that group is coming to town to tell you how great everything is going in Lewiston, ME with the thousands of Somalis there (it is going very poorly).  You should really find out when they are coming and be sure that whatever meetings they hold are open to the public—with a federal grant they surely can’t close the meetings.

To learn more about Ft. Wayne, use our search function.  We have written many posts on the city’s refugee overload problem.