Day: October 7, 2010

The new mayor of Mogadishu

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:  Readers be sure to see the comments. Allahsoldier doesn’t like this guy either because in reality Allahsoldier and his ilk want to see Somalia (and the US too eventually) taken over by the extremists. 

This is a post to reader Allahsoldier who thinks I can say nothing positive about Somalis.  Pay attention! because this is what I call a truly positive story.   Mohamed Nur, a former refugee who was initially resettled in England, has taken all his knowledge back to Africa to try to save Somalia from the pirates, al-Shabaab and international terrorists.

From the Camden New Journal:

FOUR years ago Mohamed Nur was a footnote in Camden politics following a failed attempt to become a Labour councillor in Fortune Green.

Now the man who called Kentish Town home for 18 years has taken on one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet as the new mayor of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.

And Nur, 55, who was director of the Kentish Town Somali Welfare Association for more than 10 years, is making progress. He has paid his staff, turned on the electricity and started collecting the rubbish – no mean feat in a city where chaos reigns and it is said you can buy an anti-tank missile at the market.

His next step will be to put his $50,000 monthly budget to use in reclaiming the streets from al-Shabab, the Islamist militia linked to al-Qaeda who control 90 per cent of the ruined city.

The East African country, once an Italian colony, has been blighted by civil war for two decades. But there is also high praise and hope from the 6,000 Somalis living in Camden that Nur could be the man to make their motherland known for more than being a “failed state” infested by pirates and militants.

Let’s all hope and pray this good man succeeds so that more than 61 Somalis will go home next year!

Geert Wilders is on trial, and so is freedom of speech

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Geert Wilders is an outspoken Dutch critic of Islam, and of unchecked Muslim immigration into Europe. He is also the head of the Freedom Party, which has soared in popularity and is part of the newly formed government coalition. And he is on trial for his speech, in a proceedings that should horrify the civilized world. There is a lot of commentary on his trial; here’s some of the best.

Pamela Geller says In Wilders trial, free speech is also on trial at Big Journalism.

In what can only to be described as a throwback to the seventh century, Dutch Parliamentarian and anti-jihad warrior Geert Wilders was back in court Monday on specious “hate speech” charges filed by a corrupt, criminal dhimmi court in the Netherlands. How dare they subjugate their Western values to Islamic supremacism in this dangerous farce?

Check out the photo of a man holding a sign saying: BEHEAD THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM.

Mark Tapscot says Freedom of Speech on trial in the Netherlands is a hint of things to come in America, at the Washington Examiner.

Dutch political leader Geert Wilders has fought this Islamified PC and is now on trial for doing so, accused of committing a “hate crime” by speaking these lines:

“We must stop the tsunami of the Islamization. This hits us in the heart, in our identity, in our culture.”

Soeren Kern gives a good summary of what led up to the trial, and what is going on now:

Wilders is being prosecuted after complaints following an August 2007 essay titled “Enough is Enough: Outlaw the Koran, published by the Dutch newspaper De Volksrant, in which Wilders called the Koran “fascist” and compared it to the book Mein Kampf. Wilders also wrote: “I’ve had enough of Islam in the Netherlands; let not one more Muslim immigrate;” adding “I’ve had enough of the Koran in the Netherlands: Forbid that fascist book.” A year later, he released the documentary film “Fitna,” in which he calls on Muslims to rip out “hate-preaching” verses from the Koran.

In a February 2008 interview with Britain’s leftwing Guardian newspaper, Wilders said: “Islam is something we cannot afford any more in the Netherlands. I want the fascist Koran banned. We need to stop the Islamization of the Netherlands. That means no more mosques, no more Islamic schools, no more imams.” He added that Islam was “the ideology of a retarded culture,” and said that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but almost all terrorists are Muslims.”

In February 2009, the British government led by Prime Minister Gordon Brown banned Wilders from entering Britain on grounds of Islamophobia. That ban was lifted in October 2009 after a British court ruled that the entry ban was illegal.

The attempt to bring Wilders to trial was initially dismissed after the Public Prosecutor (OM) originally said that Wilders was protected by the right to free speech. But an appeals court overruled him and ordered that Wilders be charged. The case against Wilders was initiated by the extreme left anti-racism group called Netherlands Admits Color.

Some of the most prominent legal scholars in the Netherlands have spoken out against the case, arguing that “this prosecution does not befit a civilized country.” Adding to speculation that the proceedings against Wilders are pre-cooked, the Amsterdam court is refusing to allow Wilders to call four legal scholars as witnesses because the judges say they have already “learned enough” about the case from other sources.

And he describes the influence Wilders has had on Dutch politics:

The trial comes at a moment when Wilders is close to seeing many of his policy goals realized. On September 30, Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) agreed to support a new minority government made up of the Liberals (VVD) and the Christian Democrats (CDA). Following inconclusive elections in June, the new government is expected to take office in October with a tiny majority (76 seats in the 150-seat parliament). It will be led by Mark Rutte, the VVD leader, as prime minister.

In return for the support of Wilders’ 24 seats in parliament, his political allies have promised to ban the burqa, turn away more asylum-seekers and cut immigration from non-Western countries in half. Under the pact, radical religious leaders could be barred from entering the country; immigrants convicted of crimes would be expelled more rapidly, and those who failed an integration exam would lose their residence permits.

The coalition government also plans to pursue more Euroskeptic policies, and invest in Dutch relations with Israel. “This is an historic event for the Netherlands,” Wilders said after reaching the coalition agreement. “We will be able to rebuild our country, preserve our national identity and offer our children a better future. We want to stop the Islamization of the Netherlands.”

How similar this is to politics here. A ruling class of elites does all it can to impose political correctness and multiculturalism, even at the cost of the survival of their own nation and civilization. But the ordinary people see exactly what is at stake, and as soon as a politician is brave enough to speak out, he gains an enormous following. Wilders is having an effect all over Europe, as his message resonates and his courage inspires.

See our previous posts on Geert Wilders here.

Three arrested in Seattle on food stamp fraud charges

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars

Here we go again, another food stamp fraud bust, but this one is different.  This time its three Asian women instead of Muslim men.  Let me say right up front, I have alerts set for food stamp fraud and have virtually never gotten an alert involving anyone with names like Smith, Jones or Baker.  I’m not saying Americans don’t do food stamp fraud, but there seems to be (in my unscientific analysis) a heck of a lot more immigrants participating in the big frauds, like this one.  It seems that large immigrant communities are also a required ingredient.  [I can hear the politically correct raging as I write this!]

From The Seattle Times:

Three people, including the owner of a grocery store, have been charged with food-stamp fraud in connection with a two-year undercover investigation that federal officials say could involve millions in transactions.

Federal prosecutors have charged Elsa Ma Kwong, 46, the owner of the Seattle Chinese Herb & Grocery in the Chinatown International District, where the investigation was focused, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Two other women, Ahn Thi Nguyen, 53, and Muoi Ly, 65, both of Seattle, were also charged with allegedly facilitating the fraud by serving as “runners,” who found people to participate in the fraud.

Be sure to read the article because this use of “runners”  is something new to me, and I have read a lot of food stamp fraud stories.

Here then was the giveaway to investigators, duh!

When Kwong most recently applied for permission to participate in the SNAP program in 2009, Kwong estimated that she sold about $90,000 in groceries a year from the market. However, a review of the store’s redemption history showed it had redeemed more than $2 million in SNAP benefits between June 2009 and June 2010.

$2 million of your tax dollars in one year!

Meanwhile, food stamp recipients are at an all time high!

Blaming the economy and unemployment, Bloomberg reported (hat tip: Drudge) yesterday that 41.8 million Americans are now on food stamps.  Surely many need the help but these large numbers of fraud busts indicate to me that lots of ‘needy’ people need cold hard cash more than food!  And they know how to get it at the corner grocer or convenience store!   I wonder if we can extend banking regulations to these mom & pop stores?

The number of Americans receiving food stamps rose to a record 41.8 million in July as the jobless rate hovered near a 27-year high, the government said.

Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program subsidies for food purchases jumped 18 percent from a year earlier and increased 1.4 percent from June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a statement on its website. Participation has set records for 20 straight months.  [When you click on ‘statement’ it takes you to a fabulous chart of how much food stamp use has gone up state by state—ed]

Search RRW for ‘food stamp fraud’ to see dozens of fraud cases similar to Seattle’s.

Lewiston’s got bedbugs….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…. and so does the US AID (Agency for International Development) office in the Reagan building where EPA is also located in Washington, DC.

I wouldn’t have seen the Lewiston story except for the 20 plus readers who came over to an old bedbug story we posted here.  I’m assuming someone posted the link at the Sun Journal.

Ah, for a little DDT right now!

For more than you ever wanted to know about Lewiston, ME, use our search function.