Day: May 14, 2013

Partnership marks the launch of Support The Belly—refugee contractor joins Ingrid and Isabel for fundraising

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Dear critics:  Much to your surprise I’m not going to make fun of the International Rescue Committee for raising money through a capitalistic joint venture with a for-profit business like Ingrid & Isabel.   That is, assuming, of course, that the more money the IRC raises privately means they will dip into the US Treasury less—right!

The kind of support every refugee woman needs!

And, helping poor refugee women around the world sure beats “resettle and dump on… “  American cities and towns.

Besides, the IRC needs to raise money to pay its new CEO—David Miliband—the $400,000 plus salary he will be receiving, and the less of that coming from the US taxpayer the better.

Here is the gist of the new ‘Support the Belly’ partnership:

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Ingrid & Isabel, the maternity company known for its best-selling Bellaband, has partnered with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-profit organization that responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, for the launch of Support the Belly, the company’s philanthropic initiative. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, the IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The organization delivers 200,000 babies in crisis settings annually. Refugee women with little or no access to maternal health care are particularly vulnerable, and this is why Ingrid & Isabel wants to help.

“Motherhood is life-changing, it shouldn’t be life-threatening. So, we are proud to join forces with the IRC to address the dire need for healthcare, nutrition and maternal support around the world.”

“Ingrid & Isabel’s passion and focus is the expectant mother,” explains Ingrid Carney, Founder and CEO of Ingrid & Isabel. “Motherhood is life-changing, it shouldn’t be life-threatening. So, we are proud to join forces with the IRC to address the dire need for healthcare, nutrition and maternal support around the world.”

Together with the IRC, Ingrid & Isabel has developed a selection of charitable “Rescue Gifts” that can be purchased on www.rescue.org/Support-the-Belly to help expectant mothers in need. Ingrid & Isabel has pledged to match donations to the IRC up to $30,000. These tax-deductible gifts are offered at a variety of price points:

For gift ideas, read on.  I repeat, private charitable giving should be the goal of all NGOs doing humanitarian work!

If you are old and managed being pregnant ‘back in the day’ without a BellaBand, go here to learn what you missed.

Minneapolis: Sentencing began yesterday for Somali terrorists; are they still lying?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I told you yesterday that sentencing was about to commence for the refugees who went back to Somalia to join al-Shabab, the al-Qaida affiliate in East Africa.   I hadn’t planned to write anymore about it, partly because I am sick of it!  We gave these people the ‘good life’ at great expense to the US taxpayer and they threw it back in our faces.  But, this part of a long story on the sentencing from the Twin Cities Pioneer Press (hat tip: Cliff) was worth mentioning.

Kamal Said Hassan

The Judge wonders whether this Somali, Kamal Said Hassan, might still be lying:

Each man told Davis his story, and the judge seemed to react differently to each. In the case of Hassan, the judge acknowledged that while the defendant had been an “extraordinary” help to investigators since his arrest, he didn’t know if the words he was hearing were a performance.

“I can’t take back what I did, but I can show you, the government, the Somali community, that I can do better,” Hassan told the judge.

“I know what I did was wrong and illegal and I take full responsibility for my actions,” he said. “I’m sorry to the ones I hurt.”

He apologized to his family, his adopted homeland and his fellow Somali immigrants.

“I want the American people to know I am very sorry for what I did,” he said.

When he finished speaking, Davis paused for several moments.

Finally, he spoke. “I heard a lot of sorrys,” the judge said. “And as you well know, I grilled you on the witness stand when you testified (against Omar). Your talk here has reared that ugly head, in my mind … where we have people who are very, very bright and can be very, very dangerous.”

The judge noted Hassan had been deceitful to his own family and had even not been fully truthful with the FBI when they questioned him; prosecutors even added a charge of making false statements to his two counts of providing material support to al-Shabaab.

The judge said he had to ask himself, “Why aren’t you lying today? I have no indicia that you’re not.”

About the photo:  I found it here with a brief background on Hassan.  I had not seen this website, Global Jihad, before but it looks like it might be useful going forward.