Iraqis “find haven” in Boise

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

See what did I tell you!  This is the second story today where refugees “find haven”, this one is in Idaho and the other was in Florida.   I might have lost count, but Boise, ID must be city number four in our quest to discover nine “Iraqi recieving areas” in the US.   Way back in July we reported that Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) said there were nine cities expected to recieve Iraqi refugees in the coming year. 

So, on our Iraqi refugee hit parade we have identified five so far:   Harrisonburg, VA, Warren, MI, Denver, CO, Boise, ID, and according to this article, Spokane, WA.   The U.S. State Dept. goal is to resettle 12,000 Iraqis during FY 2008.    That should be about 1,300 Iraqis per each of nine sites. 

Unlike Hagerstown, MD,  Boise is welcoming.

Boise has become something of a magnet for refugees, in part because it has three active refugee resettlement agencies, a relatively low cost of living, lots of job opportunities and a welcoming community. Since 1980, 12,000 refugees have been resettled in Idaho, mostly in Boise. They’ve come from around the world, with large groups arriving in recent years from Bosnia, Uzbekistan and Somalia. Just in the past year, Boise has received 800 refugees from 20 countries.

Bosnia, Uzbekistan and Somalia, gee the Mosque building industry must be booming in Boise.

Burmese “find haven” in Florida

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I wonder about these daily “find haven” articles.   Is there some sort of template reporters follow when writing refugee resettlement stories?    The stories always start with a heartbreaking tale and as you read down there are little hints that not everything is peachy, but the reporter can’t quite bring him or herself to say it.   Almost every story ends with a plea for volunteers, so you know the resettlement agency is struggling even when the community is “welcoming”.

One of two “find haven” stories today is from Florida and involves the Burmese refugees.  

Nearly 14,000 Myanmar refugees have found their way to the U.S.during the past year, according to figures from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Close to 500 of them came to Florida.

O.K.  I know there are Buddhist monks dying as they face-off with the brutal military regime that runs Myanmar, but here is what I really want to know.   Why are we scooping up all the pro-democracy advocates who should be standing side by side with the brave monks and instead bringing them to America to wash dishes?

The majority of Myanmar refugees who have made it to Central Florida are single men like Thang.

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Thang places his right hand on his chest when speaking of his homeland. He misses his life as a corn and wheat farmer….. he works as a kitchen helper at a hotel near International Drive.

If anyone has the answer, a real policy answer not some mushy answer, please tell me.

Smear tactics of the Godly folks–gosh, is this hate speech?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We thought when the announcement came that the Virginia Council of Churches office was to be closed in Hagerstown, MD,  that that was the end of the bashing of those of us who questioned refugee resettlement.  Oh, how wrong we were.  Most fascinating to me is that the bashing and smearing continues by those very people who claim to have an inside track to God. 

I’m writing this now to give courage to all of you across the country who have questions about this community- altering program of the federal government.  Please speak up, ask questions and don’t be intimidated, just be prepared and know that many of those claiming to be on God’s side will be the most hateful in attacking you personally. 

Some years ago, I founded a non-profit home for retired service horses (military, police and horses for the handicapped).   It seems that this part of my personal life is fair game for attack by the Godly folks.  First, the editor of our local paper, the Herald-Mail, said in an e-mail that perhaps I would have more compassion for refugees if they were four-legged grasseaters [he subsequently apologized for being unprofessional].  

Nearly every day,  editors at the paper work in something, even into a humorous editorial about antique airplanes, to lob another attack on us “unwelcoming” xenophobic, racist, hate mongering, vocal yokels.

And then there is this, an e-mail from someone I may have met once:

Receiving the message from the Ranger Foundation [the horse retirement home I founded] regarding the Open House has prompted me to ask a question I’ve pondered with events over the last past weeks: how do those who have been blessed with so much begrudge those fellow humans who have so very little a chance or opportunity to improve their lot? The “unwelcoming” label that has been placed on us in Washington County as a result of a vocal few is quite sad and is another situation where I think we make God cry.

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While the care and protection of retired service horses is important and something to be appreciated, it’s difficult to reconcile with the issue above. Frankly, we want no part of it so we ask that you remove us from your contact list…..

Thank you.

Elizabeth Carnes, Publisher

Her withdrawal from our contact list is no great loss because she has never supported our old horses anyway.   Her e-mail was just a mean-spirited smear—-the tactic favored by leftists who have no facts and no real intellectual arguments to make.  Although Ms. Carnes, publisher, seems to know what makes God cry she hasn’t a clue about the facts of refugee resettlement in Hagerstown.  

Oh, and I almost forgot this one, I live next to the little Civil War town of Sharpsburg and a couple of years ago about six KKK guys held a rally there.   Richard Cline (Virginia Council of Churches) intimated to several people that I might be a member of the clan—-what,  because I live next to the town that once had a clan rally.

Go ahead beat us up if that makes you feel closer to God, but it’s not going to shut us up!

Why is Church World Service lumped in with this crowd?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The People’s Weekly World reported yesterday that Church World Service representatives were banned from the Philippines last summer.  The government claimed the blacklisted people had links to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Philippines: Blacklist bars rights advocates

Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently reported that a government blacklist barred 504 people from 50 countries from entering the Philippines during July and August, before and after a ministerial meeting in Manila of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

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The government, alleging the blacklisted persons have links to the Taliban or Al Qaeda, banned Filipino expatriates and U.S. members of Church World Service, the National Lawyers Guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights.

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A foreign ministry official cited by Philippines Labor Net admitted previous blacklisting had excluded Brian Campbell, a U.S. lawyer for the International Labor Rights Fund, and other human rights activists, among them former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Church World Service (CWS) is one of ten major volags resettling refugees in the United States and was the major funder of the refugee resettlement that caused such a ruckus in Hagerstown, MD recently.  CWS received approximately $24 million from the taxpayers last year.    It is highly far-fetched to think they are even remotely connected to international terrorism.  However, more interesting to me is that they were among a group of such unabashed Socialists and Communists.  Or, is this just a case of guilt by association?    The People’s Weekly World that reported this story says of itself:

We enjoy a special relationship with the Communist Party USA, founded in 1919, and publish its news and views.

I guess I’ll never be able to see “Crop Walk” publicity again without thinking about these possible connections.