TEXAS LIBRARY BANS MEETINGS OF ANTI-MUSLIM GROUP - TOP Aman Batheja, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7/31/09 ARLINGTON, Texas — A local chapter of a group focused on fighting "the assault of radical Islam" has been permanently barred from holding any more meetings at the Arlington Public Library. The Grand Prairie chapter of ACT! for America had its meeting privileges revoked this month because the group broke two guidelines of the library’s meeting room usage policy, Arlington Library Director Cary Siegfried said. The group, led by Dorrie O’Brien of Grand Prairie, had been meeting at the library since last year, Siegfried said. The Arlington Public Library offers its meeting room for free. In an e-mail to Siegfried, O’Brien said the library was playing "into the hands of America’s enemies" and was just citing the rule violations as an excuse. "I imagine there’s been a lot of pressure put on you to kick me out of the library by the people who want to stop me and others like me from getting the actual word out about Islam," O’Brien wrote. Siegfried insisted that the content of the meetings had nothing to do with her decision. "They didn’t follow the rules; that’s all there is to it," Siegfried said. Siegfried said she warned ACT! for America this year after the library received a complaint that the group’s meetings were not fully open to the public and that group leaders were soliciting funds at the meeting, both violations of the library’s policy. Abir Chatila, principal at Al-Hedayah Academy in Fort Worth, said she filed the complaint after O’Brien asked her where she was born and how she had heard about the meeting before ultimately allowing her to attend. Chatila said she wanted to attend the meeting because she was concerned that anti-Muslim rhetoric was being spread at the library. (More) ----- MUSLIM JOURNALIST CALLED "BIN LADEN" ON BUS, PUNCHED IN HEAD - TOP Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun, 7/30/09 Vancouver police are investigating a disturbing racial attack on a bus Wednesday night as a possible hate crime. Journalist Qasimali Baig said he had just boarded a UBC bus on Kingsway after leaving his evening prayer, when another passenger starting calling him "Bin Laden" in reference to the Al Qaida leader. "Being a Muslim I was dressed up with my prayer attire with a cap on my head," Baig said. "From the back of the bus he jumped from his seat." The assailant punched him in the head, injuring his left eye and knocking off his glasses. Baig said the bus driver immediately stopped the bus and called his supervisor for assistance. Police and emergency crews The attacker, who Baig said was about 5'10", white and 40 to 45 years old, got off the bus and started walking westward on Kingsway past the home building story at King Edward. Baig was taken to Vancouver General to be checked out and was later released. "I am very, very shocked and I don't want this to happen to anyone else. I could take it because I was strong enough to handle him, but I don't want anyone else to go through that," Baig said in an interview. In his 22 years in Canada, he has never experienced racism until the attack, he said. "I am okay, but disturbed emotionally and psychologically," he said. Vancouver Police Const. Jana McGuinness called the attack "a disturbing unprovoked hate crime." (More) ----- WEST KENDALL MOSQUE HOSTS OPEN HOUSE TO DETER VANDALISM - TOP After bouts of vandalism that included bullets and smashed windows, a West Kendall mosque is hoping to open a dialogue at an open house on Saturday. Jaweed Kaleem, Miami Herald, 7/30/09 What is ``jihad'' and is it different from ``holy war?'' What does Islam say about polygamy? How do Muslims in South Florida feel about the Taliban and al Qaeda? A West Kendall mosque that was the target of bullets and window-smashing earlier this year will open its doors on Saturday to answer those questions and others as part of an ongoing effort to deter vandalism and promote understanding of Islam. ``People have had a misconception of our religion,'' said Zakaria Badat, imam and spiritual leader of Masjid An-Noor at 11699 SW 147th Ave. ``If people are having doubts, they can come and talk to us about what Islam means.'' The Islamic Center of Greater Miami in Miami Gardens, another of South Florida's two dozen mosques, also hosted recent open houses. Leaders cite a need for South Florida's 70,000 Muslims to get more involved in their community. In early July, vandals smashed the windows of Masjid An-Noor, which has 500 members and operates the adjacent Islamic School of Miami. Two teenagers were arrested for the crime, one of whom told police that ``all Muslims are terrorists.'' Six months earlier, unknown assailants sprayed the empty mosque with 51 bullets. ``Had these people attended one of these events, they would know that we love peace and we love our community and our country,'' said Nidal Hozien, an organizer of Saturday's open house. ``Some people have an animosity against us, but usually that is built on a lack of knowledge.'' (More) ----- CAIR: FBI'S RUSE 'DEVASTATING' FOR FAMILY OF N.C. SUSPECT - TOP WRAL, 7/30/09 Click here to watch the video. Sabrina Boyd, the wife of Daniel Patrick Boyd and the mother of Dylan and Zakariya "Zak" Boyd, claims authorities told her that her family had been injured in a car crash Monday. She said a man, wearing a bloody shirt, and a law enforcement officer told her their vehicle had been sideswiped by an 18-wheeler. "That the truck was overturned, and none of them had seat belts on. It was grave, and they were bleeding, and I needed to be rushed immediately to Duke Hospital, Sabrina Boyd said during an interview Tuesday with CNN. Sabrina Boyd said authorities drove her, along with her daughter and pregnant daughter-in-law, to Durham but parked behind the hospital. They were then taken out of the vehicle, separated and handcuffed News of a possible car accident was particularly difficult for Sabrina Boyd to hear, she said. It was just two years ago, that another son, 16-year-old Luqman Izzudeen Luke Boyd, died in a single-car wreck near Benson. When the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, heard Sabrina Boyd’s claims, they demanded the U.S. Department of Justice investigate. "It is hard to describe how, how devastating that would be to any family, said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "This is what we are calling a cruel trick played on the family members.” (More) ----- CAIR: WIFE OF ACCUSED N.C. TERRORIST LEADER TELLS HARROWING TALE, DENIES PLOT - TOP Yonat Shimron, Raleigh News and Observer, 7/29/09 The wife of Daniel Boyd, the North Carolina man accused of being a terrorist ringleader, says that law enforcement authorities set a cruel trap to get her out of her house after her husband and two sons were arrested this week. Sabrina Boyd, a 41-year-old mother of five and U.S.-born convert to Islam, said she was outraged that the agents pretended that her husband and three sons had been in a serious car crash, and that a North Carolina Highway Patrol would take her to the hospital where they were being treated. But when they arrived at Duke Hospital, 30 agents surrounded her and handcuffs were slapped on her wrists, Sabrina Boyd said. On Wednesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced the subterfuge as unconstitutional and an unjust trick," and called on the Justice Department to investigate the incident. "The cruel trick reportedly used by the FBI in the detention and questioning of the family members shocks the conscience of anyone who values constitutional rights and due process of law, CAIR executive director Nihad Awad wrote. (More) ----- CAIR: LOYALTY AND COOPERATION ARE TWO-WAY STREETS - TOP Fedwa Wazwaz, Star Tribune, 7/30/09 On Saturday, July 25th, local Muslim leaders met with Congressman Keith Ellison to discuss the community’s state of affairs and address challenges currently facing Muslims in Minnesota. The discussion focused on everything from positive contributions to the growth of the community, including the free Muslim-run health clinics in the Twin Cities, to the missing Somali men and Muslims’ cooperation with law enforcement. Congressman Ellison encouraged everyone to contribute to America and answer President Obama’s call to service. I recalled a similar meeting in the past with a few law enforcement and government officials, including Thomas Heffelfinger, the former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota. I spoke during and after the meeting to these officials that cooperation requires trust. I gave them an example of a Canadian-Arab, Maher Arar, who was traveling to the US, stopped by homeland security and then sent to Syria to be tortured. I explained that these stories, passing in our grapevines, create fear and distrust of law enforcement. I further explained that loyalty is a two-way street and encouraged them to speak to their higher-ups about how such abuse makes it difficult for us to conscientiously encourage cooperation with the FBI. (More) ----- CAIR, WGA-WEST SEEK THE NEXT GREAT MUSLIM HOLLYWOOD SCREENWRITER - TOP Matt Coker, OC Weekly, 7/30/09 A shy, talented and unlucky Jewish kid from a loud, talented and obscenely prosperous family refuses to follow in his successful parents' and siblings' footsteps because he dreams of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter--and he's even completed what he knows is the script of the century. But, somehow, he and/or his crackerjack story are completely wrong whenever he pitches the next Citizen Kane to a gauntlet of stereotypical producers, who include bros, feminists, studio ass kissers, shady paramilitary types and Harvey Weinstein (playing not himself but James Cameron). ?Just when our sad-sack hero is about to give up all hope and take his Nana's advice and go to pharmacology school just like Uncle Burt did, the kid happens upon the advertisement on the next page from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Writer's Guild of America-West. "What if," he thinks to himself, "I were to pose as an Arab-American and show the folks holding this deal my ripping script?" Faster than you can say "Bosom Buddies Three's Company Sleeper Cell," Adam Rafkin is calling himself Aziz Rahman, cribbing the Koran, tucking his script under his arm, slapping on too much cologne and walking into the CAIR-WGA-West confab . . . . . . Aaaaaand scene! CAIR-LA SEEKS ASPIRING MUSLIM SCREENWRITERS FOR 'WRITING FOR HOLLYWOOD SEMINAR (LOS ANGELES, CA, 7/29/09) - On Tuesday, August 11, CAIR's Greater Los Angeles Area chapter (CAIR-LA) and the Writers Guild of America-West will host a "Writing for Hollywood" seminar for Muslim college students and recent graduates who are pursuing writing and filmmaking careers in the entertainment industry. WHAT: 'Writing for Hollywood' WHERE: TBA WHEN: Tuesday, August 11 at 2:30 p.m. WHO: Speakers include leading Hollywood filmmaker & writer The seminar will go over how to become a successful screenwriter, qualities industry executives are looking for, and various opportunities available for American Muslims in Hollywood. The program will also feature an overview of resources and opportunities available at the Guild and a tour of the Writers Guild Foundation library. Spaces are limited and will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis. If you are interested, please contact CAIR-LA Communications Manager Munira Syeda via e-mail at msyeda@cair.com. Include your full legal name, major, and year in college or year of graduation. Deadline for RSVP is Thursday, August 6, 2009 at 5 p.m.