LET'S PLAY COWBOYS AND IRANIANS': POSTER SHOWING HANGING IRANIAN SPARKS OUTRAGE AT TEXAS BBQ RESTAURANT - TOP
Lydia Warren, Daily Mail, 11/4/11

A poster on the wall of a barbecue restaurant depicting a hanging Iranian has sparked outrage and accusations of racism.

The sepia picture in Nonmacher's Bar-B-Q in Katy, Texas shows armed men surrounding the hanged man and includes the caption: 'Let's play cowboys and Iranians.'

One member of the lynch mob wears a shirt that reads: 'Iranians Suck.'

But despite cries of racism and threats of a protest on Saturday, the owner of Nonmacher's has refused to remove the poster.

John Nonmacher said: 'This is still America. If they're not happy here, then they should go back to Iran. (More)

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CAIR-FL: POLITICIANS SHUN TEA PARTY CONVENTION FEATURING ISLAMOPHOBE -TOP
Scott Powers, The Orlando Sentinel, 11/4/11

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The "tea party" opens a long-planned convention Friday night in Daytona Beach, expecting 1,200 delegates, dozens of speakers -- but almost no big-name politicians.

None of the leading Republican presidential candidates and only two of the five Florida candidates for the U.S. Senate agreed to speak at the three-day Florida Tea Party Convention at the Volusia County Ocean Center.

And top GOP officeholders from Florida who have previously courted tea party support -- Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Allen West of Plantation -- also sent regrets. ...

A whirlwind of controversy in the past two weeks could have played a role, after the convention invited anti-Islam activist Pamela Geller to speak and an American Muslim civil-rights group, the Council of American-Islamic Relations, protested.

"They (CAIR) put pressure, I think, on some of the state officials, and I think some of the state officials, in their judgments, they declined to go," VanLandingham said. "Their (the officials') reasons were 'prior commitments.'" (More)

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PAMELA GELLER: 'I ENDORSE HERMAN CAIN' - TOP
Eric Kleefeld, Talking Points Memo, 11/4/11

Is this the kind of help Herman Cain is looking for this week?

Cain has now picked up a top endorsement from the right-wing blogosphere: Pamela Geller, the anti-Islam campaigner and Birther.

Geller posted an entry on her blog Wednesday evening, declaring her support for Cain. In the past, Geller has criticized Cain, when he backed down from his statement that local communities should be able to ban mosques. She had also hoped that Sarah Palin would run, a dream that came to naught when Palin declared a month ago that she would not run.

But now, recent developments have put her on board. Specifically, the allegations of past sexual harassment against Cain -- and the counter-accusation from Team Cain that the Rick Perry campaign was behind it -- have changed her mind. Geller has long detested Perry, calling him soft on “stealth jihad” by Muslims in America. (More)

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CAIR-LA: DOJ DROPS PROPOSED LAW BASED ON SUIT AGAINST FBI BY MUSLIMS -TOP
Matt Coker, OC Weekly, 11/3/11

The ACLU, open government groups and members of Congress are applauding today's decision by the U.S. Department of Justice to abandon the legitimization of lying to the American people, which was recently exposed in a lawsuit brought by Muslims in Orange County and elsewhere in Southern California who the government has spied on.

The Justice Department had been seeking a federal regulation based on the decades-old policy where officials lied about not having documents when they really did.

The policy was exposed in a lawsuit the ACLU filed on behalf the Muslims (Islamic Shura Council v. FBI). The targeted Muslims--who include Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations office in Anaheim--filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information on the FBI spying on them in 2006. The Justice Department repeatedly responded no such documents existed. Close Weekly readers know the FBI used Irvine informant and convicted felon Craig Monteilh to spy on Muslims at mosques in Irvine, Garden Grove and elsewhere in Southern California.

It didn't take Judge Cormac Carney of the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana long to find the evidence that showed the government had repeatedly lied about the existence of documents showing it spied on Americans, many with no criminal records at all. The feds then responded they had to lie on national security grounds. Carney disagreed vehemently in his ruling last April.

The judge was not alone in his outrage. OpenTheGovernment.org, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, other open government groups and a bipartisan coalition of congressmen--most notably U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Mark Udall (D-Colorado), and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Illinois)--have all pressured the Justice Department to withdraw the fucked-up regulation. (More)

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CAIR-FL: COMMISSIONER HALTS MUSLIM CEREMONY - TOP
Lisa Orkin Emmanuel, NBC Miami, 11/4/11

A Sunrise commissioner stopped a Muslim religious ceremony, saying she was trying protect animals from being slaughtered, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.

"I have no ill will toward the Muslim faith," Commissioner Sheila Alu told the newspaper. "I'm just an animal lover."

Alu wanted to stop the gathering, which was in celebration of Eid ul-Adha, a festival of sacrifice, according to the newspaper.

"Yes, I was trying to stop it," she said. "It's shut down. I'm trying to protect innocent animals. This is not an appropriate setting for the slaughtering of animals in an open field in city's that's as populated as Sunrise. Usually these religious ceremonies take place in a rural area."

Nezar Hamze, of the Pembroke Pines-based Council of American-Islamic Relations, said it was upsetting.

"We'll find another venue. But that's very disturbing. I'm very disappointed in that. We asked for permission and went through the proper channels and now it's off because a commissioner has a problem with it." (More)

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POLL: SHOULD COMMISH HAVE BLOCKED THE MUSLIM CEREMONY? - TOP
By Gary Stein, Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, 11/4/11

It's nice that Sunrise commissioner Sheila Alu is an animal lover. It's not nice that she stepped in to stop a Muslim animal sacrifice in her city.

She didn't like the fact that Muslims were "slaughtering" (her word) goats and lambs in an open field in her city, in a religious ritual. Even though the ritual had been approved for this Sunday, and was on private property. Even though animal sacrifice for religious purposes is protected from government interference.

Alu says she entered the fray to get the ritual stopped as a resident, not as commissioner. That may be true, but in reality, she can't take away the fact she is a commissioner, and she has plenty of political clout. That doesn't go away just because she says it goes away.

From the message boards on this one, many people are in favor of what Alu did -- no doubt, because it is a Muslim ritual. Would they feel the same way if another religion was involved? I don't think so.

Alu says she has nothing against Muslims, but many people do. That's why they'll support this interference. And that's why they're wrong.

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CAIR-MI: PRAYER GATHERING IN DETROIT HAS MUSLIMS ON GUARD - TOP
Erin Kelly, Associated Press, 11/4/11

Muslim leaders say they fear some attendees might provoke or disrupt Friday prayers at local mosques. The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Michigan chapter is urging mosques and Islamic schools to increase. (More)

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CONGRESSMAN ANDRE CARSON'S MOTHER PASSES AWAY - TOP
WXIN, 11/4/11

Congressman Andre Carson's mother, Tanya Terese Carson, passed away Friday. Tanya Carson was also the daughter of former Congresswoman Julia Carson.

"I am profoundly saddened to announce my mother's passing," said Congressman Carson. "She provided me unconditional love, direction, and affection and helped mold me into the man I am today. I will miss her greatly." (More)

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CAIR: WOMAN SAYS ISLAM 'HAS GIVEN ME A NEW LIFE' - TOP
Josh Dulaney, The (San Bernardino County) Sun, 11/3/11

On a warm Thursday morning outside the John M. Pfau Library at Cal State San Bernardino, 24-year-old psychology student Gina Cuellar waited for her study partner.

Other young women passed by her, many wearing blue jeans and boots.

Cuellar wasn't hard to spot.

A recent convert to Islam, she sported a hot pink head scarf known as a hijab, with her sunglasses propped on top.

"I think God watches over me whenever I wear it," she said. "You get blessings."

Her blessing for the day was an up-front parking spot in the university's otherwise crowded parking lot.

Cuellar's birth mother was a Mexican American who died when Cuellar was 11 years old. Her father is Caucasian.

The Mentone resident is among what many Muslim leaders say is a growing number of American women converting to Islam.

"The qualitative anecdotes are women particularly are converting at a much faster rate, particularly Latinas," said Ahmed Rehab, media relations director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington. (More)

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MEXICO'S TZOTZIL INDIANS CONVERT TO ISLAM - TOP
By Sofia Miselem, Agence France Presse, 11/4/11

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico -- Raised a Christian, Manuel Gomez now goes by Mohamed Chechev, and counts himself among a handful of Tzotzil Indians converted to Islam by Spaniards in southern Mexico.

"I am Muslim. I know the truth. I pray five times a day, celebrate Ramadan and have traveled to Mecca," Chechev said in rudimentary Spanish. (More)