FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told a congressional hearing on Thursday that the bureau is conducting a review of training programs after disclosure of materials that equated devout Muslims with a greater propensity for violent extremism.

Mr. Mueller said that one part of the training program disclosed in a press account was “inappropriate and offensive,” but that the session was a “one-off” and not likely to be repeated.

…until I read a report published today by the Center for American Progress (CAP), I had no idea just how orchestrated and well-financed this movement was.

The report, “Fear Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America,” demonstrates that a small group of self-proclaimed experts (Frank Gaffney, David Yerushalmi, Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, and Steve Emerson) backed by a host of foundations and donors (many of which also fund the lobby) have put Islamophobia on the map.

To put it simply, without these “experts,” their donors, and Fox News (their media mouthpiece) you would never have heard that a Muslim community center (the “Ground Zero Mosque”) was being constructed in New York City. And the center certainly would not have become a major news story. Nor would Republican (and even a few Democratic) candidates for president, Congress, and even village councils be called upon to condemn Islam and “Sharia Law” or face being labeled a supporter of terrorism. Nor would Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum have made hatred of American Muslims such an integral part of their campaigns.

It all starts with the money. According to CAP:

A small group of foundations and wealthy donors are the lifeblood of the Islamophobia network in America, providing critical funding to a clutch of right-wing think tanks that peddle hate and fear of Muslims and Islam-in the form of books, reports, websites, blogs, and carefully crafted talking points that anti-Islam grassroots organizations and some right-wing religious groups use as propaganda for their constituency.

Some of these foundations and wealthy donors also provide direct funding to anti-Islam grassroots groups. According to our extensive analysis, here are the top seven contributors to promoting Islamophobia in our country:

Donors Capital Fund
Richard Mellon Scaife foundations
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
Newton D. & Rochelle F. Becker foundations and charitable trust
Russell Berrie Foundation
Anchorage Charitable Fund and William Rosenwald Family Fund
Fairbrook Foundation

A recent Salon article exploring the “surprisingly warm” relationship between Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the Muslim community leans on the Republican presidential candidate’s ties to the Aga Khan, religious leader of the Ismailis — a sect of Shia Islam — as evidence he is well-connected to at least one group of Muslims.

Its headline wonders if Perry will be considered “the pro-Shariah candidate,” during his bid to win the GOP nomination, a label sure to make some conservative voters cringe.

“The biggest threat in the world to the Muslim community everywhere is violent extremism,” Daisy Khan said during the Arizona State University conference “Women, Islam and Peacebuilding” in Tempe.

As Khan spoke at the Valley conference last week, the national spotlight was on the emotional and contentious U.S. congressional hearings on the supposed radicalization of Muslims in the United States. Full story

The comments came on Maher’s Real Time in a discussion with Representative Keith Ellison, a former Catholic who converted to Islam in college. Ellison converted because he was drawn to Islam’s message of “inclusion and social justice.” Ellison also spoke about the need for “religious pluralism” within society. Over all, the two appeared to agree with each other, at least until Maher went off on the radicals within Islam saying, according to Mediate, “‘the threat, potentially, from radicalized Muslims…a unique and greater threat’ – one, he said, that’s in its ‘medieval era.’ In addition, he cited ‘trying to get nuclear weapons’ and a ‘culture of suicide bombing.’” Full story.

The president of Guatemala has said the US committed a serious crime when it deliberately infected hundreds of Guatemalans with gonorrhoea and syphilis.

Speaking through a translator, Alvaro Colom told the BBC that he and his country were ”very angry”.

US President Barack Obama has apologised for the medical tests, in which mentally ill patients and prisoners were infected without their consent.

Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old founder and chief executive of Facebook Inc., plans to announce a donation of up to $100 million to the Newark schools this week, in a bold bid to improve one of the country’s worst performing public school systems.

Newark spends about $22,000 a year on each of its 40,000 pupils, but only about half of its students graduate. Of those who do, only one-fifth go on to four-year colleges. More than 85% of the Newark students at community colleges need remedial help in math and English.

Mr. Zuckerberg is setting up a foundation with $100 million of Facebook’s closely held stock to be used to improve education in America, with the primary goal of helping Newark.

Oprah gives $1 million to Denver School of Science & Technology
via Denver Post

Denver School of Science & Technology has received a $1 million grant from Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network to help the charter school expand.

Winfrey on her show handed Bill Kurtz, chief executive officer of DSST, a $1 million check. Five other charter school networks got money, too.

“These school leaders are doing whatever it takes,” she said on the program that was aired on Monday. “We want to give you something to go back to your schools to make life better.”

The other schools that received Angel Network grants include Aspire Public Schools in California, LEARN Charter Schools in Chicago, YES Prep Public Schools in Houston, Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia, and New Orleans Charter Science and Math Academy.

A narrow majority of Americans hold a generally unfavorable opinion of Islam, and 45 per cent feel Islam is a religion that encourages violence, according to a new national Angus Reid Poll.

The poll found that just 24 percent of Americans agree that Islam “is a peaceful religion” with 30 percent unsure.

By contrast, only one American in 10 believes that either Christianity or Judaism “encourages violence”: 80 percent agree that Christianity “is a peaceful religion” with 59 percent holding the same view of Judaism.

Americans have been hit by a barrage of anti-Islamic commentary on the airwaves of late.

Radio talk show hosts and the right-wing Fox News Channel have tirelessly used a planned Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero in New York as a vehicle to gin up public anger. Almost forgotten have been President Bush’s post-9/11 characterizations of Islam as a religion of peace.