CAIR Loses Status?

According to this February 18, 2008 update from the United American Committee, CAIR, whose shady connections have been well exposed by Andrew Whitehead of the web site Anti-CAIR (among others), CAIR may have come down a peg or two (emphases mine):

A major victory in the fight against Jihad has apparently occurred. Somewhere in the dead of night, without any known announcement from the organization, the highly controversial Washington DC based group CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations has apparently lost the tax status which enabled it to conduct lobbying activities. The organization was registered for many years under the IRS tax code 501c(4) which allowed the organization to conduct lobbying activities, campaign funding, legislation and candidate backing, and many other government and litigation related activities. A 501c(4) tax status is very difficult to maintain, requiring quarterly public filings, and is very regulated under strict lobbying laws, yet is the most powerful tax status for organizations wishing to influence government. CAIR, who was under this status, had numerous members of their leadership indicted on terrorism related charges in the past, and had received large amounts of funding from questionable foreign sources. Many critics of the group often wondered how CAIR was able to hold on to such a highly critiqued tax status such as 501c(4). In contrast there is another tax status which is much weaker, and one that is very easy for most anyone to receive, and that status is 501c(3), a status which U.S. tax laws prohibit such organizations from engaging in large amounts of lobbying and government influence activities, it is a status for educational groups and churches, which is greatly restricted in the ability to influence any kind of legislation. CAIR has recently downgraded the description of their organization on their website to 501c(3). While calls to their office could not confirm the reasons, it appears that CAIR may have lost the status as of the first of this year.

Note, the current organization description on CAIR's website reads:
"CAIR is a not-for-profit organization recognized as tax-exempt under U.S. Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3)."

While internet archives of the site as of June 2007 read as follows:
"The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit 501(c)(4), grassroots civil rights and advocacy group."

Chalk one up for the good guys.

Could there be a connection with CAIR's recent tussle with Michael Savage?

Or is CAIR backing off because the organization dare not open financial records to the light of day as was the case in CAIR's law suit against Andrew Whitehead of Anti-CAIR?

Audio, about ten minutes in length and worth your time:




Read more details about CAIR's unsuccessful law suit against Anti-CAIR, a site which contains the same information it has always provided.

Let's see if CAIR publishes any kind of response to the above update from the United American Committee. Of course, CAIR may do what the organization does best — stonewall or spin the story.