People in the Morning
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strong>Islam: 'Unjust' profiling diminishes United StatesWhen he was yanked off a Washington-bound plane and sent home, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens says he became the victim of an "unjust and arbitrary system"' that is diminishing the United States' reputation as a defender of freedom.
In an opinion piece published in Tuesday's Los Angeles Times, Yusuf Islam said he and his 21-year-old daughter were on their way to Nashville, Tenn., last week to look into a music project when their flight from London was diverted to Bangor, Maine.
The captain told passengers "heavy traffic" was to blame, Islam said, but as soon as the plane touched the ground, a half-dozen uniformed men approached, asked his name and told him to come with them. He had turned up on a list of people suspected of having terrorist links.
"I was devastated," Islam wrote. "The unbelievable thing is that only two months earlier, I had been having meetings in Washington with top officials from the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to talk about my charity work.
"Had I changed that much? No. Actually, it's the indiscriminate procedure of profiling that's changed," Islam wrote. "I am a victim of an unjust and arbitrary system, hastily imposed, that serves only to belittle America's image as a defender of the civil liberties that so many dearly struggled and died for over the centuries."
Kirk's sci-fi fake
Riverside, Iowa, has been "punk'd" by William Shatner, aka "Star Trek" Capt. James T. Kirk, and Spike TV.
Shatner had been shooting scenes in Riverside for what he said was a low-budget, sci-fi movie titled, "Invasion Iowa."
On Tuesday night, Shatner revealed the filming had been for a new reality show on Spike TV about a small town playing host to a Hollywood film shoot. The show is set to debut next year.
"Everything in front of and behind the cameras was faked," Shatner said. "The only thing that was real is the love we have for Riverside."
To soften the blow, Shatner announced that he and his co-producers were donating $100,000 to the city to be used for community projects. The cast and crew also passed the hat and collected $12,000 for the Riverside Elementary School Book Fund.
Out of the kitchen
Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, who rose to national prominence in the reality TV series "The Restaurant" only to see the venture dissolve in legal acrimony with his partners, is leaving his other restaurant.
As of next week, DiSpirito, 37, will step down as executive chef at Union Pacific, the Gramercy Park restaurant where he first gained notoriety after it opened in 1997, DiSpirito and his partners said Tuesday. The restaurant will close at the end of the year.
NBC chronicled the opening of Rocco's 22nd Street, where DiSpirito's mother became known for her meatballs. There has been an ongoing legal dispute among DiSpirito and owners Jeffrey Chodorow and China Grill Management. The restaurant closed last week.
Today's birthdays
Actress Angie Dickinson is 73. Singer Johnny Mathis is 69. Singer Marilyn McCoo is 61. Actress Fran Drescher is 47. Actor Eric Stoltz is 43. Actress Monica Bellucci is 36. Actress Jenna Elfman is 33.
-- Wire services
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