Greetings. A flight from London to Washington was diverted to Maine on Tuesday when authorities realized to their horror that a former folk/pop performer was aboard.

Upon discovering that former singer Cat Sevens was on the flight (when he showed up on a no-fly list after the flight was already in transit), U.S. officials decided he was too big a risk, altered the plane's destination, and held Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) on "national security grounds" before preparing to deport him.

It turns out that Stevens is on a number of U.S. government watch lists. The exact reasons why he would be considered to be a present danger have not been revealed by U.S. authorities. He has been accused in the past of charitable giving that funded militant groups, which he says he never knowingly did. Years ago, he attracted attention when he reportedly publicly supported Ayatollah Khomeini's death edict against author Salman Rushdie (Stevens maintains that his comments regarding Rushdie were taken out of context).

However, some observers suspect that John Ashcroft always hated the song Peace Train and also never much liked the soundtrack of Harold and Maude.

Luckily, thanks to quick actions by security authorities, our Homeland has been saved from even the distant memory of pro-peace singing.

--Lauren--