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Some liberal websites attacked me for .
But I was not the only one who asked whether it was the real thing. As AP reports, even top brass at the U.S. Air Force were doing a double take:

A startling Internet video that shows someone spraying graffiti on President Bush’s jet looked so authentic that the Air Force wasn’t immediately certain whether the plane had been targeted. . . .
“We’re looking at it, too,” said Lt. Col. Bruce Alexander, a spokesman for the Air Mobility Command’s 89th Airlift Wing, which operates Air Force One. “It looks very real.”

Marc Ecko’s Graffiti-ed “Air Force One” Even Fooled the Air Force

Alexander later confirmed that no such spray-painting had occurred.

In fact, the plane looked so real, it was a hoax only a gazillionaire and punk, like Marc Ecko could afford to pull off. AP reports that Gecko rented a jumbo jet that looked like Air Force One and had it painted that way:

The pranksters responsible for the grainy, two-minute Web video – employed by a New York fashion company – revealed Friday how they pulled it off: a rented 747 in California painted to look almost exactly like Air Force One. . . .
Ecko acknowledged Friday that his company had rented a 747 cargo jet at San Bernardino’s airport and covertly painted one side to look like Air Force One. Employees signed secrecy agreements and worked inside a giant hangar until the night the video was made. Ecko declined to say how much the stunt cost.
“It’s not cheap,” he said. “You have to be rich.”

But if a rich hip-hop prankster could make a mock Air Force One that can fool the Air Force, can’t the terrorists do the same for a more nefarious purpose?

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Last week, when I was away for Passover, the tabloid press was abuzz at the birth of Tom Cruise’s alleged child with alleged girlfriend Katie Holmes. They named her “Suri,” and had their publicists tell the world that the word was Hebrew for “Princess.”
Not that I care about their new kid or her name but . . . since I speak fluent Hebrew, this new word was news to me.
There’s the word “Sar” (pronounced “Sahr”), which means officer or minister and can also mean prince. And there’s the Biblical “Sarah,” which can mean princess or female minister/officer. There is “Tzuri” or “Tsuri,” which means “my rock” (usually reserved for G-d, as in “G-d is my rock,”) but I doubt that’s what the airhead glitterati couple was aiming for. But the only “Suri” I know is the command version of “Sur,” which means depart or move aside, as in “move away” or “get out of here.” (“Get out of here” Cruise–that has a nice ring to it.)
But no “Suri” as a princess. I never heard of that word. I checked my “Ben Yehuda’s Pocket English-Hebrew/Hebrew-English Dictionary” by Ehud Ben-Yehuda and David Weinstein. And still no “Suri.”

Did Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and their publicist–none of whom are Hebrew speakers to my knowledge–know a new Hebrew slang word that I did not? I don’t think so.
And apparently, the native Hebrew speakers in Israel are also raising their eyebrows at the apocryphal, alleged Hebrew name the non-married celebs gave their alleged new child.
Just another example of how crazy celebrities don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re plain clueless. (And the media blindly reports what they say as fact, without bothering to check.)
Jump on a couch with HOprah, make up new Hebrew words. What a useful life.

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For the past 2.5 years, I’ve been writing about brave, courageous terrorism prosecutor Richard Convertino (in the New York Post–, , and ). A religious Catholic, father of five, and patriotic American, Rick’s only mistake was prosecuting a Detroit Al-Qaeda sleeper cell and winning convictions against them.
For that he was indicted, and on Friday, arraigned, in Federal Court. But he was right. The men were terrorists.
They had drawings of our and Israel’s planes and their take-off order at Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base. They had drawings of a military hospital in Jordan. And they had video of various U.S. site, including Disneyland and Las Vegas. The men planned to commit terrorist attacks against all of these. They were living with Nabil Al-Marabh, a Bin Laden associate who was on the FBI’s 25 most wanted list. And there is so much more.

Rick Convertino:
American Patriot Now Prosecuted for Fighting Terrorists & Winning
Because Convertino convicted the terrorists and got accolades for his work, Detroit’s U.S. Attorney and Justice Dept. officials went on a 3-year witch hunt against him, funded by millions of your tax dollars that were supposed to be spent investigating Islamic terrorists. (Plus, they didn’t like that Convertino cooperated with Senator Charles Grassley in his investigations into document fraud. Whatta crime.) And the feds insisted the terrorism convictions be overturned. And they indicted Convertino.
But now their indictment is shown to be a sham.
As reported by AP’s master investigative reporter John Solomon, photos the feds claim were inaccurate depictions of the Jordanian military hospital, the Queen Alia Hospital, are in fact confirmed by Google satellite photos as being accurate depictions of what is, in fact, the hospital. The alleged inaccuracy was the crux of the feds’ silly, nitpick-extraordinaire indictment.

Terrorist Sketches of Jordan’s Queen Alia Military Hospital
Now the feds are saying: so what if the photos are accurate? Huh? So what?! Up is down, red is blue, terrorists are heroes, and their prosecutor must be destroyed no matter what the evidence of his innocence and valor.
Is this the “War on Terror”? Say it ain’t so. But unfortunately, it is. Read more details on this ongoing, unjust witch hunt here and here.
Please help Rick Convertino by donating to his legal defense fund here–scroll down to bottom of page (or Paypal).
Read the whole AP Story exposing this sham of a case paid for by millions of your tax dollars.

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**** UPDATE: AMMERAH SAIDI, MUSLIM WOMAN PROTESTING THE GYM, DEFENDS ISLAMIC TERRORISTS, WON’T DENOUNCE HOMICIDE BOMBINGS, ****
Americans must decide if we are going to willingly accept the imposition of others’ religious rules, or if we will stand up for our own freedoms while we still have them.
That is the debate at the center of America’s culture clash with Mid-Easterners who want to impose their Islamist mores on us–on our own shores. At least, it would be a debate, if we would not just immediately fold every time there is a challenge.
The latest example of the debate is Fitness USA gyms. The nationwide chain of gyms (headquartered in suburban Detroit) is the latest target of Islamic extremists who insist it impose separate workout days or a partition of the sexes.
But the name of the company is clearly “Fitness USA,” not “Allah’s Gym USA.” A Detroit Free Press article, written by resident Islamist reporter Niraj Warikoo, does not tell the whole story, but it is useful as background (if you can read between the lines).

Time for Arrwa Mogalli, Ammerah Saidi to Find Hanoi Jane Useful
(Left Photo by DAVID P. GILKEY/Detroit Free Press)
While it is true that many Fitness USA gyms have separate workout days for men and women, not all do. The gym’s Lincoln Park facility has an expensive cardio area that it has chosen to make available to both sexes at all times. Muslim women who do not want to work out at Fitness USA’s Dearborn crowded facility are now demanding that nearby Lincoln Park use gender-specific workout days or impose a partition in the middle of the cardio area. It cannot be done and would prevent non-Muslims who want to work out every day from doing so to meet the Muslim women’s self-centered demands.
The Muslim women told Detroit’s local NBC affiliate newscast that if Fitness USA does NOT meet their demands, they will stage pickets in front of the gym. While Dearborn is a 30% Arab city (not 30% Muslim), Lincoln Park is much less so. Yet these women want to impose their will on the gym. They signed an agreement that did not provide for their stringent single-sex sequestration requirements. As an attorney who has represented gyms, I know well that there is a reason the gym has a contract (which the Muslim women apparently don’t think applies to them–they’re special).
There is a solution for the Muslim women, which they selfishly refuse to utilize. They can work out completely covered up (as a Muslim woman at my gym does) just as they are covered up when they walk in front of men on the street and elsewhere. But they don’t want to. The women showed a the local Detroit TV newscast that they prefer to wear their skimpy, immodest work-out clothes, which they do not want to wear in front of men. And, hey, they don’t want to get their hijab headscarves all sweaty. They would rather impose their will on the gym than discomfort themselves in the least.
Too bad. That’s not the way America works. This is a private business that has chosen its own rules, not Islam’s rules.
If there is such a large market for what these women want, then the free market will take care of it–perhaps they can open their own single-sex or partitioned gym. Or they can always rent an old Hanoi Jane Fonda video and work out (well, Fonda actually binged and purged and pretended to work out) at home.
But that’s not, unfortunately, what many American Muslims want. They want to impose their will on the rest of us. And therein lies the problem of which the gym story is just a microcosmic example. We can either be a free country or an Islamic one, not both. They want the latter.
Ready to wear your burqa to the gym and have the cardio room partitioned? Me neither. Tough luck for those who want it that way for all of us. For now.
**** UPDATE, 04/26/06—

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Hmmm . . . . Does this sound like the humility of a man charged with 14-counts of child pornography, including having sex with a 14-year-old on tape (and reportedly urinating on her)?
Nope. R. Kelly’s latest stop on his “R. Kelly as Mr. Showbiz” tour is here in the Detroit area. And the description of his latest antics and expected concert repertoire, as reported by The Detroit Spews, sure doesn’t sound like the usual humble behavior of a man facing the charges of his life:
* “MTV reports from a show in New York earlier this week that Kells performed a new song called ‘The Zoo,’ which includes the lines: ‘You and me, hopping like two kangaroos,’ and . . . ‘It’s like ‘Jurassic Park,’ but I’m your sexasaurus.’
* Kelly “asks the ladies to ‘get my computer love right off your screen’ during ‘Like a Real Freak,’ from his ‘TP2.com.’

* Kelly sings of “‘Sex Weed,’ described on his ‘TP.3’ album as the ‘sex so good that it gets me high.’
* In “Sex in the Kitchen,” Kelly “asks to get it on ‘over by the stove,’ later moving to the counter, ‘by the buttered rolls.’ Potatoes are involved, too.”
And remember all of this is with a preferred age group of 14-year-olds.

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What happens when a famous chick-lit authoratrix ?
“Logical” answer: She turns to advising your kids on how live “live” in college. (After first engaging in a circus-fest train-wreck on HOprah with the illegal alien.)
Who’s the woman? Why, it’s none other than , Oprah-friend, and messed-up chick extraordinaire. Forget that her book, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” turned out to really be the first half of “How Stella Got Conned into a Sham Marriage to a Gay Man Seeking U.S. Citizenship and Moolah.”
Now, “Stella” a/k/a McMillan has a new book playing guidance counselor to your college kids: “It’s OK if You’re Clueless and 23 More Tips for the College Bound.” Wait, a sec. Wasn’t she the one who was clueless (marrying that guy, etc.)?

Tip No. 3: “Don’t listen to your parents.” The rest of the rules quoted in USA Today sound semi-decent. But still, would you want your kids to take advice from this woman?
Her next book, “Don’t Pity the Fool,” is about her foolish sham marriage, and her ongoing bitter divorce which has so far cost $363,000 in legal fees.
Best New Advice Book: “It’s NOT OK if You’re Clueless: How Stella Got Out of the Advice Business.”

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If you’re a “” fan who’s expecting more of the same in this weekend’s movie, “The Sentinel,” you are on target.
Except that Kiefer Sutherland is not in it much–he’s a mere co-star who plays a geeky tight-ass. The Jack Bauer in this movie is played by well-preserved raisin, Michael Douglas. He is aging Agent Pete Garrison formerly of the PPD (the President’s personal protective detail).
If you like “24,” because it finally shows the terrorists as what they are: ISLAMIC, then you’ll be disappointed. Nope, this is hardly a spoiler. It’s a minor detail. But puh-leeze!: How many movies can they do about a KGB plot to kill the President, when–hello?!–the KGB is gone? Come on. Not too plausible. One of the agents on the President’s or First Lady’s protective detail is part of the plot. And here’s a hint: It ain’t Special Agent Aziz Hassad.

Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland in “The Sentinel”
If you’re a U.S. Secret Service agent, you’ll probably laugh . . . or be disappointed at the “humanizing” warts-and-all portrayal. When I was in college and doing a research project at the U.S. Secret Service, I interviewed the Service’s Director of Public Relations. He told me how upset the agency was at the portrayal of Secret Service agents as vicious, corrupt, sadistic, etc. in movies like, “To Live & Die in L.A.” Former Secret Service Agent Gerald Petievich wrote that movie. And guess what? He’s ba-a-a-ack. “The Sentinel” is his baby, too.
At least in “To Live and Die in L.A.,” the terrorist was a Muslim Arab who blows himself up to Paradise with shouts of, “I’m ready to die! Death to Israel and all the enemies of Islam!” This movie is less realistic on that front.
But “The Sentinel” is escapist fun, but it’s hardly the most unpredictable plot. Yes, it’s heart-pounding exciting. But it also shows Secret Service agents as guys who sleep with their protectees (well, one of them did marry President Ford’s daughter) and endanger them. Or are even moles in on a plot to kill the Prez.

U.S. Secret Service Director W. Ralph Basham
The Secret Service, like the former U.S. Customs, was one of the best law enforcement agencies there were. Yes, the agency has had its share of scandals. But it did excellent work with Customs in Operation Greenquest, when it was under the Treasury Department, in uncovering and thwarting terrorist money laundering, counterfeiting, and ID fraud. That’s the kind of work most Secret Service agents do, not the sexy protective detail stuff.
When Homeland Security was created, Ralph Basham, the Secret Service’s patriotic Arab-American leader, valiantly fought Tom Ridge and John Aschroft in trying to keep those terrorism investigations under the Secret Service bailiwick. Unfortunately, he (and Customs/ICE) lost all terrorism cases to the FBI. That his agency is now a movie soap opera backdrop, can’t be comforting (though he is soon to head up Customs and Border Protection and is awaiting Senate confirmation).
As for Eva Longoria, it’s laughable to see her in running/chase scenes in stiletto heels. How many female Secret Service agents wear those on the job, much less look like her? And her presence in the movie is useless. However, given the Reuters story uncovered by Michelle Malkin, regarding Longoria’s absurd views in support of illegal aliens, we wish Longoria would act in real life like she does in this movie: looking good, but mostly staying silent.
“Desperate Housewives” fans, take note: 50-something Kim Basinger looks far better. And we don’t know her views on illegal immigration. Thankfully.

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While I was away for the last part of Passover, Immigration chieftess a/k/a “The ICE Princess,” did some show raids of aliens and managers at Dutch pallet-maker IFCO Systems, around the country.
The outrage, as one high-ranking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent told me, is that criminal aliens were released to make room for these staged arrests:

Now I know why Detention and Removal was reducing occupancy from 1200 to 900 by releasing “minor criminals,” such as wife beaters and child abusers. It was apparently so that there would be room for pallet makers!

But even before Passover was over, many of the illegal aliens arrested by ICE agents under Myers’ “command,” were already released, as reported last night on ABC’s “Nightline” (which showed the aliens leaving detention facilities with their “notices to appear”–as if they will). So, what was that Homeland Security chief was saying about “ending catch and release” of illegal aliens?

That Little?: Homeland Security’s Chertoff/John Waters Look-Alike Still Has Impotent Immigration Enforcement Policy
And why IFCO, hardly a household name? Why, not, a bigger, more well-known company that ICE knows knowingly hires illegal aliens? A company like WAL-MART. We’ve detailed how Myers’ predecessor Michael Garcia . ICE agents had tape of top Wal-Mart execs pressuring contractors to hire them.
A raid on Wal-Mart and arrests of its execs would have been news. This isn’t. We’ll see if the arrests continues and are followed by meaningful prosecutions. Don’t hold your breath. The raids are particularly phony because, as we noted back in January, near Galveston before even checking their IDs to see if they were legit.
Mr. Burns told the press that this week’s raids took over a year of planning. If it takes a whole year of planning to do one or two days of raids solely on one obscure employer and then release a good deal of the arrested aliens anyway, what is the point? We are in trouble.
Below is a chart detailing what’s really going on. As ICE agents tell me, they did many, many more raids on and arrests of illegal alien employees and employers under Bill Clinton than under George W. Bush.

If this were not bad enough, below are the instructions Julie Myers gave her Detention & Removal Operations agents regarding which aliens can be released (“NON-MANDATORY DETENTION”): those convicted of “crimes relating to domestic violence, stalking, and the abuse or neglect of children,” among others. As the agent who sent us this wrote, “Kick ’em back on the street [candidates] include child abusers!”

As we’ve written, don’t look for much to change in immigration enforcement, because , and sources at the ICE Palace say she wants out, just months after she started. If she has any respect for the American people and any genuine concern about the hemorrhaging borders (doubtful), she will resign soon. But that’s the thing about her appointment and Homeland Security in general: There’s no skill or concern involved when you’re running the show, there. It’s simply a “Family Affair.”

(Mr. Julie Myers Woods/Gen. Myers/Mrs. Julie Myers Woods/Chertoff-Mr. Burns “Family Affair” courtesy of David Lunde/Lundesigns)
****UPDATE: Feedback from a trusted reader on one of Julie Myers’ many appearances, yesterday, to promote her show-raids of illegals (not saying we agree with everything in the e-mail, but . . . .):

Subject: Julie M on Cavuto
Greetings…..Thurs. 4/19 Cavuto / Fox News…….
Julie Myers was on re: the “photo op” raids that took place rounding up the illegals.
This is the longest she has spoken on any show that I have seen her. Cavuto asked her questions, 1 on 1. (Now I am not going to be nasty cause it is still Holy Week . . . .)
OH MY GOD !!! (Not shouting but emphasizing. I’m still in disbelief)
1. What an embarrassment she is!!!!!! (SHAME ON BUSH!)
2. She mispronounces simple words (just like the guy who appointed
her, GWB. One word was Social “Security.” Already forgot the other, I was so disgusted.) There was a good 3 – 4 mispronunciations.
3. Her inexperience shows soooo very, very, very much. Also her lack of maturity .
4. Educated???? In what????? You’d never know it when she opens
her mouth.
5. Mucho lack of any authoritativeness. Does not possess even a
quality to “pretend” to be anything in law enforcement. She could have spoken at least “firmly” or with “conviction,” not like a very young high school kid.
I do not know any ICE Agents at all, but tell ya what: My heart goes out to each & every one of those that are truly a professional & effective.
How in the hell do they contend with & “report” to a boss of her
stature????? How do they even get out of bed everyday & report for work?????? How very very disgusting.
Sure glad she is p.g. Hope she has twins or triplets, so she can be a stay at home mom (no offense to any other woman, honest). She needs to stay at home & outta sight!!!!!!!
Conclusion : Those “run a way eyes” are to spook one out, so one is totally focused on them & so they are distracted to not hear a word she says!!!!!!
What a joke. You nailed her right to the “T,” & I’m glad I learned about her through you, or my head would be still spinning trying to figure her appointment out. Seeing is believing & I have seen enough!!!
Be sure to tell the ICE Agents that you know: This civilian with no law enforcement experience “prays” for them, so they don’t quit their jobs. ‘Cause any damn dummy can see right through her. WE are in deep doo-doo.

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As someone who wrote countless articles about Islamic Jihad terrorist group founder and leader Sami Al-Arian (since well before 9/11), I’m glad to see that he agreed to be deported.
But that news, which came over the weekend, is also disturbing for a number of reasons:
1) The Justice Dept. failed to successfully prosecute him and realized it would probably fail again, thus the agreement. It was a huge blow and yet another in the string of Justice Department failures in its impotent War on Terror. (Maybe it, too, needs to join .) That’s why it wasn’t a big feat , though I was alone in the prediction.

Terrorist Sami Al-Arian Literally Gets Away With Murder
2) The deal, even though Al-Arian admitted he was a terrorist, made it easy for various extremist–though treated as mainstream–Islamic groups to claim that it was a victory for Al-Arian. After all, he was never convicted of any terrorism charges. Thanks again, USDOJ (U.S. Dept. of Justice). HAMAS front-group CAIR and various others are claiming this is a victory for Palestinian “free speech” in America. Free speech? The guy was funding homicide bombings, the victims of which included Americans. We heard that kind of “free speech” on 9/11, too.
3) The deal shows the failure of treating terrorists as criminals to be dealt with in a justice system. They are a national security matter and should be dealt with that way exclusively.
4) The first trial, while including every bit of information but the kitchen sink, did NOT include important information on Al-Arian’s various business “enterprises” including the used car business and selling baby formula, common ways Islamic terrorists get quick, untraceable cash.
5) The Al-Arian verdict was portrayed by ACLU types and libertarians as a failure for the Patriot Act, including by those at REASON who incorrectly attacked me. But, FYI, all of the evidence on Al-Arian far preceded the Patriot Act in any way. Had nothing to do with it. Clue: Al-Arian evidence: 1995 and before; Patriot Act: 2001 and beyond.
Others claimed that Al-Arian worked for Islamic Jihad before the 1996 Clinton counter-terrorism package creating the State Dept. terrorist list. Also, not true. In fact, it was always illegal to do business with or for Islamic Jihad, because it did not even pretend to be a humanitarian charity (as HAMAS & Hezbollah did).
6) MOST IMPORTANT: Just because Al-Arian agrees to be deported, doesn’t mean he will go anywhere. Then what? His co-conspirator in terrorist fundraising, (former head of the Cleveland Mosque), remains in detention, awaiting deportation. But he’s been there for months, and news reports say he has yet to find a country that will take him.
That’s the tragedy of our alien removal process. It’s hardly a process. We have to rely on the mercy of other countries to extend travel documents to individuals we want to get rid of. A lot more difficult than it seems. Some countries, frankly, just want to keep these people here to do their illicit bidding, and won’t extend the travel credentials.
Al-Arian is not Palestinian by “native” birth. He was born in Kuwait and raised in Egypt. Good luck in finding a place that will take him. With the ACLU on the back of a wimpy U.S. government, don’t be surprised if Al-Arian gets released from detention facilities eventually and never goes anywhere. The real tragedy is that he will never face real justice because our government waited too long and then was far too inept to seal the deal.

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Have to agree with some of the choices in the Boston Phoenix list of “The World’s 100 Most Unsexiest Men,” the top ten of which are reported by Netscape:
* Roger Ebert: .
* : Tries to couch “Who’s the Daddy?”-style shows fare. Makes us appreciate the honesty of Jerry Springer who admits his show is low-rent.

Michael Moore: #1 Unsexiest on OUR List
* Alan Colmes: Must we explain?
* Osama Bin Laden: Obvious.
Other choices with which we agree:
38. Larry David
39.
40. Al Franken: “Too arrogant.” Well said (and from the liberal Boston Pheonix, too!)
60. Joe Lieberman
62.
94. Ralph Nader
95. Dennis Kucinich: “Something about those progressives.”
100.