Huckleberries Online

England Bars Savage, 15 Others

Posted by DFO

May 5, 2009 11:20 a.m. • 53 comments

“Coming to this country is a privilege. If you can’t live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what’s more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded. “We are publishing the names of 16 of those that we have excluded since October. We are telling people who they are and why it is we don’t want them in this country.” She said the number of people excluded from Britain had risen from an average of two a month to five a month since October. The list of the 16 “least wanted” includes radio talk show host Michael Savage, real name Michael Weiner/The Independent UK, More here.

Question: Do you approve/disapprove of the United Kingdom’s decision to bar Michael Savage and others it considers outside agitators? Should the U.S. follow suit?

53 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Charles_Dixon on May 05 at 12:18 p.m.
I am no fan of Savage, but this move by the UK strikes me as extreme and troubling. If the government excludes someone because of their viewpoint then the government is formally adopting one viewpoint over another. That may well be legal in Britian, but it’s hardly freedom. I thought the “standards and values” people were expected to live by was called the law. Is the UK now saying having certain viewpoints is illegal?

I’m sure the Brits will simply take all of this lying down. That’s pretty much how they operate as a society these days.
marmitetoasty on May 05 at 1:01 p.m.
Charles - please dont tar us Brits all with the same brush……

fank you very much..

x
Charles_Dixon on May 05 at 1:39 p.m.
marmitetoasty,

My apologies. Please feel free to add your two pence on the issue.
toadman on May 05 at 1:41 p.m.
They’d bloody well better not bar ME from getting in…I’ll swim the bleeding channel, I will.
nic on May 05 at 2:08 p.m.
Charles, I don’t think Britain is banning people because of their views - these peple are not banned because of what they believe but how they’ve acted on those beliefs. You can believe whatever crazy hate filled mantra you want, but you’re liberties should end when they impead the liberties of others.
marmitetoasty on May 05 at 2:09 p.m.
LOL@Toadie……..

Charles, as much as I would LOVE to say keep the bastards out of this country that are only wanting to come here to cause trouble…… tiz not for me to say….. everyone has different opinions on things in life, dont make them right or wrong….. I’d say let the gits in and then lob them off the end of the pier with an anchor tied around their ankles if they overstep the mark….

But I suppose by not letting those deemed to be ‘troublemakers’ into Britain in the first place makes it much cheaper then policing them once here……. out of my tax payers money :)

x
Sisyphus on May 05 at 2:24 p.m.
Actually besides Britain, the most trouble I ever had getting into a country was the USA.
Charles_Dixon on May 05 at 2:32 p.m.
How does Michael Savage impede the liberty of others? What does he do other than talk into a microphone? Savage is no different than Bill O’Reilly, Keith Olbermann, and a host of other media personalities who do nothing more than talk. Savage has a syndicated show with sponsors who pay millions of dollars. He says things that are incendiary and controversial, but so do all the rest of these shows. It is the nature of that kind of programming. Banning Savage but not those who take the same tone on the other side of the issue is nothing other than exclusion based on viewpoint.

The United States lets in all kinds of nutjobs who believe and say a multitude of things that are hateful, divisive, insulting, blatantly false, and troubling. We’re not a country afraid of ideas. The government of the UK seems to have come to the opposite conclusion.
marmitetoasty on May 05 at 2:43 p.m.
*rolling me eyes*

x
Sisyphus on May 05 at 2:55 p.m.
I’m curious Charles. The multitude of others the Brits excluded were Islamists who “do nothing more than talk” but are also “incendiary and controversial”. How do you feel about those exclusions?
Sisyphus on May 05 at 3:06 p.m.
What about our no-fly lists? No fly lists excluded Senators for national security reasons.

Contrary to your assertion America excludes people for national security reasons all the time, often for just espousing a politically unpopular point of view. They have no constitutional rights and get none. Savage has advocated violence against gays, women, the homeless, Mexicans, indeed all Hispanics. Lately he stated that autistic people are just perpetrating a scam to justify their laziness. Given his call to deport all Muslims from the United States I find his inclusion with Muslim activists on a least wanted list poetic irony.
toadman on May 05 at 3:12 p.m.
“Savage has advocated violence against gays, women, the homeless, Mexicans, indeed all Hispanics.”

Savage needs to spend time in Watts. I’m sure they’d “love” him there.

;-)

There’s a difference between spouting a stupid opinion, and advocating violence. Savage is a tool.
hmoffsuite on May 05 at 3:18 p.m.
I have never listened to the guy and have no opinions of him. But, if he is allowed on the airwaves, I think he should be allowed in the Country.
Sisyphus on May 05 at 3:25 p.m.
Do you feel the same way about the Muslim clerics refused admittance hmoff?
marmitetoasty on May 05 at 3:32 p.m.
Ive got a better idea………. let me into the states to live….. then you can let any of your lot into Britain :)

x
piah on May 05 at 3:33 p.m.
About being afraid of ideas - or not - I know I signed a piece of paper saying I’d never been associated with, nor did I intend to become associated with, the communist party when I applied for a visa to the U.S. in 1991.

I’m pretty sure I would have been put straight on to the “not desired” list if I’d been a communist.

Just putting that out there.
hmoffsuite on May 05 at 3:39 p.m.
Sis. Unless a person is a criminal or identified as a would be terrorist, I think so, yes. I don’t think anyone should be disallowed because of political or religious convictions.
marmitetoasty on May 05 at 3:39 p.m.
yeah and I had to sign a piece of paper stating whether I was bringing in any fruit or veggies when entering the states….. but that dont make me a vegetarian ….

nite nite ;)

x
DFO on May 05 at 3:44 p.m.
>Ive got a better idea………. let me into the states to live….. then you can let any of your lot into Britain :) — Marmitetoasty<

Marmie; sorry, the last time we let you Brits into the states, you thought you owned the place — and we had to chase you off before you began exposing us to your dreadfully bland food. Somewhere around 1776. Of course, you did try to square things by sending the Beatles over in the ‘60s. Mebbe you deserve a second chance.
Sisyphus on May 05 at 3:46 p.m.
Thanks Pia. I really didn’t want to go looking for examples and you provided one. One of the things we learned in constitutional law is that it generally doesn’t apply to anything having to do with the IRS or the INS. Search and seizure rules are considered quaint when it comes to border security and that extends fifty miles from the border.
marmitetoasty on May 05 at 3:47 p.m.
Davieboy dont make me have to man bitchslap you lol …. and hey, we still rule the world ya know……*wink*

And the Beatles were suppose to be your punishment lmao

x
Sisyphus on May 05 at 3:50 p.m.
I’m thinking that advocating violence against an entire group of individuals constitutes would be terrorist in both countries.
DFO on May 05 at 3:54 p.m.
Marmie; truth be know, my ancestors on both sides of the family were hanging out on the Azores while the hostilities were taking place back East. We didn’t get to the states until the 1890-1920 period. We’re lovers not fighters.
poolman on May 05 at 4:14 p.m.
>And the Beatles were suppose to be your punishment <

I just realized - all of the great bands are from the UK - think about it. Beatles, Zeppelin, Who, Stones, Pink Floyd, U2, Radiohead, Coldplay, the list goes on and on. Is there something about the dreadfully depressing weather, bad food and questionable oral hygiene that promote exquisite musical talent?

(No offence x)
spokelooneh on May 05 at 10:28 p.m.
There’s much to be celebrated in British Invasion music. It wasn’t wholly home grown. As but one example, Zepplin covered more than a few very old American Blues songs…successfully, even.
Arch_Druid on May 05 at 11:05 p.m.
Speaking of, remembering when I had to sign a document back when I was signing up for the U.S. Military that I had never associated with, etc. the Communist party. Let’s cut the Brits some slack if they start getting heart burn by way of Savage.
marmitetoasty on May 05 at 11:29 p.m.
Davieboy, then all is forgiven lol

Poolman…… no offense taken……. I’d say it out loud but my mouth is filled with oral fungus where I have bad oral hygiene lmao…. that sooooooo made me laff….

The weather is glorious today and you obviously have never eaten in my house with my wonderful grub……

Again…… dont tar us all with the same brush :)

Happy Wednesday to you doodles from very sunny South Coast of GREAT Britain ;)

x

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.