[Vision2020] Radio "Shock Jock" Michael Savage Banned From Britain

[Ted Moffett]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-britain-list6-2009may06,0,5748988.story

 The outspoken San Francisco radio personality is among 22 people who have
been barred from entering the nation as 'hate promoters.'
By Henry Chu
May 6, 2009
 Reporting from London -- Britain has just two words for controversial
California radio talk-show host Michael Savage:

Keep out.

 The San Francisco-based Savage, known for his fiery right-wing views, is
one of 22 people who have been banned from entering Britain since October,
when the government here concluded that they were agents of extremism and
intolerance.

Officials Tuesday publicly identified most of the people on the
blacklist<http://press.homeoffice.gov.uk/press-releases/hate-promoters-banned-UK-named>,
in keeping with the national penchant for "naming and shaming" anyone guilty
of a crime, a gross injustice or an outbreak of really bad manners.

Among those for whom Britain has pulled up the welcome mat are radical
Islamist preachers, a Jewish extremist, a pair of Russian gangsters and at
least five Americans: Savage, who has attacked the Koran as a "book of
hate"; two white supremacist leaders; and a father-daughter team that
travels up and down the U.S. vilifying gay people, sometimes with placards
using an epithet for gays and proclaiming that God hates homosexuals.


Jacqui Smith, Britain's home secretary, said she made the decision to
publish 16 of the names because potential visitors ought to be aware of what
British society considers acceptable behavior.

Six of the barred individuals were kept anonymous, probably for intelligence
reasons.

"It's important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of
standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the
sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country," Smith told a
television interviewer.

Savage told the Internet site WorldNetDaily that he was considering legal
action against Britain.

"Darn! And I was just planning a trip to England for their superior dental
work and cuisine," he joked to the website. "Then it sank in, and I said,
'She said this is the kind of behavior we won't tolerate? She's linking me
with mass murderers who are in prison for killing Jewish children on buses?
For my speech? The country where the Magna Carta was created?' "

The government's descriptions of the 22 barred "hate promoters" provide
almost no details of their religious or ideological backgrounds, or of the
targets of their hatred. The published blacklist merely alleges, in
bureaucratese, that one man glorified terrorist activity "in furtherance of
particular beliefs" or, in Savage's case, engaged in "unacceptable behavior"
that could "lead to inter-community violence."

Among those named were Yunis al-Astal, a radical anti-Western Islamic cleric
and Hamas member in the Gaza Strip; Mike Guzovsky, an Israeli Jewish
extremist said to be involved in militant training camps; and Artur Ryno and
Pavel Skachevsky, Russian skinheads who, as teenagers, boasted two years ago
of killing about 20 members of ethnic minorities.

Besides Savage, the list identified Americans Stephen Donald Black and Eric
Gliebe, both of whom openly espouse white supremacist views, and Baptist
preacher Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kan., and his daughter, Shirley
Phelps-Roper, who call for divine wrath to be visited on gays and lesbians
-----------------------

Listen to National Public Radio discussion of this issue:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103819122

Michael Savage Banned In The U.K.

Conservative radio host Michael Savage's name has been placed on a list
banning his entrance into the U.K. The list also includes a white
supremacist and a member of Hamas.

Michael Savage, host of The Savage Nation, joins us with his story. We'll
also hear from Michael Harrison, founder and editor of *Talkers
Magazine.*The magazine recently awarded Michael Savage its "Freedom of
Speech Award."

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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