The UK Says "No" to Weiner/Savage & Phelps

The UK has recently garnered some attention for turning some folks away at the border, denying them entry to the country based on their social/political views. The first big one was Dutch filmmaker Geert Wilders, due to his film Fitna. Now the Home Secretary has released the names of 16 folks denied entry – a “least wanted” list, if you will. The list includes a few American loony luminaries:

The list of the 16 'least wanted' includes radio talk show host Michael Savage, real name Michael Weiner.

'This is someone who has fallen into the category of fomenting hatred, of such extreme views and expressing them in such a way that it is actually likely to cause inter-community tension or even violence if that person were allowed into the country,' Ms Smith told BBC Breakfast.

Also named are American Baptist pastor Fred Waldron Phelps Snr and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and claimed the deaths of US soldiers are a punishment for US tolerance of homosexuality.

Now, I’m a First Amendment stickler. I don’t want the government to rip Weiner/Savage off the air because of what he says or drop the hammer on the Phelps clan for their horrific protests. You can't legislate taste or class. And I would be equally critical if the Brits criminally prosecuted them. But when it comes to the decision about who gets to come into your country, there’s more leeway. So I’ll take a little smug satisfaction in the UK’s smackdown of those idiots.