PUNISHING THOUGHT Banned by U.K., Savage hits back Radio talk star blocked from visits, along with terrorists, neo-Nazis Posted: May 05, 2009 8:26 am Eastern
Michael Savage (San Francisco Chronicle) Talk radio host Michael Savage is considering legal action against Britain's top homeland security official after she released today a list grouping him with terrorists and neo-Nazi murderers banned from entry because the government believes their views might provoke violence.
In a telephone interview with WND, Savage said he is still waiting to hear back from attorneys, but he noted Britain has very strict anti-defamation laws.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she decided to publicize the list of 16 people banned since October to show the type of behavior Britain will not tolerate, according to U.K. news reports.
Savage's immediate reaction upon hearing the news was typically wry.
"Darn! And I was just planning a trip to England for their superior dental work and cuisine," he recalled thinking.
"Then it sank in," he told WND, "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?'"
Smith explained to Britain's GMTV that she believed it was "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."
"Coming to this country is a privilege," she said. "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."
Savage said he wants top First Amendment attorneys to represent him "in a major international case."
"I want to sue the British home secretary for defamation," he said, "for linking me up with murderers because of my opinions, my writings, my speaking – none of which have advocated any violence, ever."
Savage said the last time he was in Britain was about 20 years ago, and he had no immediate plans to return.
In an interview with the BBC, Smith said Savage, the No. 3-rated radio host in the U.S., 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."
Savage said his message for Smith and the people of the U.K. is, "Shame on you. Shame that you've fallen to such a low level."
"It's interesting to me that here I am a talk show host, who does not advocate violence, who advocates patriotic traditional values – borders, language, culture – who is now on a list banned in England," Savage said. "What does that say about the government of England? It says more about them than it says about me."
The U.K. list also includes Hamas leader Yunis Al-Astal, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard Stephen Donald Black, neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe and radical American pastor Fred Phelps, known for his virulent anti-gay protests at funerals. Phelps' daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper also is on the list.
Smith said the British government believes the people on the list have views or attitudes that could provoke violence.
"If people have so clearly overstepped the mark in terms of the way not just that they are talking but the sort of attitudes that they are expressing to the extent that we think that this is likely to cause or have the potential to cause violence or inter-community tension in this country, then actually I think the right thing is not to let them into the country in the first place. Not to open the stable door then try to close it later," she said.
"It's a privilege to come to this country. There are certain behaviors that mean you forfeit that privilege."
The others on the list are Jewish nationalist Mike Guzovsky; imprisoned Russian skinhead leaders Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky; and Islamic leaders Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim, Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal, Safwat Hijazi , Amir Siddique, Abdul Ali Musa, Samir Al Quntar and Nasr Javed.
Said Savage, "How can a nation put me on a list and leave hate preachers in England who say that we're going to kill all of you? We're going to convert all of you to Islam. How is it possible that those hate preachers can't be deported from Britain, but I can be banned from Britain? People who advocate actual murder cannot be deported from Britain.
"How is it that liberalism has gotten so distorted and cowardly?"
Jacqui Smith She led a charge to restrict the word "terrorism," instead urging government employees to refer to the phenomenon as "anti-Islamic activity."
She had been labeled a "pocket dictator," with some of her practices referred to by media critics as "truly Big Brother stuff."
She attempted to introduce a giant government database to track all citizen e-mails, phone calls and Internet activity.
Meet Jacqui Smith, the British home secretary who today made public a list of individuals banned from the U.K. since October, including radio superstar Michael Savage. She announced she decided to release the list so others could better understand what sort of behavior Britain was not prepared to tolerate.
In January, Smith oversaw a government program to adopt a new language for declarations on Islamic terrorism, urging all top government workers to refer to Islamic terrorists as pursuing "anti-Islamic activity." There was no official ban on the word "terrorism," but the new wording was an initiative Smith pressed for strongly.
"As so many Muslims in the U.K. and across the world have pointed out, there is nothing Islamic about the wish to terrorize, nothing Islamic about plotting murder, pain and grief," Smith said at the time.
"Indeed, if anything, these actions are anti-Islamic,'" she claimed.
London's Daily Mail referred to Smith's strategy as attempting to portray Islamic terrorists as nothing more than cold-blooded murderers who are not fighting for any religious cause.
Two weeks ago, following strong public outcry over her proposal, Smith dropped a plan to allow the police to monitor and store on government databases information on citizens' Internet use and e-mail messaging. Instead, however, she has asked private companies to store the information for the government.
In a January speech, Smith pointed out that communications data was used to help convict a local killer but that such information was not being routinely stored. She argued Internet and e-mail information should be saved and accessible to law enforcement agencies if terrorists and serious criminals were to be prevented from striking.
"It is essential that the police and other crime-fighting agencies have the tools they need to do their job," she said during a speech to a London think tank.
"We recognize that there is a delicate balance between privacy and security, but to do nothing is not an option as we would be failing in our duty to protect the public."
On April 27, she nixed plans for a giant government database but said she planned to ensure records of electronic communications made by Britons will instead be held by private companies at a cost of around $4 billion.
Internet firms will be asked to collect and store vast amounts of data, including from social networking sites such as Facebook, she said.
Smith acknowledged concerns over privacy while launching the private data collection proposal.
"My key priority is to protect the citizens of the U.K., and communications data is an essential tool for law enforcement agencies to track murderers and paedophiles, save lives and tackle crime. Advances in communications mean that there are ever more sophisticated ways to communicate and we need to ensure that we keep up with the technology being used by those who would seek to do us harm," she said.
Under her new plan, every U.K. Internet user will be given a unique ID code and all their data stored by private agencies. Government agencies such as the police and security services will have the ability to access the data to investigate suspected criminals and terrorists.
Smith's plan was heavily criticized by privacy advocates and pundits.
London Times columnist Simon David Jenkins questioned whether Smith was a "pocket dictator."
"Is there no drop of liberalism in her veins, no concept of personal freedom, no fear of a repressive state?" he wrote.
He referred to Smith's Internet storage plans as "truly Big Brother stuff."
Smith is the U.K.'s first female home secretary. WND reported today that Smith has banned Savage as well as more than a dozen other individuals.
"I think 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 Britain's GMTV.
Also among those banned are Samir Kuntar Kuntar, who was released from Israeli prison last year in an exchange deal with the Hezbollah terrorist organization. Kuntar was serving multiple life sentences for murdering three Israelis, including smashing to death a 4-year-old girl with the butt of his rifle.
On April 22, 1979, Kuntar led a group of four terrorists who entered Israel from Lebanon by boat. The four murdered a policeman who discovered them when the first entered Israeli territory. The terrorists then raided an Israeli border town, breaking into an apartment and taking hostage 28-year-old Danny Haran along with his 4-year-old daughter, Einat. The mother, Smadar Haran, was able to hide in a crawl space above the bedroom with her 2-year-old daughter, Yael, and a neighbor.
Smadar accidentally smothered her daughter to death while trying to mute her cries. Kuntar shot Danny Haran to death and then beat to death Haran's daughter with his rifle.
Also barred by Smith is Yunis Al-Astal, is a member of Hamas who actively promotes terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings. He has used the Quran to justify obligating women to carry out "martyr attacks," which he has called for numerous times on Palestinian television.
Making the list was well is Mike Guzofsky, a leader of the ultra-nationalist Kahane movement, which seeks to ensure that Israel retains biblically-rich territories, such as the West Bank and Jerusalem. A BBC profile falsely claims Guzofsky is "actively involved with military training camps." The only camps Guzofsky currently runs are to train dogs to protect Jewish communities in the West Bank. Dogs trained at Guzofky's northern West Bank kennels recently prevented several terrorist attacks. Guzofsky previously was involved in leading workshops to teach self-defense to Jews. He has also pushed for Jews in the West Bank to cede from Israel and create their own state in the event the Israeli government seeks to evacuate that territory in a deal with the Palestinians.
Talk-show host to sue Home Office over link to neo-Nazis and Muslim preachers of hate in list of 22 banned from Britain
By James Slack Last updated at 12:06 AM on 06th May 2009
Jacqui Smith: The Home Secretary has published the names of those banned from the UK A U.S. radio presenter who is included on the Home Office’s list of 22 people banned from entering the UK is suing the British Government for defamation.
Mike Savage told the San Francisco Chronicle that being included in such a crowd is no laughing matter - and he is now preparing legal action against Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
‘This lunatic...is linking me up with Nazi skinheads who are killing people in Russia; she's putting me in a league with Hamas murderers who kill Jews on buses,’ he said.
‘I have never advocated violence. I've been on the air 15 years. My views may be inflammatory, but they're not violent in any way.’
He said he has been defamed and endangered by the British government action.
‘She has painted a target on my back, linking me with people who are in prison for killing people,’ he said. ‘Does she not think people might hunt me down?’
Savage said he has had no contact with the British government or with Smith's office and has no idea how he ended up on the Home Secretary's list.
He said he is working with attorneys and supporters who have called from around the world in an effort to find out.
Mrs Smith revealed that 22 hardliners had been banned from entering the UK because they had fostered extremism or hatred.
The Home Secretary published 16 of their identities to name and shame the extremists and supposedly highlight behaviour the Government will not tolerate.
But officials later admitted it was not the case that all the fanatics had actually intended to travel to the UK.
Their names were placed on a list of people - all of whom have taken part in 'unacceptable behaviour' - simply on the off-chance they may decide to visit.
At least two of those named - teenage skinheads Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky - have no chance of boarding a plane to Britain since they are currently serving ten years in a Russian jail for leading a gang which committed 20 racially motivated murders.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'What we need from the Government is not the gimmick of a name and shame list but a consistent strategy on who can and can't come into the country.'
Anti-extremist groups welcomed the Home Secretary's actions, which follow years of criticism that the Government had been too willing to let in fanatics - including Islamic preachers of hate.
Those banned included Hamas MP Yunis Al-Astal and 'hate' preachers Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim, Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal, Safwat Hijazi and Amir Siddique.
Also barred were murderer and Hezbollah terrorist Samir Al Quntar, Kashmiri terror group leader Nasr Javed and Islamic activist Abdul Ali Musa, who claims 9/11 was a Jewish conspiracy.
Miss Smith said: '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.
'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.'
White supremacists - including former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard Stephen Donald Black and neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe - were also targeted, alongside American Baptist pastor Fred Waldron Phelps Snr and his daughter Shirley.
The exclusion of Black, who has been pictured alongside BNP leader Nick Griffin, was welcomed by Searchlight. The anti-fascist group said: 'The preachers of division and hate have no place here.'
But the list also sparked a debate about freedom of speech.
The Home Office said American radio host Michael Savage, real name Michael Weiner, had caused great offence with his hardline views on immigration, Islam, rape and autism.
Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'Blacklisting people without consideration of why and when they want to enter the country merely risks turning them into martyrs for their cause.
'It would be more appropriate to consider each case when it arises to assess whether British law is likely to be broken if the individual is admitted.'
Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari of the Muslim Council of Britain said: 'We already have a series of laws that are perfectly capable of dealing with those who incite violence or racial hatred.
'What the Government appears to be doing instead is creating a sort of pre-crime. We would also ask how effective the Government's measures will be when it is a fact that a person's images and speech can easily be broadcast across borders via the internet.'
The remaining six names of those banned since October last year were kept secret in the interests of national security.
Doesn't the liberal statist supreme court injustice Ginsberg always say we need to learn from "foreign laws" and court decisions from other nations and rulings from other countries? Now you know why. So the left can shred the constitution even further than they already have, and impose a dictatorship even more powerful than they now enjoy. Idiots like Somebody want that. If I am the only one left who does not, then I will stand alone against the crushing tide until they kill me or silence me through force. But I have a feeling there are others who will soon awaken...
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Don't mess with Savage! U.K. home secretary quits Jacqui Smith banned radio talker, he sued, now she's stepping down Posted: June 02, 2009 12:46 pm Eastern
In the wake of scandal over personal use of taxpayer funds and her controversial ban of talk-radio host Michael Savage, British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will resign, according to the London Telegraph.
Smith has indicated she will step down when Prime Minister Gordon Brown reshuffles his Cabinet after this week's local and European elections, the British paper said today.
The Telegraph noted Smith faced humiliation over her husband's submission of a receipt to the House of Commons for watching adult films. She also claimed her family home as a second home under the Parliament members' allowances plan while staying with her sister in London. In addition, she allegedly charged a number of personal items as office expenses.
But on a BBC radio program today featuring Savage, a barrage of callers reflected public anger over Smith's surprising decision last month to ban the popular American talk host from entry into the United Kingdom along with murderers and terrorists.
Savage said the morning show had planned to take callers for only five minutes, but the segment went on for 30 minutes as phone lines lit up. Callers included a Muslim who said he was opposed to Smith's ban of Savage.
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As WND reported, the talk host hired lawyers in London last month to issue a defamation complaint against Smith..............>>>>...........>>>>...........http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=99917
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