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Leave Martha Alone!
Britain's Home Office has
denied a visa to one of America's most notorious white collar
criminals: Martha Stewart.
"We continue to oppose the entry to the UK of individuals where we believe their presence in the United Kingdom is not conducive to the public good or where they have been found guilty of serious criminal offenses abroad," he said.
Theodore Dalrymple's essay from the winter 2001 issue of City Journal offers some context for understanding the Home Office's decision:
The British attitude to immigration and immigrants has always been grudging, a mixture of xenophobia and socialist zero-sum economics. Britons have traditionally regarded the desire of foreigners to come to their shores as more of a threat than a compliment...
Despite the xenophobic, socialist snub, Martha responded as she always does to these little inconveniences—in good form:
"She has engagements with English companies and business leaders and hopes this can be resolved so that she will be able to visit soon," Charles Koppelman, chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, said in a statement.
If standard efforts at negotiations fail, she should send the Home Office some treats.
To read about how other government entities have tried to hurt sweet Martha, check out reason's "Why Martha Stewart should go to heaven and the SEC should go to hell."
tim|6.20.08 @ 5:07PM|#
Hold it. She is American right? Americans visiting the UK for work or pleasure do not need visa's so why was she even applying for one? Was she planning on spending the next year there? This story seems fishy.
|6.20.08 @ 5:17PM|#
I hope the United Kingdom realizes that Martha "The Shiv" Stewart is capable of buying their quaint little nation state. I wouldn't mess with her myself. She's an ex-con, like James Rockford.
Syd|6.20.08 @ 5:32PM|#
I hope the United Kingdom realizes that Martha "The Shiv"
Stewart is capable of buying their quaint little nation
state.
J. K. Rowlings can buy her any day of the week.
The British are afraid Martha will redecorate them.
Episiarch|6.20.08 @ 5:34PM|#
She's an ex-con, like James Rockford
"Everybody should spend a little time in the can."
Micha Ghertner|6.20.08 @ 5:56PM|#
The British are afraid Martha will redecorate
them.
Or teach them how to cook.
Dagny T.|6.20.08 @ 5:57PM|#
The title is a Chris Crocker reference, right?
The androgynous & weepy kid whose YouTube defense of Britney
went viral? Ah. I was wondering why my brain was reading that
headline in an obnoxiously whiny tone. Stupid brain.
Dagny T.|6.20.08 @ 6:03PM|#
...their presence in the United Kingdom is not conducive to
the public good...
Blech. Easy, stomach.
Martha Stewart|6.20.08 @ 6:06PM|#
Liz, you bitch, I'll cut your ass if you don't let me in. Here, gimme that fuckin' crown. Yeah, Queen Martha. Shut the fuck up.
|6.20.08 @ 6:06PM|#
Maybe they're worried that her unveiled head and pork recipes are going to upset people.
TallDave|6.20.08 @ 6:15PM|#
Uh, I think you guys missed the obvious reason: Martha promotes the use of kitchen knives, which are a deadly weapon that must be banned.
TallDave|6.20.08 @ 6:16PM|#
I can't resist excerpting:
A team from West Middlesex University Hospital said violent
crime is on the increase - and kitchen knives are used in as many
as half of all stabbings.
They argued many assaults are committed impulsively, prompted by
alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an all too
available weapon.
The research is published in the British Medical Journal.
The researchers said there was no reason for long pointed knives to
be publicly available at all.
|6.20.08 @ 6:18PM|#
Americans visiting the UK for work or pleasure do not need
visa's
The NY Times article just says she was denied entry, not denied a
visa. I don't know whether that means she made it as far as
Heathrow or if, knowing what might happen, she decided to check
with the UK consulate first.
|6.20.08 @ 6:32PM|#
TallDave wins! Hilarious. She's an international arms dealer by British standards. Some of the pots in her cooking line are heavy enough to be used as clubs, too.
|6.20.08 @ 6:42PM|#
Serious criminal offense? WTF? Granted I'm a nitwit because I
still don't quite understand the crime to which she served time,
but "serious criminal offense"? The UK lets violent Imams
threatening imminent jihad onto their shores, so what's the problem
with Martha?
Is this another one of those things that will never make sense if
you know how to spell "libertarian"?
ed|6.20.08 @ 7:00PM|#
Martha is still hot, in a saggy, maternal sort of way.
Did I say that out loud?
|6.20.08 @ 7:07PM|#
I christen the Martha Stewart rule: don't talk to the feds without a lawyer present. Ever.
|6.20.08 @ 7:09PM|#
Did I say that out loud?
No. You typed it.
We can't actually hear your voice on the board.
Paul|6.20.08 @ 7:11PM|#
The British attitude to immigration and immigrants has always been grudging, a mixture of xenophobia and socialist zero-sum economics.
Funny, one need only mention zero-sum economics. Because once you
hold that belief, xenophobia and all the other odious beliefs are
soon to follow.
|6.20.08 @ 8:31PM|#
My dear sister lives in England, and much of the raw facts about
the conflicts there are suppressed by the press here. England since
the influx of legal and illegal foreign nationals, has torn the
British heritage and identity apart.
The globalist open border free market, has dictated to the British
people under the guise of the so-called European Union. When I was
a child there, women could walk the darkest corners of the Albert
Embankment and stay safe. Constables could also keep law and order.
Not any more. My sister who lives near Crystal Palace on the edge
of London, locks her doors during the day. My sister was raped and
still bares the scars.
Cops walk their beat generally in two's. Since the immigrant rush
to drive the London buses, London England has become a dangerous
place. Prior to Decimal coinage England was a great place to live.
Now British/English people live in fear of being mugged or worse.
Like our own politicians pandering to special interest groups the
British people are being ignored, while foreign immigrants get
priority council housing, money from the government and drive
expensive cars.
Like American citizens the English are seething with anger and
frustration and I see turmoil and revolution on the streets. Poor
Englishman and women are joining the once British National Front,
renamed The British National party, because at one time it was a
Neo-Nazi organization. Only twice have foreigners invaded British
soil. Once by Julius Caesar and lastly William the Conqueror.
Trouble is brewing because once the British Empire was a proud land
along with its protectorates.
Today like England and Europe the country is run by a shadow
government in Brussels, Belgium.
America is getting dangerously close to a silent, free trade
marriage called the North American Union. It is slowly eroding our
sovereignty and the proud word citizenship, as we are overrun with
12 to 20 million illegal immigrants. We had better fight for our
sovereignty or will end up in a mess like Europe and lose our
identity.
Rhywun|6.20.08 @ 8:32PM|#
The British attitude to immigration and immigrants has always been grudging, a mixture of xenophobia and socialist zero-sum economics. Britons have traditionally regarded the desire of foreigners to come to their shores as more of a threat than a compliment...
I think this attitude adequately describes virtually every country
on Earth, including the USA of late.
|6.20.08 @ 9:56PM|#
All the immigrant bashing can't explain and is no excuse for the millions of wankers among the NATIVE English.
|6.20.08 @ 10:10PM|#
I'm sorry. I would say our image of the British douchebagery is just a result of our biased media. Well, except that I consume a lot of British media. Blame them as well.
Mad Max|6.20.08 @ 10:12PM|#
The quote from the Dalrymple article doesn't do justice to all
the nuances - Dalrymple was arguing that the British immigration
system was too harsh on hard-working, productive immigrants, but
that if you want to file a fake asylum claim, you can hang around
and be on the dole, on condition you not work. In other words, the
British system has it exactly backwards - discouraging the right
kind of immigrants and encouraging the wrong kind.
Fortunately, no other country has this problem.
|6.20.08 @ 10:39PM|#
Since the immigrant rush to drive the London buses, London
England has become a dangerous place.
Are foreigners really that bad at driving?
|6.21.08 @ 12:22AM|#
Time for retaliation. Send David Beckham back! But his wife can stay here. She's still kinda hot.
LarryA|6.21.08 @ 12:41AM|#
They argued many assaults are committed impulsively,
prompted by alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an
all too available weapon.
Why don't they just regulate alcohol and drugs?
Oh, wait...
Like American citizens the English are seething with anger and
frustration and I see turmoil and revolution on the
streets.
Sorry. The "turmoil and revolution" folks left England when
Parliament banned guns. They're all living in firearm-friendly
states in the U.S.
|6.21.08 @ 7:51AM|#
keshmeshi - Are foreigners really that bad at
driving?
Only when they're being stabbed with unregistered kitchen tools.
Otherwise they're so so.
|6.21.08 @ 9:02AM|#
You owe me a royalty payment.
Look upthread.
Martha is still hot, in a saggy, maternal sort of way.
True.
|6.21.08 @ 9:05AM|#
LOL, Like the UK doesnt have enough of its own criminals. Gimme
a break. What a joke.
JT
http://www.FireMe.to/udi
Pirate Guy|6.21.08 @ 11:22AM|#
Read the doctor's "A Confusion of Tongues" - "I feel vastly more at ease with cultivated foreigners than with many of the natives of the land of my birth." He lives behind the protective wall of the privileged, and associates with the upper echelon immigrants who are seemingly always "forced" from their third world homelands, yet he trashes the commoners who must contend with the lower echelon types on a daily basis. Sound familiar? Get out in the street doc - see what it's really like. And, as for Martha - we should all protest! Queenie - PLEASE take her!
|6.21.08 @ 1:47PM|#
I bet you it's merely a tit for tat response to American policies. In fact, we're more obnoxious about keeping out people who have committed crimes, any crimes, than the Brits.
|6.21.08 @ 4:03PM|#
Martha should make a disguise and a fake British ID out of things she finds around the house.
|6.21.08 @ 8:43PM|#
I'd be surprised if they'd buy into Martha over there...
...She sells herself as the Queen of Taste to barely
middle brow America. They have a real, live queen over there who
already does that.
Werner Patels|6.22.08 @ 3:26AM|#
Wholeheartedly agree with Brittanicus. Couldn't have said it
better myself.
As for Americans not requiring any work visas (comment #1), that's
not true at all. Unless you're a British citizen or, alas, an EU
citizen, you'll have to apply for a work permit like everyone else.
Besides, if anyone should have an automatic right to work in the
UK, it's Canadians, and they don't enjoy such a privilege
either.
Martha has always been as arrogant as hell (her East-European roots
were showing), and when she was sent away, I rejoiced, for she's
had finally got her comeuppance. The Brits are fully within their
rights to deny entry to any ex-con. That's the law, and it can be
enforced. Nothing wrong with that.
J Golden Rockwell|6.22.08 @ 2:13PM|#
Brinny Spears Guy wrote: "You owe me a royalty payment."
So, are you telling me to put up my Dukes . . ?
J Golden Rockwell|6.22.08 @ 2:14PM|#
Ken Shultz wrote:
"...She sells herself as the Queen of Taste to barely middle brow
America. They have a real, live queen over there who already does
that."
Elton John . . ?
Amy Alkon|6.23.08 @ 1:42AM|#
You never know when the woman's going to whip out the hot glue gun and adhere rickrack to something.
Anonymouse|6.23.08 @ 1:07PM|#
"Funny, one need only mention zero-sum economics. Because once
you hold that belief, xenophobia and all the other odious beliefs
are soon to follow."
Jonah Goldberg? Is that you?
"The "turmoil and revolution" folks left England when Parliament
banned guns"
yeah, this didn't happen.
Just found these comments hilarious. I wonder where the guy who
wrote the WSJ editorial was when Cat Stevens was on the no fly
list.
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