Today's Daily Schadenfreude: Michael "Savage" Weiner, Fred Phelps, and Don Black

Sure, it's controversial, and while it's legal under a 2005 law, it almost certainly would face a court challenge in the U.S. "It" is the action taken yesterday by British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who "named and shamed" 16 people worldwide whom she has preemptively barred from entering the United Kingdom. Three of the five Americans on the list are some of Blast Off!'s favorites: hate-radio host Michael "Savage" Weiner, notorious homophobe Fred Phelps, and Florida's own ironically-named white supremacist leader Don Black, and the schadenfreude is oh so sweet for all of them.

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.

"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," Ms Smith said.

"It's a privilege to come to this country. There are certain behaviours that mean you forfeit that privilege."

Okay, so maybe none of them had any plans for a summer trip, say, to London or Edinburgh, but it's the notoriety that each of them so richly deserves that is the cause of the laughing and pointing. The three are included with militant Muslim extremists, neo-Nazis, and murderers ... precisely the sort with which they ought to be counted.

The four-year-old British law in question understandably has raised eyebrows in Great Britain and around the world:

Under a new law introduced in 2005, Britain is able to pre-emptively ban anyone who promotes hatred, terrorism or serious criminal activity. Since the measure was introduced, 101 people have been refused entry. In the five months to March, 22 were excluded; the Home Office refused to name six of the people, citing national security reasons. Critics argue that the orders are a form of pre-emptive policing that stifles free speech and, in the age of the internet, have little effect on halting hateful remarks.

Whether or not the law itself is constitutional under British law (if in fact the concepts of "constitutionality" and "free speech" as we understand them in the U.S. even apply), there can be little dispute that Savage Weiner, Phelps, and Black have "promote[d] hatred" and therefore the law ought to be enforced against them posthaste.

Savage Weiner has vowed to sue, apparently not to get into the UK but rather for defamation, which is funny because it assumes he actually has a reputation to protect. Predictably, though, the haters and cretins who listen to Weiner's special brand of aural slime are leaving their misspelled, grammatically derelict droppings in the article's comments (one of which is reproduced here verbatim):

Listening to Michael eveyday you understand how passionate he is about America and how honest he is with what he is seeing happening now. He educates and articulates as none other about how this country is being manipulated into something other than what our forefathers had envisioned. He is honest with his feelings and has no patients for ignorance. Dr. Savage, is a fighter and I think he thinks we are too far gone now in what America should be for the people. He knows what he believes in and can see how we have been manipulated into a Maxist way of life. It did not happen overnight. Fortunately people are waking up and their is a grassroots movement to try and live according to our foundation handed down to us. America is upside down and Savage articulates this. He is appalled at the people that are surrounding Obama. More people should be like him and love America like Savage. Look at how he has helped so many familes when alens killed police officers and others. His believes in borders, culture and language. I believe in this also. He is not harmful he is enlightening if you listen to what he is saying. Donna

There are more such comments if you really want to see them ... but no matter what, the world is laughing at these three stooges today. Don't worry, though, Mike, Freddie, and Don -- even if you can't go to Merrie Olde England, you can celebrate right here at home, because today's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!