Putting editorials into action

Global citizens are prompted to take a nuanced and prosaic view of things today by the NYT editorial page:

It has been nearly 20 years since Congress repealed the provisions used during the cold war to deny visas to prominent foreign intellectuals, artists and activists because of their left-leaning politics, including the Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez, the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and the British novelist Doris Lessing.

The Bush administration eagerly revived the practice, barring numerous people from entering the country for speaking engagements or conferences or to teach at leading universities — all under a flimsily supported guise of fighting terrorism.

Months ago, a group of free speech advocates, including the Association of American Publishers, the American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union called on the Obama administration to end ideological exclusions and to review dubious visa denials. We hope Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton takes heed.

As long as visitors to the US are not advocating violence, who would not agree? Perhaps we can start with this recent case:

The Honduran interim President, Roberto Micheletti, says the US has revoked his diplomatic and tourist visas.

Well, no need to carry the nuance that far, now is there.