Judicial intemperance: Scalia flips message to doubting Thomases

[rucky]

Judicial intemperance: Scalia flips message to doubting Thomases
By Laurel J. Sweet
Boston Herald
Monday, March 27, 2006 - Updated: 01:54 AM EST

Minutes after receiving the Eucharist at a special Mass for lawyers and politicians at Cathedral of the Holy Cross, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had a special blessing of his own for those who question his impartiality when it comes to matters of church and state.

“You know what I say to those people?” Scalia, 70, replied, making an obscene gesture under his chin when asked by a Herald reporter if he fends off a lot of flak for publicly celebrating his conservative Roman Catholic beliefs.

“That’s Sicilian,” the Italian jurist said, interpreting for the “Sopranos” challenged.

“It’s none of their business,” continued Scalia, who was the keynote speaker at yesterday’s Catholic Lawyers’ Guild luncheon. “This is my spiritual life. I shall lead it the way I like.”

The conduct unbecoming a 20-year veteran of the country’s highest court - and just feet from the Mother Church’s altar - was captured by a photographer for the Archdiocese of Boston newspaper The Pilot, whose publisher is newly minted Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

MORE:

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=132311&format=text

[anitar1]

1. Well, obviously Scalia did not give up food for Lent.

This overfed POS should be one of the people who are frog marched, IMO. too bad there are 9 more from that gene pool.

[meow2u3]

14. Scalia ought to have given up flipping people off for Lent

Some penance, Nino!

[lindisfarne]

29. and give up telling reporters what pictures to print - Reuters added this:

"You know what I say to those people?" Scalia replied, making the obscene gesture and explaining "That's Sicilian."

The 20-year veteran of the high court was caught making the gesture by a photographer with The Pilot, the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper.

"Don't publish that," Scalia told the photographer, the Herald said.

He was attending a special mass for lawyers and politicians at Cathedral of the Holy Cross, and afterward was the keynote speaker at the Catholic Lawyers' Guild luncheon.


http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060327-100356-7854r

=========
I wonder whether Scalia is saying and doing some of these things simply out of anger, or whether they are due to pathological changes in the brain due to aging: he's showing lack of inhibition and/or inappropriate social behavior (given that he's a Supreme Court justice).

[daleo]

36. That's a good question

Incipient dementia could explain some of this. If so, it will only get worse. Eventually he may shed all of his clothes in the Supreme Court, and wander around naked. It isn't that unusual to see this in nursing homes.

[Demit]

2. Somehow I can't picture Christ making an obscene gesture under his chin.

Scalia references Jesus as a role model only when it suits his purposes. What a slug he is.

[rucky]

8. Even Michael Corleone has more class. n/t

[Skittles]

3. he truly is a disgusting piece of garbage

he has no business being any kind of judge, let alone a Supreme Court justice :puke:

[depakid]

4. Yep- and he's always been like that

Which is why he should NEVER have been confirmed.

Nor should either of his clones.

Too bad there's no opposition party, because we're going to get tons more of them just like him. In fact, we already have.

[saigon68]

5. Yes Those DINOs out there won't stand up to these THUGS AND HOODLUMS

Like Lieberman they are little pansy asses when confronted by Incarnate Evil

[QuettaKid]

6. WHERE IS THE PHOTO ! ? ? !

Article says it was captured by the photographer for the Pilot. I want to see that picture.

[saigon68]

12. They won't Print it. This thug is the Poster Boy

For ANAL RAPE BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

[uppityperson]

15. Me too. nt

[happyslug]

41. Pilot is a WEEKLY Newspaper

Which does not come out till SUNDAY.
http://www.rcab.org/Pilot/storyIndex.html

[Media_Lies_Daily]

7. The NeoCons ARE incarnate evil.

[Canuckistanian]

9. Scalia on detainee jury trials - "Give me a break"

April 3, 2006 issue - The Supreme Court this week will hear arguments in a big case: whether to allow the Bush administration to try Guantánamo detainees in special military tribunals with limited rights for the accused. But Justice Antonin Scalia has already spoken his mind about some of the issues in the matter. During an unpublicized March 8 talk at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland, Scalia dismissed the idea that the detainees have rights under the U.S. Constitution or international conventions, adding he was "astounded" at the "hypocritical" reaction in Europe to Gitmo. "War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts," he says on a tape of the talk reviewed by NEWSWEEK. "Give me a break."
Challenged by one audience member about whether the Gitmo detainees don't have protections under the Geneva or human-rights conventions, Scalia shot back: "If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son and I'm not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it's crazy." Scalia was apparently referring to his son Matthew, who served with the U.S. Army in Iraq. Scalia did say, though, that he was concerned "there may be no end to this war."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12017271/site/newsweek/

Ladies and gentlemen, another fair and impartial member of your Supreme Court.

[Orangepeel]

10. what an idiot! his inability to be objective certainly IS my business

and the business of every other American citizen. I couldn't care less how he leads his spiritual life -- that's the whole idea of separation of church and state.

I am actually more worried about his republican fascist life and how that taints his rulings.

[Rose Siding]

11. A spiritual life characterized by obscenity and emnity

That is, like, so Republican.

Have at it, hairball.

[saigon68]

13. HAIRBALL? my cat PUKES THOSE UP REGULARLY

Scalia is too Evil to be a Hair Ball.

He is more like a CARBUNCLE

[TacticalPeek]

16. K & R

:kick:

[rucky]

17. A Supreme Court Justice flips the "Sicilian Bird" on Camera...

and this only gets 2 votes for greatest page?

[DinahMoeHum]

18. Well, a big fat Vaffanculo! to him, too! the "sticchiu". . .

sticchiu = pussy

:evilgrin:

[DoYouEverWonder]

19. What a distinguished asshole

I've got another Sicilian gesture for this jerk and it involves a fist and some nasty words that I would never say in church and I'm not even a practicing RC anymore.

[bvar22]

20. Its not nice to fuck with

Its not nice to fuck with Fat Tony!

He can have you whacked!

[Czolgosz]

21. Scalia knows NOTHING of Catholic history in America

More than any other group, Catholics should be thankful for the separation of church and state enshrined in the First Amendment. Unfortunately, many Anti-Choice Catholics like Scalia have not learned their history in this regard.

Most early European settlement of America in New England, except in Rhode Island, was predominantly Puritan. These Puritans were notoriously intolerant of other religious views, and they had expelled Catholics and Quakers. Rhode Island was actually founded as a refuge for those who could not endure the religious intolerance of Massachusetts.

Virginia had laws establishing the Church of England as the state religion, and it had banned Puritans, Catholics, Quakers, Baptists, and Presbyterians from preaching their faiths. While Georgia had laws establishing the Church of England as the state religion, it was more tolerant and there was even a sizable Jewish community in Savannah, but even Georgia also expelled Catholics. Maryland was founded as an early haven for Catholics until the Church of England was established as the state religion, and then Catholics were not even welcome in Maryland. Similarly, the Carolinas were founded on the principles of religious toleration, but even North and South Carolina abandoned these principles and established the Church of England as the state religion.

Pennsylvania and Delaware were founded as sanctuaries for Quakers.

New York and New Jersey were relatively religiously tolerant and diverse, and laws nominally establishing the Anglican Church as the state religion (a vestigial artifact from their colonial origins) were not generally enforced. Anglicans, Protestants, Quakers, and Jews lived in relative harmony.

The anti-Catholicism was flagrant in pre-Revolutionary America.

How, you may ask, could these various states join into a union as one nation? All you have to do is read the very first ten words of the Bill of Rights: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

To the extent that the desire to outlaw women's sovereignty over their own wombs is based on religion, it is a desire we Catholics must oppose under the First Amendment. Catholics, above all other, must understand this because of our history.

To the extent that the desire to outlaw women's sovereignty over their own wombs is based on public health policy, we must understand that outlawing abortion is an ineffective means of lowering the abortion rate.

In countries with liberal abortions laws (much of Europe, for example), the abortion rates is generally very low; and countries where abortion is completely illegal (much of South America, for example), the abortion rate is very high. In America, Pro-Choice Clinton presided over a falling abortion rate while Anti-Choice Bush presides over a plateauing or slightly rising rate.

In short, the means to effectively reduce the abortion rate is by reducing the economic pressure on pregnant women and not by outlawing abortion. Anyone like me who wants to lower the number of abortions in America should fight to eliminate the root causes of poverty for pregnant women.

[knitter4democracy]

22. I think that every time.

Our Catholic hospital in our area is where it is on the edge of town because no one would sell the Sisters of St. Joseph any land in the city limits when they came and tried to start a hospital and school.

Catholics have never been the majority in power, except in certain cities and enclaves. Overall, they've had a rough time of it and need that help from the First Amendment.

Btw, did he do that in church? My priest would've smacked him for that.

[fshrink]

23. That tells you a lot about the quality

of our "supremes". A bunch of deflated egos who run the third and supposedly independent power. This outfit is as outdated as the Roman senate and needs to go down the drain of history asap.

[icymist]

24. Who would Jesus flip off?

His actions speak.

[xxqqqzme]

25. '...As for what he gave up for Lent this year,

Scalia was surprisingly tight-lipped and kept his hands at his sides, saying, “Christ says don’t do your penance out front. Keep it to yourself.”....

His penance should start w/ the 'gesture'.

Somehow 'fat tony' doesn't strike me as the penitent type.

[Texaroo]

28. He obviously gave up civility.

So much for keeping your penance to yourself.

[glitch]

39. Lol! Good one, and welcome to DU. nt

[JerseygirlCT]

26. Is it just me or is he getting louder and more obnoxious by the day? nt

[RaRa]

27. I was thinking the same thing. Absolute PIG (in more than one way) n/t

[lindisfarne]

30. Is it merely anger, or is he showing signs of pathological changes in the

brain due to aging (or some kind of neuropsychological problem): he's showing lack of inhibition and/or inappropriate social behavior (given that he's a Supreme Court justice and that he had just attended mass and supposedly is a devout Catholic - is there some kind of waiting period for obscene behavior in the Catholic church after attending mass as there is for eating before/after taking Communion?)

[JerseygirlCT]

32. I imagine the nuns would have whupped someone's butt

if they'd tried that in my school, lol!

I don't know. You're right: although he's always been a supercilious (sp?) pig, he usually behaved with some restraint -- more to play up his "dignity" and high position, I'm sure.

Suddenly, there doesn't seem to be any restraint. He's speaking out all the time, getting right in people's faces, and now obscene gestures in church?

Maybe he is coming unglued...

[closeupready]

31. I know - I agree.

It's all like a game of "can you top this?" to him.

[glitch]

40. It's the Mad Cow Disease talking. nt

[donkeyotay]

33. Wow. The moral majority is restoring dignity and honor

This is like having Tony Soprano on the Supreme Court. But aside from the inappropriate behavior, follow the logic without the Sicilian:

This response was for those who "question his impartiality when it comes to matters of church and state."

“You know what I say to those people?” Scalia, 70, replied...“It’s none of their business. This is my spiritual life. I shall lead it the way I like.”

Golly, Mr. Good Manners, care to extend that privilege to the rest of us?

[mitchum]

34. Pity he didn't choke on that magic cracker

[Rex]

35. Hey the guy decided who would be POTUS in 2000.

Why should he give a rats ass what we think?

[quaoar]

37. Justice Scalia gives a sign, but no finger

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1154AP_Scalia_Gesture.html

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia used an Italian hand gesture when questioned by a reporter after attending church this past weekend.

The Boston Herald reported Monday that the justice made "an obscene gesture under his chin" - which prompted some online reports that Scalia had used his middle finger.

Untrue.

< snip >

The sign he used in Boston is frequently used by Italians to express displeasure with someone - from mild to deep irritation. It is done by cupping the hand under the chin and flicking the fingers like a backward wave.

[glitch]

38. What Italians think about that sign (whole thread on that)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x767236

If anything, it's equal or worse than the finger.