Once again, Justice Scalia "loses it" . . . this time, in Boston . . .

[TaleWgnDg]

Justice fires back

(LTTE) by Antonin Scalia(, Associate Justice SCOTUS)
(Boston Herald,) Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - Updated: 12:39 AM EST

To the Editor:

It has come to my attention that your newspaper published a story on Monday(, March 27, 2006) stating that I made an obscene gesture - inside Holy Cross Cathedral(, Boston, Massachusetts), no less. The story is false, and I ask that you publish this letter in full to set the record straight.

Your reporter, an up-and-coming “gotcha” star named Laurel J. Sweet, asked me (o-so-sweetly) what I said to those people who objected to my taking part in such public religious ceremonies as the Red Mass I had just attended. I responded, jocularly, with a gesture that consisted of fanning the fingers of my right hand under my chin. Seeing that she did not understand, I said “That’s Sicilian,” and explained its meaning - which was that I could not care less.

That this is in fact the import of the gesture was nicely explained and exemplified in a book that was very popular some years ago, Luigi Barzini’s The Italians:

“The extended fingers of one hand moving slowly back and forth under the raised chin means: ‘I couldn’t care less. It’s no business of mine. Count me out.’ This is the gesture made in 1860 by the grandfather of Signor O.O. of Messina as an answer to Garibaldi. The general, who had conquered Sicily with his volunteers and was moving on to the mainland, had seen him, a robust youth at the time, dozing on a little stone wall, in the shadow of a carob tree, along a country lane. He reined in his horse and asked him: ‘Young man, will you not join us in our fight to free our brothers in Southern Italy from the bloody tyranny of the Bourbon kings? How can you sleep when your country needs you? Awake and to arms!’ The young man silently made the gesture. Garibaldi spurred his horse on.” (Page 63.)

How could your reporter leap to the conclusion (contrary to my explanation) that the gesture was obscene? Alas, the explanation is evident in the following line from her article: “ ‘That’s Sicilian,’ the Italian jurist said, interpreting for the ‘Sopranos’ challenged.” From watching too many episodes of the Sopranos, your staff seems to have acquired the belief that any Sicilian gesture is obscene - especially when made by an “Italian jurist.” (I am, by the way, an American jurist.)

. . . snip . . .

Sincerely,
Antonin Scalia

. . . more at . . . http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=132653

(hyperlinks added in Scalia's letter to the editor (LTTE) by TaleWgnDg)

This on-going Scalia saga in Boston about Scalia apparently giving an obscene Italian hand gesture to a news reporter in a Roman Catholic Church environs would be very funny, indeed, if were not so serious. Serious, that is, because of its source.

This is not TV's The Sopranos!

Instead, this is about the mannerisms and demeanor of a sitting U.S. Supreme Court associate justice! Indeed.

As a member of the bar, I am appalled that Justice Scalia cannot seem to control himself in public -- from his arrogant off-the-cuff responses to the general public including the press media to recipients of his post-lecture Q&A sessions whether in the States or abroad in Switzerland at his alma mater (.pdf format), University of Fribourg, to lawyers appearing before the SCOTUS bench. This justice is a detriment to the bar, the bench, and to America, and all Americans. What a horrific role model is he! He should be removed upon "bad behavior" as our constitution authorizes.

Scalia's newest faux pas, i.e., poor impulse control of a sitting SCOTUS justice . . . this time, in Boston . . .
1.) http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=132311
(Laurel J. Sweet's BosHerald article, Monday, March 27, 2006)
2.) http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=132482
(Laurel J. Sweet's BosHerald article, Tuesday, March 28, 2006)
3.) Scalia's written letter to the editor (here) in response . . .


Pope Scalia, SCOTUS associate justice,
can never be wrong! Never.

[regnaD kciN]

1. Poor Antonin...

...he still can't deal with the fact that, despite decades of faithful service to Republicans (including the 2000 election decision), he was passed over for the Chief Justice position he so coveted -- and for a newcomer, at that.

:nopity:

[EST]

2. Jesus Scalia's public inanity does seem of a piece

with his "don't give a shit" attitude about people. His apparent delusions have led him to forget that America is not composed of business and greed, but is truly an idea in the minds of people.

Perhaps his siamese twin relationship with "Rainman" Cheney has influenced his development. (One brain, two assholes)

The outlook for our sad country continues to deteriorate.

Any gesture that tells someone else exactly how worthless they are in your world is obscene. Jesus Scalia needs a brainflush.

[TomClash]

3. What's next?

Extending his right arm with an open palm faced down means he's hailing a cab?

[TomClash]

4. Me ne frego

with the fingers coming forward under the chin mean "I don't give a damn." I report you decide.

[WePurrsevere]

7. When I was a kid I saw a kid get dragged by his ear by his Grandmother

into the house for doing just such a gesture. My very Italian friend told me it was considered nasty and a type of cursing. If this is true it's certainly not appropriate for a member of SCOTUS to be doing and especially not on church steps.

Scalia certainly has been acting stranger then usual... reminds me a bit of how early dementia patients sometimes act.

[teryang]

5. It wasn't the finger, it was a flock of fingers

This is an old bar room joke.

You know what this is?

No.

It's a flock of these.

[Greeby]

6. We don't call him Fat Tony for nothing

"This is a Republican town, pretty boy"

[jbnow]

8. I'd heard bad things about him

and read some things he said, but that was nothing like hearing him speak. I watched him during question and answers with a group on C-Span recently.

He is...mean, dismissive, arrogant. He looks mean and sounds meaner when he is being rude. I'd never seen anything like it. Even if you feel that way in that kind of position you should be able to maintain some decorum in public. He doesn't bother.

I bet he didn't show that part of himself during his Senate hearings.

[twiterpatted]

9. Antonin also said that while in court he will often cup is left hand under

is right arm pit and generously pump his right arm up and down. The resulting sound, similar to a fart, is really and old Italian gesture indicating his complete insanity.

[TaleWgnDg]

10. more on Nino's Boston "bad boy" saga . . .

.



Hand-gesture (of Italian origin) at issue in this newest Scalia "bad boy" saga
which was Scalia's alleged response to a reporter's query about Scalia's inability to Separate Church and State

here's more on Nino's Boston "bad boy" saga on this DU Latest Breaking News thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2195687&mesg_id=2195687

[TaleWgnDg]

11. THE photograph . . . "Vaffanculo" . . . !!

Church fires photographer over Scalia picture: Freelancer pays for ‘right thing’

by Jessica Heslam, Boston Herald, Boston, Massachusetts
Friday, March 31, 2006 - Updated: 01:24 PM EST

A freelance photographer has been fired by the Archdiocese of Boston’s newspaper for releasing a picture of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia making a controversial gesture in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Sunday.


Antonin Scalia gestures inside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston, Massachusetts
after the "Red Mass" that he attended
(Boston Herald exclusive photo by Peter A. Smith)

Peter Smith, who had freelanced for The Pilot newspaper for a decade, lost the job yesterday after the Herald ran his photo on its front page yesterday, Thursday, March 31, 2006). Smith said he has no regrets about releasing it.

“I did the right thing. I did the ethical thing,” said Smith, 51, an assistant photojournalism professor at Boston University.

Smith snapped the photo of Scalia flicking his hand under his chin after a Herald reporter asked the conservative jurist his response to people who question his impartiality on matters of church and state.

. . . snip . . .

The weekly Catholic newspaper made a “journalistic decision” not to run or release the photo, said Archdiocese spokesman Terry Donilon. “Because he breached that trust with the editor, we will no longer engage his services as a freelance photographer,” Donilon said.

“It’s nothing personal,” added Pilot editor Antonio Enrique. “I need to try and find people I can trust.”

While news outlets from across the country sought Smith’s photo yesterday, the archdiocese said there’s no proof that Scalia uttered an obsenity(sic) in the church. Smith said Scalia said, “To my critics, I say, ‘Vaffanculo,’ ” while making the gesture. That’s Italian for (expletive) you. “It was pretty clear,” Smith said yesterday. A Herald reporter who was nearby did not hear that utterance.

. . . snip . . .

. . . more at . . . http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=132932

(bold-faced type emphasis by TaleWgnDg)

Caveat: The Pilot cannot "fire" a free-lance reporter since the photographer/reporter isn't an employee. Just to set the record straight. It simply may not choose to use the photographer/reporter's "free lance" services any longer if it so wishes which evidently is the case here.

[TaleWgnDg]

12. The LTTE:

.





as published by the Boston Herald newspaper on Wednesday, March 29, 2006
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=132653