Scalia flips the bird at critics during church service (seriously)

[WilliamPitt]

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

Justice Scalia flips the finger in church

BOSTON, March 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia startled reporters in Boston just minutes after attending a mass, by flipping a middle finger to his critics.

A Boston Herald reporter asked the 70-year-old conservative Roman Catholic if he faces much questioning over impartiality when it comes to issues separating church and state.

"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.

...more...

[Book Lover]

1. "Don't publish that," Scalia told the photographer, the Herald said. (nm)

[WilliamPitt]

2. Oops...

[xxqqqzme]

11. is it published somewhere?

'Don't publish that'? or what? considering he identifies w/ sicilian culture - just askin'.

[Beelzebud]

17. No it's not. He ordered them not to, and they followed the order.

Welcome to the new Fascist States of America.

[Mandate My Ass]

31. At least he didn't have his goons confiscate it this time

and have the evidence destroyed. He's making such progress. :eyes:

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has sent letters of apology to two Mississippi journalists whose recordings of a speech by the justice were seized by a U.S. deputy marshal and then erased.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-04-12-scalia-usat_x.htm

[hootinholler]

81. Wouldn't that be an impeachable offense?

Just sayin,
-Hoot

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

77. What the hell is the point of having a press, if they only publish what

the government tells them?

Then we might as well just wait for the propaganda press releases, or go watch FOX news.

[rodeodance]

3. gee, it makes the UPI. not too cool for a SC judge.

[BlueEyedSon]

4. Just the temperament you want on the SCOTUS

[catmother]

23. yeah. that's scary.

[Fleshdancer]

5. what an odd little man

:wtf:

oh well, at least he's honest about being an asshole. :shrug:

[BrklynLiberal]

79. Yeah, Odd. Like Goering and Goebbles were "odd".

[fooj]

6. Ruh Roh!

:rofl:

[Midnight Rambler]

7. How very Christian of him

And at a church, no less. Jesus must be proud.

[UrbScotty]

71. I know

:eyes:

[Bake]

8. Or WHAT, Mr. Justice?

Don't publish it, or what? What are you going to do about it, ya big blowhard???

Fucking bully.

Bake

[dogday]

9. That is how he feel about us folks

He shot that bird at all of us....

[Poll_Blind]

10. Oh I've gotta get my hands on that picture! Anyone know where to find it?

PB

[Beelzebud]

13. If we still had a free press, it would have been published with the story.

But since we now live in a fascist state, the judge orders them not to print, and the press just follows orders.

Free press? HA...

[glitch]

12. Such dignity. Is he emotionally 12? nt

[TechBear_Seattle]

14. Is UPI a conservative "news" outlet?

I looked at the link, and on the right hand side is a big picture of Condi with the text, "Condi 2008 Vote Now!" that points to a NewsMax poll.

[WoodrowFan]

39. owned by the Moonies

UPI is owned by the Moonies, the same was the Washington Times.

[IselaB]

15. Thank you "values Republicans"

Now the free world is being led by vulgar schoolboys. Good job.

[tnlefty]

25. Makes you real proud doesn't it?

Welcome to DU :hi:

[IselaB]

49. Thanks! n/t

[raccoon]

63. Exactly, he and the Dick.

What wonderful examples for children in the US...:sarcasm:

[annabanana]

16. sounds about right for this scuzzy low life..

Everything I've ever read about him makes this fit right into context.

[Senator]

18. His Impeachment comes right after bushcheney

Yes, really. We have to remove the election thieves and the tainted appointees of the never-legitimate regime.

All of them. There is no other moral, patriotic option.

Just part of the effort to Redeem Our National Soul.

--
www.january6th.org

[WiseButAngrySara]

59. I wish, but that's what makes SCOTUS members so potentially powerful...

A lifetime appointment, without possibility of impeachment. Just how would you propose to impeach a SCOTUS judge?

[Senator]

74. They can be impeached and removed

No different than any federal judge.

See Samuel Chase,1805.

--

[WiseButAngrySara]

87. I had no idea. Thanks! ....n/t

[TallahasseeGrannie]

19. Well, I'd be hypocritical if I said

I never say "fuck you" or flip the bird once in a while. And for sure it is a favorite expression here on DU. So I guess it is good to know we're all on the same page.

Right back at ya, Mr. Justice Man!

[Flubadubya]

30. But no one here is a SCOTUS justice... and this sure as hell ain't church.

Bwahaha!!! I don't think a great deal of decorum is expected on this board, but is it out the window for SC justices too? Just askin' :shrug: Sad for America if so.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

51. Well, he isn't running for election

and never has to. If I had a job for life I might say the F word in church now and then myself.

You mean "DU" doesn't mean "Decorum Underground"???

[lyonn]

52. From one granny to another

Attended a funeral of a Really Special friend last week and when one of our close group of friends of this deceased person passed me during funeral at church I blurted out something like "we look like sh-t" as we hugged/cried, as both of us truly looked like sh-t from crying and unhappy. Later I realized that this was not cool, others heard me. Ugh! That, tho, doesn't fall into the FU category. Between Cheney and his F-yourself, and this, if it's true, is unforgivable.

P.S.: i'm not religious and just related to this person like I would if we met anywhere, sorry to have been disrespectful tho in church.

[mrdmk]

54. That is not the point! Scalia was asked a legitimate question in public

If he did not want to answer that question, he needed to say so. Instead, Scalia gave an obscene jester in full public view. What anybody does in private or under their breath is a very different story.

Because of Scalia actions on an important subject to the people of this country in a public forum, we have every right to questions his motivations.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

60. We sure do have every right

but he could have mooned the congregation and gone to work the next day. Who would stop him?

[Ladyhawk]

86. Agreed, Grannie.

Of course, THEY claim they're above the "F" word and the "one-finger victory salute."

[catmother]

20. i never knew that was Sicilian. how very christian of him.

[donsu]

26. we need Sicilians to inform us of the history of the finger

who knew!

[mondo joe]

28. I'm Sicilian and I never saw my grandmother do that.

Of course she was a saint.

[catmother]

32. my first mother-in-law was Sicilian and i never saw her give the

finger or utter a curse word even if she was angry. she was not an educated woman. she was a piece worker in a coat factory and she had more class than scalia. :eyes:

[DetroitProle]

85. the finger is English actually.

Back in the Wars of the Roses, the French would cut off the middle fingers of English crossbowmen(one of the most lethal fighting forces in the world at the time) so they could no longer practice their highly skilled trade.
The English responded by giving the finger to taunt their French opponents.
The rest is history!

[donsu]

94. thanks for the info - very interesting - should send it to the 'Judge'

nt

[lyonn]

53. True, thought it was pure American. More arrogance

on the part of some in this admin. How many Italians on the SC? Plenty, so, guess they are in a club most of us can't imagine being a part of.

[InkAddict]

83. I thought Sicilians

did something w/the hand being brushed off the chin backwards-like that pretty much approximated the celebrated digit.

[Cleita]

21. Isn't that the kind of dignity that you expect from a Supreme

Court justice? :sarcasm:

[donsu]

22. we must be pushing his buttons to make him lose his cool like that OR

he knows he can do what he wants

I'd rather it was the first reason but think it is probably the last.

[alphafemale]

24. Remember. The adults are in charge.

:eyes:

[intheflow]

27. Interesting that UPI releases the story but not the photo.

Yes, they kow-towed to his request they not publish the photo. But he didn't say anything about not publishing the story. And so they did. BWAAAHAAAHAAA! :evilgrin:

[Jane Austin]

34. UPI didn't take the picture.

The OP says this:

"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."

So it's the Archdiocese who owns the picture, not UPI.

[intheflow]

35. Yeah, I didn't catch that.

But doesn't that still meant someone at the Archdiocese contacted UPI with the story? It's still significant that the story and the comment about the photo being taken has made its way into the CM.

[Jane Austin]

41. Looks like it was a Boston Herald reporter who asked the question

of Scalia, so it probably got on the news wires.

'A Boston Herald reporter asked the 70-year-old conservative Roman Catholic if he faces much questioning over impartiality when it comes to issues separating church and state.

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

[intheflow]

75. Good lord!

What is wrong with me? Can't I read? I'm going to blame it on Monday and let it go at that. Thanks for setting the record--and me--straight! :hi:

[Jane Austin]

80. It's definitely Monday's fault!

Case closed. :)

[LuckyLib]

65. It's too bad the photog wasn't a DU member. That full color middle finger

would have been in cyberspace within the hour. As an archdiocese employee, he/she knows which side of the bread has the butter!

[eppur_se_muova]

66. So it's up to the Archdiocese? They can check with their "boss"...

their boss trumps Scalia's boss.

[Raksha]

89. I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for the Archdiocese

to publish that picture! Too damn embarrassing all the way around.

[Catherine Vincent]

29. Doesn't this guy have seven kids?

What an example he's setting!

[shain from kane]

68. Somebody throw a bucket of cold water on those two.

I thought it was nine.

[RBHam]

33. Since Charlie Sheen spoke out, their all panicking...

Hey Fat Tony , you should know what else is "Sicilian", after you become a liability.

Pleasant....dreams?

[elehhhhna]

36. Dementia is a sad, sad thing. He needs to be retired. Immediately.

[donsu]

37. maybe he's eaten too much beef

nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. And let el pretzeldente appoint yet ANOTHER supreme?

I think not.

[Roland99]

38. Post from a *-bot on another forum: "I think it's awesome!"

:eyes:

[DinahMoeHum]

40. Well, VAFFANCULO to you too, Scalia. . .you Sticchiu !!

sticchiu = pussy

:evilgrin:

http://www.gambino.com/curse.htm

[patcox2]

43. Earlier report never said "the finger," I thought it was the hand gesture.

I got the impression from the other report of this, which never mentioned the finger, that Scalia made that Italian gesture in which you slide the back of your fingers under your chin and sorta give the back of your hand to the person you want to insult. I don't know what that gesture is called, but I grew up in an Italian neighborhood (its called New Jersey) and have seen it a lot.

[Mandate My Ass]

44. ROFL "I grew up in an Italian neighborhood...

it's called New Jersey." :rofl: Just outside of South Philly here.

FWIW, I agree that he didn't flip the bird but what he did was uncouth and disgusting anyway. Contemptuous little creep.

[stillcool]

48. Or the one where you put your right hand....

on your left upper arm...and then bend the arm? You know what I mean?

[Czolgosz]

45. 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.

[One_Life_To_Give]

46. Not finger, according to interview with reporter this AM

The reporter was interviewed on the radio this AM. Stated it was not the finger.
It was the fingers under the chin flip. Which I hear in Sicilian means the same as the finger.

[Bake]

47. Surely the picture will leak out soon enough!

Poster-boy for Repuke "values."

Bake

[Tanuki]

50. Self-hating Italian?

I hope the National Italian American Foundation castigates Scalia for bringing dishonor upon all the people of Sicily. They sure didn't like it when reference to his ancestry made its way into an Oliphant cartoon:
http://www.niaf.org/image_identity/summer2004.asp
"Nationally syndicated cartoonist Pat Oliphant drew a cartoon featuring Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on a hunting expedition. In making his point relating to the appropriateness of Scalia's personal relationship with Cheney, Oliphant simultaneously leveled an unnecessary and defaming attack upon Scalia's ethnicity. The cartoon featured Cheney dressed in customary hunting apparel with shotgun in hand while Scalia was depicted with all the nuances of the stereotypical mobster. He is dressed in a pin-strip suit with his hair slicked back and a five o'clock shadow, holding a machine gun. Even the caption was written with the style of the clichéd wiseguy vernacular. Oliphant blatantly targeted Scalia's ethnicity. We asked why Scalia's ethnicity was interjected into this topic of discussion. We also questioned were it Justices Clarence Thomas or Ruth Bader Ginsburg, would Oliphant have tapped into the stereotypical imagery associated with their ethnic, religious, or racial backgrounds? Any reasonable person would think not. This assault on Scalia's Italian heritage was clearly not appropriate. Moreover, it should be noted that it was not this cartoonist's first foray into Italian or Italian American bashing. A disappointing side note to this episode was The Washington Post's failure to publish a "letter to the editor" co-authored by leadership of NIAF, OSIA, and UNICO where we expressed our dismay over the cartoon that the paper published."

[lyonn]

62. Is there a national group to represent mongrels like me?

I feel unrepresented.

[Nikki Stone1]

93. My thoughts exactly, Tanuki

Gotta suffer with fools like these making bad press for all of us. Can we excommunicate him or something?

[K-W]

55. I appreciate his rare moments of honesty. EOM

[graywarrior]

56. He's 70. Maybe we'll have a shot to replace him after 2008

[BuyingThyme]

57. Why hasn't somebody PhotoShopped this up so I can see what

it may have looked like?

[file83]

91. Ask....and thou shalt receive.....

[Saphire]

58. how do freepers respond???? Just like you thought they would..

LOL!! My admiration of Justice Scalia increases with every article he's mentioned in.

1 posted on 03/27/2006 10:34:41 AM PST by CrawDaddyCA



If not overused, crudeness and vulgarity can be exactly the right response. I absolutely agree with you.
Muslims freaking out over words and gestures? No biggie.
Real people? Not in my universe!

17 posted on 03/27/2006 10:45:47 AM PST by Publius6961 (Multiculturalism is the white flag of a dying country)


I guess the media lefties want to try to equate this gesture "after leaving church" with Billy Boy Clinton leaving church hand-in-hand with his "wife," switching the Bible to the VISIBLE side, and then having a WH intern service him as soon as he got back.


24 posted on 03/27/2006 10:50:23 AM PST by admiralsn (I believe God gives only three answers to prayer: Yes | Not yet | I have something better in mind)


I sent a thank you card to v.p cheney for all that he does and to please repeat his suggestions to the other lying demorats I got a very nice card and letter with a signed pic, made my day!!!!!!


38 posted on 03/27/2006 10:57:42 AM PST by dubyawhoiluv

Love the guy.

Wish we had 8 more just like him.


41 posted on 03/27/2006 10:59:11 AM PST by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings............Modesty hides my thighs in her wings......)

[EVDebs]

61. That Priest he flipped off must be PISSED ! n/t

[shain from kane]

69. Is the Pope Catholic?

Can you imagine hearing confession from Scalia?
Oh well, someday he'll find out that he'll be the one to be judged for his behavior on earth.

[yy4me]

64. How very "supreme" of him,

Sets a great example for us to follow. And this guy makes final decisions on the fate of the land?
Day after day, some new revelation about this current Washington group. I'm disgusted. I don't care which way he gestured, the net result is offensive.

[shain from kane]

67. Next time Cheney and Scalia go hunting, they'll be shooting

each other.
One shoots the bird, and the other shoots Whittington.

[0007]

70. What a class act!

[Career Prole]

72. "Don't publish that!"....Oops! Too late! It's on the internets!

[BrklynLiberal]

78. ROTFLMAO!!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

73. Wow.. the masks are well and truly coming off, aren't they.

Reminds me of Barzini exposing the photog's negative at the Corleone wedding.

[sakabatou]

76. No picture?

Awww...

[klook]

82. WWJTTFO?

Who Would Jesus Tell To Fuck Off?

[KyndCulture]

84. LOL! Perfect!

[nonconformist]

88. I'm Sicilian

And ashamed.

[msanthrope]

90. Where's the Picture!!!

[file83]

92. Here is a computerized hypothesis from the crime lab....