Antonin Scalia: "To my critics, I say, 'Vaffanculo'"

[kurth]

Photographer: Herald got it right
By Marie Szaniszlo
Thursday, March 30, 2006 - Updated: 09:39 AM EST

Amid a growing national controversy about the gesture U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made Sunday at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the freelance photographer who captured the moment has come forward with the picture. “It’s inaccurate and deceptive of him to say there was no vulgarity in the moment,” said Peter Smith, the Boston University assistant photojournalism professor who made the shot.

Despite Scalia’s insistence that the Sicilian gesture was not offensive and had been incorrectly characterized by the Herald as obscene, the photographer said the newspaper “got the story right.” Smith said the jurist “immediately knew he’d made a mistake, and said, ‘You’re not going to print that, are you?’ ”

Smith was working as a freelance photographer for the Boston archdiocese’s weekly newspaper at a special Mass for lawyers Sunday when a Herald reporter asked the justice how he responds to critics who might question his impartiality as a judge given his public worship. “The judge paused for a second, then looked directly into my lens and said, ‘To my critics, I say, ‘Vaffanculo,’ ” punctuating the comment by flicking his right hand out from under his chin, Smith said.

The Italian phrase means “(expletive) you.” ....

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=132848

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Well... FUCK YOU, Asshole!!!

[edbermac]

1. Ditto...

[roguevalley]

35. Fat Tony Scalia gets crazier and more contemptuous every day.

remove him. He's a national disgrace.

[BootinUp]

2. I like the post

but it may be against DU rules. As to Scalia, Go take it in the ass you bastard.

[swimboy]

3. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Vaffanculo explains gesture.

Wotta maroon.

[mikeytherat]

24. And he does this right after Mass, taking the eucharist,

and being told by the priest, "Go in peace."

Man he just OOZES class, doesn't he. Well, he oozes something anyway...

mikey_the_rat

[swimboy]

27. Ooh, watch it. Don't step in that!

Ooze. :scared:

[Avalux]

4. We can impeach his pompous ass, you know.

Not that we actually CAN, but it is the law. He's clearly out of control.

[Jane Austin]

15. Not only out of control, but a liar, too.

Seems like a Supreme Court Justice ought to have a high regard for the truth.

[ugarte]

5. What an embarrassment to the Supreme Court

I wonder what the other justices think of this guy personally.

[standup]

28. Antonin Scalia is to justice as the Mafia is to jurisprudence

good quote:

Antonin Scalia is to justice as the Mafia is to jurisprudence. Many of his decisions are the obscenity, whatever hand signals they evoke from him.

Posted by alphaa10 at 3:45 AM : March 30, 2006
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/03/29/publiceye/entry1452357.shtml

[Neil Lisst]

6. Will no one tell this windbag off?!!

Sometime, somewhere, some good soul needs to tell this offensive POS just how sorry he is.

[Skinner]

7. Nice!

[Cocoa]

8. how am I going to explain this to my children!

[spag68]

9. Italian phrase

Actually it is spelled wrong, and it does not mean F U. I probably means F U IN the Ass

[trackfan]

10. Repub SC Justice tells people to "Go and do it in the ass"

Vaffanculo = Va e fare in culo

[standup]

13. Supreme Court Justice Urges Sodomy

What do they do in the SPECIAL mass for lawyers???

[TahitiNut]

17. Yep. "Va' a fare in culo."

The original phrase is Va' a fare in culo, often shortened to vaffanculo, or just fanculo. This literally means "go do it in an ass" and is similar to the English phrase fuck you.
http://www.slangcity.com/ask_ac_archive/fongool.htm


According to Kevin Beary's Florentine Locutions (1991), it's properly spelled vaffanculo, a contraction of va a fare in culo, and literally means "go do in the ass," i.e., bugger off, fuck off, fuck you. "Some Italians affirm that the ass referred to is that of one's interlocutor, while others assert that the orifice in question is not yours or mine or anyone's in particular, but rather the universal anus," Beary says.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_238.html

[JaneGat]

11. This is a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. No words. n/t

[spag68]

12. Sclalia

That was not the worst thing he said. If you watched the whole thing, you would all sorts of right wingnut crap.

[Jane Austin]

19. Where can we watch the whole thing?

Do you have it, or were you there?

Thanks.

[merbex]

14. Wouldn't you just love to be at an event where he is the scheduled

speaker?

He's given protesters the perfect gesture to any appearance he makes

Right back atcha, Scalia

He's brought such dignity to the SCOTUS:sarcasm:

[Marie26]

16. He's such a jerk

I remember when he gave a speech at the AEI, & received some critical questions. He refused to answer anyone who asked him a hard question, reacted angrily against the questioners, & had the bouncer goons remove a man who asked him about his relationship w/Cheney. He cannot take any criticism and has the emotional maturity of a 9-year-old.

[standup]

18. How do you solve a problem like Scalia?

Shaker Oddjob tipped me off to this post at AMERICAblog which reports that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was busted making an obscene gesture to a reporter's question right after leaving church.

When a reporter asked him "if he faces much questioning over impartiality when it comes to issues separating church and state," Scalia replied, "You know what I say to those people?" then made the gesture and added, "That's Sicilian."

John at AMERICAblog notes, "If a 'gay activist' had done this, it would be the headlines around the world and the gay community would be apologizing for it for the next 20 years." Too true.

But it's certainly reassuring to know that, in the face of such a double-standard, at least we can find comfort in knowing one of the justices on the nation's highest court has no compunction about publicly airing his disregard for Constitutional guarantees. I mean, if we're going to let pharmacists invoke conscience clauses so they don't have to do the parts of their job they find morally objectionable, surely we should extend the same nicety to the hardworking members of our Supreme Court.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/34112/

[TahitiNut]

20. Scalia: "Let me prove I'm a sociopath!"

:shrug:

[notadmblnd]

21. Did any send this to Olberman?

nt

[niyad]

22. thanks to this, I now have a whole new dictionary at my disposal--very

useful indeed.

[glitch]

23. Antonin, affectionally called "Culo" or "Anus" by his friends.

His wife and kids must be so proud.

edit: sculio

[sui generis]

25. literally, fuck you in the ass

class act there.

[Debi]

26. Well, now that we know how well he interprets italian, does this explain

how he interprets the United States Constitution? Or any judicial ethical rules? :eyes:

[unblock]

31. but the constitution doesn't give me the right to do that in the ass!

:sarcasm:

[Debi]

34. Is doing it in the ass strickly Sicilian? I always thought it

crossed ethnic boundaries. :shrug:

[leftchick]

29. he is fucking insane

I can not believe we have a true psycho on the SC! :grr:

[unblock]

30. bugger off yourself, tony!

[Fovea]

32. Does Fat Tony

have the temperament requisite a jurist?
I think here is the answer.

[standup]

33. His judicial idol is Il Duce

Benito Mussolini