Republicans… or the Mafia?

Earlier today, we mentioned that Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was doing a little Sicilian hand-jive on the steps of the Holy Cross Cathedral.

 ”That’s Sicilian,” The Supreme Court Justice said, jokingly.

For those of you who are interested in more Sicilian-in-Translation, check this out.

Via Wonkette, the Boston Herald today reports that Associate Justice Antonin Scalia made an obscene gesture outside a Boston Church after a special mass for lawyers (We know– a mass for lawyers? We’re not certain what good it could possibly do). Here’s the Herald:

“You know what I say to those people?” Scalia, 70, replied, making an obscene gesture, flicking his hand 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.

Hmmm. Wonkette now has a helpful visual up showing the motion Scalia used. You know the one. Like so many great Italian expressions, it can mean all sorts of things, from “va a napoli” (trans: go to Naples, or get lost), to “me ne frego” (trans: I don’t give a damn), to “poco me futtere” (trans: that f*cks me very little).

We like to think Scalia was using the last translation. Irregardless (another Italian word… sort of…), this is definitely one of the most mob-like things a Supreme Court Justice has ever done– and, needless to say, he’s a Republican. Ok, ok, Republicans might scream bloody murder here about how he’s a conservative, not a Republican.  They’d be wrong. And then there’s this little gem:

Although one of his sworn duties is to uphold the freedom of the press, a jocular Scalia told the shutterbug, “Don’t publish that.”

Not for nothin’ (<–also Italian), but isn’t that pretty gangster-ish, too? Kinda reminds me of Santino confronting the reporters and the feds at his sister’s wedding. He smashes their cameras and then pays for them. Like Scalia, it’s jocular– but it makes a point clearly enough.

“The Sopranos are a lot like the Bush administration. There are wiretaps, people going to jail, and the second-in-command accidentally shoots his best friend.”

–Jay Leno 

via Kos

I don’t know how we missed this after watching Episode 1 of Season 6 this past weekend (though we hope you’ll recall our memorable Sopranos/Cheney post). We’re sending Jay a free ROTM T-shirt for picking this up. We’re sure he’ll be thrilled.