The Memory Hole
Scrub Scalia -- We Don't Want Him To Sound Too Scruffy!
by Morrie Friendly

Feb. 14, 2003 -- WASHINGTON (apj.us) -- First off, a big tip of the hat to Dana M. for bringing this delightful case of the Media Memory Hole to my attention.

Last night, just after 7PM, a story titled "Scalia: Judicial selection has become too political" crossed the AP wire.

Predictably, the article, written by the AP's David Caruso, depicted Supreme Court (ahem) Justice Anthony "Conflict of Interest v. Gore" Scalia claiming that politics is suddenly an all-too-conspicuous factor in the selection and approval of federal judges.

Suddenly? What planet does he think readers of Beltway stories are? Scalia, arch-hypocrite that he is, acts as if he is oblivious to the fact that for decades, the Federalist Society -- an organization in which he plays a lead role -- has been quietly working to subvert the courts by grooming, positioning and working toward appointment of hard-right, proto-fascist extremists to the bench at all levels of the judiciary.

As if that weren't enough to raise the hackles of readers far more able to apply critical thinking to the spew of the judiciary's high poobah of corporate extremism than he is likely to believe, Scalia made the following all-too-candid comment, quoted in the final paragraph of the piece:

The First Amendment, he said, explicitly protects such free expression [as flag burning], although he added, "Just between you and me, I don't like scruffy, sandal-wearing, bearded people who go around burning the United States flag, and if it were up to me, I would ban it."

Well, well, well! The exposure of Scalia's true colors must have proven a bit too hot for the so-called "justice", the Associated Press, and at least one web site of which we're aware -- because the story was scrubbed from at least one site, Penn Live.

But at least one site, Newsday's AP Washington feed page, still had the story up as of this morning.

"Scruffy, sandal-wearing, bearded people."

Honestly, if the First Amendment weren't under such vigorous assault by the Chimp Cabal and "jurists" such as Scalia, such stupidity would have us laughing out loud. But there you have it -- the reactionary, backward, contemptuous imaginings of a man so out of touch with the mainstream of America that he has to grasp at images that are nearly four decades old and insult the intelligence and patriotism of all Americans.