Here’s the scenario: Douglas Wood is kidnapped by Islamic terrorists. His kidnappers:

snatched him, kicked him in the head, kept him blindfolded and bound for 47 days, shaved him bald, killed two of his colleagues, made him beg for his life, and — says a fellow hostage from Sweden — shot several other prisoners in front of him.

Then he calls them “assholes.” Pretty understated, right? Not for Andrew Jaspan, who says:

I was, I have to say, shocked by Douglas Wood’s use of the a—hole word, if I can put it like that, which I just thought was coarse and very ill-thought through and I think demeans the man and is one of the reasons why people are slightly sceptical of his motives and everything else.

The issue really is largely, speaking as I understand it, he was treated well there. He says he was fed every day, and as such to turn around and use that kind of language I think is just insensitive.

Mr. Jaspan’s profession?

You guessed it: newspaper editor.

(Via Bill Ardolino.)

UPDATE: Via a Michael Totten commenter comes word that Jaspan once had some profane words about a critical profile of him in The Sunday Times Scotland. Jaspan called the profile a “shitty piece of journalism.” As Totten’s commenter says:

Oh dear oh dear, Mr. Jaspan–such language! But of course I would imagine those profiling him in The Sunday Times Scotland were a lot crueler than Douglas Wood’s kidnappers.

Indeed. I bet they didn’t feed him a thing.

Randy Barnett is selling T-shirts with Justice Thomas’s line from his Kelo dissent:

Something has gone seriously awry with this Court’s interpretation of the Constitution.

You can get one by clicking on this link.

I am tempted to buy one and send it to Justice Thomas — but the second I do, the L.A. Times will probably run a front-page story about how he is accepting gifts from extreme right-wing bloggers.

CORRECTION: Barnett is not selling the T-shirts himself; he just helped publicize the effort. He says in comments below: “A portion of the proceeds will go to the Institute for Justice.” Apologies for the error.

Some time ago, BoiFromTroy opposed a proposed law against Internet hunting, on the grounds that the Legislature has more important things to do with its time. I responded that the Legislature wastes its time on plenty of things more trivial than banning the shooting of animals with the click of a mouse.

I stand corrected:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul urged California legislators to force nail salons to clean up their act, testifying Monday about her yearlong health ordeal after an unsanitary manicure.

If Paula Abdul can’t get a sanitary manicure, ladies and gentlemen, then there’s something very, very wrong with this state.

One of the Onion Field killers was just returned to prison for heroin possession.

Here is Day by Day’s take on the Kelo decision:

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