Friday, June 12, 2015

Capercaillie, "God's Alibi" + how Ernie Chambers sued God

I like Capercaillie's Scottish traditional stuff a bit better than the slightly new-agey sound you get below. But when Sean Connery said that Karen Matheson's voice came from a "throat that is surely touched by God", I wouldn't have offered any counterarguments, and not just because he's Sean Connery.

That's all to set up the story of how Ernie Chambers sued God:
In the U.S. state of Nebraska, State Senator Ernie Chambers filed a suit in 2008 against God, seeking a permanent injunction against God's harmful activities, as an effort to publicize the issue of public access to the court system. The suit was dismissed because God could not be properly notified, not having an address. The Judge stated, "Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice". The senator, assuming God to be singular and all-knowing, responded "The court itself acknowledges the existence of God. A consequence of that acknowledgement is a recognition of God's omniscience ... Since God knows everything, God has notice of this lawsuit." 
...a judge finally did throw out the case, saying the Almighty was not properly served due to his unlisted home address. As of 5 November 2008, Chambers filed an appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court. The former state senator John DeCamp and E. O. Augustsson in Sweden, asked to represent God. Augustsson's letters, mentioning the Bjorn (cf. the Bjorn Socialist Republic) were stricken as "frivolous". The Appeals Court gave Chambers until February 24 to show that he notified DeCamp and Augustsson of his brief, which he did. The case was finally closed on February 25 when the Nebraska Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal and vacated the order of the district court. The court quoted cases according to which "[a] court decides real controversies and determines rights actually controverted, and does not address or dispose of abstract questions or issues that might arise in hypothetical or fictitious situation or setting".
I count at least five ontological categories in the last sentence.