Comments on: God, it's time we had a talk--call my lawyer.

God, it's time we had a talk--call my lawyer.

dead_ — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 06:32:07 -0800

From the same man who wrote poetry to the state treasurer and brought segregation back to Omaha Public Schools comes a new lawsuit... against God. Says Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers: "People might call it frivolous but if they read it they'll see there are very serious issues I have raised." PDF of suit alleging that God "has made and continues to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons."

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 06:41:14 -0800

The article I read last night implied that Chambers is filing the suit simply because it IS frivolous, and he thinks it will draw attention to frivolous suits. You know, because that's the biggest problem with our legal system today. Right.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:02:44 -0800

I like the subtle editorializing from the AP photographer. A very subtle, medieval touch.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:10:34 -0800

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:23:31 -0800

Didn't I just read that book?

By: zekinskia

zekinskia — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:31:07 -0800

Personally, I think Satan is probably more deserving of a law suit. But whatever, I suppose God is probably negligent at times.

By: fungible

fungible — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:37:35 -0800

That picture in the USA Today article is just too much. Camera man must've spent some time getting that angle right.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:42:38 -0800

...God "has made and continues to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons." One man's egregiously frivolous is another man's very good point.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:58:36 -0800

"terroristic" is redundant.

By: L.P. Hatecraft

L.P. Hatecraft — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:59:09 -0800

Bravo! It's about time someone held these Mesopotamian desert genies accountable for their actions.

By: peacecorn

peacecorn — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:59:48 -0800

Fox News managed to get the "right" story out of all this. (You can probably fairly call the guy "liberal," but the Nebraska Legislature is non-partisan.)

By: L.P. Hatecraft

L.P. Hatecraft — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:02:53 -0800

BTW, What is it with people whose names resemble their jobs? Courtrooms = "Earnie chambers", where lawyers earn their money.

By: dismas

dismas — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:03:31 -0800

He looks a little like Morgan Freeman.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:06:01 -0800

BTW, photographs of politicians (and others) with halos is very, very common. There was a page a while back with tons of pictures just from news sources in that year alone (2005, IIRC).

By: god hates math

god hates math — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:06:21 -0800

Seriously, that's one of the best AP photos I've seen in a long time. Kudos, Nati Harnik. Chambers, however, deserves to have his taxpayer-money wasting ass thrown out of the courtroom.

By: bruce

bruce — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:15:28 -0800

seconding pope guilty, also, i have a question. which god did he sue? the catholic god with his rosary beads and heavenly liquor cabinet? the teetotaling baptist god who thunders at us from his perch? the eminently reasonable episcopalian god who seeks absolution for his unearned privilege and affluence? the pentecostal god who so frequently sounds like tomcats courting a queen in heat? the jewish god who frowns on lobsters and bacon and so many other good things, or the muslim god with all those virgins to bestow on the guys in the suicide jackets? forgive me, but branding is essential to religion, because if you're caught out with the wrong god, you end up in a hot place for eternity; it's a whole lot worse than carrying a zune to an apple party.

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:16:31 -0800

Man, when I was a kid I was told on a more or less weekly basis that Ernie Chambers was either the devil or one of his top lieutenants. Of course he's suing god.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:35:00 -0800

"God "has made and continues to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons."" Yeah. But he wins ball games.

By: Mr_Zero

Mr_Zero — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:44:07 -0800

BTW, photographs of politicians (and others) with halos is very, very common. There was a page a while back with tons of pictures just from news sources in that year alone (2005, IIRC). If you could post a link to that page I would appreciate it. I noticed that myself and started collecting them. I have one of Chertoff that just looks sinister to me. It could be a poster for the movie V for Vendetta.

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:27:57 -0800

which god did he sue? Depends on whether he intends to settle out of court. If so, go with the liquor cabinet deity.

By: sy

sy — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:24:10 -0800

I don't have a lot of sympathy for this particular piece of political theatre, but the Mother Jones piece makes him look like a seriously excellent dude. Great post, by the way.

By: blucevalo

blucevalo — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:39:20 -0800

Does this have anything to do with the prophesied clash between Gog and Magog?

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:51:34 -0800

Fox News managed to get the "right" story out of all this. (You can probably fairly call the guy "liberal," but the Nebraska Legislature is non-partisan.) Nebraska legislators can still be Democrats, Republicans, or Gremloids. Their partisan affiliation won't appear on the ballot next to their name, but it's hardly a secret. Some legislators do remain unaffiliated. I've no idea whether Chambers is a Democrat or unaffiliated.

By: Fezboy!

Fezboy! — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:10:33 -0800

Senator Chambers knows political theater and the Unicameral has been much more benign because of it. Pope Guilty writes "And he's filing the lawsuit in protest of the suit filed by the woman whose rapist was tried in a courtroom where the words 'rape', 'victim', 'assailant', and 'sexual assault' were banned by the judge." Regardless of Sen. Chamber's shit quotient, the suit filed by the woman is frivolous. It is a question of state law and has run through the entire state court system. Federal courts defer to state courts on questions of state law. It may not be the fair or equitable decision in your opinion, but it is the final decision of the NE Supreme Court. It's not like barring the use of some words in criminal proceedings is unique to this instance either. These bits that dampen the outrage potential of this story are often omitted. Of course, all the local media are revving up their "Chambers ist der Teufel" machines over this and trotting out the whole "Neitzsche is dead. --God" joke collection instead of limiting their reporting to the actual story taking place. Sometimes I really regret moving back here.

By: polyhedron

polyhedron — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:43:14 -0800

I've no idea whether Chambers is a Democrat or unaffiliated. A quick perusal of Wikipedia suggests that he is an independent.

By: blucevalo

blucevalo — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:57:01 -0800

Of course, all the local media are revving up their "Chambers ist der Teufel" machines over this and trotting out the whole "Neitzsche is dead. --God" joke collection instead of limiting their reporting to the actual story taking place. Sometimes I really regret moving back here. Unfortunately, I can't think of any place in the country where the local media would not have reacted this way to a similar set of events, whether it was the media in Honolulu or Hoboken. It's the whole Kent Brockman "SUING GOD? HOW BONKERS CAN PEOPLE GET?" outrage song and dance.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:10:32 -0800

And he's filing the lawsuit in protest of the suit filed by the woman whose rapist was tried in a courtroom where the words "rape", "victim", "assailant", and "sexual assault" were banned by the judge. There were a number great comments in the meta thread about that case explaining why, exactly, those words were banned. It actually makes a lot of sense. The idea is, the victim should state, explicitly what happened too her, and the jury should decide if what she describes constitutes rape.

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:53:43 -0800

The great thing about suing god is that he always fails to appear, and you get default judgement in your favor. Some omnipresent god that is.

By: spock

spock — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:32:21 -0800

As a person of non-color (would that make me an albino?) who lives in out-state Nebraska, I have to say that I can't help but like Ernie Chambers. He thinks outside the box, and that includes the "black" box that people try to put him in. He understands "the system" and knows how to use it (giving him power that is out of proportion to those more clueless). The legislature instituted term limits here, primarily as a a way (many say) of getting Ernie out of there. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! I would not be surprised to see that he is doing this in order to gain some attention for whatever it is that he is going to do after his state legislature time is over. If he lived in Detroit, or Atlanta, he would be a major figure on the political stage. He makes a lot of sense, but his (polictical) fault is often making it in overly-inflammatorial ways. His voting base loves it, which is what has made him an absolute Nebraska institution, even if many here would rather see him in one.

By: lazaruslong

lazaruslong — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:23:51 -0800

spock: you should probably just avoid using the word color at all when referring to your ethnicity. The reverse of non-color being colored, both are a little squicky. If it's relevant to the discussion, just say you're ethnicity instead of telling us what you aren't. Carry on!

By: spaceman_spiff

spaceman_spiff — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:21:57 -0800

Lazaruslong: actually, the opposite of "person of non-color" would be person of color, which is fairly common language in academia.