I was talking to a friend, and we both feel a bit sick of all the political jockeying in the news at the moment. So, let’s look at some different news.
1. Luis, Armand and Angel
I wrote a post about bizarre lawyers last year. One was Philipino judge Florentino V. Flores Jr, a trial judge who believed he was assisted by three elves, Luis, Armand and Angel. As this article in the Wall Street Journal explains, the story doesn’t end there. Apparently, belief in elves (or “duwende“) is common in the Philippines, and Mr Floro has become a cause celebre.
Mr. Floro has become a regular on Philippine television. Often he is asked to make predictions with the help of his invisible friends. “They say your show will be taken off the air if you don’t feature me more often,” was Mr. Floro’s reply to one interviewer.
The day after Mr. Floro’s first appearance on television last year, hundreds of people turned up at his house in a dusty Manila suburb hoping he could use his supernatural powers to heal their illnesses. Now Mr. Floro, who travels by bus, is regularly recognized on the street.
The Supreme Court says its medical clinic determined that Mr. Floro was suffering from psychosis. Even so, a series of disturbing incidents appear to have the nation’s top jurists rattled. According to local newspaper reports, a mysterious fire in January destroyed the Supreme Court’s crest in its session hall, and a number of members of the court and their close family members have developed serious illnesses or have fallen victim to car accidents.
Enough bizarre things have happened that in July, the Supreme Court issued an en banc resolution asking Mr. Floro to desist in his threats of “ungodly reprisal.” The Supreme Court’s spokesman declined to elaborate.
Apparently it’s all down to Luis, the “king of kings” and avenger elf, rather than Mr. Floro personally.
2. Take that, God!
When I was a little tacker, we had a series of crazy RE teachers whom I may have mentioned before. In any case, one of them told me God was omnipresent and omnipotent, and so I ran around the house with a pair of scissors, snipping them in the air, saying “I’m cutting God up into pieces!” Until my mother caught me.
I can’t help thinking that Ernie Chambers is indulging in the adult version of my childhood behaviour. He is a US Senator who has filed a suit against God.
Chambers says in his lawsuit that God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused “widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants.”
The Omaha senator, who skips morning prayers during the legislative session and often criticizes Christians, also says God has caused “fearsome floods … horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes.”
He’s seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty.
Chambers has a serious intent. He is trying to make a point about a suit filed by Tory Bowen. Bowen alleges that she was the victim of sexual assault and rape. You might recall her case from an earlier post, where I discussed the fact that the trial judge had banned the words “rape”, “sexual assault”, “victim” and “assailant” from the trial. Bowen is now suing that judge personally for violating her free speech rights. It appears that the Federal judge hearing that case has said that the action is potentially vexatious and does not disclose a cause of action.
Chambers wanted to make the point that you could file a legal suit against anyone (or indeed, any Higher Entity) for any kind of offence, and there’s not much anyone can do about it, even if the action is frivolous and vexatious.
(Via Law.com)
Update
Obviously I wasn’t the only one who noticed a strange halo-like phenomenon around Chambers’ head in the photo accompanying the AP article… Maybe God is trying to tell him something?
(Via Boing Boing)
The Legal Soapbox 
I first saw the case of the Judge and his invisible dwarves (rather than elves) at Across Difficult Country. Ex-Judge Floro sounds no more irrational than many a person in the legal community (of which admittedly my acquaintance is limited).
It’s true, MCB Esq, that there are some very bizarre lawyers out there. I myself concede to being a little bit bizarre myself. That being said, I don’t go as far as to believe in three small dwarves. But I don’t think I’ll laugh too hard at Ex-Judge Flores. I don’t want Luis to come after me.
Judge Floro’s Blog:
http://angelofdeathluisarmandandangel.blogspot.com/
Judge Floro’s 27 Philippine TV documentaries on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=judge+floro
Judge Floro’s Auto / Article User Page on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florentino_Floro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Florentino_floro
Judge Floro’s 27 pages, 34, 000 views, 1, 400 replies Legendary thread on RUSH Counterparts Message Board:
http://www.rushmessageboard.com/cpmb/index.php?showtopic=2112&st=1300&start=1300
Judge Floro’s email and yahoo messenger:
judge_florentino_v_floro@yahoo.com
judgefloro@yahoo.com
Judge Floro’s contact numbers:
Celphone No. secretary Belen:
0927-3440957
digitel Philippines land line
(044) 662-8203
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/bac/2007/09/24/oped/g.h..arinday.jr..sunfare.html
Monday, September 24, 2007
Arinday: Self-cherishing, psychosis & other oddities
By G.H. Arinday, Jr.
Sunfare
N LIFE, we encounter a lot of oddities and beg for the sublime task to render the same into linguistic idioms.
If we say that he is an “odd man out,” the interpretation is as varied as the hues of the rainbow jealously misted by the dark nimbus cloud.
Can you recall of a former regional trial court judge in Bulacan who was eased out of his office because he was said to be suffering from psychosis according to Supreme Court magistrates?
Well, former RTC judge Florentino V. Floro Jr., who confessed cavorting with his three elfin friends (Luis, the “neutral force; Armand, a “benign influence”; and Angel, as the “king of kings” and as an “avenger” in the penning of his decisions), has become a sort of an international media celebrity.
No less than “The Wall Street Journal,” in its September 17, 2007 issue and bylined by James Hookway, featured the dismissed judge who claimed in an interview that: “It shouldn’t matter what I believed in, whether it’s Jesus, Muhammad, or Luis, Armand, and Angel.”
What the former judge said is equivalent to “self-cherishing” as the fundamental concept of the Buddhist’s philosophy on “how to enhance cherishing love.”
In writing the verdict dismissing the judge, considering him as suffering from psychosis largely because of his belief in the supernatural, Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario said he has “his broad faith in mysticism and supernatural phenomena.”
“Lest we be misconstrued, we do not denigrate such a belief system…However, such beliefs, especially since Judge Floro acted on them, are at odds with the critical and impartial thinking required of a judge under our judicial system.”
It is not the first time that former Judge Floro attracted those engaged in human interest stories. He has been featured in English newspapers, international or regional, before “The Wall Street Journal” gave him some kind of prominence.
The world of mystics has intrigued me a lot like the paranormal analysis of psychic Jaime Lichauco and the so-called “supernatural” and extra-sensory perceptions.
Accordingly, “there is no accepted explanation of mysticism and few psychologists have interested themselves in its practice,” says The Columbia Encyclopedia.
Philosophers William James gave up after failing finding the answer. On the other hand, Henri Bergson made a significant philosophical evaluation.
Bergson, whose psychological or philosophical lectures were attended by “fashionable ladies” of his time surpassing that of Thomas Carlyle’s thought of mysticism as “subjective meditation” or a “vitalist philosophy” akin to romanticism.
The notion of Bergson’s philosophy is the strands of continuity in probing deeper into the mysteries of life like the growth of the folk-soul or beliefs on something outside of empiricism.
But former Judge Floro’s venture into the supernatural is overshadowed by the lawsuit filed by self-proclaimed agnostics of Nebraska, Senator Ernie Chambers of Omaha, seeking a permanent injunction against God as reported by foreign news agencies.
And lo, behold, the injunction suit was answered by “God” who was charged with “human oppression and suffering misses an important matter.”
As it was written, the answer was “signed by God,” citing St. Michael the Archangel as a witness,” and “God” was quoted that “I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you.”
Ho-hum! Such strange things are component of life’s existence. How would we treat the Nebraskan state senator? Consign him to limbo? But the place is exclusively for those “under probation” or inmates in the purgatory.
Definitely, we cannot classify him on the same level with former Judge Floro, the latter being a firm believer in mystical matters, but Chambers is a class by himself.
http://www.newpersonalinjury.info/controversial/judge-blames-elves/
New Legal News
The Latest Legal News
Judge Blames Elves
Filed under:Controversial — posted by Tom on September 17, 2007 @ 10:22 pm
The Philippines Supreme Court who fired a judge for claiming he had elves who assisted him, has asked that judge to stop with the threats of “ungodly reprisal”.
Judge Florentino Floro Jr. was removed fromt he bench mostly because he believed in the supernatural. A clinic has diagnosed him with psychosis.
Floro is fighting to get his job back, he has been on television, and converts people who believe in his healing powers. Meanwhile, a string of tragic happening are occuring for the supreme court justices and their families… Things like serious illnesses and terrible car accidents.
Floro claims the one to blame is one of the elves, “Luis” a “king of kings” who is quite vengeful. Floro has said that the elves help him predict he future, but has never consulted with the elves on judicial matters.
The Supreme court has not reversed any of Floro’s decisions.
http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/2007/09/rarest-of-coconuts.html
http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/search?q=floro
17 September 2007
The rarest of coconuts
Across Difficult Country’s legal counsel Judge Florentino Floro Jr. is in the news again, this time on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
As readers surely remember, Judge Floro was declared psychotic and removed from the bench for being in psychic contact with three invisible “mystic dwarves” 1 named Armand, Luis and Angel. Angel, Judge Floro tells the Wall Street Journal, “is the neutral force”, Armand “is a benign influence”, and Luis,”whom Mr. Floro describes as the “king of kings,” is an avenger.”
Now the Supreme Court which fired him is persecuting him again, issuing an “en banc resolution asking Mr. Floro to desist in his threats of ‘ungodly reprisal.'”
While not stating explicitly, the Court appears to be blaming Judge Floro for a series of unfortunate events, including a “mysterious” fire which “destroyed the Supreme Court’s crest in its session hall”, and a string of accidents and illnesses numerous members of the court and their family members have recently suffered from.
It escapes me how Judge Floro could possibly cause these things to happen. It’s true the judge is a man of many talents, including the power to heal, but he’s not a warlock. To have the same people who declared the debonair Judge Floro mentally unstable merely because a few of his friends were invisible now essentially accuse him of casting spells on them is not only slanderous but also hypocrisy of the grossest sort.
The judge himself thinks the plague of misfortune is the handiwork of Luis. Given what we know about Luis that seems the most plausible explanation.
1The author of the WSJ article repeatedly refers to the beings, which Filipinos call dwendes, as elves. This is incorrect. For one thing elves don’t live in the tropics. For more, see one man’s story about his grandmother and the dwende, illustrated with a picture of naked ladies.
Posted by C. Van Carter on 17.9.07
http://inhoramortis.blogspot.com/2006/06/dwende.html
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Dwende
My grandmother believed in dwende. Not Lorca’s variation, but more of the Tolkien genus (our dwende are a sort of cross between Tolkien’s dwerrows – or dwarves as most people misname them – and hobbits). She told me that alot of people made the mistake of thinking that dwende lived in earth mounds or punso. “No,” she said. “How could people live in such small things? Its unrealistic and stupid.” I go, riiiiiiiiight. We’re talking about creatures no more than 2 feet tall, caucasoid with flowing white beards and pointy hats, and gramma wants to be realistic. However, seeing as how I was only a little over 5 years old at the time, I kept quiet. So she continued with her explanation.
Dwende, she said used earth mounds only as gateways to their cities which were underground. These cities were supposed to have been above ground a long time ago, but the movements of the earth eventually subsided them to where they are now; and they’ve been their for a little less than a million years. This, according to my gramma, was why many people still see dwende
above ground: they miss the sky.
Dwende cities do not have a sky, as you might imagine. Instead they have very high ceilings of intertwined plant roots, including tree roots and grass roots. These ceilings were painstakingly grown on by the dwende starting from when they learned that their cities were slowly sinking. It took each city a thousand years to grow their ceilings, my gramma said, explaining why dwende hated people who destroyed trees and why we had to always say “tabi tabi po” – a kind of warning combined with a plea for forgiveness for the intrusion – before we stomped around gardens or pulled up particularly ancient looking clumps of weed.
Being an aspiring archaeologist at that age, I looked at her askance. If there are dwende cities underground, why haven’t they been dug up yet? I demanded to know. She smiled at me and patiently explained a little more.
No one has ever dug that deep, she said. Dwende ceilings begin about half a mile under the surface, and the tops of the highest buildings in the dwende cities are about another mile farther down. “So it’s hot down there because of the m-m-magma?” I said, struggling with the word but terribly proud to show off that I knew how to use it in a sentence.
“It would be,” she said, “but before you get to the magma (big smile at me to show that she noticed my use of the word) there are many big rivers buried deep in the rock.”As my gramma explained it, the water of these rivers came from sinkholes near the north and south poles, starting their journey under the earth as chunks of ice. As the ice from the north flowed down to the south pole and vice-versa, the ice melted, taking most of the magma’s heat. Not all of it, though, so the dwende cities had warmer climates.
Did they have a sun? I asked. My gramma shook her head firmly: no. That’s ridiculous, she said. The dwende didn’t have a sun, but the tree-root ceiling has many plants and animals that give off light light fireflies. I nodded sagely. I had discovered fireflies just the night before, so I understood what she was talking about. Animals – and plants – like fireflies, she said, followed a biological clock that told them when to switch their lights on and off. So imagine a million million million of these animals, she told me, all slowly turning their lights on and just as slowly turning their lights off, with some forgetting to do it when everything else has gone dark. That, she said, is biological night and day.
I pestered her for more details, but she said she was tired and that she would continue explaining things to me in the morning. I went to bed that night wondering if I wasn’t in some underground city, watching stars that were really just lit up mushrooms and bugs. It made me feel real small and – even at that young age – helped me understand perspective.
http://inhoramortis.blogspot.com/2006/06/dwende.html
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Dwende
My grandmother believed in dwende. Not Lorca’s variation, but more of the Tolkien genus (our dwende are a sort of cross between Tolkien’s dwerrows – or dwarves as most people misname them – and hobbits). She told me that alot of people made the mistake of thinking that dwende lived in earth mounds or punso. “No,” she said. “How could people live in such small things? Its unrealistic and stupid.” I go, riiiiiiiiight. We’re talking about creatures no more than 2 feet tall, caucasoid with flowing white beards and pointy hats, and gramma wants to be realistic. However, seeing as how I was only a little over 5 years old at the time, I kept quiet. So she continued with her explanation.
Dwende, she said used earth mounds only as gateways to their cities which were underground. These cities were supposed to have been above ground a long time ago, but the movements of the earth eventually subsided them to where they are now; and they’ve been their for a little less than a million years. This, according to my gramma, was why many people still see dwende
above ground: they miss the sky.
Dwende cities do not have a sky, as you might imagine. Instead they have very high ceilings of intertwined plant roots, including tree roots and grass roots. These ceilings were painstakingly grown on by the dwende starting from when they learned that their cities were slowly sinking. It took each city a thousand years to grow their ceilings, my gramma said, explaining why dwende hated people who destroyed trees and why we had to always say “tabi tabi po” – a kind of warning combined with a plea for forgiveness for the intrusion – before we stomped around gardens or pulled up particularly ancient looking clumps of weed.
Being an aspiring archaeologist at that age, I looked at her askance. If there are dwende cities underground, why haven’t they been dug up yet? I demanded to know. She smiled at me and patiently explained a little more.
No one has ever dug that deep, she said. Dwende ceilings begin about half a mile under the surface, and the tops of the highest buildings in the dwende cities are about another mile farther down. “So it’s hot down there because of the m-m-magma?” I said, struggling with the word but terribly proud to show off that I knew how to use it in a sentence.
“It would be,” she said, “but before you get to the magma (big smile at me to show that she noticed my use of the word) there are many big rivers buried deep in the rock.”As my gramma explained it, the water of these rivers came from sinkholes near the north and south poles, starting their journey under the earth as chunks of ice. As the ice from the north flowed down to the south pole and vice-versa, the ice melted, taking most of the magma’s heat. Not all of it, though, so the dwende cities had warmer climates.
Did they have a sun? I asked. My gramma shook her head firmly: no. That’s ridiculous, she said. The dwende didn’t have a sun, but the tree-root ceiling has many plants and animals that give off light light fireflies. I nodded sagely. I had discovered fireflies just the night before, so I understood what she was talking about. Animals – and plants – like fireflies, she said, followed a biological clock that told them when to switch their lights on and off. So imagine a million million million of these animals, she told me, all slowly turning their lights on and just as slowly turning their lights off, with some forgetting to do it when everything else has gone dark. That, she said, is biological night and day.
I pestered her for more details, but she said she was tired and that she would continue explaining things to me in the morning. I went to bed that night wondering if I wasn’t in some underground city, watching stars that were really just lit up mushrooms and bugs. It made me feel real small and – even at that young age – helped me understand perspective.
L.E.,
You might find G. Van Carter’sreaction to the the Judge’s information bombardment to be of interest.