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Today is the 792nd birthday of Magna Carta. On this day in 1215, King John signed Magna Carta, which went on to become one of the influences for constitutions throughout the English-speaking world, including the
US. The version we usually think of is the version from John’s son Henry III who reissued it in 1225. His son, Edward I, had his Parliament reissue it again in 1297.
Magna Carta established the right to habeas corpus and the right to due process. Most of the rest dealt with feudal issues relating specifically to the Middle Ages. George Bush has pushed America back toward the Middle Ages with his assault on both habeas corpus and due process.
From there, it’s on to an overview of New Zealand’s government as I get ready to start talking about how Parliament is elected. What are Kiwis’ most popular movies of all time? The worst? Check out the lists at flicks.co.nz. Comments are followed by my take on personal responsibility as the flipside of personal freedom. Should drugs be legalised? Finally, I have an announcement about an upcoming episode.
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8 comments:
Arthur, I can't express how much I enjoyed your show today. For me, a in depth discussion about the Magna Carta and what it means to Western governments is like the show that I dream one of my podcasters will do. You did an excellent job.
Loved it!
I also enjoyed the information on Magna Carta, but I noticed something that I am curious about. I have always heard it called "The Magna Carta" however, you never included "the" when talking about it.
I guess my question is, is "the" superfluous? Not that I talk about it more than once in a blue moon, but it is now killing me that I have been saying it wrong forever.
Author, Keep up the great shows and you will make New Zealand the new gay mecca for Americans.
I wanted to give you feed back on Callbox 7. Most of the time when I first hear of a new podcast on politics I think "Oh-No! Another nut job who bases most of thier beliefs on conspiracy theories or throws around a lot of rhetoric with no substance." I was very pleased this was not the case.
You know more about the Magna Carta than anyone I know.
Good discussion about legalizing drugs. There so much to think about. I doubt drugs will ever be legalized in the US. Too many differing views.
A teaser! I'm looking forward to Friday's show!
I have to say that I agree with a lot of NZ's movie choices. The whole Magna Carta thing is strange. I hate people who always say they are right because they are in the middle. I was want to ask them, so if you're choosing between Hitler and Stalin, where does being int eh middle put you? I honestly think it's people being even lazier than wanting to make a hard line stance and defending it, or decided (more proper in my opinion) on the issues.
So what's the surprise? I'm so intrigued.
Mike: Wow, thanks! It's clearly a subject that's important to me. Thanks for the support!
Daniel: Technically, it's just "Magna Carta" with no "the". This has to do with Latin not having a definite article like "the" (or something--I don't speak Latin, or barely even English, sometimes...). At any rate, simply calling it "Magna Carta" is the common academic convention (and my bachelor degree is in political science). However, calling it "The Magna Carta" is also common, if technically incorrect.
Larken: Making New Zealand a gay mecca wouldn't be so bad! I'm glad you liked CallBox 7, and thanks so much for letting me know. When I recommend something, I always wonder if others like it or not, so I appreciate the feedback.
Archerr: Actually, it's not that I know all that much, but I had great teachers who taught me how to find the information I want. It helps to know some things to start out, of course, but research makes up the difference.
As for legalising drugs, there's a lot of vested interests in just keeping things as they are, whether it makes sense or not. And my view, really, is that we should at least be discussing other options.
Kalvin: I agreed with a lot of the movie choices, too.
In general, I can respect and even understand people who take a reasoned position, rather than take an intellectually lazy middle ground--unless, of course, that's where they end up after thinking about it all. This is true whether I agree with them or not.
"Eclectic" is almost not enough to describe the most loved movie list. Fascinating.
As for Magna Carta... I always thought she was Jimmy's sister, or Nell's cousin.
Yes, the list is somewhat beyond eclectic. But usually lists like this are dominated by current movies, so I was a bit surprised that there were some older ones (older than six months ago).
Wouldn't "Magna" be their largest relative?
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