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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Magna Carta to Go On Display at National Archives

Magna Carta to Go On Display at National Archives

by Michael D.|  December 19, 20077:12 am| 43 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics

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David Rubenstein paid over $21 million for the document, dated 1297, which was the foundation for modern democracy and the US constitution.

In other news, Dick Cheney, George Bush barred from National Archives.

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43Comments

  1. 1.

    gypsy howell

    December 19, 2007 at 7:46 am

    “David Rubenstein, co-founder of private equity firm The Carlyle Group…”

    Uh oh. It’s hard not to think that every silver lining has a dark cloud when you find out that the Carlyle Group just bought the Magna Carta.

  2. 2.

    Equal Opportunity Cynic

    December 19, 2007 at 8:07 am

    It’s charming that medieval English people had quaint notions of the king being subject to the law. Fortunately we 21st-century people aren’t so naive. Unlike our ancestors we really do what we can to support the divine right of kings.

  3. 3.

    myiq2xu

    December 19, 2007 at 8:24 am

    Ah, yes! One of those “quaint” documents that talks about outmoded concepts like habeas corpus.

  4. 4.

    Jake

    December 19, 2007 at 8:25 am

    In other news, Dick Cheney, George Bush barred from National Archives.

    Yeah, my first thought on reading this: No one tell Dick and George!

    My second thought: The dollar/pound exchange rate is brutal.

  5. 5.

    r€nato

    December 19, 2007 at 8:32 am

    John Cole: belated sympathies for the enormous douche that is WVA’s ex-football coach. Not even coaching his team in the bowl game after such a great season? What a fucking asshole.

  6. 6.

    pharniel

    December 19, 2007 at 8:38 am

    r€nato Says:

    John Cole: belated sympathies for the enormous douche that is WVA’s ex-football coach. Not even coaching his team in the bowl game after such a great season? What a fucking asshole.

    welcome to the backstabbign bullshit world of college sports, football in particular.

    wonder if this jackoff will be any more of a cockmonkey than good old Bo, who’s hits include things like preventing the satdium during re-contrction from being able to be used for anything other than football (“soccor is fine for boys until they reach 14 or so, then they need to play a real game”) and other such wonderful influences upon my local community.

  7. 7.

    El Cid

    December 19, 2007 at 8:41 am

    Well, I thought it was sort of good news — I didn’t know any rich or powerful people in the U.S. gave the slightest damn about the Magna Charta any more.

  8. 8.

    Ned R.

    December 19, 2007 at 8:44 am

    Now for a movie where Nicholas Cage steals it because of the Egyptians. Or something.

  9. 9.

    myiq2xu

    December 19, 2007 at 8:48 am

    Well, I thought it was sort of good news—I didn’t know any rich or powerful people in the U.S. gave the slightest damn about the Magna Charta any more.

    When does the bidding start for the Declaration of Independence? Shrub and Darth Cheney already shredded the Constitution.

  10. 10.

    gypsy howell

    December 19, 2007 at 9:21 am

    When does the bidding start for the Declaration of Independence? Shrub and Darth Cheney already shredded the Constitution.

    Honey, you are WAY behind. Haven’t you ever heard of K Street?

  11. 11.

    Zifnab

    December 19, 2007 at 9:40 am

    Now for a movie where Nicholas Cage steals it because of the Egyptians. Or something.

    National Treasure was an oddly awesome movie. I didn’t believe it was going to be any good until I actually saw it.

  12. 12.

    Cindrella Ferret

    December 19, 2007 at 9:43 am

    Habeas Corpus? Oh please, if you’re not guilty of anything then whaddya worried about? You want terrorists to have the same rights as us? Onward Christian (when its convenient) Soldiers!

    Ooops … sorry! I thought this was Red State. Never mind.

  13. 13.

    Jackmormon

    December 19, 2007 at 9:45 am

    My first thought: how the fuck is it that this thousand-year-old foundational document is in private hands?

  14. 14.

    calipygian

    December 19, 2007 at 9:49 am

    Magna Carta? That’s so OLD Europe.

    If you pay attention to things like Habeas Corpus and go see another dreary, old cathedral, you’re in old Europe.

    If you snort coke off the taut stomachs of 6′ tall Hungarian hookers on the set of All Anal Eight, you’re in New Europe.

    Guess which Europe Dubya prefers.

  15. 15.

    The Other Steve

    December 19, 2007 at 10:11 am

    If you snort coke off the taut stomachs of 6’ tall Hungarian hookers on the set of All Anal Eight, you’re in New Europe.

    Don’t forget Poland!

  16. 16.

    qwerty42

    December 19, 2007 at 10:21 am

    Maybe this is just a plan to acquire and later destroy as many copies as possible so there will be no evidence of such a writ. Then the king (unitary executive) may rule as god wanted.

  17. 17.

    PeterJ

    December 19, 2007 at 10:26 am

    There will be a great party on New Years Eve 2008. First the Carlyle Group will present George Bush with the Magna Carta that he then will shred. Then Dick Cheney will shred the democratic president-elect.

    Also, the Carlyle Group now controls both the Magna Carta and Dunkin’ Donuts. That is surely one of the signs that rapture is soon upon us.

  18. 18.

    myiq2xu

    December 19, 2007 at 10:33 am

    That is surely one of the signs that rapture is soon upon us.

    Don’t tou mean “rupture?”

  19. 19.

    Ned Raggett

    December 19, 2007 at 10:37 am

    My first thought: how the fuck is it that this thousand-year-old foundational document is in private hands?

    Kinda noted by another comment already but: this isn’t the *only* copy. There are a number that have survived, most of which are in the hands of the UK government.

  20. 20.

    Davebo

    December 19, 2007 at 10:57 am

    pharniel,

    Why be mad at the coach? Be mad at the AD and all the other AD’s who allow coaches to violate their contracts.

  21. 21.

    Jake

    December 19, 2007 at 11:00 am

    Cheney’s shredder overheated.

  22. 22.

    horatius

    December 19, 2007 at 11:19 am

    We’ve got to find the document, steal it and shred it. It’s got some really dangerous ideas like telling the accuser what he’s accused of. The survival of our very nation is at stake.

  23. 23.

    Jackmormon

    December 19, 2007 at 11:22 am

    Thanks, Ned. I was a bit concerned there.

  24. 24.

    Incertus (Brian)

    December 19, 2007 at 11:25 am

    Why be mad at the coach? Be mad at the AD and all the other AD’s who allow coaches to violate their contracts.

    If schools want to have the ability to fire coaches who still have time on their contracts, they have to give up the ability to hold them to their contracts if they want to leave.

    And I still don’t understand the anger here. WVU fans are pissed because Rodriguez is leaving, but are pissed because he’s not going to stay for the bowl game. What the hell? If you’re mad that he’s leaving, why on earth don’t you want to cut ties with him immediately?

  25. 25.

    Abe Froman

    December 19, 2007 at 11:42 am

    Greg Easterbrook has some great thoughts on Coach Hopping.

    Consider Rodriguez, the latest high-profile walkout. The Charleston, W.Va., Gazette reports that after Rodriguez decided to walk out on West Virginia, he spoke to his players for a mere 10 minutes — no questions, please! — before exiting through a side door and heading to the airport for a flight to Michigan. These are players to whom Rodriguez surely made elaborate promises during recruiting. In December 2006, when some recruits were hesitant to sign letters of intent with the Mountaineers owing to rumors that Rodriguez would leave, he reassured them by publicly declaring he would stay at West Virginia “for a very, very long time.” The moment there was something in it for him — a pay increase from $1.9 million at West Virginia to a reported $3 million annual salary at Michigan — Rodriguez shafted his players. The Detroit Free Press asserts that even before Rodriguez announced he was leaving for Michigan, he called Terrelle Pryor, this fall’s most sought-after high school player, and urged Pryor to enroll at Michigan rather than at West Virginia. Immediately after there was something in it for him, Rodriguez shafted his former employer.

    And this is the coach Michigan wants! Someone whose word is not bond; someone who, if the Free Press account is accurate, actively tried to double-cross his previous school. Wolverines: If Rodriguez is a fiasco at Michigan, don’t say you weren’t warned. And the history of selfish coaches suggests that fiasco will come calling. Petrino, Saban, Price, Franchione, Fairbanks, Parcells — which of these guys did really well after walking out on a commitment for self-serving reasons?

  26. 26.

    Salmon of Trout

    December 19, 2007 at 11:45 am

    There will be a great party on New Years Eve 2008. First the Carlyle Group will present George Bush with the Magna Carta that he then will shred. Then Dick Cheney will shred the democratic president-elect.

    I know Cheney likes doing things the hard way, but a wood chipper is much more efficient.

  27. 27.

    r€nato

    December 19, 2007 at 12:12 pm

    What the hell? If you’re mad that he’s leaving, why on earth don’t you want to cut ties with him immediately?

    finishing the season would have been the decent thing to do. Would that have been so hard for him? It’s a lot like getting stood up. UWV had a great season, and the bowl game is the reward… and the douche just walks on them. It’s kind of like quitting your job right before a big deadline.

  28. 28.

    Mike

    December 19, 2007 at 12:23 pm

    If schools want to have the ability to fire coaches who still have time on their contracts, they have to give up the ability to hold them to their contracts if they want to leave.

    When a coach is fired, the school doesn’t default on the contract; the fired coach is still paid for its duration or negotiates a buyout. A coach who quits does default on his promise to coach at that school for the duration, as well as on whatever promises he’s made to the kids he’s recruited.

    And I still don’t understand the anger here. WVU fans are pissed because Rodriguez is leaving, but are pissed because he’s not going to stay for the bowl game. What the hell? If you’re mad that he’s leaving, why on earth don’t you want to cut ties with him immediately?

    WVU fans would like to win that game, and that’s more likely with a head coach present.

    Why is it that the NCAA, which regulates athletes’ conduct down to not letting them call their parents from a coach’s office, doesn’t require coaches to honor their signed agreements. Because it’s almost always the powerful programs stealing coaches away from the smaller ones? Never mind.

  29. 29.

    Paul L.

    December 19, 2007 at 12:42 pm

    In other news, Dick Cheney, George Bush barred from National Archives.

    Afraid they will stuff the Magna Carta in their socks.
    Maybe they will send their White House national security adviser like the Clintons did.

  30. 30.

    myiq2xu

    December 19, 2007 at 12:42 pm

    A coach who quits does default on his promise to coach at that school for the duration, as well as on whatever promises he’s made to the kids he’s recruited.

    Maybe WVU should sue Michigan for tortious interference with a contract.

  31. 31.

    myiq2xu

    December 19, 2007 at 12:45 pm

    Maybe they will send their White House national security adviser like the Clintons did.

    Wingnut rationalization #2 – Clinton did it too!

  32. 32.

    Jon H

    December 19, 2007 at 12:49 pm

    Actually, I bet Cheney will try to classify it.

  33. 33.

    scarshapedstar

    December 19, 2007 at 12:53 pm

    Well, I guess we’ll never see it again.

  34. 34.

    Paul L.

    December 19, 2007 at 12:54 pm

    Wingnut rationalization #2 – Clinton did it too!

    Moonbat response #1: Clinton was one of our greatest Presidents. How dare you bring up anything that he did wrong. Praise Bill Clinton (and Al Gore).

  35. 35.

    myiq2xu

    December 19, 2007 at 12:59 pm

    Moonbat response #1: Clinton was one of our greatest Presidents. How dare you bring up anything that he did wrong. Praise Bill Clinton (and Al Gore).

    Amen brother!

  36. 36.

    Chris Johnson

    December 19, 2007 at 1:36 pm

    Well, they sure look nice in hindsight. Which is pretty sad, really.

    I would prefer a world in which I could sneer at the Clintons to the one in which they’re more likely to save my ass. Because I don’t think they’re great people, I just need them to do their softland-the-economy, softsoap-the-diplomacy thing before we’re all destitute AND bombed for our own good.

  37. 37.

    tBone

    December 19, 2007 at 1:40 pm

    Wingnut rationalization #2 1 – ∞ – Clinton did it too!

    Fixed for reality.

  38. 38.

    horatius

    December 19, 2007 at 2:54 pm

    Wingnut rationalization #2 1 – ∞ – Clinton did it too!

    Fixed for reality.

    And Reality as we all know has a well-known liberal bias.

  39. 39.

    Mike

    December 19, 2007 at 4:26 pm

    Afraid they will stuff the Magna Carta in their socks.

    Or maybe Ted Kennedy will drive off a bridge and drown it. Or Robert Byrd will use it to light a cross. Or FDR will ignore it and lock up a bunch of people just because they’re of Japanese ancestry.

    Or did Malkin say that last one was a good thing? It’s so hard to keep up.

  40. 40.

    BIRDZILLA

    December 20, 2007 at 9:05 am

    The MAGNA CARTA the predisesor to our own CONSTITUTION and and many of these young people look at the constitution as say WHATS IT MEAN

  41. 41.

    binzinerator

    December 20, 2007 at 1:50 pm

    A Sotheby’s spokeswoman said the Magna Carta had been “saved for America” by Mr Rubenstein, who intends to place the document back on view at the National Archives in Washington, DC.

    Too bad America hadn’t been saved for the Magna Carta.

    If the Magna Carta was a precursor to the Constitution, and the Constitution is just “a goddamned piece of paper”, then the Magna Carta must be merely a damned piece of paper.

    Those damned pieces of paper — it’s the ideas of liberty contained therein that the Bushies consider worthless and too much of America place little value upon. But as a commodity? Fuckin-ay, they’re worth tens of millions, baby!

    What does this say about America where the real value of these pieces of paper are deemed worthless or unimportant, but the physical artifact is vied for by millionaires? It is as if we have substituted the value of the message with that of the messenger. The bathwater is prized, the baby ignored.

    The free market has spoken.

    Amazing. For $21 million you can claim ownership of the paper that established a core liberty of Western Civilization, but you no longer can claim you have the liberty itself.

  42. 42.

    Wildthumb

    December 20, 2007 at 1:56 pm

    I thought so. I looked it up and the first Magna Carta was signed in 1215. This copy was a later reissue or revision. Little historical factoid.

  43. 43.

    Chuck Butcher

    December 20, 2007 at 6:04 pm

    With regard to coaches, player, stadiums and the whole college nonsense – if you didn’t turn an institution of higher learning into a goddam pro-sports training camp…

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