From: cmh004@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Dave)
Subject: Re: An astonishing Guy.
Organization: Lanchester Polytechnic
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 13:34:55 GMT

In article <lfg4pmINNs7a@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Trelford Pinkerton) writes:
>Well, it's early November again, time for a holiday celebrated in
>Britain, the way Halloween is celebrated in the USA.
>November 5th is known as "Guy Fawkes Night", and all over Britain
>people fire off fireworks, light bonfires, and burn effigies of
>Guy Fawkes.

Errm Today is not a holiday, but we used to have to go to church on this
day about 150 years ago and give thanks to God for being Church of England.
In some place they even burn effigies of the pope.

>Guy Fawkes was an Englishman who (in popular legend) tried to
>blow up the Houses of Parliament with barrels of gunpowder.
>He was caught, tortured, imprisoned, and finally executed.

Err I thought Guy Fawkes was Spanish, but he was not executed by being brunt,
but by being hung drawn and quartered - both of them are unpleasent ways to
die though.

>Guy Fawkes was not trying to blow up Parliament at all. He was trying to 
>assassinate the king.    I'll bet not one Englishman in 100 knows this!
>The attempt took place at Parliament because that was a known place
>where the king would be at a known time, and with big cellars to
>hide the bomb.   But ever since, the event has been retold to the
>people as "the attempt to blow up parliament" -- thus shifting
>the intended target from an unpopular monarch to a popular
>institution.

Not surprising that very few Englishmen know that because you are wrong.
Because at the State opening you have the King, HofL and the HofC in the
same room. Also why did the conspritors ask one of there friends not to be
there. Also the conspritors wanted the whole executive out of the way so
there would be no one to resist them when the rebellion started.

>The cup of liberty passed on to the American people, who had the
>same thirst as the British, but were more successful in satisfying it
>a century later.

Yet you had no sucess in executing George III.

>To this day, it is the law in Britain that a Roman Catholic cannot
>hold the office of Prime Minister.  And the Queen is still Supreme Head
>of the Church of England.

A RC may hold the office of PM, but the monarch may not be a RC and yes the
Queen is the head of the Church of England, but not the Anglican church.

>Sort of makes the dirt of a Presidential election fade by
>comparison, doesn't it?  That's what you get when you don't have
>a Bill of Rights.

Do you mean the 1st ten amendments to the constitution of the USA? Well:

1)  What about the communists in your country doing the 1950's????
2)  So I can have a god given right to walk around with a firearm.
3)  No soilder has lived in my house.
4)  Well ok.
5+6) I have those rights as well, but only in law.
7,9,10) Please explain these, 10 seems to be anarchy and does 9 allow
        your congressmen to run their own bank so they can bounce cheques.
8)  Define :- excessive fine, excessive bail, unusual punishment, Oh and
              what is punishment that can not be described as cruel in
	      some way.
Anyway how could the so called freeist country on earth pass the 18th
amendment to the constitution of the USA?????

Someone who tonight will stand in the cold next to a bonfire with
fireworks going off, drinking plenty of bitter (beer).
-- 
Dave                                                       cmh004@cck.cov.ac.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Call this place what you like - Coventry University, Coventry Polytechnic or
Lanchester Polytechnic it is all the same and is called school.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban