WORLD SERIES

I am going on record here. I don't think the Red Sox will win this World Series. They have made eight errors in two games, and are simply not that impressive. The Cards will get back into it in StL, and will only need to won one from this flawed Red Sox team. There, I said it, and I can't take it back.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

There have apparently been strange goings-on on Pitcairn Island. This is an island about midway between South America and New Zealand (i.e. in the absolute middle on nowhere). It was settled by the original crew of the Bounty (as in Mutiny on the). It seems that the male portion of the 47 people on the island have created a culture of "consensual" sex with 12 year old girls, as well as rape. This all came out because some of the women were in New Zealand and mentioned being assaulted. The Brits sent judges from New Zealand, and trials were held. The rationale was that the residents of the island are Britons, since they are the descendents of the Bounty mutineers, who were Brits. In response, one defense to the rape charges has been that, in retrospect, Pitcairn Island is a free and independent country, since the original mutineers burned the Bounty. As such, the Brit courts lack jurisdiction over them. Before that, they argued that consensual underage sex was part of their culture.

This article is a really good summary of the history of this loony group.

Let me just say, while it is chic to mock the American Founders as having declared independence to avoid paying taxes, I think declaring independence in order to keep raping underage girls trumps any mocking anyone could ever do of Washington et al.