Talks Resume With North Korea

For the first time in over a year, the six nation talks will resume with North Korea. Representatives from the United States, North Korea, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea meet in Beijing on Monday.

Head Chinese delegate Wu Dawei formally declared the talks open at a Chinese state guesthouse in Beijing, calling on envoys to discuss implementation of a September 2005 agreement in which the North pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid.

"After hearing each country's opening speech, especially North Korea's opening speech, we will be able to tell where the six-party talks will go," South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo told reporters Monday before the talks.

North Korea agreed to return to the six-nation negotiations just weeks after its Oct. 9 nuclear test, saying it wanted to discuss U.S. financial restrictions against a Macau bank where the regime held accounts.

That issue will be addressed in separate U.S.-North Korean meetings, but they were delayed until Tuesday because the North Korean delegates responsible for those talks had yet to arrive, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

The arms talks have been plagued by delays and discord since they began in August 2003.

The U.S. has sought to line up support against Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions by enlisting its neighbors — including China, Japan, Russia and South Korea — in the discussions.

The North exploited divisions among the U.S. and its partners in an effort to change the subject and buy time to develop its atomic arsenal.

It remains to be seen if these talks lead anywhere, of course. The fact that Russia announced that it will sell nuclear fuel to Iran makes it somewhat iffy for them to actually be of any real help with North Korea.  

Reindeer Games

Earlier today, we had the sad duty of reporting the unfortunate demise of Prancer, one of Santa's few remaining reindeer. The tragic truck-tenderizing appeared at first to be just another accident. But dark rumors began to circulate almost at once. There were hints that there was another hand - er - hoof - in the entire incident. But the rumors remained unsubstantiated. At first we here at Blue Crab boulevard wondered if the "accident" might have something to do with an illicit black market reindeer hotdog ring operating out of Al Capone's old haunts in Chicago. But then we got bogged down in trying to figure out if the existence of an illicit black market meant that there was also a licit black market. Our minds collectively boggled at that one and we went for a beer.

When we got back, we checked the email and found an anonymous message from a usually unreliable source (never mind how we know that). But this one contained real photographical type evidence of what really happened on that dark day when Prancer became one with the universe. Or the pavement, as the case may be. In yet another Blue Crab Boulevard exclusive, we are posting that evidence for the world to see. The reindeer in the picture appears to be Dasher, the leader of Santa's reindeer team. We point out that the truck in the background looks awfully familiar. Could this be the smoking gun. Or antler, as the case may be.

Pops Concert

It has been a little light on blogging today. That's a combination of a couple of things including a rather slow news day and the fact that, believe it or not, I actually do have other things to do. Today my family and I went to a really fun pops concert put on by the local philharmonic orchestra. I have never been to one like this before.

The show combined the full orchestra plus a very large cast of singers and dancers. And the staging was not static. The singers and dancers moved around the stage, through the orchestra itself and out into the audience. It was a truly bravura performance. My youngest boy really enjoyed himself and my youngest girl expressed an interest in joining the junior philharmonic after seeing the show. She's the family bass player. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that before. But she already plays in several local orchestras and community bands - she really is that good.

It was a really good day for the family, we went out to dinner afterward at the kid's favorite place to eat - which is (thankfully) not McDonald's. The regular madness will resume at any moment around here, don't worry.

Pythons Conquer Everglades

The Animal Uprising™, with the assistance of human Quislings, is well on its way to conquering the Florida Everglades. Using a a horde of python shock troops, they are rapidly taking over the joint and are even at war with the local alligators - there is no honor among the animals.

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. - "SNAKE!" Hearing this shout, Skip Snow slammed on the brakes. When the off-roader plowed to a halt, he and his partner, Lori Oberhofer, leaped out and took off running toward two snakes, actually — a pair of 10-foot Burmese pythons lying on a levee, sunning themselves.

After slipping, sliding and tumbling down a rocky embankment, Snow, a wildlife biologist, grabbed one of the creatures by the tail. The python, Oberhofer says, did not care much for that.

"It made a sound like Darth Vader breathing," she says, "and then its head swung around and I saw this white mouth flying through the air."

Snow saw the mouth, too — the jaws open 180 degrees, the gums an obscene white, the needle-sharp teeth bared in an almost devilish grin. He let out a shriek, then blinked, and when his eyes opened the python's head was hanging in mid-air, less than a foot from his own.

Oberhofer, with a Ninja-like thrust, had snared the python in mid-strike.

"I snagged it right behind its head, on its neck," the 43-year-old wildlife technician recalls. "It was pure reflex — a defensive move. I don't know if I could ever do it again."

The python hadn't succumbed yet, however. "They defecate on you, on purpose, hoping to make you reconsider what you're doing," Oberhofer says. "It's not pleasant."

In the end, the humans were victorious, if not sweet-smelling: Both snakes were bagged, trucked off to the Everglades Research Center, euthanized and necropsied — meaning their innards were dissected, then meticulously inspected, for the benefit of science.

So goes python control in the Everglades, a painstaking, around-the-clock slog against a voracious, foreign snake species that has established a stronghold in this watery wilderness and put native wildlife at risk.

Two stalwart defenders is all that stands between the world and a complete conquest. (/Humor mode). Getting serious below the fold.

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Pretzel Logic

Jules Crittenden tries to follow John Kerry's logic.

Sounds a lot like Kerry, perhaps having learned a thing or two in the autumn of a political career that looked promising before it didn't, is trying not to commit himself before he does. By which I mean, stay with me here, because the logic is a tad pretzelian, Kerry reserves the right to be for success while being against it. Or against success while being for it. Sorry, I'm lost.

In any case, playing against an unpopular administration regardless of the consequences worked great 35 years ago. Too bad for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, but one must have one's priorities straight.

Here is my Sunday Boston Herald column on Kerr's unerring instinct for the wrong side of history.

I can't follow Kerry's logic either. I don't think Kerry can, frankly.

Subparagraph F, Section D Clearly States…..

…That no elf impersonator will allow a child to sit on his knee unless said child is accompanied by a guard penguin. Sound silly? Well, it is a bit of an exaggeration of some of the rules and regulations governing the use of Santas in Britain. Sadly, it is not all that much of an exaggeration. Bureaucracy is killing Santa in Britain.

Other organisations have imposed draconian rules for fear of being sued. A shopping centre in Wales installed CCTV in Santa's grotto and printed a notice saying windows had been left "clear of decoration so that parents can see clearly what is going on". Even Tim Loughton, the Conservative Party children's spokesman, was banned from dressing up as an elf for charity because he had not been screened by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), an agency of the Home Office.

Mr Loughton and a group of fund-raisers from the Worthing and District Animal Rescue Society were forbidden from setting up a grotto in a garden centre last year.

"The pendulum has swung too far towards excessive protection," he said yesterday. "When volunteers are being deterred from coming forward to raise money for children you have to ask yourself in whose best interests are we acting?"

…..

The report highlights guidance by the Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service, a Christian charity, which tells clergy: "Use one of your organisation's 'approved' children's workers as Santa. If using someone else, then Father Christmas should always have a suitably dressed assistant present, who is an approved worker."

And Rotary Club rules say: "Santa or assistants should not actively invite children to 'kiss' Santa. If a child wishes to kiss Santa this should be on the cheek. It is preferable for children to shake hands or blow a kiss."

The Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia advises: "Father Christmas must not ask/encourage children to sit on his knee."

Yesterday's study also claims that the fun has been taken out of children's parties, with many parents being banned from taking pictures. Even the church offers little refuge from the bureaucracy.

Rules from the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers say: "It is recommended that at least two adult members of the tower (preferably one of each sex) complete the declaration and CRB check procedure, and at least one of these should always be present when young people attend ringing."

Like I said, the guard penguin bit wasn't much of an exaggeration. This is bureaucracy crushing society. This is the nanny state run completely out of control. Read what Mr. Loughton said again: "When volunteers are being deterred from coming forward to raise money for children you have to ask yourself in whose best interests are we acting?" That about sums the whole thing up, doesn't it?

Joan Of Arc

A bone fragment reputed to have been recovered from the ashes of the fire that burned Joan of Arc alive at the stake is probably not hers. Researchers looking at the fragments have determined that the bone appears to have been dyed to resemble having been burned.

CHINON, France - A rib bone and a piece of cloth supposedly recovered after Joan of Arc was burned at the stake are probably not hers, according to experts trying to unravel one of the mysteries surrounding the 15th century French heroine.

Eighteen experts began a series of tests six months ago on the fragments reportedly recovered from the pyre where the 19-year-old was burned for heresy.

Although the tests have not been completed, findings so far indicate there is "relatively little chance" that the remnants are hers, Philippe Charlier, the head of the team, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The fragment of linen from the 15th century "wasn't burned. It was dyed," Charlier said. And a blackened substance around the 6-inch rib bone was not "carbonized remains" but vegetable and mineral debris, "something that rather resembles embalming substance," he said.

Joan of Arc was burned to death on May 30, 1431 in the Normandy town of Rouen following a trial. Legend has it that her ashes were scattered in the Seine River.

The rib bone and piece of cloth were supposedly recovered from the pyre by an unidentified person and conserved by an apothecary until 1867, before being turned over to the archdiocese of Tours. They are now stored at a museum in Chinon, about 150 miles southwest of Paris.

A real pity, especially in light of the last post. The French could use a bit of her spine about now. Biography of Jeanne d'Arc and Wikipedia entry. Incidentally, despite what you may "know" about Joan of Arc via Hollywood, there is little if any real evidence that she was captured as a result of betrayal. But the French king, Charles VII, did betray her after her capture by refusing to ransom her.

French Surrender, Retreat

The French Defense Minister has announced that France will withdraw special forces troops from Afghanistan. This comes at a time when commanders there are literally begging for additional troops from NATO.

KABUL (AFP) - French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has announced that France would withdraw hundreds of its special forces from Afghanistan within the next few weeks.

"We'll pull our special forces out of Afghanistan in the coming weeks," Alliot-Marie told reporters during her visit to the Afghan capital Kabul.

She was referring to some 200 French special forces stationed in eastern Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, aimed at hunting down Taliban fighters in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

France has deployed a total of 2,000 troops in Afghanistan, with the remainder serving in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Seven members of the French special forces have been killed in action in the war-ravaged country, while 12 others have been wounded since their deployment……

….The proposed French withdrawal comes when ISAF commanders facing an unexpected Taliban resistance have been demanding more troops to be deployed in the south of Afghanistan where Taliban are most active.

This would be Jacques Chirac's way of shouldering the burden of NATO. White flags weigh a lot, apparently.

Fourth Spacewalk Needed

 European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Christer Fuglesang, STS-116 mission specialist, participates in the mission's second of three planned sessions of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction resumes on the International Space Station. Astronaut Robert L. Curbeam, Jr. (out of frame), mission specialist, also participated in the spacewalk. The station's Canadarm2 end effector is at left.

Astronauts finished rewiring the International Space Station but were not able to completely free a stuck solar panel. A fourth spacewalk will be needed.

The STS-116 crew completed the rewiring of the International Space Station’s power system during the mission’s third spacewalk. Astronauts Robert Curbeam and Sunita Williams also relocated debris shield panels, attached a grapple fixture and performed a test on the partially retracted solar array before concluding the excursion at 9:56 p.m. EST.

Curbeam and Williams rerouted power through station electrical channels 1 and 4. Curbeam and STS-116 Mission Specialist Christer Fuglesang rerouted power through channels 2 and 3 during the mission’s second spacewalk Thursday. The electrical work puts the station’s power system in a permanent setup and sets the stage for the addition of more solar arrays.

In order for the duo to perform the electrical work, flight controllers powered down station systems prior to the start of the spacewalk. They began repowering those systems at 4:18 p.m.

Curbeam and Williams then installed a robotic arm grapple fixture and relocated debris shield panels from the station’s interior to a storage point outside. The panels are designed to increase the protection of the station's living quarters module and will be installed during a later spacewalk by the station crew.

With time remaining, flight controllers elected to have the duo conduct a test on the P6 solar array that has not retracted properly. The spacewalkers shook the box into which the array is folding to ease tension in apparently misaligned guide wires. There were additional attempts to retract the array.

High resolution photographs are available over at the NASA website.

Tidings Of Comfort And Joy. And Lawyers.

Mark Steyn noticed the flap at a Riverside, California skating rink over the silencing of a high school choir. And that is enough to fire up Steyn for a memorable column on the dangerous foolishness that is engulfing America.

"A city staff member, accompanied by a police officer, approached the Rubidoux High School Madrigals at the Riverside Outdoor Ice Skating Rink just as they launched into 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' and requested that the troupe stop singing . . . "

The cop and the staffer — "special-events employee Michelle Baldwin" — were not acting on a complaint from the celebrity skater. They were just taking offense on her behalf, no doubt deriving a kinky vicarious thrill at preventing a hypothetical "hate crime." The young miss is Jewish, and so they assumed that the strains of "Merry Gentlemen" wafting across the air must be an abomination to her. In fact, if you go to sashacohen.com, you'll see the headline: "Join Sasha On Her Christmas Tree Lighting Tour." That's right, she's going round the country skating at Christmas tree lighting ceremonies. Christmas tree lighting ceremonies accompanied by singers singing Christmas music that uses the C word itself — just like Sasha does on her Web site.

Nonetheless, the Special Events Commissar and her Carol Cop swung into action and decided to act in loco Cohenis and go loco. Many of my fellow pundits find themselves fighting vainly the old ennui when it comes to the whole John Gibson "War On Christmas" shtick, but I think they're missing something: The idea of calling a cop to break up the singing of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" would strike most of the planet as insane. The Rubidoux High School Madrigals should have riposted by serenading the officer with the beloved Neal Sedaka classic, "Oh, Fool, I Am But A Carol" (I quote from memory).

Steyn goes on to describe the ruckus that occurred up in Seattle when the airport management hastily took down Christmas trees after a single local rabbi threatened legal action unless a menorah was also displayed. As Steyn points out, the management actually came up with exactly the right response and forced the issue back onto the rabbi, who had to backpedal furiously. But it is what ties these two events together that gets Steyn going.

What, after all, is the rabbi objecting to? There were no bauble-dripping conifers in the stable in Bethlehem. They didn't sing "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," either. That's, in effect, an ancient pop song that alludes to the birth of the Savior as a call to communal merry-making: No wonder it falls afoul of an overpoliced overlitigated "diversity" regime. Speaking of communal songs, they didn't sing "White Christmas" round the manger. A Jew wrote that. It's part of the vast Jewish contribution to America's common culture.

Seattle Airport could certainly put up a menorah. And maybe a commemoration of Eid, and Kwanzaa, and something for solstice worshippers, and perhaps something for litigious atheists. But to do that is to turn society into a kind of greater airport departure lounge — to say it's no more than an assemblage of whoever happens to be in it at any particular time. Successful societies (unlike plastic trees) have deep roots: Nobody should be obliged to believe Jesus is the son of God, but likewise nobody should take such umbrage at trees and tinsel and instrumental versions of "Silent Night" that he would deny the reality of the land he lives in to the vast majority of his fellow citizens. Because the logic of that leads not to a diverse secular society but to an atomized ersatz non-society. And, as those other touchy types the Islamists well understand, once you put reality up for grabs, all kinds of pathologies suddenly become viable.

The atomization of the culture that is America. The Balkanization born of a fatuous obeisance to multiculturalism. A dangerous lack of perspective that encourages a rabbi to go after Christmas trees at the same time Ahmadinejad is joining his fellow cheerleaders for a new holocaust to eliminate Israel. Comforting tidings, indeed. Bring a lawyer.