Former LISD employee faces child pornography possession charges (This hair-splitting use of "former" is an apparent attempt to cover for the school district. The guy was still an employee at the time of the bust.)
BY D. LANCE LUNSFORD
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
A former Lubbock Independent School District employee, who allegedly left town after being questioned by police on Jan. 7, is facing possession of child pornography charges. Leaving town is not a good sign.
Glen R. Nash, 39, is accused of possessing images of children, allegedly storing them on a number of computer devices. He was arrested March 2 and indicted on 10 counts of possession or promotion of child pornography Tuesday by a grand jury.
Nash's wife notified police and gave a statement revealing Nash allegedly used a laptop computer to download child pornography image files.
"I noticed that these included names alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen ... and other names that appeared to contain child pornography," she allegedly told Lubbock police Detective Larry Manale, according to court documents.
On one computer, Manale reported finding 24 images that contained child pornography. The content or nature of the images are not described in the report. In the top right corner of several of the images were the words, "Crazy Angels," Manale reported.
"The word 'angel' is often used to describe child pornography," said Manale in a report on his investigation.
On another computer, Manale reported finding three images of child pornography. The content and nature of those images is also not revealed. Several of the devices confiscated from Nash did not reveal "anything of evidentiary value."
Nash has since hired defense attorney Chuck Lanehart, according to documents filed with Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Aurora Chaides-Hernandez. Lanehart said he has yet to review the evidence in the case but suggested a close review of the legal statute defining child pornographic material. For purposes of demonizing gun owners, the military, and death penalty proponents, the LLL apparently define a "child" as anyone under 25 years of age. For purposes of a porn investigation, they would set it at 5 or abolish the term altogether.
Manale's investigation did include several hundred photos of children in "scantly clad" clothing and posing in "provocative positions."
On one information storage device, Manale reported nine images of a blond female appearing to be 10 years old.
"One of these photos was a close-up picture of her buttocks while she was laying on the floor facing away," Manale reported. "This girl was later described to me as (one) of Mr. Nash's daughter's friends." (emphasis added) Ya' know, I have two daughters. If this report is accurate, I might also mention that I have a rope and a stout tree that could save the state a lot of money on room and board. Just saying.
In addition, Manale allegedly found four photos of children in "compromising positions or inadvertently displaying their underwear."
According to Manale's report, Cpl. Bill Bates obtained a copy of Nash's discharge papers from the U.S. Air Force where Nash received an "other than honorable" discharge. In the report, Manale claims the discharge papers show the discharge was the result of his alleged molestation of his stepdaughter while stationed in Germany.
Nash began working at LISD on Aug. 31, 1998, as an information technologies technician. Nash resigned his duties on Jan. 18, according to LISD spokeswoman Nancy Sharp. The school district had Nash's SSN, so they could easily have gotten a copy of his service record. They obviously either did not or they neglected to read it.
"Basically, he was a computer repair guy. So, he went to wherever there was a computer problem and that was it," said Sharp.
She said Nash did not have direct contact or work in an instructional capacity with students though he was frequently on campuses doing work. "He was on his own around the kids all day but, hey, he's not a teacher so it's not a problem."
Nash's wife reportedly told Manale her husband returned home the afternoon of Jan. 7 after Manale questioned him at his LISD office. She allegedly told Manale he then prepared to leave for Dallas.
Hmmm. Gazing into my crystal ball, I foresee a divorce proceeding.
#1
This reminds me of a story (urban legend?) I heard a while back.
There was a homely, rather-fat, and not very attractive girl in school and the one day the teacher made here the brunt of his jokes which pretty much reduced her to tears.
She got back at him though. She got ahold of a porn magazine and signed him up for the most disgusting porn magazines she could find (gay porn, boy porn, you name it).
... and had them delivered to him at the school.
He did not lose his job but he had a lot of explaining to do.
Workers for Utah's Department of Transportation caused extensive damage when a Howitzer round they fired for avalanche control missed its target and hit in the backyard of someone's home. The round was supposed to hit a hill but sailed over it and landed some 9,000 yards away. Must have been Confederate artillery--they always aim too high!
No one was hurt in Wednesday's incident but the round left a six-foot-wide crater and fragments from the shell pierced the home's siding and lodged in the walls inside. The department says it takes full responsibility for the damage and will compensate the homeowners for repairs. The Utah transportation department fires about 550 rounds a year, and says nothing like this has ever happened in the 22 years it's been using the guns. One good thing: the man has not had any avalanches in his backyard since!
Posted by: Dar ||
03/25/2005 12:55:02 PM ||
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#1
Wonder if that compensation covers dry cleaning his pants and shampooing the couch where he was sitting?
#2
More details and interview with homeowners here.
Hat tip: The Roth Report, an alternative to Drudge without the damn pop-up and -under ads!
Posted by: Dar ||
03/25/2005 14:20 Comments ||
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#3
Thank God the Illinois Dept. Of Transportation (IDiOT) doesn't have heavy artillery. I'd be worried about those clowns having sharp-pointed scissors!
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
03/25/2005 15:17 Comments ||
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#4
now ima start worrying about them hurricane hunters.
#6
The gun-grabbers will no doubt find some way to spin this large-caliber assault weapon accident to their advantage.
We should pre-empt them:
When artillery is outlawed, only outlaws will have artillery.
They can have my 155 when they pry it out of my cold, dead M-109.
Cannons don't kill people, DOT fire control does.
#8
It's deja vu all over again. I used to live in North Ogden, Utah when the ski patrol at the Snow Basin ski area fired a 105mm recoiless rifle to set off an avalanche. The round went long landing and exploding near or on a house being built in North Ogden, just over the mountain from the ski area. Shrapnel went through a house across the street and into a sofa. This was about 20 to 30 years ago.
A Providence high school principal who suspended a student for posting a picture of her smoking on his Web site has apologized to the student body. Eliazar Velasquez, 17, caught Elaine Almagno lighting up on the grounds of Central High School, a violation both of Rhode Island state law and school district policy, the Providence Journal reported. She ordered him to remove the photograph from his Web site and suspended him when he refused. On Tuesday, the sophomore was offered reinstatement but only if he complied with the removal order. On Wednesday, Superintendent of Schools Melody Johnson went public, saying that Almagno, "a veteran administrator with a 25-year unblemished record," had made a mistake.
Johnson said that she ordered Central High officials to remove the suspension from Velasquez's record and that Almagno had apologized over the intercom for smoking on school grounds. Velasquez told the newspaper that, when he returned to school, the vice principal advised him to find some better way of expressing disagreements and that Almagno did not speak to him at all.
Also : from a blogs called bitchgirls.us & bugmenot.com
"That same day, Harold Metts, the assistant principal and also a Democratic state representative, told Velasquez he was suspended. ... In a letter to Velasquez's parents, Metts wrote that the teenager was being punished for harassing and slandering the principal and the dean of students, John Hunt. Velasquez had taken a memo written by Hunt, circled a couple of grammatical errors, then posted copies of the memo around the school. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" Velasquez wrote. "He doesn't know the difference between there, their and they're." Yesterday, Almagno denied that she had retaliated against Velasquez. She says she suspended the student because his behavior was upsetting class."
I hate to say it but "Democratic State Rep" and "Vice Principal", and makes idiotic grammatical errors? Rhode Island is truly a small state
Posted by: BigEd ||
03/25/2005 11:54:14 AM ||
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#2
When will these people understand they can not regulate the off campus non school sponsored activity of any student. Freedom of speech applies. He should sue the High School for violationg his 1st amandment rights. I have no doubt he would win given his reinstatement.
#3
As a former resident of RI, let me just state that I am ... er ... truly glad to be gone.
BTW - my wife used to keep all school-generated comms and mark them up for all-too-common grammar/spelling errors. We were tempted to but never showed them to the schools in the interest of protecting our kid from any retaliation.
Authorities in Monroe are searching for a man known as the "Michael Moore bandit." The man, who police say earned the nickname because of his resemblance to the filmmaker, is wanted in the armed robbery of a Standard Federal Bank at about 9:20 a.m. on Saturday. Police said the man entered the bank at 602 Monroe Avenue and implied that he had a weapon. An undetermined amount of cash was taken in the robbery. The man was last seen walking south from the bank. He's described as white, in his 40s, 6 feet tall, with a beard and wearing a plaid shirt and a baseball cap. Police said the man is also wanted for two robberies in Westland and for a robbery in Carleton, Mich. Anyone with information that may lead to an arrest is asked to call the Monroe Police Department at (734) 243-7503.
Posted by: tipper ||
03/25/2005 9:03:31 AM ||
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Octopuses have been observed "walking" on two tentacles as part of a strategy to avoid predators, it was revealed yesterday. They extend each limb in turn, rolling it under their body like a tank track. Meanwhile the creatures' other tentacles are free to use as part of a disguise. Scientists think the strategy was developed to allow a quick escape while remaining camouflaged. The trick has been seen in two species. In one case, a coconut octopus from Indonesia was seen running backwards on two limbs at five and a half inches per second. With another six tentacles wrapped around its body, the creature resembled a fleeing coconut. The other species, octopus aculeatus, commonly coils and raises its two front arms to resemble algae. It was filmed scooting along the sea floor on two legs off Australia's Great Barrier Reef. "It seemed like it was walking on little conveyor belts," reported Crissy Huffard, a researcher from the University of California at Berkeley, in the journal Science.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
03/25/2005 3:49:13 AM ||
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#1
I, for one, welcome our new Coleoidean overlords.
DHAKA - Tropical storms sweeping across Bangladesh have killed at least 80 people over the past four days, officials said on Thursday. Most victims died under collapsed houses and uprooted trees in southern and western districts, disaster management officials said. Others died in lightning strikes, hail storms or sinking boats. "Storms continue to hit many places and we are getting reports of casualties and property damage every day," a disaster management official in Dhaka said.
Around 1,000 people were injured and more than 15,000 people were left homeless by the storms, the first of the annual storm season, the officials said.
Tropical outbursts kill hundreds of people in Bangladesh each summer and meteorology officials said frequent storms were likely through the summer season to the end of May. Â
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/25/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Tropical outbursts kill hundreds of people in Bangladesh each summer..
"Tropical outbursts"??
Maybe the cops should be called in to quell them... ;)
European Union Development Commissioner Louis Michel held talks on Friday with Cuba's communist authorities that included sensitive human rights issues such as political prisoners and access to jails. In the first high-level talks since a crackdown on dissent led to a diplomatic freeze two years ago, Michel met with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and the president of Cuba's National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon. "The mood is good and the conversations are very frank," he told reporters after his meetings. "There is an acceptance on the Cuban side (of the need) to discuss all these very sensitive issues, human rights, the prisoners, renewed cooperation between the European Union and Cuba," he said. Michel's visit is the most senior by a EU official since Cuba locked up 75 pro-democracy dissidents in March 2003, just days after the EU opened an embassy in Havana.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/25/2005 10:44:35 PM ||
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"How come the United States selects a female chimpanzee as Secretary of State?"
"This black woman thinks rather a lot of herself."
"She's so ugly she's losing face. Even a dog would be put off its dinner while she's being fed."
The 5000 years of civilisation on which the Chinese pride themselves were not so evident this week in the comments on Condoleezza Rice's visit to Beijing posted on the internet site "New Tide Net". As monitored by the media analyst Liu Xiaobo, the overall tone of the 800 postings was hostile and about 10 per cent were racist, sexist or both, reflecting what Mr Liu calls a pervasive phobia here about dark-skinned races. Similar undercurrents well up in neighbouring South Korea and Japan, which Dr Rice also visited on her introductory Asian tour as Washington's foreign minister.
Although Dr Rice's public comments here about the touchy subjects of Taiwan, North Korea and China's domestic freedoms were restrained, the visit capped a frustrating episode for the leadership. The "Anti-Secession Law" passed by the rubber-stamp Chinese parliament this month, designed to quelch moves towards formal independence in Taiwan, has boomeranged on Beijing. On Saturday afternoon in Taipei, President Chen Shui-bian will orchestrate a massive protest against the law and its threat of "non-peaceful means" should Taiwan's politicians step beyond the law's ill-defined markers. International opinion, especially in the democratic countries where Beijing needs to improve support for its Taiwan policies, has been generally critical of the law, with Dr Rice calling it "unhelpful". Most embarrassing of all, the anti-secession law has slowed and possibly derailed the push by Germany and France to lift the European Union's arms embargo on China, imposed after the 1989 massacre around Tiananmen Square in Beijing...
This week, China's official media were reduced to reporting solemnly that support for the anti-secession law had come from such statesmen as Sonatane Tu'akinamolahi Taumoepeau-Tupou, Foreign Minister of Tonga, and Abu Bakr Abdullah al-Kurbi, Foreign Minister of Yemen. Hence, perhaps, the dark thoughts Beijing has allowed to surface on the internet. The Chinese would have done well to have publicised Dr. Rice's Birmingham background before her arrival. I'm sure someone in the CIA will make sure this doesn't play well in Africa.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/25/2005 3:14:12 PM ||
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#4
Chinese attitudes towards foreigners, especially dark skinned ones, have been bad for a long time. It's just that now they are getting a more public airing than before.
It just really burns their asses to have to give this gweilo some respect.....heh!
#5
DB, don'tcha mean "hakgwei"? Nonetheless, the as-troubling point is that "Similar undercurrents well up in neighbouring South Korea and Japan, which Dr Rice also visited on her introductory Asian tour as Washington's foreign minister."
Discuss!
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
03/25/2005 16:29 Comments ||
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#6
folks in thailand are anti-black folks as well.. a girl I know from thailand (who is in country for the year), her mom told her "Date white boy or date yellow boy, I don't care. But no black boys! Too dangerous!"
( my friend did ask me once if black people are bad.. I had to set her straight on that one :-p )
maybe too many gangster movies are making their way over there :-p without having a real human being to contrast with the movies, maybe all they see is gangster. it's almost understandable..
#7
The "Anti-Secession Law" passed by the rubber-stamp Chinese parliament this month, designed to quelch moves towards formal independence in Taiwan, has boomeranged on Beijing
Wonder when/if the MSM will revise their latest Grand Meme of the clever, subtle, newly-diplomatic Chinese winning friends and gaining influence in the wake of the arrogant warmongering Chimpster. Call me skeptical.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/25/2005 16:57 Comments ||
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#11
Racism is the dirty little secret of third world dictatorships and anti-American forces in general. LLL posturing about "people of color" is a hypocritical smokescreen.
Last year, we had an item about an Iraqi insurgent leader who cited opposition to a "negro occupation" as a leading motive for the insurgents.
According to this leader of the Michael Moore Minutemen, Arabs regarded the presence of "negroes" among the American forces as "deeply degrading" and a "profound insult." He went so far as to say that they had "called off some attacks on American troops because there were no negroes among them."
In Vietnam, the Fonda freedom-fighters would invariably mutilate the bodies of dead GIs if they had the chance, but it seemed that black soldiers were singled out for the most gruesome and barbarous desecration. Things like this are one reason I hate the LLL so much. They are devils incarnate, raising hypocrisy to an unheard level of depravity by pretending to stand for equality while promoting the forces of racist savagery.
#13
The discrimination against dark skin is very common across SE Asia. I have been told by wymyn from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand the same thing. A Thai GF used to hold her forearm next to mine and exclaim "shacolaht mai dee!" (that's "chocolate no good!", of course). I told her that was hilarious. She didn't get it and asked what I meant. I told her how hard Westerners worked trying to have her intoxicatingly beautiful olive skin color. She was dumbfounded, even though she was in her late 20's. The woman from Vietnam was a GF living in the US - emigrated at the fall of the South when she was about 14. She told me that she was the oldest - and darkest - of 6 sisters and her mother used to beat her for being dark - and banned her from the house when visitors came. Utterly ashamed of her. She really stigmatized the kid - who was drop-dead gorgeous to my eyes, not to mention all the other 'Merkin myn who used to drool over her when we went out, of course. I got the same from 2 Japanese GF's - what's the term for dark-skinned in Japanese? Shit - eludes me at the moment... Ganguro?
#19
One of my old girlfriends and I were walking down the street in China when we spotted a black man, obviously American (jogging suit/hiphop clothes, the African businessmen here don't wear them). I asked her if she thought he was handsome. She said, "I can't date a black man. I can't see him at night!" She laughed, but the racism is very real.
#20
Rice's nomination in '08 will put the final seal on the Grand Unified Moonbat Convergence, driving residual "right-wing" racist types into the waiting arms of the LLL.
David Duke and various other cracker bigots are already attempting to re-habilitate their careers by exploiting their new-found solidarity with lefty Jew-haters. This process will continue and ripen over the next four years, with the final act occurring some time after 2009.
Today's dispatch from EUtopia. Tony Blair launched a fierce counter-attack against Jacques Chirac yesterday, accusing him of running an out-of-date economy that delivers low growth and high unemployment. In a statement to the Commons on this week's fractious EU summit in Brussels, the Prime Minister said struggling EU economies such as France's should imitate Britain which had successfully combined flexible labour markets with generous worker protection. The Prime Minister's remarks were aimed directly at the French president who accepted his help in a summit row over economic reform only to march into a press conference hours later to demand the end of Britain's £3 billion EU rebate. In a further sign of Mr Blair's anger, the Prime Minister insisted that the British backed the "services directive", which aims to liberalise the services market across Europe, and said it would still be voted through by EU countries - despite Mr Chirac's claims that he had forced a complete rethink.
Mr Blair told MPs there was an open argument between countries that wanted to modernise the out-of-date European "social model" of lavish welfare benefits and subsidies, such as Britain, and others such as France that wanted to cling to it. "Some, notably France, believe this model should remain in its existing form," said Mr Blair. "Some, like Britain, believe firmly in Europe's social dimension but want it updated to take account of modern economic reality." Britain had the benefit of "empirical evidence" that its approach was the right one, in the form of higher growth and lower unemployment.
Mr Chirac secured agreement in Brussels that the services directive, which is deeply unpopular in France where it is seen as a symbol of rampant Anglo-Saxon liberalism, would be rewritten. EU leaders decided to give ground to Mr Chirac because of fears that the issue could boost the No campaign with less than two months to go before France's referendum on the EU constitution. But yesterday Mr Blair disputed the French claim that the directive, in its original form, was effectively dead following the summit. He said he still believed it would be voted through by the 25 EU nations, the majority of which still backed its main thrust. EU diplomats in Brussels also disputed Mr Chirac's claims. One said: "What Chirac claims he got out of the summit is not consistent with what was agreed, or what was published in the final conclusions. But I think all EU leaders understand his needs. He had to come away from the European Council assuring the French people he is still the big man of Europe." Mr Chirac currently has support from Germany, Sweden, Denmark and probably Spain, a formidable voting bloc.
The most controversial part of the directive is the so-called "country of origin principle". This permits service providers from one EU nation - a British IT consultant or a Polish house painter - to take short term contracts in other EU nations without having to go through the bureaucracy of applying for local qualifications, such as membership of a German house painters' guild. They would have to accept local regulations if they wanted to stay for a longer period.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
03/25/2005 3:55:35 AM ||
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#1
Payback can be tough, especially verbal payback from someone who has to address a very vocal parliament every week. Tends to bring out the "George Bush straight talk" -- or as the French call it, "rampant Anglo-Saxon liberalism".
Posted by: Tom ||
03/25/2005 9:19 Comments ||
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#2
Passa da' popcorn. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/25/2005 12:38 Comments ||
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#3
And yet, the so called "service directive" is deeply flawed. It says that any person or company providing services in any of the 25 member states is only subject to the regulations of his own country.
That's absurd. You work in a country, you make money in a country, you follow the rules and regulations of that country.
#4
Nobody hates massive regulation more than I, but I have to agree with TGA here. Wal-Mart has to follow California laws in California, and New Jersey laws in New Jersey. It doesn't get to demand that Arkansas laws apply.
#5
Jackal, indeed, and the US is actually one country.
To give an (exaggerated) example to state the absurdity of that law. Imagine that one EU country wouldn't regulate that hard hats have to be worn in mines (because they have no mines), a company could offer services in another country and ignore safety regulations there.
#6
And who thought this up and why? How does an idea that is so fundamentally flawed pass through the system? Is it because the EU intends to regulate the services?
Posted by: Tom ||
03/25/2005 14:00 Comments ||
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#7
I think it's because the EU bureaucrats are planning for the day when there are no individual countries with their own regulations, just one superstate with one set of rules.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/25/2005 14:11 Comments ||
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#8
The reasoning behind this, is that many rules and regs pertaining to trades and professions are just restrictive practices maintained by a monopoly. Introducing cross border competition free from the local regulations will introduce competition and bring down costs. The UK is upset about this becuase it has a large and very competitive services sector and would be the big winner.
#9
And yet, the so called "service directive" is deeply flawed.
True, but it is at least a step in the right direction for what is supposed to be, or at least has always claimed to be, a free trade zone. The directive is little, late, but better than nothing.
IT caused outrage among East Timorese and Australian troops sent to protect them, raised tensions among UN peacekeepers to a deadly new level and caused senior UN staff to resign in disgust.
The deployment of Jordanian peacekeepers to East Timor was probably one of the most contentious UN decisions to follow the bloody independence ballot. It was eclipsed only by the cover-up and inaction that followed when the world body learned of their involvement in a series of horrific sex crimes involving children living in the war-battered Oecussi enclave.
Children were not the only victims - in early 2001, two Jordanians were evacuated home with injured penises after attempting sexual intercourse with goats.
[Emphasis added.] They should have evacuated them to the nearest tree. Or lamp post.
The UN mission in East Timor led by Sergio Vieira de Mello (who was later killed in Baghdad) did its best to keep the matter hushed up. The UN military command at the time was only too happy to oblige.
Business as usual. And these are the disgusting losers the Leftists want to run the world. Makes me think the Left approves of child rape and goat buggery.
*snip*
With the UN battered by a series of allegations embroiling its Nobel Prize-winning peacekeepers in a web of global sexual misconduct, new details have emerged of widespread sexual abuse against the civilian population by the Jordanian soldiers in Oecussi.
[Emphasis added.] Well, that would explain it. Fits right in with some of the other recent "Peace" Prize fools winners.
*snip*
One of the most poignant moments in East Timor's troubled recent history occurred in 2000 when scores of tearful villagers lined the seafront in the shattered provincial capital of the Oecussi enclave to farewell the Australian paratroop battalion. Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, had come to serve and protect the Timorese. Many of them were sorrowful that day, anxious about the future welfare of the locals.
There was rising apprehension about the new UN protectors - a Jordanian peacekeeping battalion that, like the recently departed Indonesians, was Muslim, a cause of considerable concern within the small, staunchly Christian enclave. Sadly, during the ensuing months, the fears would prove well founded. Two Jordanian soldiers were eventually sent home in disgrace - but for the victims the experience has left a legacy of anger and bewilderment.
"The expectations of everyone, including the people of Oecussi, was that those involved in committing these acts would face justice," says East Timor's Social Welfare Minister Arsenio Bano.
*snip*
It's the UN, Arsenio. Silly you.
Much, much more at the link. I'd rather have to defend myself against an entire army with a rusty butter knife than to have UN piecekeepers "defend" me. (And no, that's not a typo.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/25/2005 7:17:04 PM ||
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#1
OH. MY. GOD.
Actual, documented GOAT-F**KERS!
Is there any vile epithet these vermin will not live up to?
#2
"Angels and ministers of grace defend us"
(Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4)
Remember that the LLL want basically all military operations anywhere in the world to be placed under UN auspices.
"Peacekeeping force" is part of their standard mantra, the ineffectual alternative to real defense against forces that the LLL (of course) actually support.
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. airlines will be ordered to inspect the rudders of certain Airbus jets following an incident in which most of the rudder fell off an A310 in flight, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday. The FAA directive, to be issued Monday, affects A310s and A300-600s. American Airlines and FedEx, the only U.S. airlines that fly those models, have a combined 112 of those planes. A plane operated by Canadian-based Air Transat lost nearly all of the rudder - the vertical moving part at the back of the tail fin - soon after leaving Cuba for Quebec on March 6. The pilot was able to control the aircraft and returned to Varadero, Cuba. None of the 270 passengers and crew was injured.
"No one knows for sure what really happened, but we feel this is a prudent measure," FAA spokesman Les Dorr said of the order. "The basic idea is to get somebody up looking at the rudder to see if there are any problems that can be detected visually or with the tap test." A tap test is a way to inspect parts by tapping a piece of metal or a coin against the surface while listening for dull spots. Bill Waldock, an aviation safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, said it's an extremely time-consuming process. "You got a mechanic out there who's going to spend a lot of time tapping."
There has got to be a better way of doing this
The FAA directive follows a similar order by French civil aviation authorities on March 18. European aircraft maker Airbus SAS also asked airlines to inspect the planes last week out of what it called "an abundance of caution." Airbus spokeswoman MaryAnne Greczyn said the Airbus request speeds up the regular five-year inspection cycle.
The Air Transat incident has prompted discussion about the aging characteristics of composites, a relatively new building material which the A300 rudders are made of. Composites are man-made materials made of at least two different kinds of substances; the Airbus rudders are made of carbon fiber and reinforced epoxy. Composites have been used in aircraft manufacture since the 1970s, first as smaller components and then as larger parts. Airbus was the first manufacturer to use composites extensively on large commercial aircraft. Boeing also uses them.
An Airbus A300-600, which has the same rudder system as the A310, crashed in New York in November 2001 after its tail fell off and killed 265 people. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed pilot error, inadequate pilot training and overly sensitive rudder controls. Investigators conducted extensive tests on the tail and found no evidence of fatigue, which occurs in aging components and can cause cracking.
Dorr said U.S. airlines have to inspect the plans within 550 flight hours or three months. French civil aviation authorities also told airlines to inspect A330s and A340s because the rudders are the same or similar to the A300-600 and A310. The FAA didn't order A330s to be inspected because the planes used in the United States have different rudders. There are no A340s registered in the United States.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/25/2005 4:07:39 PM ||
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#1
"You got a mechanic out there who's going to spend a lot of time tapping."
Sorry, this keeps going through my head.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;
Only this, and nothing more."
Posted by: John J. Simmins ||
03/25/2005 16:58 Comments ||
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#2
...But will you fly on Airbus? Qouth JerseyMike - Nevermore.
#4
So these tapping tests are going to be done by mechanics who have spent their lives working in proximity to engines that operate at 120 decibels. That's reasuring.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/25/2005 18:23 Comments ||
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#5
"What??"
Posted by: An Airbus Inspector ||
03/25/2005 18:29 Comments ||
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#6
SO THESE TAPPING TESTS ARE GOING TO BE DONE BY MECHANICS WHO HAVE SPENT THEIR LIVES WORKING IN PROXIMITY TO ENGINES THAT OPERATE AT 120 DECIBELS. THAT'S REASURING.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/25/2005 18:31 Comments ||
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There are some interesting parallels between the state of the Catholic Church prior to the reformation, as recounted by William Manchester, and the state of the professoriate today. When the Harvard Faculty conducted its Diet of Worms and voted "no confidence" in its President, Lawrence Summers, perhaps this was equivalent to excommunicating Martin Luther.
The Catholic Church in 1500 was a debased, corrupt monopoly. It collected onerous taxes, which people paid because they believed that there was no alternative if they wanted a decent afterlife. However, inwardly people seethed at the amount that the clergy extracted and the debauched uses to which the funds were put.
Colleges and universities are in a similar position today. They may not use "a thousand cunning devices," but they certainly extract onerous tuitions, taxpayer support, and alumni contributions. Parents pay because they fear that to do otherwise would condemn their children to a hell of low-status occupations and spouses.
However, inwardly, the customers are seething. Most of my friends are parents of college-age children, and all of them condemn the extravagant ways that colleges compete to be The World's Nicest Holding Pen. When Muhlenberg College (ironically, a Lutheran-founded institution) sent us the notice of its annual tuition increase, my wife became uncharacteristically angry, sneering at the college President's pride in the multi-million-dollar spending projects that he used to justify yet another increase in the tithe. Parents would seethe even more if they could see the administrative bloat on campus and the princely salaries of tenured professors.
In economic terms, the Reformation can be viewed as a pure instance of what Schumpeter called "creative destruction." The Catholic Church became so profitable, corrupt and exploitative that its seemingly impregnable position was broken by new entrepreneurs, such as Calvin and Luther, who were able to build viable competitors. Perhaps higher education has reached a similar point today.
Rejecting the Sacraments
Lawrence Summers has rejected some of the sacraments of the academic clerisy. In particular, he has denied the doctrine of Righteous Victimhood. He faced down a professor of Afro-American Studies. He denounced the movement to divest University endowments from funds with a stake in Israel. Most recently, he brought on the no-confidence resolution by speculating that discrimination is not the sole reason that women are in the minority among high-level math and science professors.
The doctrine of Righteous Victimhood states that people who belong to certain victim classes are immune from challenge, particularly from someone who does not belong to such a class. Women, African-Americans, and Palestinians are supposed to enjoy infallibility under the doctrine. Summers dared to dispute that.
Conditions for Reformation
The conditions may be ripe for reformation of the academy. The Internet, like the printing press, has the potential to broaden the availability of scholarly work. Just as the printing press allowed people to study scripture outside the traditional Church, the Net makes it easier to study outside of the traditional college. Just as the Protestant denominations catered to a Biblically literate public, perhaps a competing system of higher education will arise to cater to people who are used to tapping into expertise via the Internet.
Important scholarly works, such as Steven Pinker's "The Blank Slate", are challenging prevailing academic orthodoxies. Moreover, just as Erasmus mocked the excesses of the Church, a book like Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons" mocks the current state of the university.
Like the Catholic clergy in 1500, the professoriate today seems isolated and intellectually enfeebled. Many of their views are dogmatic, and they tend to confront disagreement with arrogant denunciation rather than reasoned argument.
Like the Catholic Church of 1500, the countries' colleges and universities have gone unchallenged for a long time. When was the last time that a major college or university was started, or went under?
Maybe an academic reformation will take place in the next two decades. Perhaps some sacred practices, such as tenure, will be overthrown. Perhaps parents and students can be persuaded to shift en masse to an alternative approach for assuring a middle-class lifestyle in the hereafter.
Will Summers Play Luther?
Lawrence Summers has shown more contrition than Martin Luther. Luther did not issue multiple apologies and promise to change his tone. Instead, he famously said, "Here I stand. I can do no other." Some of us believe that Summers could have fittingly used that formulation when he met the Harvard faculty.
Probably Summers does not possess the intense anger that fueled Martin Luther. Perhaps Summers has not yet reached the point of exasperation that caused Luther to excommunicate the excommunicators (for a while, Luther himself seemed amenable to mending fences). Perhaps Summers believes that he can do more to reform the academy by working from within than by rebelling. But he might consider this: Martin Luther is an important historical figure; the Renaissance-era Cardinals who attempted to reform the Church from within are mere footnotes.
Posted by: tipper ||
03/25/2005 9:13:40 AM ||
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(CNSNews.com) - Consumer advocate Ralph Nader says a "profound injustice is being inflicted on Terri Schiavo," and he is urging the Florida Courts, Gov. Jeb Bush and concerned citizens to take any legal action available to let the brain-damaged woman live. In a joint statement, Nader and Wesley J. Smith, author of the book Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America, enumerated what they see as the many injustices in the Schiavo case.
They said the courts, under "color of law," have imposed a slow death by dehydration on Terri, giving every benefit of the doubt to her death, rather than her continued life. Not only has Terri's feeding tube been removed -- but no attempt has been made to let her try drinking by mouth.
"Terri swallows her own saliva," Nader and Smith said. "Spoon-feeding is not medical treatment. This outrageous order proves that the courts are not merely permitting medical treatment to be withheld, it has ordered her to be made dead," Nader and Smith said.
They also noted that experts are split on whether Terri is in a persistent vegetative state or whether she can improve with therapy. "There is only one way to know for sure -- permit the therapy," they said. Nader and Smith said the court is imposing "process over justice." They said new evidence should allow for a new trial - which was the point of the federal legislation.
With the government spending billions on cures for people with all sorts of degenerative conditions, isn't it possible that a cure may be developed for people like Terri? they asked. The possibility demands that Terri's parents be granted their wish to take care of her, they said.
"Benefits of doubts should be given to life, not hastened death. This case is rife with doubt. Justice demands that Terri be permitted to live," Nader and Smith concluded.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/25/2005 8:50:40 AM ||
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#1
I can't believe it, but I'm aligned with Ralph Nader today. We treat deranged serial killers better than we treat innocents like Terri Schiavo. "Disgusting" is the word that keeps coming into my mind over this. Truly disgusting.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/25/2005 9:26 Comments ||
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Posted by: john ||
03/25/2005 11:44 Comments ||
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#3
If we executed a serial killer on death row by locking him up in a cell and denying him food and water, we would be charged with cruel and unusual punishment, and ACLU lawyers would be all over this case like flies on sh*t.
This Schaivo case stinks. It is my fervant hope that after this thing is done and Terri dies that the Federal Bush Administration gets some US Marshalls together, swoops down on this sh*tty little Florida county and seize all the court records and evidence of the past 15 years. Then turn it over to the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Dept and go after the judge and all the cronies in a civil rights case.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/25/2005 12:07 Comments ||
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#4
John - I think it is exactly that passage that protesters have had in mind as they got arrested trying to bring Terri a cup of water.
#10
Lawyers. Complete lack of respect for thema and the judicial system that it can be twisted to where an abusive ex husband can have teh state execute his former wife in one of the most cruel manners possible.
The following is an absolutely authentic transcript of a court proceeding in the Court of the District of Madrid as related by La Prensa, a famous Spanish daily:
Q: Doctor, before carrying out the autopsy have you checked the heartbeat of the patient?
A: No.
Q: Have you checked the blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Doctor, have you checked for the signs of breathing?
A: No.
Q: Then it is possible that the patient was alive at the time of autopsy?
A: No.
Q: Doctor, how can you be so sure?
A: Because patient's brain was in front of me in a jar on the examination table.
Q: Nevertheless, the patient might have been alive?
A: It's possible that he was alive and practicing as a lawyer somewhere.
#11
Nader has always been a loose cannon for the left axis, no ideological discipline at all. This is perhaps because the guy actually means what he says. The Schiavo case is about another long step in the power-seeker lobby's long-running effort to gain absolute mastery over its fellow humans. Make no mistake, this is about authoritarianism, the life and death authority of credentialed professionals eclipsing traditional concepts of autonomy and the sanctity of life.
From the original nanny state, the Kaiser's Germany, to Stalin's gulags, Pol Pot's massacres, and the Islamofascist monsters, the "liberal" elite have had an unvarying affinity for the arbitrary power to kill.
Religious believers would argue that giving Terri Schiavo the benefit of the doubt is consistent with the immutable laws of God. As an agnostic, I would argue that doing so is consistent with the traits that have brought us through a billion years of evolution, the immutable laws of nature.
Whether of God or of nature or of both, the sanctity of life is the paramount law governing our existence as a sentient species.
Disregarding it is the first step on the road to extinction.
#14
Frank G - Your remark only hurts the cause. Don't suggest that...
However, "husband" has a restraining order for posession of her body after she dies for cremation. I'm not suggesting this but, what if there was enough people who acted with civil disobediance at the hospice.
Wouldn't that look "good" on evening TV if you had say 10,000 to 20,000 people who wouldn't let the undertaker in. "Judge. Are you going to enforce that order? I want to watch." Why does he want her cremated so fast. Enquiring minds want to know. I understand the "rule of law", etc. But Egomaniac Greer might be too stupid to realize what he would set in motion by sending in police, many of whom agree with the protestors, and although sworn, would not be willing to physically intervene, only contain the crowd at the perimiter...
Greer would then ask Jeb to send in the state police. Jeb would say this is a peaceful demonstration, I have no power to that because these people have 1st amendment rights. Then the judge say, "I issue an order for you to send in the state police." Jeb says, "This is a seperation of powers issue." Greer says, "OK I issue the order to the chief of the state police."
The chief says, "Do you want me to use violence against peaceful demonstrators?" Greer "Do what you have to do." The state police chief sends in a squad.... I would imagine some of them would balk at using violence unless someone in the crowd acted improperly...
#15
I'm suggesting the arrogance of the judiciary will someday cause aggrieved to take things into their own hands. Congress and the Executive need to bitch slap the "living constitution activists" back into their role as arbitrater of law, not creator. Our three branch system is out of kilter
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2005 16:02 Comments ||
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#16
There is a report that there is a hearing going on in Greer's courtromm with a petition "undisclosed contents."
I think the parents might be asking for the right to give her the Roman Catholic "Last Rites", and get her body after death, in exchange for agreeing not to have an autopsy, and file no more motions with Greer.
Its only a guess...
If this is the case, and Greer refuses, it will get VERY UGLY.
#17
The likes Greer tend to sleep well enough for they lack a soul. . Alaska Paul had a very good comment in yesterday's thread regarding this nation having lost it's way as a result of it's moral relativism born of the 60's...this case being the end result. This is wake up call folks.....better wake up.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/25/2005 16:05 Comments ||
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#18
Of course he'll refuse. Any autopsy that disputes the PVS findings shows him and Michael to be killers. They've done their best to prevent therapy, testing, etc. Now bear the consequences
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2005 16:06 Comments ||
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#19
In Germany, no body can be cremated without autopsy. Actually quite a few family killers were caught this way. Grandma got an overdose of her medecine and would have been quietly buried as the doctor would assume a natural death. But some wanted to play it safe and cremate her. The mandatory autopsy caught them.
#20
her brain died.. you can't cure a dead brain
(yes yes only part of her brain went splat, but it was a rather large and important part)
can anyone here honestly say, if they knew they would be in Terriâs position, they would not want to die? Can you think of anyone who wouldnât?
I would want to die, and I canât think of anyone who wouldnât.. I couldn't really experience life or even really live at all.. just a burden for my loved ones and a painful reminder of the past. My physical 'presence' would prevent closure, my closest loved ones would stagnate, unable to move on with their lifes⦠hell, my poor wife would be chained to my useless body, unable to seek out a new love.. I would be an undead thing in its truest form, just sucking the life out of the living...
Terri died 15 years ago, a half dead zombie is all that remained... can anyone here think of anyone, including themselves, who would WANT to live as a half dead zombie?
can anyone here honestly say they would wish such pain on their wife? their husband? their children?
I would rather die and in all seriousness, IMEO, anyone who would wish such a thing on their family is truly a horrible person on par with the worst of humanity and deserves death.
#21
dcreeper - the point is NOT what you or I would want. The point is what Terri Schiavo wanted and whether her husband is any kind of guardian for her interests. I would say no, and he should've been terminated long ago. Judge Greer disagrees and has overlooked all other family/church interests to the favor of her POS husband
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2005 16:59 Comments ||
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#22
For myself, no, I wouldn't want this situation and if in the same sad situation would've been terminated long ago via legal direction to my Doctor and family
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/25/2005 17:01 Comments ||
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#23
Like I said yesterday, Terri's guardian (he legal husband) has a fundamental conflict of interest, so he cannot put her interests first and foremost. The judge refuses to consider this fundamental issue. It stinks. Terri's civil rights are violated. It is becoming a civil rights case, just like the murders of civil rights workers in the 60s when in that case the juries would let off murderers. The Feds stepped in because justice was perverted and thwarted. Same here. Justice for Terri is being denied. Her guardian wants her killed like an animal.
When my wife was in high school, she worked in a nursing home. When the families had the elderly patients cut off of food and water, she gave 'em water. She said that she had to do it in good conscience. On the QT, of course.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/25/2005 17:14 Comments ||
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#24
..and to follow up on Frank G's #21, there is also the point about what condition would she be in if POS husband had allowed proper PT? Another curious item, so much of Terri's family is fighting to keep her alive. Why would that be? We can easily judge what constitues quality of life for ourselves, we should be very, very careful when assigning it to others.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/25/2005 17:25 Comments ||
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#25
Lawfirm of Felos & ZFelos, "husband's" lawyer contributes $250 to campaign of Judge George Greer
#30
Righto AzCat....not over by a longshot. Was gonna say logical end, but there's been precious little logic involved as well.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/25/2005 19:25 Comments ||
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#31
dcreeper, like all liberals, likes to play dictator. He's so full of shit. Has he investigated the case? Obviously not. Does he know ANYTHING about the disabled, or about this kind of disability, in particular?
Does he have knowledge regarding the history of Michael's treatment of Terri, or of how he made her condition very much worse through abuse and neglect?
Does he know that the hospice she was placed in was managed by Michael's attorney and another woman deeply involved in the euthanasia movement? Does he know that Michael Schiavo would yank Terri out of nursing facilities whenever they started or suggested rehabilitation?
Does he know that Michael's attorney is a moonbat wacko that thinks he can divine people's intentions through telepathy, and who has given the judge in this case money? No.
Can he understand that people who are brain damaged, like Terri, can still enjoy many aspects of life? Does he know she could walk between parallel bars and eat on her own before he removed those things from her?
Does he know Michael had a history of abuse, and that Terri had wanted a divorce? Does he know that the paramedics called in the injury as a attempted homocide and that the emergency doctors evaluated her a victim of a crime? Of course not!
Does he know that Michael Schiavo would not allow antibiotics to be administered when she had urinary infections?
Does he know that for the past five years Michael has kept her in a darkened room, with no stimulation, and refuses to let her be taken outside?
Does he know that she reacts positively to family members?
Does dcreepy know that Michael stated the nursing staff that he wanted Terri to die, and would inquire "Has the bitch died yet? and that he would talk about all the things he was going to do with the money he got from her death?
Has he read the affidavits of the nurses who cared for her, regarding the abusiveness of her husband? Does he know Michael has changed his story about Terri's end of life wishes?
Does he know that, for whatever reason, her parents WANT to take care of her and make sure she gets the therapy she needs? No. And he doesn't care. For dcreeper, t's all about HIM--what he would want, blah, blah, blah. Great. Write up your own plans and leave everybody else alone.
dcreepy exhibits a succinctly utilitarian point of view, and like a deconstructionist liberals, ignorantly states that anyone who has suffered brain damage like Terri, but is conscious, can eat, can learn to talk, walk, can enjoy sunshine, music and human interaction, IF THEY HAVE THE PROPER HELP from their caregivers, and wants to live, is "truly a horrible person on par with the worst of humanity and deserves death."
Of course, nobody would want to be in that condition, obviously. That's not the point. The point is someone is being put to death on hearsay. "Oh yeah--I remember hearing her say that she wanted to die."
Despite dcreepeys idiotic, uninformed, overly simplistic, Nazi-like eugenic predispositions--which I consider on par with the worst of humanity--I still would not say that he "deserves" death.
From the evidence, I believe Michael tried to kill Terri, or almost killed her in an argument, then called 911 to cover up his crime. His ealier attempts to "help" her had the same purpose. His years of abuse and neglect tell the real story. Then he turned out to be a useful pawn for the euthanasia crowd. He wants Terri dead for his purposes, they want her dead for theirs. This explains why he has kept the money intended for her rehabilitation, and will not relinquish care to her parents, although he has been secretly living with another woman as his wife, raising children with her.
#33
When I was in grade school the answer to "What are the three branches of government?" was "Executive, Legislative and Judicial". Now, it seems, the answer is "Judicial, Judicial and Judicial". I have a question "Who are the biggest tyrants, Mullahs in Iran or Judges in the USA? The Iranians may get rid of their Mullah masters at some point, what do we do?
#36
Lawyers. Complete lack of respect for thema and the judicial system that it can be twisted to where an abusive ex husband can have teh state execute his former wife in one of the most cruel manners possible.
The following is an absolutely authentic transcript of a court proceeding in the Court of the District of Madrid as related by La Prensa, a famous Spanish daily:
Q: Doctor, before carrying out the autopsy have you checked the heartbeat of the patient?
A: No.
Q: Have you checked the blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Doctor, have you checked for the signs of breathing?
A: No.
Q: Then it is possible that the patient was alive at the time of autopsy?
A: No.
Q: Doctor, how can you be so sure?
A: Because patient's brain was in front of me in a jar on the examination table.
Q: Nevertheless, the patient might have been alive?
A: It's possible that he was alive and practicing as a lawyer somewhere.
#37
Lawyers. Complete lack of respect for thema and the judicial system that it can be twisted to where an abusive ex husband can have teh state execute his former wife in one of the most cruel manners possible.
The following is an absolutely authentic transcript of a court proceeding in the Court of the District of Madrid as related by La Prensa, a famous Spanish daily:
Q: Doctor, before carrying out the autopsy have you checked the heartbeat of the patient?
A: No.
Q: Have you checked the blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Doctor, have you checked for the signs of breathing?
A: No.
Q: Then it is possible that the patient was alive at the time of autopsy?
A: No.
Q: Doctor, how can you be so sure?
A: Because patient's brain was in front of me in a jar on the examination table.
Q: Nevertheless, the patient might have been alive?
A: It's possible that he was alive and practicing as a lawyer somewhere.
Springer could be the spark Air America needs .... Recently, the lefty net dropped one-time "Daily Show" producer Lizz Winstead from the 9 a.m.-noon time slot where Springer airs elsewhere around the country. That would put Springer on the air right before comedian Al Franken, who is the network's biggest draw.
This is so perfect that I can't even come up with a suitably snarky comment with which to close.
Posted by: AzCat ||
03/25/2005 12:10:47 AM ||
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#1
I'll bet this goes over big with the Beamer and brie crowd...
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Authorities in Monroe are searching for a man known as the "Michael Moore bandit." The man, who police say earned the nickname because of his resemblance to the filmmaker, is wanted in the armed robbery of a Standard Federal Bank at about 9:20 a.m. on Saturday. Police said the man entered the bank at 602 Monroe Avenue and implied that he had a weapon. An undetermined amount of cash was taken in the robbery. The man was last seen walking south from the bank. He's described as white, in his 40s, 6 feet tall, with a beard and wearing a plaid shirt and a baseball cap. Police said the man is also wanted for two robberies in Westland and for a robbery in Carleton, Mich. Anyone with information that may lead to an arrest is asked to call the Monroe Police Department at (734) 243-7503.
European Union Development Commissioner Louis Michel held talks on Friday with Cuba's communist authorities that included sensitive human rights issues such as political prisoners and access to jails. In the first high-level talks since a crackdown on dissent led to a diplomatic freeze two years ago, Michel met with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and the president of Cuba's National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon. "The mood is good and the conversations are very frank," he told reporters after his meetings. "There is an acceptance on the Cuban side (of the need) to discuss all these very sensitive issues, human rights, the prisoners, renewed cooperation between the European Union and Cuba," he said. Michel's visit is the most senior by a EU official since Cuba locked up 75 pro-democracy dissidents in March 2003, just days after the EU opened an embassy in Havana.
The 5000 years of civilisation on which the Chinese pride themselves were not so evident this week in the comments on Condoleezza Rice's visit to Beijing posted on the internet site "New Tide Net". As monitored by the media analyst Liu Xiaobo, the overall tone of the 800 postings was hostile and about 10 per cent were racist, sexist or both, reflecting what Mr Liu calls a pervasive phobia here about dark-skinned races. Similar undercurrents well up in neighbouring South Korea and Japan, which Dr Rice also visited on her introductory Asian tour as Washington's foreign minister.
Tony Blair launched a fierce counter-attack against Jacques Chirac yesterday, accusing him of running an out-of-date economy that delivers low growth and high unemployment. In a statement to the Commons on this week's fractious EU summit in Brussels, the Prime Minister said struggling EU economies such as France's should imitate Britain which had successfully combined flexible labour markets with generous worker protection. The Prime Minister's remarks were aimed directly at the French president who accepted his help in a summit row over economic reform only to march into a press conference hours later to demand the end of Britain's £3 billion EU rebate. In a further sign of Mr Blair's anger, the Prime Minister insisted that the British backed the "services directive", which aims to liberalise the services market across Europe, and said it would still be voted through by EU countries - despite Mr Chirac's claims that he had forced a complete rethink.
