On September 18, 2008 the Kieth Olberman Show aired a clip of Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband Todd, as they climbed up an airplane ramp to depart from a campaign venue. The segment, somewhere in the middle of the program, showed a fleeting glimpse, of Govenor Palin's back. Mrs.Palin, who was wearing a gray, tight-fitting, silk-jacket, faced the camera as she waved to the assembled crowd below her on the tarmack, then turned to enter her plane. As she did, the upper portion of her back came into clear view. The angle of the light and the smooth-silk garment she wore revealed the contours of a rectangular object which appeared to be a common wire-receiver taped in the hollow of her upper back. Based on my observations, it was probably an inch wide and six or seven inches long. The object was located in a position similar to the one observed on President Bush's back duirng the 2004 debate with John Kerry. It looked like a common wireless receiver and battery pack--though longer and narrower than the one used by Bush. Apparently she had just come from a speaking engagement, if so it suggests she may be taking transmitted information or is being promted electronically by her handlers. Since the question of her preparedness for the VP position is so prominent in the news (and I strenuoulsly object to the People being hoodwinked) I think this observation deserves a closer look.
So if there is anyone out there that has seen this film clip, please drop me a line or perhaps has some contact who could pass the information on to someone with access that film clip. The VP debate is only a short time away.
After I posted this (above) I came across this interesting piece by Keith Thomson ( see:: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-thomson/the-cyrano-issue-can-a-ca_b_131379.html) who has some interesting observations and up-to-date research on the subject.
Addition: Posted October 6, 2008. During the Palin-Biden debate a fleeting glance of the same mysterious rectangular bulge appeared on Ms Palin's back. So far there have been no other reports of this interesting phenomenon that I know of.
Friday, September 26, 2008
MELAMINE MILK MESS
Melamine in Milk?
What is it? Why do they adulterate milk with melamine in China? Are we at risk too?
Recently you might have read the following and wondered about melamine. In September 2008, the Sanlu Milk company in China was forced to recall 10,000 tons of milk, milk powder and infant formula tainted with melamine. Fifty-three thousand infants were sickened and nearly 13,000 were hospitalized. Four infant-deaths were confirmed due to acute renal failure. Kidney stones as large as 1 cm (nearly ½ inch) in diameter were found during autopsies of the infant victims. Investigators concluded that melamine was added to infant formula by unscrupulous producers who after diluting the milk with water used melamine to raise the protein level of the altered milk. Melamine is a cheap coal-dervied organic substance, which can mimic protein in government tests.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine
Melamine is an organic six-sided-ring-compound (heterocyclic-aromatic, with the formula: C3H6 N6) with alternating nitrogen and carbons in the ring. Three amine groups (NH2) are attached to the ring at the carbon positions. It is a relatively heavy, white solid with a high melting point and is only slightly soluble in water. In solution, melamine acts as a chemical-base, reacting with acids to form salts. The formal chemical name of melamine (or one of them) is: cyanourotriamine. It should be noted here that melamine is not related to the familiar substances melanin (a skin pigment) and melatonin (a common hormone in mammals).
In industry, this substance is combined with formaldehyde to form a melamine resin, a strong (thermosetting) plastic, and melamine foam. Melamine is commonly used in industry and may end up as a component of countertops, dry-eraser boards, fabrics, glues, house-wares, packaging, flame retardants and as a strengthener in poured-concrete building-walls. As an admixture to concrete (as sulfonated melamine formaldehyde) melamine increases the fluidity and slows the hardening of concrete, while adding great mechanical strength to the mix. It is this latter use (in construction) which may have made this substance more widely and readily available in China.
In China the production of melamine from coal (via urea production) has grown rapidly over the last decade or so. Unfortunately, this activity continued even during economic declines so while demand has declined, production continued unabated, resulting in a melamine “glut” on the Chinese market. This glut is one reason for its use as an adulterant, since it is cheap and is often ready availability around poorly secured construction sites where it could be obtained illegally or on the market at very low cost. However, since it also mimics protein in simple tests, this quality has made it useful to the unscrupulous as a food adulterant.
By itself melamine is relatively non-toxic, white substance. It is however, often associated with cyanuric acid in waste-water streams where it is produced probably during the production of urea a fertilizer. Thus melamine and cyanuric acid often occur together as co-contaminants. The reaction of cyanuric acid with melamine (a base) can produce the insoluble crystalline salt: melamine cyanurate. It is this substance, melamine cyanurate crystals which form the “stones” in the victim’s kidneys, as a result of ingesting melamine and its co-contaminant.
Studies on animals indicate that ingestion of melamine can lead to kidney and bladder ailments . In 1953, tests on dogs fed a diet laced with (3% by wt?) melamine resulted in changes in urine production, as well as evidences of blood, protein and melamine crystals in the urine. Since melamine cyanurate crystals do not dissolve easily, they remain in the bladder or kidneys and may lead to long-term chronic conditions, including bladder and kidney cancer.
In 2007 veterinarians reported a rash of unexplained canine illnesses which were traced to melamine in pet-food imported from China. Melamine, in a white granular form, was found as a contaminant among similar-appearing wheat-gluten, a component in the pet food. This has proved to be the general source of food contamination by melamine...aldulterated wheat-gluten or rice-flour. Why add melamine to pet food? It is a cheap (or sometimes cost-free) additive which lowers production costs and increases the profit-margin of the producer. Furthermore, melamine as an adulterant acts to boost the apparent “protein” content of the product. Melamine (C3N6H6) superficially mimics proteins since the simple tests used measure only the amount of nitrogen present. Proteins are of course complex organic molecules composed in part of nitrogen compounds called amino acids. Thus the pet food laced with melamine was cheaper to produce than pet food with un-diluted wheat gluten--a more expensive component. Many dogs were sickened and an unknown number died as a result.
A less well known result of this scandal was that the melamine laced wheat gluten was used in both chicken and pig feeds. For pigs see: http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/006027.html and for chickens see: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070502072434.htm
In a similar, but less well-known case in 2007 melamine was purposely added to fish-pellets by USA producers located in Ohio and Colorado. The binder kept the food in pellet form long enough after dispersal in water for the fish to ingest them. These products were recalled after the pet food scandal broke out. What effects the fish-food laced with melamine had on the health of the fish fed these products are unknown. Since the pelletized food was used in commercial hatcheries for fish slated for human consumption as in salmon, catfish or tilapia production, the effects these had on humans ingesting such potentially-tainted fish are unknown. However for a statement from Alaska hatcheries See: http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/news/issues/docs/2007/melamine_briefing.pdf
Today, September 26, 2008, reports in the press indicate that tainted Chinese milk products may have now spread outside of mainland China. In Taiwan a mother and her children (two three-year-olds and a one year-old) were reported to be ill. The diagnosis: kidney stones. The victims had travelled to China recently. Futhermore On Friday (today) a major Japanese food producer Marudai Food Co. pulled buns, cream buns and meat buns from its shelves when melamine contaminants were discovered. Also in Japan, the Lotte China Foods Co. a Tokyo conglomerate discovered contaminated cookies and recalled these products. (See: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=2008-09-26_D93ECR4O1&show_article=1&cat=breaking)
Unfortunately, it is liekly that the "melamine mess" will continue to expand and again reach our shores (but this time not in just pet food). Check ingredients labels. Food from China (or now some other Asian nations) may be contaminated with melamine. As for Chinese take-out? As always in America...YOYO...i.e. "you are on your own"!
What is it? Why do they adulterate milk with melamine in China? Are we at risk too?
Recently you might have read the following and wondered about melamine. In September 2008, the Sanlu Milk company in China was forced to recall 10,000 tons of milk, milk powder and infant formula tainted with melamine. Fifty-three thousand infants were sickened and nearly 13,000 were hospitalized. Four infant-deaths were confirmed due to acute renal failure. Kidney stones as large as 1 cm (nearly ½ inch) in diameter were found during autopsies of the infant victims. Investigators concluded that melamine was added to infant formula by unscrupulous producers who after diluting the milk with water used melamine to raise the protein level of the altered milk. Melamine is a cheap coal-dervied organic substance, which can mimic protein in government tests.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine
Melamine is an organic six-sided-ring-compound (heterocyclic-aromatic, with the formula: C3H6 N6) with alternating nitrogen and carbons in the ring. Three amine groups (NH2) are attached to the ring at the carbon positions. It is a relatively heavy, white solid with a high melting point and is only slightly soluble in water. In solution, melamine acts as a chemical-base, reacting with acids to form salts. The formal chemical name of melamine (or one of them) is: cyanourotriamine. It should be noted here that melamine is not related to the familiar substances melanin (a skin pigment) and melatonin (a common hormone in mammals).
In industry, this substance is combined with formaldehyde to form a melamine resin, a strong (thermosetting) plastic, and melamine foam. Melamine is commonly used in industry and may end up as a component of countertops, dry-eraser boards, fabrics, glues, house-wares, packaging, flame retardants and as a strengthener in poured-concrete building-walls. As an admixture to concrete (as sulfonated melamine formaldehyde) melamine increases the fluidity and slows the hardening of concrete, while adding great mechanical strength to the mix. It is this latter use (in construction) which may have made this substance more widely and readily available in China.
In China the production of melamine from coal (via urea production) has grown rapidly over the last decade or so. Unfortunately, this activity continued even during economic declines so while demand has declined, production continued unabated, resulting in a melamine “glut” on the Chinese market. This glut is one reason for its use as an adulterant, since it is cheap and is often ready availability around poorly secured construction sites where it could be obtained illegally or on the market at very low cost. However, since it also mimics protein in simple tests, this quality has made it useful to the unscrupulous as a food adulterant.
By itself melamine is relatively non-toxic, white substance. It is however, often associated with cyanuric acid in waste-water streams where it is produced probably during the production of urea a fertilizer. Thus melamine and cyanuric acid often occur together as co-contaminants. The reaction of cyanuric acid with melamine (a base) can produce the insoluble crystalline salt: melamine cyanurate. It is this substance, melamine cyanurate crystals which form the “stones” in the victim’s kidneys, as a result of ingesting melamine and its co-contaminant.
Studies on animals indicate that ingestion of melamine can lead to kidney and bladder ailments . In 1953, tests on dogs fed a diet laced with (3% by wt?) melamine resulted in changes in urine production, as well as evidences of blood, protein and melamine crystals in the urine. Since melamine cyanurate crystals do not dissolve easily, they remain in the bladder or kidneys and may lead to long-term chronic conditions, including bladder and kidney cancer.
In 2007 veterinarians reported a rash of unexplained canine illnesses which were traced to melamine in pet-food imported from China. Melamine, in a white granular form, was found as a contaminant among similar-appearing wheat-gluten, a component in the pet food. This has proved to be the general source of food contamination by melamine...aldulterated wheat-gluten or rice-flour. Why add melamine to pet food? It is a cheap (or sometimes cost-free) additive which lowers production costs and increases the profit-margin of the producer. Furthermore, melamine as an adulterant acts to boost the apparent “protein” content of the product. Melamine (C3N6H6) superficially mimics proteins since the simple tests used measure only the amount of nitrogen present. Proteins are of course complex organic molecules composed in part of nitrogen compounds called amino acids. Thus the pet food laced with melamine was cheaper to produce than pet food with un-diluted wheat gluten--a more expensive component. Many dogs were sickened and an unknown number died as a result.
A less well known result of this scandal was that the melamine laced wheat gluten was used in both chicken and pig feeds. For pigs see: http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/006027.html and for chickens see: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070502072434.htm
In a similar, but less well-known case in 2007 melamine was purposely added to fish-pellets by USA producers located in Ohio and Colorado. The binder kept the food in pellet form long enough after dispersal in water for the fish to ingest them. These products were recalled after the pet food scandal broke out. What effects the fish-food laced with melamine had on the health of the fish fed these products are unknown. Since the pelletized food was used in commercial hatcheries for fish slated for human consumption as in salmon, catfish or tilapia production, the effects these had on humans ingesting such potentially-tainted fish are unknown. However for a statement from Alaska hatcheries See: http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/news/issues/docs/2007/melamine_briefing.pdf
Today, September 26, 2008, reports in the press indicate that tainted Chinese milk products may have now spread outside of mainland China. In Taiwan a mother and her children (two three-year-olds and a one year-old) were reported to be ill. The diagnosis: kidney stones. The victims had travelled to China recently. Futhermore On Friday (today) a major Japanese food producer Marudai Food Co. pulled buns, cream buns and meat buns from its shelves when melamine contaminants were discovered. Also in Japan, the Lotte China Foods Co. a Tokyo conglomerate discovered contaminated cookies and recalled these products. (See: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=2008-09-26_D93ECR4O1&show_article=1&cat=breaking)
Unfortunately, it is liekly that the "melamine mess" will continue to expand and again reach our shores (but this time not in just pet food). Check ingredients labels. Food from China (or now some other Asian nations) may be contaminated with melamine. As for Chinese take-out? As always in America...YOYO...i.e. "you are on your own"!
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