As Abraham Lincoln said: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
I am looking forward to the Republican National Convention this week. Primarily to hear Sarah Palin call the Obama camp on the smear campaign against her family. Afterall, it was Obama who first cried foul when the Tennessee Republican party used a video of Michelle Obama where she was caught lamenting “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country.”
Here she was campaigning on his behalf, but the public was not supposed to be reminded of her animosity toward the USA. According to Barack Obama, he found it unacceptable the Republican’s would attack his wife, yet he has no problem with Democrat’s volleying attacks on Mrs. Palin’s family. What a hypocrite.
Yes, I am anxious to see Sarah Palin call him and the entire Democratic party out on their hypocrisy. Most of all though, I hope Sarah Palin will borrow a page from Obama’s speech by gazing straight into the camera and saying this:
If Barak Obama wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief - even though I have been nominated as the Vice President and not the President, such as he - that’s a debate I’m ready to have. As a governor who actually has experience managing a government by creating and balancing a budget; and who has navigated between the Democrat’s and Republican’s in my state to enact policy; and who has bucked the politics as usual mentality; and who has fought against corruption, instead of contributing to it, the way Obama’s friend’s and mentors have; and who lives my ethics as a public servant, then yes, I am ready to lead, because unlike you, Barak Obama, I am not just flapping my lips, I am doing.
Congratulations to John McCain for a wise choice and to Sarah Palin for being selected as his Vice President of the United States.
Sarah Palin’s speech after being selected by John McCain’s as his running mate.
One objective at Global Nation is to uncover unscrupulous business practices. Our primary focus is on those who profit from dangerous or inferior goods; with a good being defined as a product or service. How we do this is quite simple: through exposure. Today, all eyes are on China, whose “states secrets system is dangerous to the health of people not only in China but also worldwide, and undermines healthy governance and rule of law.” It is apparent, China is not just poisoning American pets out of greed, but the entire planet.
As most of the world knows, this past March millions of cans of pet food was recalled from North American pet stores when thousands of animals died from kidney damage after eating tainted food. According to the FDA, the food contained the chemical melamine. In a statement on ChemNutra’s website: “We are concerned that we may have been the victim of deliberate and mercenary contamination for the purpose of making the wheat gluten we purchased appear to have a higher protein content than it did.” In fact, the wheat gluten may not have had any protein at all.
What is more frightening, this practice, which to me is fraud, is customary in China. According the the New York Times,
For years, producers of animal feed all over China have secretly supplemented their feed with the substance, called melamine, a cheap additive that looks like protein in tests, even though it does not provide any nutritional benefits, according to melamine scrap traders and agricultural workers here.
“Many companies buy melamine scrap to make animal feed, such as fish feed,” said Ji Denghui, general manager of the Fujian Sanming Dinghui Chemical Company, which sells melamine. “I don’t know if there’s a regulation on it. Probably not. No law or regulation says ‘don’t do it,’ so everyone’s doing it. The laws in China are like that, aren’t they? If there’s no accident, there won’t be any regulation.” from the New York Times
Last year nearly 1,000 people in Panama were killed from cough syrup and other anti-allergy medicines. It was found that additives used in the compounding process were imported from China which contained diethylene glycol (DEG), more commonly known as anti-freeze. “Exposure to large amounts of DEG can damage the kidneys, heart, and nervous system.”
This week, toothpaste has been banned for the same reasons; it was found to contain DEG. It is further insulting to learn the types of stores buying this toothpaste are not regular supermarkets, but low priced dollar and discount stores; businesses that appeal to low income people. Chasing after the lowest price appears to come at a high price, loss of life.
What we don’t know yet is whether toothpaste not sold in the retail environment, but distributed to hospitals, nursing homes, schools, airlines, hotels and other places where the product is supplied unbranded and unlabeled, is also contaminated. Keep in mind, people in hospitals and nursing are already fragile. If they become exposed to these toxic chemicals the potential for disaster increases.
Most likely this is only the tip of the iceberg. China has never been highly regarded for respecting human or animal rights. So, at the very least we can expect to see these tainted products, products now banned in western nations, to not be destroyed, but to get dumped into third-world and emerging nations. In the end, will this fraud harm their GDP? Will China’s reputation be sufficiently damaged to result in a change to food safety policy? I don’t know. Hopefully, this will be their wake-up call. If not, I am sure another emerging nation has their eye on the prize; becoming the world’s most favored manufacturer.