Archive for the ‘News Log’ Category

contaminated milk powder

I just need to turn your attention to China.  Since last month, babies in several Chinese provinces fall ill after long time consumption of Sanlu baby powder. Most babies have stones in their kidneys, and several were confirmed died of this cause.

The milk powder was found contaminated with a chemical called melamine .It is mainly used to made plastic materials, but there are previous cases that some businesses have used this chemical to get the protein level for their product to appear higher as is rich in nitrogen. So you cannot rule out the possibility that somebody, or the Sanlu itself, deliberately added the chemcial into the powder.

The sign of "contamination" appeared as early as march this year, but there was not public reaction from any party, including fonterra, until last week when all the contamination chemicals have been recalled.

Sanlu, a Chinese based company, is partially owned by Fonterra (43%). I don't think there is a need for me to explain what Fonterra is to New Zealand readers.

Fonterra's involvement in this issue is still not very clear. As far as I understand, the contaminated milk powder was processed from 100% Chinese produced materials, i.e. no New Zealand materials were used.

But that's far from enough, I want to know whether Fonterra knew anything before the contamination made public, whether they have done enough to stop contaminated milk powder from entering the market.

According to today's New Zealand Herald Report, the answer from Fonterra, is yes ... which I don't believe in. I want to get independent report on Fonterra's involvement, and it really sickens me that PM and trade minister defended Fonterra before the investigation - how would them react if more than 500 New Zealand baby was poisoned by milk powder made by a company with 43% of shares owned by Chinese?

An unpleasant reminder

Today is exactly four month after the 8.0Ms earthquake which killed more than 80,000 people in Sichuan Province, China.

Aftershocks were seem to be finally dying out in just few weeks ago. But If a demon like creature really exist, it sure knows when to come out - there were at least 3 M 4.0+ aftershocks recorded since yesterday, the largest one happened early this morning, measured Mb 5.4 in northern part of Sichuan Province.

And my friends and family members in the province also reported countless number of small shocks - none of them were destructive, but sure reminded people what was happened four month ago.

Those aftershocks really worried me. The epicentre of one aftershock yesterday was only about 50km from the provincial capital, Chengdu(pop ~11m. , 4m. metropolitan), being the closest so far(it was first reported of being only 30km from Chengdu).

If a strong aftershock happens in the area the consequences would be catastrophic ... given that most people are tired of aftershocks and no one bothers to walk out of buildings when an aftershock happens.

The biggest one, Mb 5.4 this morning,  depth of that earthquake was only 6 km below the surface - it's an extremely shallow yet relatively strong quake, and I'm glad that the magnitude wasn't anything higher than 5.5. The region just cannot bear that kind of shallow quake again.

November 8

Helen Clark announced the general election date this afternoon : November 8.

So if you have the right to vote, you need to enrol asap, preferably before October 8, otherwise you may miss the chance to vote.

The interesting bit is that this date is just few days after the U.S. election, and labour can be disadvantaged regardless of who wins that election. Obama is about "change" - sure labour doesn't want that, and McCain is right wing.

Well, life still goes on... for now.

I was quite disappointed that the world didn't end after the scientists turned on the LHC yesterday morning at Geneva. Well, that's it, I guess, life still goes on, so I still need to hand in my assignment next week.

Anyway there is a saying goes like "Mankind's greatest hope always lies in the future" - I've just learned that LHC's first high speed collision is not on until late next month ... Another window of opportunity - maybe I can escape the final exam, and auntie Clarkie can avoid the embarrassment after her defeat in the General Election.

However I guess it might be a bit too late for our Foreign Minister, Mr Winston Peters. He denied any wrong doings in last night's privilege committee meeting, gave evidence contradicting to what Mr Owen Glenn said.

But Mr Glenn got hard evidences: telephone records, several witnesses' accounts ... what Peters got? Nothing really, I haven't see anything. Although "billionaire" and "politician" both are the kind of job that is with my least respect, I think there's nothing for a billionaire to gain by lying to the public - so I trust this one, well, for this time.

By the way, my sincerest condolences to the family of the police officer who was died on duty this morning.

Ha-ha!

... the only way to describe how I feel about the resignation of Foreign Minister Winston Peters. Oh, and I prefer to laugh in the Nelson Muntz style.

I actually like Winnie quite a bit. As a politician, he got skills and personalities that allowed New Zealand First to become one of the most successful minor parties since the MMP.

But on suspicion of lying to the House and New Zealand public is just too much for a politician, given that the general election is less than 3 month away.

I think it's a kind of retribution and he deserves it though.  This was the man who always like to shout in the Parliament, claiming that he got somebody's dirt and making all sorts of threats.  Now finally he's being hurt by his own dirts.

And no, I don't think Mr Peters will ever need the help of the unemployment benefit after the election.  bezdomny ex patria has kindly offered him a teaching job in Beijing; and if Mr Peters does not want a change in his career direction, I think every private security firm in New Zealand would be very pleased to have him on board as a private detective.

No, seriously, Peters' priority is to get rid of the SFO investigation as soon as possible. The election is coming and there's no way that he can win a place in the House with the charges pending.

Wonder how the other corrupted guy Mr Field is doing at the moment...

Finally...

Just got rid of all the assignments at the moment, great.

Lots of interesting stuffs happened while I’m away, including the latest transport policy from National – a user pay system that charges around $5 for some sections of Motorway in Auckland. It is likely to increase the cost of an average Auckland commuter by $50 a week.

I usually refer people to this clip every time when National announces something. The user-pay system should nicely fit into that category too.

The system sounds fair, but it’s not, it only seeks fairness in the economic sense.

From a planning point of view, I’m more concerned about the accessibility issues, how to ensure that the low income people have the maximum accessibility to the opportunities provided by the CBD? Motorway is tolled; Dominion Road and Great North/South road are all in a miserable state and you cannot see a bus for half an hour in some area - well people need a way to move around a city?

Sure there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but you cannot force people to take one type of lunch or get them unfairly disadvantaged. The toll just shouldn’t go ahead without viable alternatives to people.