Of all the addictions from which I suffer, and continue to struggle against in my recovery, gambling is not one. I admit to have pulled a few handles on slot machines, played a bit of roulette, and engaged in some poker games in my youth, but I am not driven by the urge to gamble. For one thing, when I pull a handle, and win, I want to see that money hit the tray, not a little icon that tells me that I have won, and then take a little chit to someone for a payout. For me, at least, that ruins the fun.
There are those for whom gambling, like addiction to substances such as alcohol and other drugs, is a problem. This message is not directed to them. This message is about gambling as an industry, and it's effect on a little town on the Northern Plains.
The town of Miles City, MT. is the focus of this message. Our county seat has fallen on hard times. They were founded as a support community for an army post. In the beginning, there were a few stores for supplies, and a large number of saloons, gambling halls, and brothels. The stores are still there, as are the saloons and gambling halls. The brothels went the way of all things, and the girls now work the saloons as pretty much free lance entrepreneurs.
The military bases went away with the folding of the cold war. One of the two railroads which served the area and provided much of the income to residents is defunct. The other has tracks through town, but no longer stops there, and the people employed by the road are very few.
Miles City was a rail head for the cattle drives of the 1880s and '90s, but that has long ago faded into history. They do have a very active, and good livestock sales yard, but although it employs a few people, can hardly be called the town's major industry.
The town is dying by degrees. A major big box store came in and has driven out most of the locally owned stores. They are an out of state owned company, and since Montana has no sales tax, very little of the money made from sales there goes to the city, county, or state. Other than the few big stores, government employees, and there are many, are the major source of income to the town. The other major source of income is still saloons and gambling halls.
There are coal mines nearby,and the railroad serves them. A short line terminating in Miles City has been proposed which would cut hundreds of miles from the route. Obstructionists to progress, and an anti-growth faction have curtailed it. Meanwhile, another line is being built to the south, which will take the coal to the power plants in the east on a less circuitous route. The long range forecast is that the existing railroad will pretty much stop hauling coal through our region within the next 50 years.
The once bustling downtown area is dead and dying. Most of the businesses have, or are moving to the Haynes Avenue strip on the east end of town. Nearly the only thing left downtown are some of the century old saloons and gambling halls.
I have come up with a solution. Make downtown a gambling mecca. Put in giant casinos with big name entertainment. Lights, glitz and glitter. Turn downtown Miles City into Las Vegas Montana. There were once a large number of hotels there, but they are gone except for one. Rebuild them. Make Miles City the tourist, and entertainment capital of Montana.
The detractors will say "Oh! but that will bring in crime!" Probably, but the police department would grow and expand to cope with the problem. Or, "Oh! Miles City is too remote.Nobody would come!" Consider Las Vegas. A little railroad siding in the middle of the most inhospitable region of Nevada, has become one of Western Americas largest,most prosperous cities. No. as the line from a movie said, "If you build it they will come."
I realize that sin is hardly a means by which the area should grow, but I don't think building a big church on every corner of the downtown area would draw many tourists. No, Casinos are the only way to go. (In the meantime giving preachers a much larger field in which to work.) Otherwise, the lovely little down of Miles City will continue it's decline. The downward spiral will increase in speed until there is nothing left but an unused siding on a little used, and soon to be removed railroad line.
Lee Akers
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
A Little Homework On Sugar
I posted something on facebook today about corn sugar. The respondent, who is anti-corn sweetner, told me to do my homework. So, here it is.
A Little homework on sugar.
High fructose corn syrup is simply a kind of corn sugar that is handled by your body like sugar or honey.
Whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar, your body can’t tell the difference. Sugar is sugar.
HFCS is a kind of corn sugarHigh fructose corn syrup is composed of either 42 percent or 55 percent fructose, with the remaining sugars being primarily glucose and higher sugars. In terms of composition, high fructose corn syrup is nearly identical to table sugar (sucrose), which is composed of 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose. Glucose is one of the simplest forms of sugar that serves as a building block for most carbohydrates. Fructose is a simple sugar commonly found in fruits and honey.
For the most part, you'll find high fructose corn syrup, a sugar from corn, in the same kinds of products in which you would find sugar or other sweeteners. Many healthy foods are made with caloric sweeteners, which often play a key role in the integrity of these products that has little to do with sweetening. At the same time, corn sugars offer some unique functional benefits that help companies offer more choices in food products. High fructose corn syrup enhances fruit and spice flavors in foods such as yogurt and spaghetti sauces, gives chewy breakfast bars their soft texture and also protects freshness. High fructose corn syrup keeps products fresh by maintaining consistent moisture.
Chemical formula for sugar
Sugar is white cystalline solid group of soluble carbohydrates that are sweet tasting in nature. These sugar molecules include glucose, sucrose, lactose, fructose, maltose, lactose and galactose. Sugar molecules are classified as monosaccharides or disaccharides.The following table lists the common sugar molecules are their chemical formula.
Name
Type of sugar (mono =1 or di =2 sugar units)
Chemical formula of sugar
Glucose
Monosaccharide
C6H12O6
Fructose
Monosaccharide
C6H12O6
Galactose
Monosaccharide
C6H12O6
Lactose
Disaccharide (glucose + galactose)
C12H22O11
Sucrose
Disaccharide (glucose + fructose)
C12H22O11
Maltose
Disaccharide (glucose + glucose)
C12H22O11
The monosaccharides glucose, galactose and fructose all have the same molecular formula but they vary in their molecular structure.
The three common disaccharides lactose, sucrose and maltose also have the same molecular formula but differ in their structural formula
Lactose is also known as ‘milk sugar’ because it is primarily found in dairy products. Lactose intolerance is a genetic disorder which affects many people who lack the enzyme necessary to break down lactose into glucose and galactose. This prevents lactose being absorbed by the body.
Sucrose is obtained from sugar cane and sugar beet and is commonly called table sugar.
Chemical formula for sucrose
Sucrose or common table sugar is a sweet white cystalline solid often used as a food additive.
The chemical formula for sucrose is C12H22O11 and its molar mass is 342.30 g/mol. The solublity of sucorse in water at 20 ̊C is 211.5 grams /100 mls.
The structural formula for sucrose is reprented by the following diagram
Sucrose is a made up of the two simple sugars glucose and fructose which are joined togther by a chemical bond known as a glycosidic bond.
Sucrose is a disaccharide sugar. During the digestive process the sucrose molecule is broken down into the two monosaccharides glucose and fructose which can be easily absorbed through the villi of the intenstine.
Sucrose + water =hydrolysis=> Glucose + Fructose
C12H22O11 + H2O =hydrolysis=> C6H12O6 + C6H12O6
Simple Facts
Learn the facts about high fructose corn syrup
High fructose corn syrup is simply a kind of corn sugar that is handled by your body the same as sugar or honey.
“All sugar you eat is the same. That’s what we know now that we didn’t know in 2004.”
Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Market Report on TBD.com, May 5, 2011
“When high-fructose corn syrup and sugar are absorbed into our bloodstream, the two are indistinguishable by the body.”
Joan Salge Blake, M.S., R.D., L.D.N., Clinical Associate Professor at Boston University’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, Redbook, June 2010
Many people do not realize that high fructose corn syrup is composed of the same simple sugars found in table sugar and honey — glucose and fructose — in virtually the same ratios.
“White sugar, brown sugar, sucrose, honey, maple syrup, even high-fructose corn syrup are all roughly the same mix of the simple sugars called glucose and fructose.”
Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., Nutrition and Health Expert for The TODAY Show, Woman’s Day, May 1, 2010
For the most part, you’ll find high fructose corn syrup in the same kinds of products in which you would find sugar or other sweeteners.
“HFCS is a useful ingredient because of its sweetness and ability to blend with other food and beverage ingredients. When methods for producing HFCS improved, food and beverage companies replaced other sweeteners with HFCS.”
International Food Information Council, Questions and Answers About Fructose, September 29, 2009
High fructose corn syrup — corn sugar — has been used in the food supply for more than forty years to make high fiber foods palatable, maintain freshness and enhance flavors in foods and beverages. Additionally, high fructose corn syrup keeps our foods affordable.
“HFCS was developed in the 1970s when the food industry began looking for alternatives to traditional cane sugar that could provide similar sweetness, taste and quality for a fraction of the price. All forms of HFCS come from corn starch, and are mixtures of the natural glucose and fructose that exist in the starch itself. No artificial ingredients are used in the manufacturing process. The resulting HFCS product is extremely similar to table sugar (sucrose) and has a similar taste.”
Phil Lempert, The Supermarket Guru ®, Food, Nutrition, & Science from The Lempert Report, April 30, 2010
A sugar is a sugar whether it comes from corn sugar or cane sugar. All are safe and natural. Your body can’t tell the difference.
“Regardless if it’s honey, cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup or just plain sugar, we metabolize it the same.” Carrie Taylor, R.D., L.D.N., Registered Dietitian for Big Y Foods, ABC 40 News At 12, April 8, 2009
Like all foods, sweeteners should be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced diet.
“… consumers can safely enjoy a range of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners when consumed in a diet that is guided by current federal nutrition recommendations … as well as individual health goals.”
American Dietetic Association, Use of Nutritive and Nonnutritive Sweeteners, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, February 2004
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) — also called glucose-fructose syrup in the UK, glucose/fructose in Canada, and high-fructose maize syrup in other countries — comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce a desired sweetness. In the United States, consumer foods and products typically use high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. It has become very common in processed foods and beverages in the U.S., including breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments.
The most widely used varieties of high-fructose corn syrup are: HFCS 55 (mostly used in soft drinks), approximately 55% fructose and 42% glucose; and HFCS 42 (used in many foods and baked goods), approximately 42% fructose and 53% glucose. HFCS-90, approximately 90% fructose and 10% glucose, is used in small quantities for specialty applications, but primarily is used to blend with HFCS 42 to make HFCS 55.
Honey
Honey is a mixture of different types of sugars, water, and small amounts of other compounds. Honey typically has a fructose/glucose ratio similar to HFCS 55, as well as containing some sucrose and other sugars. Like HFCS, honey contains water and has approximately 3 kcal per gram. Because of its similar sugar profile and lower price, HFCS has been used illegally to "stretch" honey. As a result, checks for adulteration of honey no longer test for higher-than-normal levels of sucrose, which HFCS does not contain, but instead test for minute quantities of proteins that can be used to differentiate between HFCS and honey
Processing Cane sugar
Traditionally, sugarcane processing requires two stages. Mills extract raw sugar from freshly harvested cane, and sometimes bleach it to make "mill white" sugar for local consumption. Refineries, often located nearer to consumers in North America, Europe, and Japan, then produce refined white sugar, which is 99 percent sucrose. These two stages are slowly merging. Increasing affluence in the sugar-producing tropics increased demand for refined sugar products, driving a trend toward combined milling and refining.
Refining
Sugar refining further purifies the raw sugar. It is first mixed with heavy syrup and then centrifuged in a process called 'affination'. Its purpose is to wash away the sugar crystals' outer coating, which is less pure than the crystal interior. The remaining sugar is then dissolved to make a syrup, about 60 percent solids by weight.
The sugar solution is clarified by the addition of phosphoric acid and calcium hydroxide, which combine to precipitate calcium phosphate. The calcium phosphate particles entrap some impurities and absorb others, and then float to the top of the tank, where they can be skimmed off. An alternative to this "phosphatation" technique is 'carbonatation,' which is similar, but uses carbon dioxide and calcium hydroxide to produce a calcium carbonate precipitate.
After filtering any remaining solids, the clarified syrup is decolorized by filtration through activated carbon. Bone char is traditionally used in this role.[9] Some remaining color-forming impurities adsorb to the carbon. The purified syrup is then concentrated to supersaturation and repeatedly crystallized in a vacuum, to produce white refined sugar. As in a sugar mill, the sugar crystals are separated from the molasses by centrifuging. Additional sugar is recovered by blending the remaining syrup with the washings from affination and again crystallizing to produce brown sugar. When no more sugar can be economically recovered, the final molasses still contains 20–30 percent sucrose and 15–25 percent glucose and fructose.
To produce granulated sugar, in which individual grains do not clump, sugar must be dried, first by heating in a rotary dryer, and then by blowing cool air through it for several days.
Processing Beet Sugar
After they are harvested, beets are hauled to a factory.
After reception at the processing plant, the beet roots are washed, mechanically sliced into thin strips called cossettes, and passed to a machine called a diffuser to extract the sugar content into a water solution.
Diffusers are long vessels of many metres in which the beet slices go in one direction while hot water goes in the opposite direction. The movement may either be caused by a rotating screw or the whole rotating unit, and the water and cossettes move through internal chambers. There are three common designs of diffuser: the horizontal rotating 'RT' (Raffinerie Tirlemontoise, manufacturer), inclined screw 'DDS' (De Danske Sukkerfabrikker), or vertical screw "Tower". Modern tower extraction plants have a processing capacity of up to 17,000 metric tons per day. A less common design uses a moving belt of cossettes, with water pumped onto the top of the belt and poured through. In all cases the flow rates of cossettes and water are in the ratio one to two. Typically cossettes take about 90 minutes to pass through the diffuser, the water only 45 minutes. These are all countercurrent exchange methods that extract more sugar from the cossettes using less water than if they merely sat in a hot water tank. The liquid exiting the diffuser is called raw juice. The colour of raw juice varies from black to a dark red depending on the amount of oxidation, which is itself dependent on diffuser design.
The used cossettes, or pulp, exit the diffuser at about 95% moisture but low sucrose content. Using screw presses, the wet pulp is then pressed down to 75% moisture. This recovers additional sucrose in the liquid pressed out of the pulp, and reduces the energy needed to dry the pulp. The pressed pulp is dried and sold as animal feed, while the liquid pressed out of the pulp is combined with the raw juice, or more often introduced into the diffuser at the appropriate point in the countercurrent process. The final byproduct, Vinasse, is used as fertilizer or growth substrate for yeast cultures.
During diffusion, there is a degree of breakdown of the sucrose into invert sugars. These can undergo further breakdown into acids. These breakdown products are not only losses of sucrose but also have knock-on effects reducing the final output of processed sugar from the factory. To limit (thermophilic) bacterial action, the feed water may be dosed with formaldehyde and control of the feed water pH is also practiced. There have been attempts at operating diffusion under alkaline conditions, but the process has proven problematic. The improved sucrose extraction in the diffuser is offset by processing problems in the next stages.
Carbonatation
Carbonatation is a procedure which removes impurities from raw juice before it undergoes crystallization. First, the juice is mixed with hot milk of lime (a suspension of calcium hydroxide in water). This treatment precipitates a number of impurities, including multivalent anions such as sulfate, phosphate, citrate and oxalate, which precipitate as their calcium salts and large organic molecules such as proteins, saponins and pectins, which aggregate in the presence of multivalent cations. In addition, the alkaline conditions convert the simple sugars, glucose and fructose, along with the amino acid glutamine, to chemically stable carboxylic acids. Left untreated, these sugars and amines would eventually frustrate crystallization of the sucrose.
Next, carbon dioxide is bubbled through the alkaline sugar solution, precipitating the lime as calcium carbonate (chalk). The chalk particles entrap some impurities and absorb others. A recycling process builds up the size of chalk particles and a natural flocculation occurs where the heavy particles settle out in tanks (clarifiers). A final addition of more carbon dioxide precipitates more calcium from solution; this is filtered off, leaving a cleaner, golden light-brown sugar solution called thin juice.
Before entering the next stage, the thin juice may receive soda ash to modify the pH and sulphitation with a sulfur-based compound to reduce colour formation due to decomposition of monosaccharides under heat.
Evaporation
The thin juice is concentrated via multiple-effect evaporation to make a thick juice, roughly 60% sucrose by weight and similar in appearance to pancake syrup. Thick juice can be stored in tanks for later processing, reducing load on the crystallization plant.
Crystallization
Thick juice is fed to the crystallizers. Recycled sugar is dissolved into it, and the resulting syrup is called mother liquor. The liquor is concentrated further by boiling under a vacuum in large vessels (the so-called vacuum pans) and seeded with fine sugar crystals. These crystals grow as sugar from the mother liquor forms around them. The resulting sugar crystal and syrup mix is called a massecuite, from "cooked mass" in French. The massecuite is passed to a centrifuge where the liquid is removed from the sugar crystals. The remaining syrup is rinsed off with water and the crystals are dried in a granulator using warm air.
The remaining syrup is fed to another crystallizer from which a second batch of sugar is produced. This sugar ("raw") is of lower quality with a lot of color and impurities and is the main source of the sugar that is dissolved again into the mother liquor. The syrup from the raw is also sent to a crystalliser. From this, a very low-quality sugar crystal is produced (known in some systems as "AP sugar") that is also redissolved. The syrup separated is molasses, which still contains sugar but contains too much impurity to undergo further processing economically.
Actual procedure may vary from the above description, with different recycling and crystallization processes.
Corn Sugar Processing
Corn refiners make high fructose corn syrup from corn starch, which must be separated from other components of the kernel. Cleaned, shelled corn is soaked in warm water containing 0.1% to 0.2% sulfur dioxide, which softens the kernels and facilitates separation of the various components: starch, hull, protein and oil.
The soaked corn is milled to release the oil-containing germ, which is separated from the components by hydrocyclones.
The resulting starch, hull and protein components are then finely ground and screened to remove the hull. The resulting slurry is passed to a continuous centrifuge to separate the starch and protein components.
The starch is washed and concentrated in a series of hydrocyclones.
The enzyme alpha-amylase is added to a slurry of starch and water to liquefy or reduce the particle size of the starch to produce glucose polymers. Enzymes are nature's catalysts to get things done. This step is followed by saccharification with the enzyme glucoamylase, which breaks the glucose polymers down to their basic building blocks. The resulting glucose mixture is filtered and clarified by centrifugation, carbon filtration and ion exchange.
A small amount of magnesium is added to the purified glucose solution. Glucose isomerase, an enzyme, is used to convert a portion of the glucose to fructose. The resulting mixture is 42% fructose, 53% glucose and 5% higher sugars. The mixture is refined with carbon filters and ion exchange. The fructose content of the resulting syrup is enriched by chromotographic separation, accomplished by passing the syrup through a column of adsorbent containing calcium or other cation that attracts the fructose portion of the syrup. This step produces a syrup that is about 90% fructose, which is then blended with the 42% fructose syrup to produce one that is 55% fructose, 42% glucose and 3% higher sugars.
The final syrup is refined by carbon filtration and ion exchange and then evaporated to 77% solids for shipping.
Sweeteners Facts
Sweeteners that contribute calories to the diet are called caloric or nutritive sweeteners. All common caloric sweeteners have the same composition: they contain fructose and glucose in essentially equal proportions. All caloric sweeteners require processing to produce a food-grade product.
Fructose a simple sugar commonly found in fruits and honey
Glucose a simple sugar that serves as a building block for most carbohydrates
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) free (unbonded) fructose and glucose in liquid (syrup) form; produced from corn
Sucrose crystalline white table sugar; produced from sugar cane or sugar beets; fructose and glucose bonded together
Invert sugar free fructose and glucose in liquid (syrup) form; produced from the breakdown of sugar
Hydrolyzed cane juice free fructose and glucose in liquid (syrup) form; produced from the breakdown of cane juice
Honey liquid (syrup) product; principally free fructose and glucose with minor levels of other sugars and some trace minerals
Fruit juice concentrate concentrated, filtered, clarified fruit juice; fructose-to-glucose ratio varies by fruit source, but generally equivalent to other nutritive sweeteners (orange juice and grape juice have a fructose to glucose ratio of 1 to 1, while apple juice has a ratio of 2 to 1)
Nutritional Characteristics
Common caloric sweeteners share the same general nutritional characteristics:
each has roughly the same composition—equal proportions of the simple sugars fructose and glucose;
each offers approximately the same sweetness on a per-gram basis; one gram (dry basis) of each adds 4 calories to foods and beverages;
each is absorbed from the gut at about the same rate;
similar ratios of fructose and glucose arrive in the bloodstream after a meal, which are indistinguishable in the body.
Since caloric sweeteners are nutritionally equivalent, they are interchangeable in foods and beverages with no measurable change in metabolism.
What if caloric sweeteners are removed from foods?
To replace one caloric sweetener with another provides no change in nutritional value. To remove sweeteners entirely from their commonly used applications and replace them with high intensity sweeteners would drastically alter product flavor and sweetness, require the use of chemical preservatives to ensure product quality and freshness, result in a reduction in perceived food quality (bran cereal with the caloric sweeteners removed would have the consistency of sawdust), and would likely require the addition of bulking agents to provide the expected texture, mouth feel or volume for most baked goods.
Sources
Hanover LM, White JS. 1993. Manufacturing, composition, and applications of fructose. Am J Clin Nutr 58(suppl 5):724S-732S.
White JS. 1992. Fructose syrup: production, properties and applications, in FW Schenck & RE Hebeda, eds, Starch Hydrolysis Products – Worldwide Technology, Production, and Applications. VCH Publishers, Inc. pp. 177-200.
White JS. 2008. Straight talk about high-fructose corn syrup: what it is and what it ain't. Am J Clin Nutr 88(6):1716S-1721S.
Widdowson EM and McCance RA. 1935. The available carbohydrate of fruits: Determination of glucose, fructose, sucrose and starch. Biochem. J. 29(1):151-156.
American Medical Association
"After studying current research, the American Medical
Association (AMA) today concluded that high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute more to obesity than other caloric sweeteners..."
American Medical Association press release, June 17, 2008
"Because the composition of HFCS and sucrose are so similar, particularly on absorption by the body, it appears unlikely that HFCS contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose."
American Medical Association Report 3 of the Council on Science and Public Health (A-08), June 2008
American Dietetic Association
"No persuasive evidence supports the claim that high fructose corn syrup is a unique contributor to obesity."
Hot Topics paper on High Fructose Corn Syrup, December 2008
"High fructose corn syrup ... is nutritionally equivalent to sucrose. Both sweeteners contain the same number of calories (4 per gram) and consist of about equal parts of fructose and glucose. Once absorbed into the blood stream, the two sweeteners are indistinguishable."
Hot Topics paper on High Fructose Corn Syrup, December 2008
"Most scientific experts now agree that high fructose corn syrup and sucrose produce similar effects on human metabolic responses. Studies comparing high fructose corn syrup and sucrose have found no significant differences in fasting blood glucose, insulin, leptin and ghrelin. Satiety studies of the two sweeteners have found no differences in appetite, feelings of fullness or short-term energy intakes."
Hot Topics paper on High Fructose Corn Syrup, December 2008
"The source of the added sugar – whether sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, honey or fruit juice concentrate – should not be of concern; rather it is the amount of total calories that is important."
Hot Topics paper on High Fructose Corn Syrup, December 2008
"Thus, it is the position of The American Dietetic Association that consumers can safely enjoy a range of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners when consumed in a diet that is guided by current federal nutrition recommendations … as well as individual health goals."
Use of Nutritive and Nonnutritive Sweeteners, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, February 2004
“Excess body fat [obesity] arises from the energy imbalance caused by taking in too much energy and expending too little energy. ... Obesity is a complex problem and its cause cannot be simply attributed to any one component of the food supply such as sweeteners.”
Use of Nutritive and Nonnutritive Sweeteners, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, February 2004
Conclusion:
The major problem between sweeteners seems to be who gets the biggest slice of the financial pie. Whether it is the producers of Cane or Beet Sugars, or the producers of Corn sugar.
The bottom line is: “Whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar, your body can’t tell the difference. Sugar is sugar.”
A Little homework on sugar.
High fructose corn syrup is simply a kind of corn sugar that is handled by your body like sugar or honey.
Whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar, your body can’t tell the difference. Sugar is sugar.
HFCS is a kind of corn sugarHigh fructose corn syrup is composed of either 42 percent or 55 percent fructose, with the remaining sugars being primarily glucose and higher sugars. In terms of composition, high fructose corn syrup is nearly identical to table sugar (sucrose), which is composed of 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose. Glucose is one of the simplest forms of sugar that serves as a building block for most carbohydrates. Fructose is a simple sugar commonly found in fruits and honey.
For the most part, you'll find high fructose corn syrup, a sugar from corn, in the same kinds of products in which you would find sugar or other sweeteners. Many healthy foods are made with caloric sweeteners, which often play a key role in the integrity of these products that has little to do with sweetening. At the same time, corn sugars offer some unique functional benefits that help companies offer more choices in food products. High fructose corn syrup enhances fruit and spice flavors in foods such as yogurt and spaghetti sauces, gives chewy breakfast bars their soft texture and also protects freshness. High fructose corn syrup keeps products fresh by maintaining consistent moisture.
Chemical formula for sugar
Sugar is white cystalline solid group of soluble carbohydrates that are sweet tasting in nature. These sugar molecules include glucose, sucrose, lactose, fructose, maltose, lactose and galactose. Sugar molecules are classified as monosaccharides or disaccharides.The following table lists the common sugar molecules are their chemical formula.
Name
Type of sugar (mono =1 or di =2 sugar units)
Chemical formula of sugar
Glucose
Monosaccharide
C6H12O6
Fructose
Monosaccharide
C6H12O6
Galactose
Monosaccharide
C6H12O6
Lactose
Disaccharide (glucose + galactose)
C12H22O11
Sucrose
Disaccharide (glucose + fructose)
C12H22O11
Maltose
Disaccharide (glucose + glucose)
C12H22O11
The monosaccharides glucose, galactose and fructose all have the same molecular formula but they vary in their molecular structure.
The three common disaccharides lactose, sucrose and maltose also have the same molecular formula but differ in their structural formula
Lactose is also known as ‘milk sugar’ because it is primarily found in dairy products. Lactose intolerance is a genetic disorder which affects many people who lack the enzyme necessary to break down lactose into glucose and galactose. This prevents lactose being absorbed by the body.
Sucrose is obtained from sugar cane and sugar beet and is commonly called table sugar.
Chemical formula for sucrose
Sucrose or common table sugar is a sweet white cystalline solid often used as a food additive.
The chemical formula for sucrose is C12H22O11 and its molar mass is 342.30 g/mol. The solublity of sucorse in water at 20 ̊C is 211.5 grams /100 mls.
The structural formula for sucrose is reprented by the following diagram
Sucrose is a made up of the two simple sugars glucose and fructose which are joined togther by a chemical bond known as a glycosidic bond.
Sucrose is a disaccharide sugar. During the digestive process the sucrose molecule is broken down into the two monosaccharides glucose and fructose which can be easily absorbed through the villi of the intenstine.
Sucrose + water =hydrolysis=> Glucose + Fructose
C12H22O11 + H2O =hydrolysis=> C6H12O6 + C6H12O6
Simple Facts
Learn the facts about high fructose corn syrup
High fructose corn syrup is simply a kind of corn sugar that is handled by your body the same as sugar or honey.
“All sugar you eat is the same. That’s what we know now that we didn’t know in 2004.”
Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Market Report on TBD.com, May 5, 2011
“When high-fructose corn syrup and sugar are absorbed into our bloodstream, the two are indistinguishable by the body.”
Joan Salge Blake, M.S., R.D., L.D.N., Clinical Associate Professor at Boston University’s Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, Redbook, June 2010
Many people do not realize that high fructose corn syrup is composed of the same simple sugars found in table sugar and honey — glucose and fructose — in virtually the same ratios.
“White sugar, brown sugar, sucrose, honey, maple syrup, even high-fructose corn syrup are all roughly the same mix of the simple sugars called glucose and fructose.”
Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., Nutrition and Health Expert for The TODAY Show, Woman’s Day, May 1, 2010
For the most part, you’ll find high fructose corn syrup in the same kinds of products in which you would find sugar or other sweeteners.
“HFCS is a useful ingredient because of its sweetness and ability to blend with other food and beverage ingredients. When methods for producing HFCS improved, food and beverage companies replaced other sweeteners with HFCS.”
International Food Information Council, Questions and Answers About Fructose, September 29, 2009
High fructose corn syrup — corn sugar — has been used in the food supply for more than forty years to make high fiber foods palatable, maintain freshness and enhance flavors in foods and beverages. Additionally, high fructose corn syrup keeps our foods affordable.
“HFCS was developed in the 1970s when the food industry began looking for alternatives to traditional cane sugar that could provide similar sweetness, taste and quality for a fraction of the price. All forms of HFCS come from corn starch, and are mixtures of the natural glucose and fructose that exist in the starch itself. No artificial ingredients are used in the manufacturing process. The resulting HFCS product is extremely similar to table sugar (sucrose) and has a similar taste.”
Phil Lempert, The Supermarket Guru ®, Food, Nutrition, & Science from The Lempert Report, April 30, 2010
A sugar is a sugar whether it comes from corn sugar or cane sugar. All are safe and natural. Your body can’t tell the difference.
“Regardless if it’s honey, cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup or just plain sugar, we metabolize it the same.” Carrie Taylor, R.D., L.D.N., Registered Dietitian for Big Y Foods, ABC 40 News At 12, April 8, 2009
Like all foods, sweeteners should be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced diet.
“… consumers can safely enjoy a range of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners when consumed in a diet that is guided by current federal nutrition recommendations … as well as individual health goals.”
American Dietetic Association, Use of Nutritive and Nonnutritive Sweeteners, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, February 2004
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) — also called glucose-fructose syrup in the UK, glucose/fructose in Canada, and high-fructose maize syrup in other countries — comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce a desired sweetness. In the United States, consumer foods and products typically use high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. It has become very common in processed foods and beverages in the U.S., including breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments.
The most widely used varieties of high-fructose corn syrup are: HFCS 55 (mostly used in soft drinks), approximately 55% fructose and 42% glucose; and HFCS 42 (used in many foods and baked goods), approximately 42% fructose and 53% glucose. HFCS-90, approximately 90% fructose and 10% glucose, is used in small quantities for specialty applications, but primarily is used to blend with HFCS 42 to make HFCS 55.
Honey
Honey is a mixture of different types of sugars, water, and small amounts of other compounds. Honey typically has a fructose/glucose ratio similar to HFCS 55, as well as containing some sucrose and other sugars. Like HFCS, honey contains water and has approximately 3 kcal per gram. Because of its similar sugar profile and lower price, HFCS has been used illegally to "stretch" honey. As a result, checks for adulteration of honey no longer test for higher-than-normal levels of sucrose, which HFCS does not contain, but instead test for minute quantities of proteins that can be used to differentiate between HFCS and honey
Processing Cane sugar
Traditionally, sugarcane processing requires two stages. Mills extract raw sugar from freshly harvested cane, and sometimes bleach it to make "mill white" sugar for local consumption. Refineries, often located nearer to consumers in North America, Europe, and Japan, then produce refined white sugar, which is 99 percent sucrose. These two stages are slowly merging. Increasing affluence in the sugar-producing tropics increased demand for refined sugar products, driving a trend toward combined milling and refining.
Refining
Sugar refining further purifies the raw sugar. It is first mixed with heavy syrup and then centrifuged in a process called 'affination'. Its purpose is to wash away the sugar crystals' outer coating, which is less pure than the crystal interior. The remaining sugar is then dissolved to make a syrup, about 60 percent solids by weight.
The sugar solution is clarified by the addition of phosphoric acid and calcium hydroxide, which combine to precipitate calcium phosphate. The calcium phosphate particles entrap some impurities and absorb others, and then float to the top of the tank, where they can be skimmed off. An alternative to this "phosphatation" technique is 'carbonatation,' which is similar, but uses carbon dioxide and calcium hydroxide to produce a calcium carbonate precipitate.
After filtering any remaining solids, the clarified syrup is decolorized by filtration through activated carbon. Bone char is traditionally used in this role.[9] Some remaining color-forming impurities adsorb to the carbon. The purified syrup is then concentrated to supersaturation and repeatedly crystallized in a vacuum, to produce white refined sugar. As in a sugar mill, the sugar crystals are separated from the molasses by centrifuging. Additional sugar is recovered by blending the remaining syrup with the washings from affination and again crystallizing to produce brown sugar. When no more sugar can be economically recovered, the final molasses still contains 20–30 percent sucrose and 15–25 percent glucose and fructose.
To produce granulated sugar, in which individual grains do not clump, sugar must be dried, first by heating in a rotary dryer, and then by blowing cool air through it for several days.
Processing Beet Sugar
After they are harvested, beets are hauled to a factory.
After reception at the processing plant, the beet roots are washed, mechanically sliced into thin strips called cossettes, and passed to a machine called a diffuser to extract the sugar content into a water solution.
Diffusers are long vessels of many metres in which the beet slices go in one direction while hot water goes in the opposite direction. The movement may either be caused by a rotating screw or the whole rotating unit, and the water and cossettes move through internal chambers. There are three common designs of diffuser: the horizontal rotating 'RT' (Raffinerie Tirlemontoise, manufacturer), inclined screw 'DDS' (De Danske Sukkerfabrikker), or vertical screw "Tower". Modern tower extraction plants have a processing capacity of up to 17,000 metric tons per day. A less common design uses a moving belt of cossettes, with water pumped onto the top of the belt and poured through. In all cases the flow rates of cossettes and water are in the ratio one to two. Typically cossettes take about 90 minutes to pass through the diffuser, the water only 45 minutes. These are all countercurrent exchange methods that extract more sugar from the cossettes using less water than if they merely sat in a hot water tank. The liquid exiting the diffuser is called raw juice. The colour of raw juice varies from black to a dark red depending on the amount of oxidation, which is itself dependent on diffuser design.
The used cossettes, or pulp, exit the diffuser at about 95% moisture but low sucrose content. Using screw presses, the wet pulp is then pressed down to 75% moisture. This recovers additional sucrose in the liquid pressed out of the pulp, and reduces the energy needed to dry the pulp. The pressed pulp is dried and sold as animal feed, while the liquid pressed out of the pulp is combined with the raw juice, or more often introduced into the diffuser at the appropriate point in the countercurrent process. The final byproduct, Vinasse, is used as fertilizer or growth substrate for yeast cultures.
During diffusion, there is a degree of breakdown of the sucrose into invert sugars. These can undergo further breakdown into acids. These breakdown products are not only losses of sucrose but also have knock-on effects reducing the final output of processed sugar from the factory. To limit (thermophilic) bacterial action, the feed water may be dosed with formaldehyde and control of the feed water pH is also practiced. There have been attempts at operating diffusion under alkaline conditions, but the process has proven problematic. The improved sucrose extraction in the diffuser is offset by processing problems in the next stages.
Carbonatation
Carbonatation is a procedure which removes impurities from raw juice before it undergoes crystallization. First, the juice is mixed with hot milk of lime (a suspension of calcium hydroxide in water). This treatment precipitates a number of impurities, including multivalent anions such as sulfate, phosphate, citrate and oxalate, which precipitate as their calcium salts and large organic molecules such as proteins, saponins and pectins, which aggregate in the presence of multivalent cations. In addition, the alkaline conditions convert the simple sugars, glucose and fructose, along with the amino acid glutamine, to chemically stable carboxylic acids. Left untreated, these sugars and amines would eventually frustrate crystallization of the sucrose.
Next, carbon dioxide is bubbled through the alkaline sugar solution, precipitating the lime as calcium carbonate (chalk). The chalk particles entrap some impurities and absorb others. A recycling process builds up the size of chalk particles and a natural flocculation occurs where the heavy particles settle out in tanks (clarifiers). A final addition of more carbon dioxide precipitates more calcium from solution; this is filtered off, leaving a cleaner, golden light-brown sugar solution called thin juice.
Before entering the next stage, the thin juice may receive soda ash to modify the pH and sulphitation with a sulfur-based compound to reduce colour formation due to decomposition of monosaccharides under heat.
Evaporation
The thin juice is concentrated via multiple-effect evaporation to make a thick juice, roughly 60% sucrose by weight and similar in appearance to pancake syrup. Thick juice can be stored in tanks for later processing, reducing load on the crystallization plant.
Crystallization
Thick juice is fed to the crystallizers. Recycled sugar is dissolved into it, and the resulting syrup is called mother liquor. The liquor is concentrated further by boiling under a vacuum in large vessels (the so-called vacuum pans) and seeded with fine sugar crystals. These crystals grow as sugar from the mother liquor forms around them. The resulting sugar crystal and syrup mix is called a massecuite, from "cooked mass" in French. The massecuite is passed to a centrifuge where the liquid is removed from the sugar crystals. The remaining syrup is rinsed off with water and the crystals are dried in a granulator using warm air.
The remaining syrup is fed to another crystallizer from which a second batch of sugar is produced. This sugar ("raw") is of lower quality with a lot of color and impurities and is the main source of the sugar that is dissolved again into the mother liquor. The syrup from the raw is also sent to a crystalliser. From this, a very low-quality sugar crystal is produced (known in some systems as "AP sugar") that is also redissolved. The syrup separated is molasses, which still contains sugar but contains too much impurity to undergo further processing economically.
Actual procedure may vary from the above description, with different recycling and crystallization processes.
Corn Sugar Processing
Corn refiners make high fructose corn syrup from corn starch, which must be separated from other components of the kernel. Cleaned, shelled corn is soaked in warm water containing 0.1% to 0.2% sulfur dioxide, which softens the kernels and facilitates separation of the various components: starch, hull, protein and oil.
The soaked corn is milled to release the oil-containing germ, which is separated from the components by hydrocyclones.
The resulting starch, hull and protein components are then finely ground and screened to remove the hull. The resulting slurry is passed to a continuous centrifuge to separate the starch and protein components.
The starch is washed and concentrated in a series of hydrocyclones.
The enzyme alpha-amylase is added to a slurry of starch and water to liquefy or reduce the particle size of the starch to produce glucose polymers. Enzymes are nature's catalysts to get things done. This step is followed by saccharification with the enzyme glucoamylase, which breaks the glucose polymers down to their basic building blocks. The resulting glucose mixture is filtered and clarified by centrifugation, carbon filtration and ion exchange.
A small amount of magnesium is added to the purified glucose solution. Glucose isomerase, an enzyme, is used to convert a portion of the glucose to fructose. The resulting mixture is 42% fructose, 53% glucose and 5% higher sugars. The mixture is refined with carbon filters and ion exchange. The fructose content of the resulting syrup is enriched by chromotographic separation, accomplished by passing the syrup through a column of adsorbent containing calcium or other cation that attracts the fructose portion of the syrup. This step produces a syrup that is about 90% fructose, which is then blended with the 42% fructose syrup to produce one that is 55% fructose, 42% glucose and 3% higher sugars.
The final syrup is refined by carbon filtration and ion exchange and then evaporated to 77% solids for shipping.
Sweeteners Facts
Sweeteners that contribute calories to the diet are called caloric or nutritive sweeteners. All common caloric sweeteners have the same composition: they contain fructose and glucose in essentially equal proportions. All caloric sweeteners require processing to produce a food-grade product.
Fructose a simple sugar commonly found in fruits and honey
Glucose a simple sugar that serves as a building block for most carbohydrates
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) free (unbonded) fructose and glucose in liquid (syrup) form; produced from corn
Sucrose crystalline white table sugar; produced from sugar cane or sugar beets; fructose and glucose bonded together
Invert sugar free fructose and glucose in liquid (syrup) form; produced from the breakdown of sugar
Hydrolyzed cane juice free fructose and glucose in liquid (syrup) form; produced from the breakdown of cane juice
Honey liquid (syrup) product; principally free fructose and glucose with minor levels of other sugars and some trace minerals
Fruit juice concentrate concentrated, filtered, clarified fruit juice; fructose-to-glucose ratio varies by fruit source, but generally equivalent to other nutritive sweeteners (orange juice and grape juice have a fructose to glucose ratio of 1 to 1, while apple juice has a ratio of 2 to 1)
Nutritional Characteristics
Common caloric sweeteners share the same general nutritional characteristics:
each has roughly the same composition—equal proportions of the simple sugars fructose and glucose;
each offers approximately the same sweetness on a per-gram basis; one gram (dry basis) of each adds 4 calories to foods and beverages;
each is absorbed from the gut at about the same rate;
similar ratios of fructose and glucose arrive in the bloodstream after a meal, which are indistinguishable in the body.
Since caloric sweeteners are nutritionally equivalent, they are interchangeable in foods and beverages with no measurable change in metabolism.
What if caloric sweeteners are removed from foods?
To replace one caloric sweetener with another provides no change in nutritional value. To remove sweeteners entirely from their commonly used applications and replace them with high intensity sweeteners would drastically alter product flavor and sweetness, require the use of chemical preservatives to ensure product quality and freshness, result in a reduction in perceived food quality (bran cereal with the caloric sweeteners removed would have the consistency of sawdust), and would likely require the addition of bulking agents to provide the expected texture, mouth feel or volume for most baked goods.
Sources
Hanover LM, White JS. 1993. Manufacturing, composition, and applications of fructose. Am J Clin Nutr 58(suppl 5):724S-732S.
White JS. 1992. Fructose syrup: production, properties and applications, in FW Schenck & RE Hebeda, eds, Starch Hydrolysis Products – Worldwide Technology, Production, and Applications. VCH Publishers, Inc. pp. 177-200.
White JS. 2008. Straight talk about high-fructose corn syrup: what it is and what it ain't. Am J Clin Nutr 88(6):1716S-1721S.
Widdowson EM and McCance RA. 1935. The available carbohydrate of fruits: Determination of glucose, fructose, sucrose and starch. Biochem. J. 29(1):151-156.
American Medical Association
"After studying current research, the American Medical
Association (AMA) today concluded that high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute more to obesity than other caloric sweeteners..."
American Medical Association press release, June 17, 2008
"Because the composition of HFCS and sucrose are so similar, particularly on absorption by the body, it appears unlikely that HFCS contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose."
American Medical Association Report 3 of the Council on Science and Public Health (A-08), June 2008
American Dietetic Association
"No persuasive evidence supports the claim that high fructose corn syrup is a unique contributor to obesity."
Hot Topics paper on High Fructose Corn Syrup, December 2008
"High fructose corn syrup ... is nutritionally equivalent to sucrose. Both sweeteners contain the same number of calories (4 per gram) and consist of about equal parts of fructose and glucose. Once absorbed into the blood stream, the two sweeteners are indistinguishable."
Hot Topics paper on High Fructose Corn Syrup, December 2008
"Most scientific experts now agree that high fructose corn syrup and sucrose produce similar effects on human metabolic responses. Studies comparing high fructose corn syrup and sucrose have found no significant differences in fasting blood glucose, insulin, leptin and ghrelin. Satiety studies of the two sweeteners have found no differences in appetite, feelings of fullness or short-term energy intakes."
Hot Topics paper on High Fructose Corn Syrup, December 2008
"The source of the added sugar – whether sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, honey or fruit juice concentrate – should not be of concern; rather it is the amount of total calories that is important."
Hot Topics paper on High Fructose Corn Syrup, December 2008
"Thus, it is the position of The American Dietetic Association that consumers can safely enjoy a range of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners when consumed in a diet that is guided by current federal nutrition recommendations … as well as individual health goals."
Use of Nutritive and Nonnutritive Sweeteners, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, February 2004
“Excess body fat [obesity] arises from the energy imbalance caused by taking in too much energy and expending too little energy. ... Obesity is a complex problem and its cause cannot be simply attributed to any one component of the food supply such as sweeteners.”
Use of Nutritive and Nonnutritive Sweeteners, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, February 2004
Conclusion:
The major problem between sweeteners seems to be who gets the biggest slice of the financial pie. Whether it is the producers of Cane or Beet Sugars, or the producers of Corn sugar.
The bottom line is: “Whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar, your body can’t tell the difference. Sugar is sugar.”
Sunday, June 5, 2011
An Open Letter to Conservatives
An open letter to Conservatives.
Dear friends:
America is at a crossroads. It is vitally important that the sitting President of The United States not be allowed to serve a second term. He and his cronies in the Democratic Party are reforming our nation into just another Socialist state, like those in Europe and Asia, whose economy is so poor that they must rely upon the US for the majority of their support. We must not allow this to happen.
But the truth is, my friends, that unless we who oppose him, must band together very tightly, or else Obama will win in 2012. He has an enormous party machine behind him. Plus, most of those who voted for him before, will vote for him again.
The right has a few viable candidates, but they are so busy tearing each other to shreds in the press, that the eventual winner in the primaries, and party convention processes, will have been so terribly tarnished that he or she will have no chance of winning. The right will have mortally wounded their candidate before the general election, that the left will merely use the rhetoric of the right wing hate mongers against their own candidate, and that person will have lost all credibility, no matter how brilliant, or capable they may be.
We must stop the back biting, and hate speech against non-Democrat candidates. If you have a favorite, speak only about the virtues of that candidate. If you hate an opponent so bad, that you feel that you must say hurtful things about them, don’t.
It wounds me deeply to see, or hear a conservative call another conservative an “idiot.” These people are far from idiocy. They are brilliant, charismatic folk who, for the most part, could at least adequately govern our country. The will not get the chance, even if they win the primary election, if they have been disemboweled by people who should be supporting them.
Again, Please! Extol the virtues of your favorite, and leave the others alone.
Unless we can unify, and stop all the hate-mongering, we will have Mr. Obama in the White House for four more years, and I don’t think America as we have grown to know her, will have a chance to survive. The choice is up to you. Be nice to one another, or start learning the lyrics to “The Internationale.”
Lee Akers
June 5, 2011
Dear friends:
America is at a crossroads. It is vitally important that the sitting President of The United States not be allowed to serve a second term. He and his cronies in the Democratic Party are reforming our nation into just another Socialist state, like those in Europe and Asia, whose economy is so poor that they must rely upon the US for the majority of their support. We must not allow this to happen.
But the truth is, my friends, that unless we who oppose him, must band together very tightly, or else Obama will win in 2012. He has an enormous party machine behind him. Plus, most of those who voted for him before, will vote for him again.
The right has a few viable candidates, but they are so busy tearing each other to shreds in the press, that the eventual winner in the primaries, and party convention processes, will have been so terribly tarnished that he or she will have no chance of winning. The right will have mortally wounded their candidate before the general election, that the left will merely use the rhetoric of the right wing hate mongers against their own candidate, and that person will have lost all credibility, no matter how brilliant, or capable they may be.
We must stop the back biting, and hate speech against non-Democrat candidates. If you have a favorite, speak only about the virtues of that candidate. If you hate an opponent so bad, that you feel that you must say hurtful things about them, don’t.
It wounds me deeply to see, or hear a conservative call another conservative an “idiot.” These people are far from idiocy. They are brilliant, charismatic folk who, for the most part, could at least adequately govern our country. The will not get the chance, even if they win the primary election, if they have been disemboweled by people who should be supporting them.
Again, Please! Extol the virtues of your favorite, and leave the others alone.
Unless we can unify, and stop all the hate-mongering, we will have Mr. Obama in the White House for four more years, and I don’t think America as we have grown to know her, will have a chance to survive. The choice is up to you. Be nice to one another, or start learning the lyrics to “The Internationale.”
Lee Akers
June 5, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Ben Laden
Osama Ben Laden is dead. News reports say that he was killed by American forces in a heavily walled compound in Pakistan.
Now it is time for us to get out of Afghanistan, and Iraq. While the systematic withdrawal is underway in Iraq, It is time to move up the timetable to today. The same goes for our involvement in Afghanistan. Pull out today.
This will send the message to the world that if you touch the sacrosanct soil of The United States of America, we will hunt you down and kill you, and bring death and destruction upon all who aid you.
Pull out this very day and send that message to the Muslim world, and the world at large. We are not to be trifled with.
We have found the one who ordered the attack. He has been dealt with. The message is delivered. Now, it is time for us to bring our troops home. And while we are doing so, bring every bit of the equipment and supplies that we took with us. Do not leave anything behind.
We have gotten our retribution. Time to pull out and leave the people of that region wondering why they would ever do such a stupid thing as to attack the United States.
This may sound like awfully harsh language from a preacher, but it is my considered opinion that in the grand scheme of things, it is the only way in which we as a nation can come out of this thing that we have gotten ourselves into with honor and dignity.
Agape
Lee
Now it is time for us to get out of Afghanistan, and Iraq. While the systematic withdrawal is underway in Iraq, It is time to move up the timetable to today. The same goes for our involvement in Afghanistan. Pull out today.
This will send the message to the world that if you touch the sacrosanct soil of The United States of America, we will hunt you down and kill you, and bring death and destruction upon all who aid you.
Pull out this very day and send that message to the Muslim world, and the world at large. We are not to be trifled with.
We have found the one who ordered the attack. He has been dealt with. The message is delivered. Now, it is time for us to bring our troops home. And while we are doing so, bring every bit of the equipment and supplies that we took with us. Do not leave anything behind.
We have gotten our retribution. Time to pull out and leave the people of that region wondering why they would ever do such a stupid thing as to attack the United States.
This may sound like awfully harsh language from a preacher, but it is my considered opinion that in the grand scheme of things, it is the only way in which we as a nation can come out of this thing that we have gotten ourselves into with honor and dignity.
Agape
Lee
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
None Of Our Business
There is a lot of trouble in the world today. There is rioting Northern Africa, Afghanistan, and here in our own country. There is a huge war going on along the US-Mexico border. While these are indeed all signs of the end times, it has come to me, that they are primarily of our own (America’s) making.
Some years ago, the US armed and trained insurgents in Afghanistan, knowing that the then current occupiers, the Soviet Union, could not defeat them. The reason was, to cause The USSR to bankrupt itself, and bring down their government. It worked.
Now, we are the invaders. We are fighting the very same people who were our supposed allies just a few decades ago. You know what? We can’t beat them either, and our involvement there is rapidly bankrupting our own country, and may even cause our government to fail.
There is rioting in Egypt, Libya, and several other nations to overthrow dictators that we had a hand in establishing.
I heard several very partizan speeches from the floor of the US House Of Representatives this morning, condemning actions taken by legislatures in several of the American States.
People are killing people left and right along the US-Mexican border over which “cartel” gets the right to smuggle drugs, guns, and people back and forth across the line.
Friends, nearly all of these problems are of our own doing. It’s time that our American Government stop trying to interfere in the affairs of sovereign nations. What happens there, is none of our business. If the people in those countries have governments with actions and policies with which we do not agree, it is their problem, not ours.
If we had left them alone in the first place, they would have gone along the way they have been going for thousands of years, and while their lives might be miserable by our standards, but by theirs, perfectly normal.
I am against drugs. I know what damage they can do. I must say that the worst part of the damage is caused by the prohibition by our own government of one of our “Certain inalienable rights.” That of “The Pursuit Of Happiness.” No one should be able to tell me how I may pursue happiness. I had to find out for myself. What made me happy then, is not what makes me happy now, and what makes me happy now, did not make me happy then. But, I had to persue those things for myself.
In forbidding the sale and use of drugs other than alcohol, and Alcohol is a drug, our well-meaning legislators have been the root cause of the drug wars, and the direct cause of the loss of thousands of lives, and untold misery to the families of those who are merely trying to persue happiness.
Did you know that more lives have been lost in Ciudad Juarez this year than in our entire evolvement in Afghanistan? And for what? An unenforceable set of laws restricting the right of the people to do as they please.
We have engaged in huge amounts of carnage overseas, and in our own hemisphere, over things that are none of our business. What a person does in his own house is his own business.
We forget that in America, we have equal rights. In most of the world, they do not, and it’s none of our business whether they do, or not.
Is what people are doing in foreign lands right? Perhaps by our standards, but not theirs.
We in America must start taking a jaundiced look at what our government is doing. We must demand that our government get out of all foreign entanglements. Bring our troops home, and stop meddling in the affairs of others.
For instance: In some nations, it is illegal and immoral for women to go out unless they are fully clothed from head to foot. They consider the fact that our free American women are allowed to appear on the beach semi naked, wearing a Bikini bathing suit. So, what would be our attitude if that country, or countries, invaded us, shot our soldiers, invaded our homes, and killed the people who wear that apparel, as well as those who sell it, manufacture it, or advocate it’s use? Reprehensible? Think about it.
That is a pretty far-fetched example, but it is the same thing that we are doing in other countries. Imposing our will, and morals on people who think and believe differently than we.
It’s time to stop. It’s time to no longer be the world’s police force. It’s time we stop being the moral leader, by imposing immoral principles against basically defenseless people. And if they are not defenseless, it is largely because we have armed them.
What other people do, is none of our business, unless it directly involves us on our own soil. We need to stop. Right now.
If the people of some country riot, it’s none of our business. Should we intervene? NO! It’s none of our business. Once we stop trying to change the world and force it to fit in our mold, things will settle down, and we will all be able to live in peace.
If a foreign power invades us, then it becomes our business. We have the means at hand to halt invaders. Otherwise, it is time for America to stop meddling in foreign affairs. They are none of our business.
Some years ago, the US armed and trained insurgents in Afghanistan, knowing that the then current occupiers, the Soviet Union, could not defeat them. The reason was, to cause The USSR to bankrupt itself, and bring down their government. It worked.
Now, we are the invaders. We are fighting the very same people who were our supposed allies just a few decades ago. You know what? We can’t beat them either, and our involvement there is rapidly bankrupting our own country, and may even cause our government to fail.
There is rioting in Egypt, Libya, and several other nations to overthrow dictators that we had a hand in establishing.
I heard several very partizan speeches from the floor of the US House Of Representatives this morning, condemning actions taken by legislatures in several of the American States.
People are killing people left and right along the US-Mexican border over which “cartel” gets the right to smuggle drugs, guns, and people back and forth across the line.
Friends, nearly all of these problems are of our own doing. It’s time that our American Government stop trying to interfere in the affairs of sovereign nations. What happens there, is none of our business. If the people in those countries have governments with actions and policies with which we do not agree, it is their problem, not ours.
If we had left them alone in the first place, they would have gone along the way they have been going for thousands of years, and while their lives might be miserable by our standards, but by theirs, perfectly normal.
I am against drugs. I know what damage they can do. I must say that the worst part of the damage is caused by the prohibition by our own government of one of our “Certain inalienable rights.” That of “The Pursuit Of Happiness.” No one should be able to tell me how I may pursue happiness. I had to find out for myself. What made me happy then, is not what makes me happy now, and what makes me happy now, did not make me happy then. But, I had to persue those things for myself.
In forbidding the sale and use of drugs other than alcohol, and Alcohol is a drug, our well-meaning legislators have been the root cause of the drug wars, and the direct cause of the loss of thousands of lives, and untold misery to the families of those who are merely trying to persue happiness.
Did you know that more lives have been lost in Ciudad Juarez this year than in our entire evolvement in Afghanistan? And for what? An unenforceable set of laws restricting the right of the people to do as they please.
We have engaged in huge amounts of carnage overseas, and in our own hemisphere, over things that are none of our business. What a person does in his own house is his own business.
We forget that in America, we have equal rights. In most of the world, they do not, and it’s none of our business whether they do, or not.
Is what people are doing in foreign lands right? Perhaps by our standards, but not theirs.
We in America must start taking a jaundiced look at what our government is doing. We must demand that our government get out of all foreign entanglements. Bring our troops home, and stop meddling in the affairs of others.
For instance: In some nations, it is illegal and immoral for women to go out unless they are fully clothed from head to foot. They consider the fact that our free American women are allowed to appear on the beach semi naked, wearing a Bikini bathing suit. So, what would be our attitude if that country, or countries, invaded us, shot our soldiers, invaded our homes, and killed the people who wear that apparel, as well as those who sell it, manufacture it, or advocate it’s use? Reprehensible? Think about it.
That is a pretty far-fetched example, but it is the same thing that we are doing in other countries. Imposing our will, and morals on people who think and believe differently than we.
It’s time to stop. It’s time to no longer be the world’s police force. It’s time we stop being the moral leader, by imposing immoral principles against basically defenseless people. And if they are not defenseless, it is largely because we have armed them.
What other people do, is none of our business, unless it directly involves us on our own soil. We need to stop. Right now.
If the people of some country riot, it’s none of our business. Should we intervene? NO! It’s none of our business. Once we stop trying to change the world and force it to fit in our mold, things will settle down, and we will all be able to live in peace.
If a foreign power invades us, then it becomes our business. We have the means at hand to halt invaders. Otherwise, it is time for America to stop meddling in foreign affairs. They are none of our business.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Wintertime Stuff
I am sitting at the desk in my computer room/office/ ham shack/studio/lair, thinking that I have not written on the ol’ blog for a long time. It’s still winter in Montana. As I write this, on Friday, February 25th, 2011, it is five below zero at 3:20 in the afternoon. I like winter, just not so much of it for so long at a time. It is beautiful though. The sun makes the snow just sparkle. I enjoy the sunrises. The snow changes color as it reflects the changing color of the sky. I have tried to photograph it, but with my current digital camera, it just doesn’t get the job done. Digital cameras are like that. Unless you have Photoshop to alter the images, they just can’t capture images like film. Maybe in the future, but not yet.
I finally found the box of photos in the basement. Some go back 35 - 40 years. Wow! The memories. I have a lot more pictures, but can’t seem to put my hands on them right now. Hope they’re not gone. I have lost so many things in moving over the years, that I can’t count them.
Here’s a picture of Bobby, who now calls himself Rob, playing in the back yard of the house on Valley Park Drive in Oxnard. He must have been about three. He is on all fours with a mouth full of grass. He was playing cow. Here is one of Virginia pushing Allan on a swing made of a rope and a log. I think he was about three at that time also.
Rob lives in Lockport New York, where he is happily married, and rearing a beautiful family. I don’t have much contact with him anymore. I hate that. So many losses due to poor choices on the part of yours truly back in the bad-old-days.
Allan is in the US Army. Right now, he is in Washington state, training to go overseas and kill people. I am so proud of him and his warrior spirit. I pray that God will watch over him, and that he will return without bullet holes, and in a sound mind.
I have been preaching huge sermons recently. Really deep stuff. What a blessing. For some time, I have been recording my sermons, or lessons, or whatever they are, and playing them back afterward, so I can hear them. Some of it is pretty good stuff, even to my critical ear. I don’t know how the congregation receives them, but I get a blessing. And the up side is, for the most part, I agree with what the preacher is saying. ;-)
I have been plowing the snow off of the driveway, which is about a quarter mile, give or take, long. The waterpump on “Fergie” the tractor has developed a leak. I ordered the replacement pump, a new thermostat, and a new temp. gauge, but I have been a little hesitant to install them. Hopefully, it will warm up a little soon, and I can get it done. We don’t have a garage, or shed, and sub zero temperatures are not conducive to making repairs on a Ferguson. If it becomes necessary, I will. Just hope that it doesn’t become necessary.
I am still working at KMTA/KYUS in Miles City three days a week, making commercials, and doing production. From time to time, I do work for them here at the house. I am able to do everything here that I can do at the station, and not have to drive 40 miles round trip.
Hmmmm. I just thought of it.... I’m living the dream. Moved to Montana from California, and am working from home at the computer, and making money at it. Yep! the dream is realized !!!!
Not much else new at Fringe Benefit Farm. Guess I’ll wrap this up, and head into the living room and watch NASCAR.
Agape
Lee
I finally found the box of photos in the basement. Some go back 35 - 40 years. Wow! The memories. I have a lot more pictures, but can’t seem to put my hands on them right now. Hope they’re not gone. I have lost so many things in moving over the years, that I can’t count them.
Here’s a picture of Bobby, who now calls himself Rob, playing in the back yard of the house on Valley Park Drive in Oxnard. He must have been about three. He is on all fours with a mouth full of grass. He was playing cow. Here is one of Virginia pushing Allan on a swing made of a rope and a log. I think he was about three at that time also.
Rob lives in Lockport New York, where he is happily married, and rearing a beautiful family. I don’t have much contact with him anymore. I hate that. So many losses due to poor choices on the part of yours truly back in the bad-old-days.
Allan is in the US Army. Right now, he is in Washington state, training to go overseas and kill people. I am so proud of him and his warrior spirit. I pray that God will watch over him, and that he will return without bullet holes, and in a sound mind.
I have been preaching huge sermons recently. Really deep stuff. What a blessing. For some time, I have been recording my sermons, or lessons, or whatever they are, and playing them back afterward, so I can hear them. Some of it is pretty good stuff, even to my critical ear. I don’t know how the congregation receives them, but I get a blessing. And the up side is, for the most part, I agree with what the preacher is saying. ;-)
I have been plowing the snow off of the driveway, which is about a quarter mile, give or take, long. The waterpump on “Fergie” the tractor has developed a leak. I ordered the replacement pump, a new thermostat, and a new temp. gauge, but I have been a little hesitant to install them. Hopefully, it will warm up a little soon, and I can get it done. We don’t have a garage, or shed, and sub zero temperatures are not conducive to making repairs on a Ferguson. If it becomes necessary, I will. Just hope that it doesn’t become necessary.
I am still working at KMTA/KYUS in Miles City three days a week, making commercials, and doing production. From time to time, I do work for them here at the house. I am able to do everything here that I can do at the station, and not have to drive 40 miles round trip.
Hmmmm. I just thought of it.... I’m living the dream. Moved to Montana from California, and am working from home at the computer, and making money at it. Yep! the dream is realized !!!!
Not much else new at Fringe Benefit Farm. Guess I’ll wrap this up, and head into the living room and watch NASCAR.
Agape
Lee
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