Wednesday 8 July 2009

Quote from one of the Elite

"One must act 'as if' in Europe: as if one wanted only very few things, in order to obtain a great deal. As if nations were to remain sovereign, in order to convince them to surrender their sovereignty. The Commission in Brussels, for example, must act as if it were a technical organism, in order to operate like a government ... and so on, camouflaging and toning down. The sovereignty lost at national level does not pass to any new subject. It is entrusted to a faceless entity: NATO, the UN and eventually the EU. The Union is the vanguard of this changing world:it indicates a future of Princes without sovereignty. The new entity is faceless and those who are in command can neither be pinned down nor elected ... That is the way Europe was made too: by creating communitarian organisms without giving the organisms presided over by national governments the impression that they were being subjected to a higher power. That is how the Court of Justice as a supra-national organ was born. It was a sort of unseen atom bomb, which Schuman and Monnet slipped into the negotiations on the Coal and Steel Community. That was what the 'CSC' itself was: a random mixture of national egotisms which became communitarian. I don't think it is a good idea to replace this slow and effective method - which keeps national States free from anxiety while they are being stripped of power - with great institutional leaps - Therefore I prefer to go slowly, to crumble pieces of sovereignty up litle by little, avoiding brusque transitions from national to federal power. That is the way I think we will have to build Europe's common policies..." - Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, later Vice-President of the EU Constitutional Convention, interview with Barbara Spinelli, La Stampa, 13 July 2000. Posted in a great list of quotes compiled by Free Europe.org.
Went to see the film 'David Against Monsanto' (in German) this evening, and hear an excellent talk about the fight against Gene Modified Crops. Apparently it's now over 200,000 Indian farmers who have committed suicide because they've been ruined by Monsanto. Pray that the Lord would bring this evil corporation down.
Such corporations, and similar companies are the elitist 'Illuminati' Bayer, BASF, Dupont, Dow and (Swiss) Syngenta - actually, with Monsanto, the only six such agri-corporations left - because they've consolidated over the years.

Consume less, buy regional, buy bio, be careful what clothes you buy; if they're cheap cotton, then they're likely to have been made from GM cotton, probably in a developing world sweat shop, where Monsanto has cornered the market and has control. They're doing it in Iraq. (Another reason why the US and the UK invaded the country. So that they could get oil, natural deposits, cheap labour, and carry out more population reduction than Saddam ever did.)

Support your local beekeeper and buy his honey. (If you've got bees in your garden, then you'll have a local beekeeper somewhere.)

Get informed; internet, books, public lectures, films etc. Join up with others who feel strongly about the issues, write to the newspapers and politicians, blog, go on demonstrations. Let the politicians know that the public DON'T WANT their corrupt corporations running our countries.

Cheese-Tasting

The great day has arrived!
I wanted to wait until H and B had got home from school before 'broaching' these cheeses. I had also promised Daniel, who comes for an English lesson once a week, that he could taste them once they were ready, and since today is Wednesday, the day when he comes, I thought it would be a good opportunity to cut them.
The cheddar, the larger one, (made 21st April) tastes full and mature - is slightly crumbly - possibly I've matured it for too long, but it's still definitely delicious. The smaller one (made 4th May) is a cheddar with sage from the garden and is really good. The sage taste is perfect. In future, while I'll continue making these cheeses the same way - and the cheese wax works beautifully - I won't mature them for quite as long. They're probably too small for that and don't need as long as a much larger wheel.
Altogether a great success. I am encouraged and will make another batch soon. I wish I had a cheese cellar - I could keep up production indefinitely and we could be self-sufficient in cheese - but I just don't have the room.