Pests in the garden

The above photo of “giant” spiral snail slugs in the tomato patch was originally “set up” in order to post this year’s April Fool’s Day blog in a manner similar to the jokes of last year and 2004. The story line was to have been: potent sea weed compost leads to invasion of tomato eating snail slugs never before seen in the southern hemisphere; probable cause being ballast water from ocean going wood chip freighters.

I say “was” because the recent news concerning the antics of our two major political parties (Labor and Liberal) has taken the humor and fun out of the moment and has made me more angry and pissed off than usual.

Late last week I went to a rally in front of Parliament House in a vain attempt to pressure the parliamentarians inside not to vote on the legislation before them—legislation to fast track the building of a pulp mill instead of having an independent environmental assessment—but to no avail. Only the Greens voted against it with all the Labor and Liberal politicians giving it their assent.

The only bit of good news was that some of the state and national newspapers (who usually side with the government) were hard on the parliamentarians:

…Something rotten in the Apple Isle

…The past debacle-filled week in State Parliament has seen the House of Assembly sink to its lowest depths for a long time in regard to both ministerial standards and the passage of abysmal legislation.

…It has also been a week that reflected badly on the ethics, propriety and conduct of Premier Paul Lennon.

…A group of 14 leading University of Tasmania academics (all experts in fields such as law, ethics and planning and public policy) took the unusual step of releasing a statement expressing “increasing concern” at “an apparent decline in ethical standards within the Tasmanian Government”.

…In many democracies it would be enough to trigger an independent commission of inquiry. 

And, although not directly related, the best quote came from the national online journal, Crikey:

…the shallow gene pool that populates state politics with drones, dolts, timeservers and incompetents…

Fairly harsh criticisms, for sure, but it hasn’t undone the passing of the legislation. Even this morning on the news, the two major parties continued to defend their actions.

So, no April Fool’s blog on April 1st. Sorry. The fools, I feel, are too much in power and it is depressing to contemplate how much damage they are doing in so many areas.

In fact, the fools are in the garden creating as much destruction as they can and munching away without too much impunity, it seems.

When I contemplate on the sound of the word “garden”, I hear within it the sound/word “guard”. This might not be the true etymology for garden, but it rings true to me. We must guard the garden. We must remain vigilant against the slugs and pests—the drones and dolts—that would infest our gardens.

Not always easy. Not always enjoyable. But necessary, none the less.

I just wish there was an environmentally friendly, non-toxic way of getting rid of Tasmania’s slimy, sleazy slugs.