Lies, damned lies and the Brethren

I know my last post was kind of complainy and I shouldn't do it twice in a row but I am so cross about the smear campaign against the Green Party I think of anything else to post about.

You may or may not be aware that an expensive full colour brochure has been distributed to pretty much every letter box in New Zealand with the sole purpose of turning people away from voting Green in next weeks election. OK, maybe not sole purpose, because the same folks seem to be just as opposed to anyone supporting Labour. It would be bad enough just to have invested the money (estimated at $500,000- think of that in terms of solar panels/hip operations/literacy tutors for refugees/tax refunds/child care hours/ election bribe of your choice) in such an anti-democratic effort to support the National Party but it is full of lies . Grrrrrr!

OK, fair enough I suppose to dislike the Greens because you actually think the environment is irrelevant to the economy, or social justice has nothing to do with quality of life. Your ignorance is your choice.

But please don't believe that it is Green Party policy to introduce a capital gains tax on family homes, to cut defence spending by 50%, and disarm our forces, spend roading money on uneconomic and novel public transport systems, block construction of vital new roads with tortuous RMA regulations, push high country farmers off their lease-hold land, permit the right-to-roam over private property, or offer financial assistance to cannabis growers for alternative employment. These are all outright lies. The pamphlet also contained a number of gross exagerrations, that I hesitate to call half truths, and I recommend you read the Greens own rebuttal to sort out what you should believe.

Making up your own mind who to vote for is your right, but it's also your responsibility to vote intelligently based on accurate information from trustworthy sources. I suggest that the Greens are a more reliable source of information about their own policies than a ultra-conservative religious sect who feel they have more to gain from fibs than honesty. I suggest they check back with #9 of the Ten Commandments for some policy about telling the truth.