There's seemingly no end to politicians and science stupidity

[thewayne]

A Washington state representative wants to tax bicycles because 'it isn't good for the environment.' You see, when you're riding a bike, your respiration rate goes up and that increases your expiration of carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas and bad for the environment.

Sadly, I am not making this shit up. This guy believes that driving a car is better for the environment than riding a bike.

He also argues that bicyclists don't pay road tax, when in Seattle gas tax pays for only 4% of the Seattle Department of Transportation budget, state-wide the gas tax pays for a quarter of the State DOT budget. Most bicyclists also drive cars, so his argument falls rather flat.

The stupid, it BURNS!

http://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2013/03/02/state-lawmaker-says-bicycling-is-not-good-for-the-environment-should-be-taxed/

http://science.slashdot.org/story/13/03/04/1238258/state-rep-says-biking-is-not-earth-friendly-because-breathing-produces-co2

Comments

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

That would be a logical extrapolation of his position, but to me it doesn't seem like we're dealing with a heck of a lot of logic.

I guess his ultimate citizen would be one who is a couch potato doing absolutely nothing. Watching TV or web surfing requires electricity which produces greenhouse gasses, reading paper books gets in to carbon sequestration issues, eating anything requires petrochemicals for fertilizer and transport. So I guess his perfect non-taxable citizen would be one lying on the couch slowly dying.