Dumbest legislator ever?

[PotomacCyclist]

Has the local Olympia, WA cycling group written back to him to educate him on basic fiscal and scientific matters?

[TwoWheelsDC]

Well, if he ever loses his seat in WA, he’d find a welcome home in VA’s legislature.

[lordofthemark]

could he be free associating with the more serious question (IIUC) of cyclist caloric intake? The key CO2 there is not the CO2 the cyclist breathes out, but the CO2 released by the farm machinery, manufacture of fertilizer, etc, used in growing the incremental food.

A. Of course if the cyclist is someone who eats enough they would otherwise be overweight, they can cycle, eat the same amount, and not be overweight (or less so). Zero incremental calories eaten.
B. If the cyclist would otherwise be working out at a gym, playing tennis, etc and their cycling substitutes for that, then zero incremental calories eaten.
C. if all the incremental calories are from sustainable agriculture sources, then quite possibly (Im no expert on sustainable ag) minimal incremental GHGs. (Why do I think that this legislator might find someone who both eats organic AND bikes insufferable?)
D, IIUC even if you assume all the calories burned by the cyclist are incrementally eaten, AND they are from conventional sources, cycling may still be more efficient depending on your technical assumptions about biking and the MPG of the car. I would note that the fact that our incremental petroleum increasingly comes from high GHG sources (IE its not just the CO2 out your tail pipe, its the CO2 the canadians are using to get the stuff out of the tar sands) would lean things further towards cycling. It also matters if the incremental calories are from cattle or not, IIUC, sustainable practices aside.

[Greenbelt]

The CO2 balance in the biosphere is pretty steady. It’s the digging sequestered carbon out of the ground and releasing it into the atmosphere that’s upsetting the earth’s energy balance.

[Jason B]

Well, let’s not be hasting with the linching, for we tend to eat high fiber energy bars and we are known to have our fair share of Kashi cereal, which has increased methane levels considerably.

[DismalScientist]

@Jason B 45229 wrote:

Well, let’s not be hasting with the linching, for we tend to eat high fiber energy bars and we are known to have our fair share of Kashi cereal, which has increased methane levels considerably.

Since you beat me with that comment, I shall add the following factoid: Methane has 21 times the global warming potential as does carbon dioxide.

[Mikey]

Ed has a point, If he were riding behind me I would so love to drop some Methane on his fat ass. That stuff is a much worse greenhouse gas.

[Terpfan]

I really wish legislature’s would do more 101s with their members on how basic things work like roadways. Some other legislator should just say, you have a great point, everything should be fee for service used. So we’ll institute milage taxes based on expected wear-and-tear with some form of gross vehicular weight as well as maintaining a gas tax for a portion of it. We’ll also institute a modest sidewalk fee too. And crosswalks will be extra.

[KLizotte]

@Terpfan 45258 wrote:

I really wish legislature’s would do more 101s with their members on how basic things work like roadways. Some other legislator should just say, you have a great point, everything should be fee for service used. So we’ll institute milage taxes based on expected wear-and-tear with some form of gross vehicular weight as well as maintaining a gas tax for a portion of it. We’ll also institute a modest sidewalk fee too. And crosswalks will be extra.

Don’t forget to include externalities like air, noise and water pollution.

Any time a driver says “cyclists don’t pay for the roads” I say “stop poisoning me.”

[Dickie]

His signature mentions “Please visit my website”… I think we should all say “hi” to the little fella!

[creadinger]

Mr. Orcutt is in the running for dumbest ever, but sadly I think this guy takes the cake….

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/guamtip.asp

If you want to skip past the dumb questions prior to the good stuff, skip ahead to 1:20. Now, the real question is…. as a human with a functioning brain that has to respectfully answer his question – how do you do it, and how do you keep a straight face? I think the Admiral did a pretty good job.

[dbb]

Dumbest is a word that isn’t likely to work particularly well as just when you think you have hit the extreme, someone blunders by that is even dumber. Maybe we need to use the Starbucks approach of short, tall, grande, venti and trenta. All we have to do is get the person into one of five stupidity quintiles.

Just say’n

[Riley Casey]

Not sure the forum could survive this thread were it to continue on this path indefinitely http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/07/nation/la-na-nn-paul-broun-evolution-hell-20121007 but then the republic has survived for quite some time in this state of affairs http://www.twainquotes.com/Congress.html . The only significant difference being the number of zeros in the amount on the checks they write.

@creadinger 45270 wrote:

Mr. Orcutt is in the running for dumbest ever, but sadly I think this guy takes the cake….

[consularrider]

Orcutt’s response?

[baiskeli]

@creadinger 45270 wrote:

Mr. Orcutt is in the running for dumbest ever, but sadly I think this guy takes the cake….

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/guamtip.asp

If you want to skip past the dumb questions prior to the good stuff, skip ahead to 1:20. Now, the real question is…. as a human with a functioning brain that has to respectfully answer his question – how do you do it, and how do you keep a straight face? I think the Admiral did a pretty good job.

He said he was speaking metaphorically. I choose to believe that over the idea that he really was THAT dumb. I simply can’t live in a world where someone is THAT dumb.

[Author]

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