Do as I say...

and not as I do... From Stefan Sharkansky at Sound Politics comes this perfect example of the hypocrisy of Seattle government and why we are so glad to be out of there:

Full Kyoto: Greg Nickels' city car uses 5 gallons of gasoline a day
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is being hailed as an eco-hero by the likes of Vanity Fair [photo] for his Mayor's initiative to implement the Kyoto Protocol and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nickels #1 goal is to "Reduce Seattle�s dependence on cars". But while he's calling on other people to get out of their cars, Nickels' gluttonous dependence on his own official automobile should raise eyebrows. Seattle taxpayers provide the Mayor with a 2006 Cadillac DTS Luxury III for his exclusive official use. And use it he does. City expense records [sample] reveal that the Mayor has burned an average of 152.1 gallons of gasoline a month since Jan. 2005, the equivalent of 5 gallons of gasoline every single day of the year.

And it's not just the gasoline consumption that's profligate -- in the last 12 months alone, Hizzoner has spent roughly $36,000 in public funds on leasing, maintenance, fuel and other operating costs for his various luxury cars, and that doesn't even include salary and benefits for his chauffeur. May we all reduce our dependence on automobiles to $36,000 a year --

A bit of a funny story -- Seattle was for a while trying to implement a very expensive public transportation project, namely a Monorail. It was supposed to connect SeaTac airport with Downtown and then on to points north. The project was funded by licensing fees -- $100 or so was added to the annual license fee for each car registered to people living in the Metro Seattle area. People started registering their vehicles with friends who lived out of the city. Since we have moved to our farm, we have received a stern notice with each license renewal that we have to provide several pieces of proof that we are no longer living in Seattle. Our drugstore is about 15 miles away and they are also a Licensing office and we show them the notice, our drivers license and we all have a good chuckle. When will these people realize that top-down big government has never worked and will not work in the future -- the idea has been tried, fried and put down. Time to put the pipe away and find a real job...