Biking all over

Why is it that President Bush likes to bicycle but the U.S. Department of Transportation is supra-focused on automobiles as the primary form of transportation? If bicycling is something special you do--that you drive to do--or do it on trails and such, maybe it never sinks in that bicycling can be part of your every day way of life.

(The big Washington Post series on obesity. Was anyone else struck by how the articles took as a matter of course that people _drive_ to gyms to do exercise specially? I have to admit I didn't read the articles too closely, because the thesis is pretty basic and obvious--the more people don't exercise or exert work activity in jobs or in every day activity and the more they eat, the more weight they gain.)

A girl rides a bicycle on the main street of Didouch Mourad on "A day without cars" in Algiers May 16, 2008. This is the first time local municipality authorities called for "A day without cars" in the capital's center to raise awareness on environmental protection. REUTERS/Louafi Larbi (ALGERIA)


President Bush rides a special edition of an Israeli made bicycle he received from Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem May 15, 2008, in this picture released by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO).(Avi Ohayon/GPO/Handout/Reuters)


On National Bike to Work Day, Mayor Michael Nutter, left, is seen on a bicycle which Bike Share Philadelphia supplied to promote their proposed bicycle-sharing program, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in Philadelphia, Friday, May 16, 2008. A group of bicycle activists, armed with corporate backing, is pushing the city to embark on an ambitious program that would station thousands of bikes at hundreds of kiosks as part of a subscription service that would operate like a car-sharing program. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)


A man rides a bicycle as he transports a tree down a road in Seoul May 23, 2008. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak (SOUTH KOREA)