The American Spectator

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p> POUNDING AWAY br> Re: Ralph R. Reiland's Gas Guzzlers : /p> p>Ralph Reiland's "Gas Guzzlers" commentary shows how these intellectuals manipulate useless data for their own personal ends. Professor Jacobson has calculated that overweight Americans use an extra one billion gallons of fuel per year. But rather than spending his time propounding such minutiae in order to keep more grant money flowing his way (remember, "publish or perish!"), perhaps the good professor could mention that our free-market, capitalist economy naturally is becoming more efficient every year, and that the most efficient energy technology in history -- nuclear power -- is opposed by the same eggheads who crank out those bottomless volumes of trumped-up "information". br> -- Steve Nikita br> Pittsfield, Massachusetts /p> p> Professor Reiland should take a course to soften his hostile attitude toward our nation's truck drivers. KFC and Pizza King have little room for parking a vehicle 65 feet or longer, and almost all truck stops provide healthy choices for those who eschew fatty foods. The professor's guess at two milliondrivers is way off the mark and I br> suggest he delve into further research. Fifty or five hundred fifty pounds would make little difference in fuel mileage operating a vehicle weighing up to 80,000 pounds. Heavy gross weight vehicles average six miles per gallon, according to the figures compiled by the American Trucking Association. br> -- John Strong

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