Enlightening mailings from Rep. David Wu

It's funny how, during odd-numbered years, I don't hear much from my congressman, Rep. David Wu. But in even-numbered years (read: election years), I start to get mailings from the esteemed four-term congressman.

And they're expensive mailings, as I wrote about when I received one in February. Arriving in the mail today was another full-color mailing -- "prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense" -- from Wu on the topic of gas prices.

Among the gems was this info under the heading, "Congressman David Wu shares tips to conserve gasoline while driving":

• Drive sensibly
• Observe the speed limit
• Remove excess weight from the car
• Avoid excessive idling
• Use cruise control
• Keep tires properly inflated

Other earth-shattering ideas included:

• Checking insulation and potential air leaks in your home
• Using lighting controls like dimmers or timers
• Replacing standard light bulbs with fluorescent lamps

And that was just the back page! Inside, we learned that buildings consume 65.2 percent of all US electricity. Not listed was the fact that buildings contain nearly 100 percent of all jobs and housing.

We learn that Wu wants to raise the average fuel mileage from 27.5 mpg to 33 mpg (no word on the cost to consumers) and provide tax incentives for alternative fuel vehicles (no word on whether the tax incentives will make the more expensive cars pencil out cost-wise in comparison to standard fuel cars).

Thank goodness Congressman Wu spent our money to tell us these important things, less than four months before he takes on Derrick Kitts.