Toyota Prius owners -- celebs and regular folks alike -- are doing more than saving money at the gas pump and curbing greenhouse-gas emissions: They're also making a political statement, thumbing their noses at Saddam Hussein, oil barons, and SUV owners everywhere. Wyatt Earp, a descendant of the legendary gunslinger, has purchased four hybrid-electric Prius sedans for the sheriff's office in Marion County, Fla., where he works as fleet manager. "This is a technology that will take us out of our dependence on foreign oil," Earp says. On the opposite coast, actress Cameron Diaz is one of a growing cohort of stars who's taken to tooling around Hollywood in high eco-style. "I can milk 40 to 45 [miles per gallon] out of the Prius, if I'm driving like a good girl," she says. And talent agent Ariel Emanuel had foreign policy on the brain when he traded in his Ferrari for a Prius. "Every time I get into it, I feel like I'm demonstrating my point of view on national security," Emanuel says. "Fifteen of the 19 terrorists came from Saudi Arabia. I refuse to give them more money."
source: New York Times, Danny Hakim, 11 Dec 2002
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