Kyle Smith in the NY Post:

The conspiratorial 2006 documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” arrived inconveniently just as the industry was about to start making such autos again, hence the need for a cheerleading sequel, “Revenge of the Electric Car,” which arrives inconveniently just as the many problems with electric cars become widely publicized.

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The film focuses on execs including Bob Lutz of GM, Carlos Ghosn of Nissan and Elon Musk of Tesla Motors, who do much striding purposefully around their shop floors proclaiming the electric gospel as narrator Tim Robbins intones absurdly overblown remarks like, “Every revolution needs its Napoleon . . . it was time to meet the Emperor.”

The film glosses over or even fails to mention such flaws as: Electric cars aren’t living up to range estimates, the carbon emissions that go into making their batteries are immense, they take all night to recharge and they’re so expensive that no one is buying them. Oh, and saying electric cars are “zero emission” is about as truthful as saying you don’t have to kill a cow when you buy a hamburger. Electric cars simply outsource the emissions to your coal-burning power plant.

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When a toolbag dies… How are you supposed to handle it? Are you supposed to honor them? Post-mortem, does a pedophile become the “greatest musician of all time”? Does a killer become an “American Icon”? Does death in itself wipe the slate clean, exempting the deceased from all judgment?  Or are you supposed to view them just as you did in life (be it good or bad)?

In my humble opinion… None of the above. Death is not only a passing on, but a time for everyone else to truthfully reflect on one’s life. To skim through the unsavory parts (or in Kennedy/MJ’s case, skip entire chapters all together) is to do the world a disservice. How are the rest of us shmucks supposed to learn from past mistakes if we can’t even acknowledge them to begin with?

The fact that the media decided to smooch the Kennedys’ rears through the death of Ted is appalling. Not only was there no mention of the Chappaquiddick river “incident” or his character assassination of Clarence Thomas, but the coverage was carried out in a way that assumed everyone was in agreement with the man’s misguided agenda. (more…)

It’s always fascinated me how people can believe something that’s not true, and then get angry if you challenge them on it. After all, we’re all deluded. Each and every one of us. Don’t believe me? OK, check this out. You are more than likely sitting down right now. On a chair, stool, couch, whatever. It’s resting on a floor. The floor is part of a building. The building is on the ground which is part of your city. None of those things, except you, are moving, correct?

Wrong.

The city is in a country, which is on a land mass which is moving. The land mass is on a planet which is spinning. At the equator the spin is 1,038 miles per hour. At the poles it’s barely spinning at all. And the planet on which we rest is circling the sun at 67,000 miles per hour (30 kilometers a second). Our solar system is moving in our galaxy at 490,000 miles per hour or 220 kilometers per second. So what we perceive as stillness isn’t anything of the kind. If you think you are sitting still, you are deluded. (more…)