"In the military they have $5.2 million they spent on goldfish — studying goldfish to see how democratic they were..."

◼ "... and if we could learn about democracy from goldfish. I would give the president the authority to go ahead and cut all $5 million in goldfish studies." Said Rand Paul. - Althouse

◼ Dead baby mice to be dropped, one by one, by hand, from U.S. military helicopters in Guam. - Althouse

To keep the mice bait from dropping all the way to the ground, where it could be eaten by other animals or attract insects as they rot, researchers have developed a flotation device with streamers designed to catch in the branches of the forest foliage, where the [brown tree] snakes live and feed.

So, they spent more than a decade... doing what? Designing parachutes for dead mice? (Paging Senator Paul.)

From the comments: Gahrie said, Remember, at least 40 cents of every dollar spent on this we borrowed from the Chinese, and obligated our children to repay......

Michael Moore: "No, Obama Didn't Save Detroit"

Despite Jennifer Granholm's DNC claims:


__________________◼ For several years the left and their media minions have claimed that by bailing out Chrysler and General Motors, President Obama saved Detroit. - Noel Sheppard/Newsbusters

On Friday, the perilously liberal schlockumentarian Michael Moore debunked this in ◼ an article at the Huffington Post astonishingly saying, "No, he didn't."

"Last week, I said on the HuffPost Live webcast that we had all better start practicing how to say 'President Romney' because, living in Michigan, I can tell you that there's trouble here on the two peninsulas...One recent poll here showed Romney leading Obama by four points! How can that be? Didn't Obama save Detroit?"

Moore answered his own question, "No, he didn't. He saved General Motors and Chrysler."

"'...Detroit' (and Flint and Pontiac and Saginaw)," continued Moore, "are not defined by the global corporations who suck our towns dry and then split town to make more money elsewhere (except, of course, they continued to design and built crap cars, so eventually they didn't make the money at all). These cities in Michigan are about the people who live here, and in the process of 'saving Detroit,' Mr. Obama had to fire thousands of these people, and reduce the benefits and pensions of those who were left."

Inconvenient truths the Obama-loving media don't want the public to know. But Moore wasn't finished.

"There's a lot of pissed off people in Michigan (and Wisconsin and Ohio), people who weren't saved even though the corporation was. I'm just stating a fact, and those of you who don't live here should know this."

Actually, those that don't live in these areas would know this if America had an honest media.

◼ Democrats Double Down on Auto Bailout, but Michael Moore Says Obama Didn’t Save Detroit - Matt Vespa/HotAir's Green Room

...Obama and the Democrats need to stop saying “I am GM, hear me roar” because the facts simply don’t add up. Yes, GM’s doors maybe open, but the company is drowning in debt. It’s trading in the low 20s on the Dow Jones, which is indicative that the bailout from American taxpayers hasn’t been paid back in full....

Fact-checking the factcheckers on Ryan’s speech; Update: “As president, I will lead an effort to retool plants like the GM facility in Janesville”

◼ Seems like fact checkers need to do some fact checking of their own assumptions. - Ed Morrissey/HotAir

As the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported in September of last year — long before Ryan got added to the ticket — the Janesville plant got shut down in 2009, after being notified of their pending closure in December 2008...Production continued into 2009 on trucks — and into April, as (a) local TV report from April 2009 shows...

Ryan had it exactly right, and the fact checkers have made a mockery of their own profession by stepping all over their own biases to refute Ryan.

◼ Obama Camp Melts Down Over Ryan's Speech - Guy Benson/Townhall

If this is all they've got, it's no wonder they're freaking out. Paul Ryan told the truth about Barack Obama, and the president's campaign can't handle it.

◼ Ryan's Fact Challenged Fact Checkers - Shikha Dalmia/Reason.com

...as it turns out, the plant wasn’t closed when Obama gave his speech on Feb 13, 2008. It was open. The liberals are challenging Ryan based on an Aug 16 story by David Shepardson, The Detroit News’ auto reporter that said “the plant halted production in December 2008, when President George W. Bush was in office.” But, as best as I can tell, Shepardson got it wrong. The decision to close the plant was made under Bush. However, the plant was not slated to close till the summer of 2009 – nearly a year and a half after Obama spoke and six months after he assumed office....

◼ CNN: Ryan Was Right About Obama’s GM Vow - Sweetness&Light

◼ FACT CHECK: Obama promised and failed to keep Janesville GM plant open - Conn Carroll/Washington Examiner

...The Washington Post, and a host of other liberal media outlets, are calling this passage “misleading” because the Janesville plant “closed before the president was inaugurated.” The Post is dead wrong. Here are the facts:

1. On February 13, 2008 Obama said in Janesville : “I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years.”

2. In June 2008 GM announced that the Janesville plant would stop production of medium-duty trucks by the end of 2009, and stop production of large SUVs in 2010 or sooner.

3. In October 2008 Obama doubled down on his promise to keep Janesville plant open: “As president, I will lead an effort to retool plants like the GM facility in Janesville so we can build the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow and create good-paying jobs in Wisconsin and all across America.”

4. In December 2008 GM idled production of GM SUVs at the Janesville plant. Medium-duty truck assembly continued.

5. In April 2009, four months after Obama was inaugurated, GM idled production of medium-duty trucks.

6. In September 2011, more than two years after Obama was inaugurated, GM reiterates that Janesville plant is on “stand by status.” Auto industry observer David Cole, tells the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel it would be premature to say the Janesville plant will never reopen.

6. Today the GM facility in Janesville still has not been retooled “so we can build the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow and create good-paying jobs,” as Obama promised.

GM shuns political poster child role, bans candidate visits until after Election Day

◼ GM, saved by federal loans a few years ago, desperately wants to avoid becoming the centerpiece of campaign rhetoric. So it has banned candidates from its plants at least until after Election Day, Nov. 6, despite the fact that the U.S. Treasury remains its largest shareholder. - Detroit Free Press

The president's campaign is expected to make the auto bailout a key element of the Democratic National Convention during the first week of September in Charlotte, N.C.

◼ GM suspending Chevrolet Volt output due to slow sales - USA Today

GM goes from bad to worse despite Obama bailout

◼ Obama talks about the auto bailout frequently, since it's one of the few things in his record that gets positive responses in the polls. But he's probably wise to avoid probing questions, since the GM bailout is not at all the success he claims. - Michael Barone/Washington Examiner

..."GM is going from bad to worse," reads the headline on Automotive News Editor-in-Chief Keith Crain's analysis. That's certainly true of its stock price....

It's hard to avoid the conclusion that GM is bleeding money because of decisions made by a management eager to please its political masters -- and by the terms of the bankruptcy arranged by Obama car czars Ron Bloom and Steven Rattner.

Rattner himself admitted late last year, in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club, that "We should have asked the [United Auto Workers] to do a bit more. We did not ask any UAW member to take a cut in their pay." Nonunion employees of GM spin-off Delphi lost their pensions. UAW members didn't.

The UAW got its political payoff. And GM, according to Forbes writer Louis Woodhill, is headed to bankruptcy again.

Is the Chevy Volt the New Corvair?

◼ The Chevy Volt has earned some criticism because of resentment against the General Motors bailout. But there's plenty of deserved criticism, too. - Yahoo

The Obama administration has poured millions into auto battery technology that gets no better mileage than the 1896 Roberts electric car. There's a chance, therefore, the Chevy Volt will join other failed cars of the past in the rust bin of auto history.

Aside from the $31,600 plus cost barrier, the lithium-ion batteries of the Chevy Volt have a tendency to blow up after impact, according to recent NHTSA crash tests.

◼ Gov't Motors offering loaner cars to worried Chevy Volt owners - USA Today

◼ 2nd electric car battery fire involving CHEVY VOLT... ^ - San Diego Union Tribune

◼ CHEVY VOLT CATCHES FIRE -- 3 WEEKS AFTER CRASH! ^ - Detroit Free Press

◼ 114-year-old electric car gets same mileage as Chevy Volt - The Daily Caller

◼ Chevy Volt Sparks Garage Fire 4/14/11 - WFSB