In less spectacular news, the Dow is down again after it had bounced back from it’s low point week or so ago. Now at 12,265.13 down some 370.03 points which is a 2.93% drop, biggest all year although not the lowest level it has seen.

Stocks tanked Tuesday, after a report showing a big slowdown in the services sector of the economy and cautionary comments from a Fed official amplified fears that a recession is underway or imminent.

…The speed of the retreat added to investor jitters, said Peter Dunay, investment strategist at Leeb Capital Management. “If we lost that much over three weeks, investors would have seen it as a period of consolidation, but to drop 370 points in a day is really rattling.”

OK, maybe that is a spectacular drop. Not good, economy is in a recession IMHO, mine anyway. OK, reading more here. I’m not the only one who feels that way. I feel better already. Putting it in perspective as to how far it has fallen.

Even if the stock market is near its low point, though, it has a lot of ground to recover. The Dow is down more than 13 percent since its Oct. 9 record settlement of 14,164.53. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 — the measure most watched by market professionals — is down 8.9 percent for the year, the worst year-to-date performance for the index ever. The S&P 500 has fallen 14.6 percent from its Oct. 9 high.

Alas, the high was nice while it lasted. Looking on the bright side of things, Apple upped the memory in the iPhone and iPod touch or at least is selling a model with more memory but for more bucks. Appealing but I can’t afford one so I’ll just have to make do. Wonder how many others will have to pass on Apple’s latest tech toys cause the economy sucks.

All those Primaries on one day. I voted early, good thing as there were quite a few people there. Usually, there’s barely one or two when I vote. Workers said turnout was high. I can only imagine what it will be after work gets out for most people.

Now if only my vote counts. Arizona is McCain territory and my lone vote for Mitt Romney might not mean very much. I’m sure there are the “anybody but McCain” voters out there but they’ll split the vote between Romney and Huckabee and that will ensure a McCain victory unfortunately.

What’s worse is the prospects for November as I doubt there will be much of a choice. McCain vs Hillary, ewww.

Tummy goodness for your pleasure this sunny, finally, Tuesday. Thankies to Lisa Violet for this fine meme. We have Cece tummy.

And, natch, Meowza tummy. These boys are so discreet.

Other fine and fun catting: BKCFoC CotC ARK WCB

It really would be nice if I could watch a show without interruption. Last night it was Bazel who decided to sit in the middle of the sofa, not his usual spot. I sat beside him.

Usually, when a cat is on my stomach, he might get his claws caught in the fabric of my clothing. Well, Bazel, not on my stomach, got his caught in my flesh. On purpose I might add. I extricated his claw from my arm before he decided to do it. I really didn’t want a gash down my arm. As that was his third try, the first two being down my back, I took the hint and got up and turned the TV off. And left the room.

I didn’t think he just wanted to give me a massage.