All you seem to hear about now is RECESSION RECESSION RECESSION RECESSION RECESSION RECESSION RECESSION.

I don't think people understand the definition of that word. A recession can only occur when the GDP is NEGATIVE for SIX consecutive months. Minimum. The GDP has not been NEGATIVE at all. Zero months.

How exactly are we in a recession? Umm, we're not. We may not be booming, but the GDP is still positive.

The power went out no fewer than 6 times this morning at our house. I'm not sure exactly why either. Sure, it's windy, but what does that have to do with anything? It's not like we lost power for a long time, it's just on and off. Just long enough to reset the clocks and the TiVo's. That is, just long enough to be annoying.

Thankfully we realized it and were able to get up on time.

For the second time, Hillary Clinton has defied her national committees rules to not campaign in a state. The reason for the rules? The states disobeyed party rules and moved the date of a primary. That means that those states forfeited their delegates at the national convention.

Well, that didn't stop Hillary from campaigning there anyway. She is so desperate to win, that she's willing to do whatever it takes -- including breaking the rules. She was the only major candidate listed on the Michigan primary, and she still didn't win convincingly. She is the only one to campaign in Florida. She's desperate. She can feel the power slipping through her fingers and she'll do anything to grasp at it for one more day.

At least this time the media has caught on to her ploy and rightfully states that it's a meaningless "victory" because she gets no delegates out of it and is thus no closer to being the nominee. I hope that it's exactly the opposite in fact, and that she gets punished for not following her party's rules. I think we all know that they're too spineless to do that though.

A paper in New Hampshire rips her a new one over it too. A direct quote follows: "Courting votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, last August Sen. Hillary Clinton signed a pledge not to "campaign or participate" in the Michigan or Florida Democratic primaries. She participated in both primaries and is campaigning in Florida. Which proves, again, that Hillary Clinton is a liar."

Harsh words. Also, true and completely fair. She lied. She broke her pledge. I think we should all be used to that by now though...

Lindsay and I went to a class tonight called "The Marriage Course." It's all about showing how you can both evaluate your own and your spouses abilities in areas like communication. The intention is to show you what your needs are and what your spouses needs are. It's basically like pre-marital counseling, but after the fact.

We weren't very enthralled with our own pre-marital counseling... we felt like we didn't get anything out of it, because we had already talked about everything that was discussed before we even went. I suppose that's a good sign, but still, we wanted something a little more in depth. Maybe something that would challenge us.

After all, we're committed that we only get married once. Through thick and thin we've got to make it work. If we can build that strong foundation now, we'll be far better off down the road.

It's becoming more and more obvious to people that the only way that the United States can get out of this poor fiscal situation is for the government and the people to follow one simple rule. That rule is: if you don't have the money then don't spend it.

Can't pay for social security? Then how the freak are you going to pay for "universal" health care? We have no money! The government is not responsible for our well-being. We don't need big brother to be our nanny.

Hey consumers, y can't afford to drive that new car? Then stop buying HD TVs with your credit cards!

It's so simple that it's ridiculous. The government has bankrupted this country and now we're reaping the problems of that. The dollar is in the tank, and as a result have driven energy prices through the roof. That rolls down and drives the prices of everything else up, hence inflation. The more debt we roll up, the less the dollar is worth.

What's the solution? STOP SPENDING SO MUCH FREAKING MONEY!

Cut governmental spending in half. Right across the board. Spending is our biggest problem, not revenue. Raising taxes doesn't work. All that does is allow the government to spend more money. Outlaw attaching spending bill riders to other bills. Use the line item veto for goodness sake. Use that thing to crush pork barrel spending. While you're at it, install term limits. Get rid of lobbying groups. Put spending caps on how much a candidate can spend in order to get elected. Give people the ability to manage their own retirement, and if they screw it up, too bad! I don't want to pay into social security. I'm never going to see a dime from it, but I pay 6% of my salary into it. Give me that 6% and let me manage it myself.

We don't have much time to fix this problem, and guess what? Giving tax payers $800 each is not the answer. All that does is increase debt. The $800 we get today will cost us $20,000 by the time we pay it back with interest.

We need a constitutional amendment that requires a balanced budget every year. We HAVE to pay down the debt. We can't even worry about future generations, because this problem is effecting ALL generations. Right now.

Every day there is more and more talk of this problem.

Dealing with a declining dollar
Juicing the economy will come at a cost

Could it just possibly be that I'm not alone in my opinion of the Clintons and their willingness to say anything to get elected?

This article in the Baltimore Sun talks about the very same thing... except this time it's Obama making that claim.

Obama was again charging that Clinton and her husband have been duplicitous in campaign trail attacks on his record, suggesting that the Clintons have shown a willingness to “fudge the truth” and will “say anything to get a political or tactical advantage.”

Maybe the tide will finally turn and the people will wake up. Or maybe not. It really depends, unfortunately, on how the media spins this. Anymore, voting for president isn't about the people, it's about who spends the most and who the media wants to win.

Israel has been hit in recent years by thousands and thousands of rockets, mortar shells, and missiles. And that could be just a preview of the onslaught Iran may one day unleash. So Israeli military leaders have begun early planning for a new, robotic defense system, armed with enough artificial intelligence that it "could take over completely" from flesh-and-blood operators. "It will be designed for... autonomous operations,' Brig. Gen. Daniel Milo, commander of Israel's air defense forces, tells Defense News' Barbara Opall-Rome.

How can anyone possibly think that this is a good idea? Didn't I just read about South African massacre after a robotic machine gun screwed up and killed everyone? What happens when this automated missile defense system screws up and thinks those passenger planes are missiles?

Come on people! This is not good... watch War Games or Terminator or something. You're building stuff that will one day turn around and blast you because you can't turn it off.

It's a bad time -- a really bad time -- to be invested in the stock market. Especially so when you're acting logically and the rest of the world is way off the deep end.

Beat analyst estimates on earnings? I think that's a good sign. The market on the other hand thinks that's such a horrible sign that they've taken off $12 per share already, and the market has been open for 1 minute.

It's a freaking blood bath out there and there's unfortunately no end in sight. When will people start using their brains and stop panicking? Apparently never.

I saw Cloverfield yesterday. If you don't want spoilers then stop reading. Quickly.

It's part horror movie, part monster movie, and has the feel of a documentary.

Here's the brief summary: the monster destroys everything and everyone dies.

Here's the less brief summary: the monster destroys big stuff (Brooklyn Bridge, Woolworth Building, etc), while also dropping little monsters that cause people to explode in a most gruesome manner mere hours after being bitten by said little monsters.

It was good, but not really the kind of movie I'd like to see again. It did manage to pull off the feeling of urgency and fear that I imagine one would really be feeling when lots of crap was going down. There was some well timed comic relief thrown in. Also, there were brief respites in the frantic camera work that allowed your eyes to refocus. I'd recommend sitting in the back of the theater so as to combat the motion sickness you'd surely feel while watching this.

Did anyone survive at the end? Maybe. Probably not. I don't really know. Did the monster survive? Probably, though at the very end of the movie (after the credits) it appears that it definitely did.

I had no trouble following the movie and how it was shot "over" previous footage, but apparently there are a lot of idiots out there on the internet that couldn't grasp the whole concept.

Kids don't like clowns. It's a scientifically proven fact. Also, I don't like clowns. They're creepy looking. Apparently I'm not alone. The study shows that kids, teens, and adults generally dislike clowns.

I have conducted my own study on the matter and have come to the conclusion that, in fact, no one likes clowns, so... if you're a clown, I'm sorry, but no one likes you.