HELLO GENTLE READERS,

Today dawned crisp, bright and beautifully sunny. The trees have opened their Autumn Crayon box and are backdropping wispy Mare's Tail clouds scudding across a peaceful sky. I can look out of the window and see ten beautiful horses milling about the pasture. What a wonderful gift!

Do you know what my first full-awake thought was? We are out of milk and I'll have to drink my coffee black! Good Lord, have I no gratitude for this glorious moment? Aldous Huxley wrote, "Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted". I have all I need, and we have no milk. I need to work on this!

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

Roger Miller, a singer-songwriter of the sixties, said, "Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet". A dear friend of my says that we are either overcome by the storms of life or we are propelled forward by them.

The Polynesians of old would wait for a storm to provide the wind to propel their boats. They populated a vast portion of the South Pacific, as far west as Easter Island, entirely due to rainy weather.Here's to walking in the rain.

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

T.S. Eliot wrote, "People to whom nothing has ever happened  cannot understand the unimportance of events". The life of others often seems appealing to folks, it seems to me, because people often believe that the source of their happiness is tied to the events of their life. The events of their life seem to be worse than those of others. In fact, events are on the outside and problems are on the inside. Events always occur, but the same problems tend to recur. Problems cannot be solved by eliminating events because events cannot always be prevented. Almost all my problems are based on fear, insecurity, anger, resentment, low self-esteem and, yes, even happiness.

This is hoping that the events of your life are awesome and your problems few.

Tom Vickers

Hello Gentle Readers,

There is an old American proverb which states, "There is always free cheese in a mousetrap". It may be no accident that this adage is American. We have, throughout our brief history, bailed out industry after industry. We, the taxpayers, have "bought" the Railroad Industry four times, the Steel Industry once, portions of the Auto Industry once and now the Financial Industry, just to name a few. Of all of these, the latter galls me the most. This industry is supposed to be comprised of the "best and brightest". The "best and brightest" will not only cost me in taxes, but also in the reduced value of my portfolio. Have they no shame?

Industry gets the cheese, we get caught in the trap! Frodo failed...Bush got the ring!

Tom Vickers

We live on a horse farm with 22 horses and ponies, 6 dogs, 2 rabbits, 5 fish, 2 teenage boys and about 855 farm cats (at last count), not to mention the odd bear, deer, copperhead, raccoon and polecat.

The following is one anecdote from many true stories we hope to write. The names have been changed to protect the innocent and to avoid lawsuits. The cast of characters for these stories is as follows:

Anastasia- a "horny", 555 pound Blue Butt hog who took unattended walks, searching for her "man-pig".
Shiloh- a Heinz 57 mixed breed farm dog who escaped the evening before his scheduled neutering.
Shasta- a female puppy who was the reason for Shiloh's upcoming vet appointment. Jude- a transexual? hen/rooster known in her/his previous persona as Judy. Jude was assigned the female gender by the seller. Truth in advertising?
Josie- a heterosexual hen who died of fright.
Dagny- sadly, a suicidal goat.
Doozy- Dagny's twin sister whose proclivities included peeing on tavern floors.

It all started on Mother's Day when, upon returning from gift shopping with the family, we brought home a weedeater, lawnmower and a garbage disposal; in other words, 2 goats and a baby piglet. The goats, Dagney and Doozy, were tethered in the front yard and given their assigned task of mowing the lawn. A pen of pallets was built for "Annie" (Anastasia) in anticipation of her coming into season and becoming amorous. Jude/Judy started playing a game with Shiloh in which she/he would entice Shiloh to pull her/his tail. Josie was not into the tail-pulling game and when chased by Shiloh assumed "room-temperature". Deader than a fried mule was Josie. Dagney, not to be outdone by Josie, promptly hanged herself on her tether. Goat stew, was Dagney.

The stars of this story, Shiloh, the dog, and Doozy, the goat, became closer than nature ever intended, even sleeping together on the front porch. This pairing was never fully consummated, as far as we know, but, nevertheless, a sordid affair. Doozy, never the shy one, started escaping to the Tavern across the street. She would walk in, pee on the floor and then make her merry way back  home. A mahem of mixed-up, madcap, mildly-disfunctional, mixed-marriage of a modern menagarie.

Two weeks before his scheduled nuetering, Shiloh, the dog, eloped with Doozy, the "floor-peeing" goat. A "high-and-low" search ensued across the entire ridge! Calling upon Native American tracking skills, we were able to trace their movements. OK, OK! Actually, we asked the neighbors if the "odd-couple" had been seen. They had. Did they really think they could remain anonomous?

About three or four miles from home, Doozy and Shiloh committed the first felony of this spree. They were guilty of "Breaking and Entering" a neighbors home. The lady of the house was cooking dinner when out of the corner of her eye she spotted lifeforms not usually found in a kitchen. After recovering her composure, she fed the desperados. Shiloh dined on Cornish Game Hens while Doozy helped herself to the salad bowl generously laid at her feet. After their four-star dining, the lovebirds slinked off, never to be heard from again. In all fairness, we must attribue some canine loyalty to Shiloh. He did make one more cameo appearance the very night before his appointment with the Vet. We never quite knew if it was an attempt to rectify his behavior or just a final farewell. He left that night to return to his love.

We check the mailbox daily hoping against hope for some word from our missing four-legged family members.

More animal stories to follow.

Tom Vickers and LaVerna Huey

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

There is an old Jewish expression, Make a plan, give God a laugh. Adages such as this have become part of our language for a reason. Yesterday was a day of which axioms are built.

The boys, ages 13 and 15, had been promised a day boating and fishing on the Ohio River. They are home-schooled so, scheduling events in not all that incovenient.

Yesterday dawned blue and clear, mild and sunny and the clouds had all been chased away by our dreams of of pleasant sailing. The boat was packed with fishing gear, safety equipment and enough munchies to feed Peru for a week. Off we rolled to the Marina.

"What no bait," we inquired? "Yeah, they haven't delivered today," said the clerk at the BP Station. "Of any kind," we asked? "Mealworms only," he answered. Well, we can't allow mealworms on the boat, you see. LaVerna refuses to use anything for bait that has eyes. Ok, blind artificial lures and a beautiful day on the river. Not too shabby, really.

Into the water we go. The boat, which was manufactured before The Beatles broke up, started without a hitch. The heads had just been rebuilt and the motor pronounced seaworthy. Our favorite mechanic's nephew made this pronouncement. BEWARE the pronouncements of Mr. Tippet's nephew. Our intuition, ultimately proven right, led us upriver. You can always float downriver back to your starting point, should something go amiss. You can't float upriver. It's a gravitational "thing". Upriver we chugged. Maybe two miles. The motor started smoking more than a Hippie at Woodstock! Rats!! Ok, gravity, your're up to bat. Damned nephews, anyway! Boaters are generally a friendly lot. We got a tow back to the Marina, put the diseased boat back on the trailer and headed home.

Is this story finished, Gentle Reader? Oh no, not by a long shot! To make a long story "endless" (Gotcha'! You thought I was going to say make a long story short, didn't you?), we decided to park the boat at home and go to a nearby lake fishing. So, take that you evil motorboat gods! We finally found some nightcrawlers, transferred the munchies to the truck and headed to the lake. Wet lines, flavored water, lively worms, sodium, sugar, corn syrup and yellow dye #4 were to be our guides for the day. Uh-huh, so we thought.

"I'VE GOT ONE," shouted John-John! "IT'S A BIG ONE , I THINK," he announced to half of Cabell County! "HOLY SHIT, IT'S A FUCKIN' SNAKE," he cussed. John, such language! "HOLY SHIT, IT IS A FUCKIN" SNAKE," I agreed! Not a water snake or a garter snake but, a COPPERHEAD! No lie! He caught a freakin' copperhead on a nightcrawler!

We cut the line and I held the end with the snake attached while LaVerna tried to call the Dept. of Natural Resources for guidance. With today's laws, it pays to be sure which animals to destroy. A copperhead on a leash. God, I hate snakes. They're not finished; no eyelids, limbs or personalities. What was God thinking? DNR told us to back off, leave the snake to nature and choose our next fishing spot with extra care. No Shit!

A lazy day on the river.

Tom Vickers and LaVerna Huey

stick em up

Copyright Law: 12 Dos and Don’ts - Click the title link and find 12 Do’s and Dont’s that will clarify what you can and what you can not do as an online publisher.

As the blogging phenomenon expands, copyright concerns become quite important. Technology makes it really easy to copy, modify and share information, whether we talk about text, images, audio or video. The problem is that the vast majority of people do not have a clear understanding of the Copyright Law, which might result in illegal and costly mistakes.

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Creative Commons licenses provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators.

Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. Creative Commons defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright — all rights reserved — and the public domain — no rights reserved.

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This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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MyFreeCopyright.com - protection for Literary Works Visual Arts Performing Arts Sound Recordings

How does the MyFreeCopyright process work? Registering with My Free Copyright is instant and can be proven in a court of law. MyFreeCopyright provides a third-party, non-repudiation, registered dating of your original digital creation. By using this service, you publicly associate your digital copyright and defined rights to you.

So, how does MyFreeCopyright date register my copyright? Every digital file has a unique makeup of bits and bytes which is its fingerprint. MyFreeCopyright captures your original creation's fingerprint, stores the fingerprint in a database and sends a copy of the fingerprint to you in an email. The email contains the verified date; the fingerprint verifies the digital creation, and your email address verifies it belongs to you. (NOTE: You must keep the email with this fingerprint. This email is your date registered copyright proof and protection for your copyright.)

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MyFreeCopyright stores the fingerprint as well, which allows you and others to return to this service and verify the copyright.

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creators.icopyright.com - protection for Literary Works Visual Arts Performing Arts Sound Recordings

If you care enough about your content to add a copyright notice to it, then an iCopyright ©reator tag is for you. ©reator tags are like domain names and email addresses, they are one-of-a-kind. Your tag will resolve to a unique webpage that displays your rights and permissions. Simply affix your personalized interactive ©reator tag to your works, whether they are published online or offline, to preserve your copyrights, promote your reputation, track who is using your works, and extend licenses and permissions to those who wish to use your works. Your works will never be orphans if they have a ©reator tag.

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Your FREE ©reator tag enhances the traditional copyright notice. It serves as a virtual rights manager. Wherever your content goes, your personalized ©reator tag goes with it, communicating that the content belongs to you. It provides three powerful benefits that a traditional copyright notice alone does not provide: rights, reach and revenue.

Related posts found in this blog:
Content theft: The come and get it solution
Splog Off! Dealing with content theft
SplogSpot: Dealing with content thieves
Copyright: Fair Use Limitations
What is copyright?

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Is the act of sexual congress funny, or what? In, out, repeat if necessary, goes an old joke. All lifeforms are at a very vulnerable state when engaging in procreational activities. The very act of creating new life often ends it for the creators. Flowers die, prey animals often are so distracted that they end up on the value menu, predators, at great peril, continually have to fight for dominance and even the lowly amoeba, when dividing, can expose itself to danger. All life pays a price. Of course there are exceptions to this vulnerability. My soon-to-be ex-wife, for example, could tell me the ceiling needed painting while engaged in sex. No vulnerabilty there, huh?

Humans are no exception. Why do we pay such a dear price for sex. Many studies have been done on the subject and, guess what? It feels good, dammit. Yeah, sometimes we do it to start a family but, I wonder how eager we would be if the sex act were painful instead of providing pleasure? I can just hear it now; "God, what an awful night. The wife and I want to start a family but, I just didn't realize what a toll it would take on me to engage in sex!"

The sex drive is one of the strongest forces on earth. Humans give up safety, money, position, relationships and many other advantages for a thirty second orgasm. Tell me God has no sense of humor!

Yeah, it's true. Men have nipples too.

Tom Vickers

My girlfriend raises, trains and boards horses. A little time around horses and one realizes that civilization was literaly built on their back and why this partnership is so important to modern man. Even Hollywood was built on the back of a horse.

I came into this relationship ignorant of the wonder and mystique of these wonderful creatures. I didn't know a wither from a hock, a star from a blaze or a filly from a mare. I do, however, know a little bit about people. This post is really not about horses. Actually it kinda' is in that it's about a horse's ass.

Toby was a 28-year old Saddle Bred. He came to be boarded about a month ago. Toby was in very poor condition and no amount of TLC could bring him back to vigor. This horse was in the latter stages of his earthly existance. Toby had changed the direction of a young man's life, maybe even saving it. Toby's owner, heretofore known as the Horse's Ass, even admitted that Toby had "saved" her son. A four-legged angel was Toby.

Yesterday morning Toby went down to the ground and could not get himself up. No amount of coaxing, tugging or lifting would bring him back on all fours. The owner and a Vet was called and it took the owner several hours to make a thirty minute drive to the farm. Only the owner could make the decision to ease Toby's earthly burden. He was in pain so, pain medicine was administered and the waiting begain. We comforted him as best we could.

When the owner and Vet showed up a decision was made to ease Toby out of this world. I assisted the Vet while my sweetie spoke to Toby in Cherokee fashion. The owner stood in a separate field and watched. She didn't comfort her son's savior nor, did she excuse herself from the task. I would have understood if she couldn't witness the event. I would have understood if she had comforted the horse. It's the in-between stance I dont get. She stood where the horse could notice her. It would be like pulling the plug on Auntie Sally. If you can't bear to watch, that's OK. If you need to be beside her and hold her hand, that's OK. For God's sake don't stand in the doorway and do neither. Lead, follow or get out of the way please!

Some people have difficult horses. Some horses have difficult people.

Tom Vickers

In an ill-spent youth, I used to hang out a lot in bars and taverns. One of these was Ma'Ha's Short Snorter. Ma'Ha's was not your mahogany-paneled, brass-railed, Manhatten Ice Tea type of establishment. Ma'Ha's was a red-eye whiskey, Stroh's Bohemian Style Beer kinda' place. Cheers it was not, nor, did it wish to be. It was one of those places where "everybody forgot your name", assuming they knew it in the first place. It was very entertaining, though. It was like belonging to a "Fight of the Night" club. But, I met some very interesting people there and, that's the subject of this post.

One of those folks was Sally. Sally was a Caterer by trade. She "catered" to the sexual desires of all who had the itch and the jingle with which to scratch. I met her when she sidled up to me at the bar and said, "Mister, for fifty dollars I'll do anything you want"! So, I asked her to paint my house. She threw back her head and laughed, filling Ma'Ha's  with that rich, whisky-stained voice. She allowed as how she'd never been asked to do anything quite that kinky but, maybe I'd buy her a drink while she thought it over. I did. She declined.

Sally had lost her left leg in an automobile accident and wasn't the least bit self-conscious about it. It never seemed to hurt her trade either. This was one happy hooker. I got to know Sally (not as a customer) and she makes my top 25 list of people to admire. She accepted life as it was presented to her. Was her choice of occupation unfortunate? I don't know. All cultures put value on a woman's sexuality. We seem to get queasy, though, when that value is expressed in money. She was not the "whore with a heart of gold", she was just another person providing for her family. Quite well, thank you.

God bless you, Sally.

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

Any of you guys raised on guilt? My parents were survivors of The Great Depression, WWII and the Cold War. How many times did I hear, "Tom, you didn't finish your green peas. Children in Asia are starving!" My offering to airmail green peas to Asia was not met with much amusement, but I often overestimated their sense of humor. "Tom, you can't use that old shirt as a rag. Somebody can still get good use out of it," I've heard a time or two. Yes, healthy or not, I do respond to feelings of guilt.

My old Ford Pick-Up was just about eligible for Social Security, so I recently bought a new vehicle. It's a GMC Envoy with the Denali package: V-8, 4x4, heated leather seats, wood dashboard, adjustable pedals, power everything, Bose sound system and came complete with a combined 15 MPG EPA rating. I know, I know! It's an expensive truck and gas prices are outrageous, fossil fuels in limited supply and the planet is reportedly heating up. What in the hell are you thinking, Tom? I can hear Mom now, "You could have bought four Dodge Neons for the same price and saved over $1,200.00 a year in gas!"

I no longer argue with my Mom. She's 85 years old, and as far as I'm concerned, she is allowed to speak her mind. She's earned that right. The thing is, I no longer have to argue with her. I can carry both sides of the arguement in my own head.

I bought a GMC Denali! By God, I'm going to enjoy it! Uh, sorry Mom. I really didn't mean that. Ok, Ok. I'll pray for forgiveness!

Can you keep a secret? It's a really cool machine, but don't tell my Mom.

Tom Vickers

Please make a note of the brand new blog address:

http://scottelee.co.cc/blog/

It is called Shirt & Shoes

I have just read A Radical Solution to Blog Content Piracy and I'm mulling over what I read.  Below is an excerpt but please click through to read the whole post.

Two big blogs, maybe more, have adopted a radical approach to copyright. You are absolutely free to copy, paste, steal, modify, and otherwise manipulate whatever you find at the wildly popular Zen Habits and The Simple Dollar. The content on both blogs is public domain.

This decision by  two notable bloggers, who have decided to "give it all away",  is one that is a 360 degree turn about from my current policy posted on my Copyright & Disclaimer page which states:

"All content in this blog created by the blog owner is the property of the blog owner and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws and cannot be stored on any retrieval system, reproduced, reposted, displayed, modified or transmitted in any form, electronic or otherwise without written permission of the copyright owner except as noted below.

A brief excerpt of content (up to 25 words) may be quoted as long as a link is provided back to the source page on this blog."

Part of that consideration is that my policy reflects how I treat the writing of other bloggers. If I were to change my policy how would I view those who do maintain the position that I currently take?

Conclusion: I'm not ready to change my policy at this time but I do want to know what my readers think.

Discussion questions:

1. Do you get paid to blog?
2. What is your current copyright policy?
3. Would you consider introducing a come and get it policy?

Related posts found in this blog:
Splog Off! Dealing with content theft
SplogSpot: Dealing with content thieves
Copyright: Fair Use Limitations
What to do about copyright
What is copyright?

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HELLO GENTLE READERS,

I can't think of anything else to write so here are some random thoughts and quotes:

1. Income tax forms are the greatest fiction being written today! (Herman  Wouk)
2. The trouble with winning the rat race is that even the winner is a rat! (Lily Tomlin)
3. It is my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtures! (Abraham Lincoln)
4. If you want a place in the sun, be willing to put up with a few blisters! (Abigal Van Buren)
5. If you are reluctant to ask the way, you will soon be lost! (Malay Proverb)
6. Propaganda is the art of persuading others what you don't believe yourself! (Abba Eban)
7. Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor! (Truman Capote)
8. Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example! (Mark Twain)
9. Trust in God, but tie your camel! (Persian Proverb)
10. Some folks think they are thinking when they are only rearranging their prejudices! (Anonymous)
11. You have freedom when you're easy in your harness! (Robert Frost)
12. Think twice before you think, especially if you're going to say what you think! (Anonymous)

I hope you have enjoyed this hodgepodge. Feel free to comment, add to the list or complain about my lazy writing.

Tom Vickers

We are said to be truly doing good when we do not notice we are doing so. When we forget about ourselves, and live for the interests of others. Is this so? I'm not sure. The prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of animals, asks us to, "To love rather than be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds". I'm not sure I totally buy this concept though, perhaps I'm just not as spiritually aware as I could be. I tend to believe that the reward for doing good is the positive emotion I feel when I do so. Almost a "Pavlov's dog" reaction, if you like. Nevertheless, I believe that doing for others, regardless of the motive, makes for a better life and a better world.

Often I've heard people ask, "why is there evil in the world?" Is evil an entity unto itself? Is there such a thing as "pure evil"? I don't know. Perhaps evil comes within us. I know that many believe that evil exists outside of human thought and behavior; such as Satan, the boogeymen and a host of supposedly bad entities. Maybe they're right. I happen to think, for the most part, that evil exists in the human heart. It, like goodness, is probably a choice we make.

People often, when angry, depressed or irritated, revel in their state. It reminds me of a person sitting on a horse galloping down a steep hill; instead of trying to stop the horse, he lets go the reins and whips the horse to make it go faster. When evil gets on a roll, it grows. The inverse is also true. When "good" gets momentum it accelerates.

In any event, I can only live in this very moment. Time, outside of this instant, does not exist. In this very moment in which I'm living, I will choose "good"! How about you?

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

The Talmud says, "If one word is worth a coin, then silence is worth two. If silence sits well with those who are clever, then it should sit even better with those who are stupid". Nothing supports idleness so much as empty talk. Two things can reveal faulty thinking: to be silent when you should speak, or to speak when you should be silent. To paraphrase Mark Twain, "I can be silent and be thought a fool, or I can open my mouth and remove all doubt". Count Leo Tolstoy advises us, "Words are great things. You can unite people, or separate them. You can create love or animosity". Both great loves and great wars are created by words. In an arguement, truth is almost always the loser.

I rarely get in trouble by keeping my mouth shut. I often do by speaking.

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

I grew up in a household where we went to church almost every Sunday. My dad was the Sunday School teacher for the adult class at our local Methodist Church. We were not Holy-Rollers or hard-core "believe as I do or you'll go to Hell" folks. It's just what people did on Sundays.

At the age of twelve or so, I started having serious doubts about what I was hearing on Sundays. Why would a God who loved me so much ever allow me to go to Hell? Why would God even allow a place of eternal damnation to exist? Why would God give mankind "free will" then place a "Tree of Knowledge" in the Garden as a temptation? If this knowledge was so dangerous, then why expose mankind to it? God made sure that Adam had dominion over the carniverous animals. The lions didn't eat him, did they? It seems very inconsistant to me. My experience with people is that, something denied becomes very attractive. Tell me I can't do something and I'll be more than a little tempted to do it.

I just don't understand this God at all. Being omnipetent, he should have forseen the consequences of HIS actions. Religious people always answer that, "God has a plan!" I think a little better planning is in order.

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

A wise man was once asked, "What is the most important moment in a person's life?" He answered, "The present moment, because you are master of your life only in the present!" St. Francis of Assisi tells us that our actions in this particular moment belong to us. What will become of them belongs to God.

The Talmud says, "You are a day laborer. You should work every day, and be paid every day."

Obviously, I must plan for the future. That's why I have a refrigerator. I don't want to spend a part of every day at the grocery store. Obviously, I must deal with the past. That's why I have voice mail. But, the amount of time I have wasted on the past and the future staggers me. These are moments forever lost. Children are masters of "the moment". They, like dogs, live only for the here and now.

If I take stock of this very moment in time, I have everything I need. Apparently, I always have, else, I wouldn't be here.

My well-spent moments today are my happy yesterdays and happy tomorrows!

Tom Vickers

HELLO GENTLE READERS,

Of wealth and poverty, which is the greater burden? Count Leo Tolstoy wrote, "Enormous wealth is a sin, because for every rich person there are hundreds in poverty". Jesus said, "It is harder for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than to enter the Kingdom of God". He also said, "How you treat the least of these, you treat me also".

I have spent periods of my life in both conditions. With much more than I needed and with less than enough. I am now somewhere in between. Money makes for convenience but, I can honestly say that my level of happiness was not really much different in each of these conditions. In Sub-Saharan Africa, many people live on less than $500.00 U.S. per year. They still live their lives, raise children, laugh and cry just as T. Boone Pickins or Bill Gates do. It is reported that they don't spend much time thinking about money. The average American's thoughts are dominated by either money or sex. This is not my opinion but, a reported study.

I try to help others, on a small scale, with my money but, I'm not sure it is because of my morals or intention of altruism. More likely, it is my feelings of guilt. Charity can be helpful, useless or even harmful but, never moral. The very need for charity in itself shows us the immoral existance of human suffering of which I can never separate myself.

Jean-Jacques wrote, "The selfishness of rich people is not as cruel as their lack of compassion".

Tom Vickers

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The first point of courtesy must be the truth." If my friends and family won't tell me the truth, who will? If asked what I think, can I tell the truth without fear of hurting their feelings or fear of hurting the relationship? Do I risk living a lie, or do I seek clarity and honest communication in my relationships? Can I really believe that witholding the truth to protect someone's feelings is doing them, or me, any favor? No!

Excessive consideration which slays the truth is inconsiderate.

Tom Vickers

"My inclination is to support it, because I think Main Street is now at stake," he told Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer. He added, though, "I'm not happy about it."

"This [crisis] could affect every sector of the economy. If the credit crisis continues or worsens, then suddenly small business people can't make their payroll. You have large businesses who can't sell corporate debt, which could bring the entire economy to a grinding halt."

Obama was pleased that, at first reports, his basic goals for the package were included: "The issue of making sure that we had strong oversight; the insistence that taxpayers share in the gains (if there are any) when the market recovers; the insistence that homeowners get additional relief so that there's some reciprocity - if in fact we're bailing out or helping banks, they in turn have to help rework mortgages for people who are potentially facing foreclosure; and the final thing, the issue of executive compensation, making sure that taxpayer money is not going to pad bonuses or golden parachutes.

"It appears that those principles have all been incorporated into the core agreement. And I'm going to be reviewing the language over the next day to make sure that those provisions actually stick."

But beyond the bailout (which has reportedly been agreed to by Congressional leaders), Obama focused on how the U.S. economy came to the point of a president sounding the alarm that a catastrophe was in the offing if drastic action wasn't taken immediately. "We have to remember how we got here, not so much to allocate blame as to understand the choices that are going to face the next president. Unless we update our 20th century regulatory framework for a 21st century global financial system, then we're going to continue to be vulnerable to this kind of situation, and I think the next president has to come in with a very strong package of reforms."

Obama said fighting off lobbyists and special interests was key, as is recognizing that the fundamentals of our economy are not strong - which he suggested his opponent, Republican John McCain, has not recognized.

"Some of the root causes of this crisis have to do with the day-to-day struggles that ordinary people are going through," he said, "with flat wages and incomes but constantly increasing costs.

That puts pressure on them to take out more debt, to use home equity loans, to try to refinance. It created an environment in which this kind of crisis potentially could occur.

"We should have never gotten into this place in the first place. And I think this is a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policy."

Obama noted that the dire predictions of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and President Bush set the stage for a week of high drama that, he said, shouldn't have ever happened. "Think about it. I mean, we had the largest bank failure in our history, and it wasn't even the major news that day!"

"You agree with the president's assessment that it's as serious as he said it was?" Schieffer asked.

"I agree that this is probably the most serious financial crisis we've faced since the Great Depression," Obama said. "And what we can't do is do nothing. What I absolutely insist on, though, is that the same sense of urgency that we have about Wall Street, we have about folks on Main Street who have been struggling for a long time."

Obama said more serious regulations are required. "We have to set up some rules of the road, some regulations that work to keep the system solvent, and prevent Wall Street from taking enormous risks with other people's money, figuring that, 'Tails I win, heads you lose,' where they don't have any risk on the downside.

"But the second thing that we have to learn is that, if you think about how this all started, subprime lending, you've got homeowners who ultimately could not make payments on their homes, and that's an indication of the degree to which family budgets have been under huge stress for years now, and we haven't been paying much attention about it because the theory has been, 'Well, as long as those at the top are doing well, prosperity somehow is going to trickle down.'"

In response to Thursday's meeting at the White House, attended by both Obama and McCain, at which the tentative brokered agreement was upset by House Republicans, prompting further tense negotiations, Schieffer asked Obama if McCain should get any credit for helping to get the bailout package settled.

"No," Obama said. "Look, here are the facts: For two weeks, I was on the phone every day with Secretary Paulson and the congressional leaders, making sure that the principles that have ultimately been adopted were incorporated into the bill. None [of the amendments in the package] were in the president's provision. They are identical to the things I called for the day that Secretary Paulson released his package. That, I think, is an indication of the degree to which, when it comes to protecting taxpayers, I was pushing very hard and involved in shaping those provisions.

"But understand this: The important thing here is making sure that we don't have a photo op session, because this is serious. We should not have been here in the first place. And, you know, I think the critical debate that we're going to have to have between myself and Senator McCain moving forward is, how do we prevent this kind of thing from happening again?"

In addition to the bailout, Obama discussed Friday's debate, where McCain accused Obama of "not understanding" something.

"The interesting thing is, he kept on asserting I didn't understand, but beyond saying the line never indicated what exactly I didn't understand. It's true I don't understand Senator McCain's positions on a whole host of issues, because given how the Bush administration has created an extraordinary crisis in the economy and considering that we remain bogged down in Iraq, al Qaeda is resurgent, Iran is developing nuclear weapons, that our foreign policy is if not in a shambles, then certainly in a place that I think anybody is comfortable with - given those facts, what I don't understand is that Senator McCain continues to promote them."

"I'm old and coming up to retirement," says Jeff Ramer, 64, an attorney who has lived more than half his life in this affluent community. "I'm concerned that the money we put aside for retirement has taken a great hit."

Through the years he has voted for more Republicans than Democrats, he says. But the financial crisis roiling Wall Street has solidified his desire for political change — and his support for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. "It has a bearing for me," Ramer says of the economy.

The meltdown that has caused investment firms to fall, stocks to plunge and the credit markets to slow to a virtual standstill has made the economy the primary concern for many Americans as they prepare to select a new president in barely four weeks.

The tremors on Wall Street and fallout from the $700 billion rescue plan President Bush signed into law last week are felt acutely in this state. It is home to numerous hedge funds, Fortune 500 companies and residents who work in finance and related industries on Wall Street and elsewhere.

Connecticut draws 45% of its income tax revenue from Fairfield County, a finance center next door to New York. Greenwich alone, tucked in the county's southern end, paid more than $598 million in state income taxes in 2006, 12.7% of the statewide total, according to the governor's office.

Though the state has more unaffiliated voters than those who declare themselves Republican or Democrat, polls show Connecticut solidly in Obama's column. In a SurveyUSA poll taken Sept. 24-25 for New York's WABC-TV, 54% of those questioned support Obama, and 38% prefer Republican John McCain.

"The impact of the financial situation here is probably similar to that around the nation," says Ken Dautrich, public policy professor at the University of Connecticut. "(Voters) want change, which of course benefits Obama more than it does McCain."

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, supports McCain. That endorsement has done little to help McCain, Dautrich says.

"I think the feeling is that Lieberman has crossed the line," he says. "He's not looking very independent, so we've seen his popularity drop through the floor as a result of his outright endorsement and speech at the Republican Convention."

The head of Connecticut's Republican Party says the financial crisis may help McCain here by contrasting his economic philosophy with Obama's.

"McCain understands the free market," says Chris Healy, the state party's chairman. "He understands the role government plays in it. He understands the punishing role taxes play in it in tough times. … Is there enough time to make that case? Yes. I think McCain will make it."

Along Greenwich Avenue, known to Greenwich residents simply as "The Avenue," a glistening array of Jaguars and Mercedes Benzes is parked a diamond's toss from the Bentley dealership and other high-end retailers downtown.

Some who work in local shops say business has slowed. Jose Candray, manager of Village Bagels, says tips are smaller and customers are buying their own cream cheese rather than paying a little more to have deli employees layer it on.

Several Greenwich residents say they're not impressed by how either political party handled the partisan tussling over the economic recovery package.

"Both lousy," says Tom Mahr, 50, an investment banker who lives and works in Greenwich.

It didn't make him change his mind about probably voting for McCain in November.

"I'm a believer that less taxes for everybody is good as opposed to less taxes for some," says Mahr, explaining why he prefers McCain. "We run a small company with 40 people worldwide. If taxes go up, it's hard for us."

Ramer says he believes in the free market system, but "I favor the idea of using public money" to promote stability.

Others say the economy is only one issue guiding their decision.

"In the beginning, I thought McCain was a decent sort of candidate in that it wouldn't matter enormously if he won," says Jane Pattison, 71, whose support of Obama has become even more solid in the wake of the turmoil on Wall Street. "I thought they were both good men.

"But lately I've seen great flaws in (McCain): instability, an erratic nature and, of course, the most important thing was his selection of a vice presidential candidate," Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Bob Jermain, an investment banker, also remains an Obama supporter. His lifestyle has changed because of the country's fiscal troubles. "My kids don't need 20 sweaters," says Jermain, 49. "We all bought way more than we needed because we could. Capitalism gone wild."