simonzelotes

I don't know if forgiveness is the issue,but the guys mentioned above seem to only have the commonality that their followers thought they were following a man of God...A guy who does fake,staged miracles,throws prayer requests in the garbage,etc. obviously doesn't drink his own snake oil...He's not a sinful preacher,he's an imposter...A man who believes in what he's preaching,but succumbs to weakness or misuses and abuses his "calling" is a whole other matter...Sort of like the difference between a crooked cop and a civilian simply posing as a cop to screw people over....

I wonder if they really said "Thar she blows!" :blink:

Shipper,you're one of the select few who can call me a jerk,...and I take it as a compliment(Bill Mays).....

Well,Tuttle and John,...we just may do that when we head out on our Take-a-Stand-Get-a-Tan-Have-no-Plan-Stay-out-of-Iran-Caravan....

Shiver me timbers!...I've met LindaZ,...and even though she writes succinctly,she really talks like a pirate all the time....

Holy cow!...The Dodgers tied up their game with the Padres in the bottom of the 9th with back-to-back-to-back-to-back(four straight) homers and then won it in the 10th on a two run homer by Nomah after the Padres went ahead by one in the top of the tenth....Those Dodger fans that leave sex and ballgames early to beat traffic must be kicking themselves....

Haven't checked in in a while...Getting burnt out on a disappointing baseball season...I'd be interested to see what Aramis Ramirez of the Cubs will get on the free agent market...He has been on a holy tear ever since the Cubs were safely out of playoff contention...Another A-Rod,only not quite as lethal... At this stage,I just look forward to the playoffs starting,pick my favorites and watch some (hopefully) intense,first class baseball,where the best are at their best...

Didn't we used to sing "So Long From B'Hai Country" when we were in Gunnison?...

Kudos to you Miller...You're a good man,...even if it took you all of these years to get to your first baseball game,...and on the company's nickel,no less...You oughta check and see if Duluth has a minor league team....The games are usually cheaper,the seats are closer and the baseball can be just as good...Although,I think the minor league seasons are just about over for this season...

Yeah,I'll have to do that Tom,as long as excie gives me her word that she's not going to invite her to an excellor session,or a public ex or that church where "Uncle Harry" goes...

I've been laughing my foot off reading excie's Dear Abby thread upstairs..Makes me want to burn the chaff in my own life,empty out that checkbook in my mind... I saw my daughter off to the Big Apple on Monday...I'm not up for dancing right now,but you go ahead,Nika....I need cheerin' up...

I'm actually quite amazed that in the well over 100 years of baseball there's never been a 3-way tie for first place...Not that many two-way ties,either...I suppose if there was a tie for first as well as the wild card,they would still have a one game playoff to determine who was the division winner and who was the wild card winner... The Chisox seem to do much better when I don't watch them...I turned on WGN today just in time to see Freddie Garcia run the count full to Adam Kennedy,then Kennedy line a 3-2 pitch into centerfield to break up Garcia's perfect game with two outs in the 8th... Kudos to "Sarge" junior...He has been having a breakout year since he got that monkey(jr.) off his back....

I've loved road trips since,well,probably my LEAD experience...I guess hitch-hiking through America's heartland was more appealing to me at the time than wearing a suit,listening to a phone hookup on 'Romans night'...This was back in 1981 and we had gotten dumped off by a trucker in this nearly deserted town in New Mexico (it may have been Santa Rosa)...The town was deserted because I-40 was completed in that part of New Mexico,leaving many of those towns on Rte. 66 that catered to the road travelers with little sources of income...It was actually quite haunting---abandoned cafes,filling stations and motels--some with weeds growing around them higher than the roof...There was also an abandoned Ford dealership,that the locals or the land owner took upon themselves to dump their old broken down cars of the 40's and 50's---I remember my hitching partner grabbing me by the arm,telling me to keep walking,as I was mesmerized by everything I saw in this town...It was a little like the Twilight Zone;we wanted to yell out "Where did everybody go?",but at the same time it illustrated for me the passing of one era and the beginning of a new one...Get out the cookie cutter... Of course,now Rte 66 is a designated historical landmark,and some of those towns have made a comeback due to the nostalgia of it all,but it's not quite the same... For those who have to travel from L.A. or Arizona to Chicago and have a couple of extra hours,I would recommend picking up U.S 54 in Tucemcari,N.M. ...It'll take you all the way to Springfield Illinois...It's about the same distance as the interstate,but you go through some pretty cool towns,that are still functioning much the same as they did years ago...There's also a cattle feed lot along the way,with heads of cattle as far as the eye can see--hundreds of thousands of them...It reminds me of what it must have looked like when Israel crossed the Red Sea... From Chicago to Denver you can also pick up old U.S. 6 a good part of the way...A nice old highway that you can move along at a good clip in-between towns,but enough stops to keep the trip from being too monotonous...

That's a good breakdown,Raf... Now,in you're scenerio,the other playoff matchups would be a week or so ahead of these three teams...The other thing,is,I guess the second team with two losses,in your instance,the White Sox,would still then be the wild card winner and could play the Tigers again if both win their respective series'....

Gosh,Tom...this is the second straight thread I'm quoting you on...You're where the action is today,brother... Anyway,I,too was thinking about Nika doing her shopping in one of those scooters...It's certainly no laughing matter,of course,although,I couldn't help but picture Nika in her scooter,poking some stockboy in his rear end with her cane or crutch,and saying "Young man,be a dear and reach up on that top shelf and get me a large bottle of that Geritol".... Grab that nap by the horns,Nika!...Sometimes two hours of sleep does more for me than 15 minutes of speaking in tongues...

The announcers on tv today were saying something like that about a September call-up who hit a grand slam homer on the very first Major league pitch he ever saw.... I was reading up on the Marlins---they're really something else....Of course,there's a lotta talk now about manager Joe Girardi feuding with the Florida owner and being heir to Dusty Baker's throne at Wrigleyland... I sure ain't gonna make any more predictions...What I thought would probably happen after the all-star break certainly didn't happen....There certainly could be a subway series this year,as I see the Yankees and Mets as two very good teams playing consistent baseball throughout the year...Most every one else has been so streaky,if you don't check the sports pages for a week,a couple of teams will have moved up or down 6 games in the standings...It may come down to the NY teams,or whoever happens to be hot at the right time... A couple of months ago,who would have thought the Twins or the Marlins would be battling for the wild card?...Or that the Red Sox would be more or less playing the 'spoiler' role?...A's and the Dodgers are starting to look like legitimate,deserving,division leaders,unlike the Cardinals,who are blessed(or cursed,maybe) to be in a division where even being one game above average is simply too much to ask... Ok,I have a question for anybody that understands the playoff system...And I think it would be cool as hell if it actually happened this year...What would the playoff scenario be if the Tigers,Twins and White Sox all ended up with identical W/L records and were tied for the AL Central lead as well as the AL Wild card lead?

I just spoke to nika and she's happier than a pig in a tub full of slop...The prognosis is very good,the strep has been isolated and she should be released from the hospital tomorrow or Sunday...Thanks again for your prayers and thanks for that post,Lifted...It'll be great to 'see' her around here soon...

Thanks for the intercessions....She needs to get back here and take care of us whelps...

Yeah,Italy won it in a shootout...I'm not sure,but I think that's where one guy on one team goes up against one guy on the other team(the goalie) and they decide the World Cup champion for this team sport....At least in soccer the other players aren't on the field when this goes on ...

Linda,you probably were around the year George Jess died...Although,back then I usually kind of went along with the flow,I found it very disturbing that Tom Mausolf had to get up on stage to ask for a special love offering for Mr. Jess' family to help offset the medical debts they had amassed when George was in the hospital...George was a guy who dedicated his whole adult life to working as a staffer for the way,whether it was cutting VPW's hair,coordinating the early way corpse or working on grounds...He may have been the first,as this was about 1982,but it occured to me then that if the way was going to employ people until they reached old age,and only pay them on a "need basis",they're going to leave a lot of people out in the cold when things like medical issues come up if they don't include some kind of medical/insurance/retirement plan as part of the staffer's 'need'....

Okay,...NEWS FLASH!!!!..NIKA is in the hospital with cellulitus in one of her legs....It would be difficult for me to relay to you all the details but she right now is on lots of antibiotics...Her first priority is to have a complete and full recovery,and a full use of her leg...She also may be in the hospital for several days or weeks,depending on the response to treatment and the test results... She would love to have your prayers,positive thoughts,incantations,meditations,rosary beads,chants,drum beatings,frankencense,myrrh,crystals or any other holy intercession of your choosing to the Almighty for her full and speedy recovery....Thank you....

Oh,..sorry,Tom...I just had Michael Jackson songs running through my mind all day....

Ok,they don't have to beat it...

Well,I was flipping through the channels earlier today,and I thought I had tuned in to a rerun of one of the Little League regional games but it turned out to be the 11th inning of the Cubs-Pirates contest...Nothing more thrilling in baseball than watching two teams battle for last place in late August....A high chopper glances off the leaping Cubs' third basemen's glove,then he has to turn and run like hell to retrieve it because the shortstop mistakenly thought he had purchased a ticket to watch the game rather than back up the play...Of course,the Pirate player that hit it mistook 1st base for home plate and stayed transfixed on the bag,also watching the play,rather than easily waltzing to second base.... A couple of batters later,this same shortstop,on what should have been a routine game ending double play,scoops up the ground ball,double pumps (to get a better grip on the ball,I guess),throws low to the second baseman,who misses it,and the tying run scores and the winning run moves to third with one out...Intentional walk to load the bases...Then the most exciting ending one could hope for:one of those dramatic,walk-off five pitch walks...Seeing all four of those players,simultaniously trot to the next base as well as home plate,then high-fiving eachother,'though not quite sure who the actual hero was,in front of those 200 or so remaining fans,---well,like the commercial says:"I live for this"....

You guys beat it...