trinacriabob

It's the latter. It's about the hypocrisy of "grandstanding" by some of these people who do the "look at me, look at me...I'm a model Christian" act and then don't uphold the values. I'd rather they not talk about it at all and do what they are supposed to do. I'd have more respect for them and would have an easier time identifying them as a Christian.

And it isn't even Halloween. Just before midnight PST and I come home to this. At any rate, I can think of two: 1) The Tate-LaBianca murders in L.A. perpetrated by the Manson clan. If you pick up that paperback and flip to the middle section where they have the B&W crime pictures, it really gives you a shudder or two or three or four. How those sickos (Manson et. al.) are still allowed to live is beyond me. The weird thing is that those houses (prime real estate) have sold and sold again. I don't think I could live there, no matter how nice. In fact, I know I couldn't live there. 2) This one is really weird. I was a little kid. I didn't see it but there was a lot of fuss in the neighborhood we lived in on one fine L.A. morning. Could you imagine going out to get your morning L.A. Times and finding a body slumped up against the tree in the lawn strip between the sidewalk and the curb? Well, that was the case for one of our neighbors. Our street was heavily treed and was fairly dark at night. Apparently, a bludgeoning victim was "done in" elsewhere and "dropped off" in our neighborhood. Walking by that tree gave me the creeps. Mustang, too much work in studio that you think of these topics? Cheer up, Spring Break is just around the corner!

I don't! I hope it didn't come off that way. Only when I'm on line and I read your details of how these things put you through some "gut wrenching"! I have so many friends who go through situations like this (dissimilar and similar contexts... and everything in between) and I seem to be "the listener" they unload on. For better or worse, it's a role I am accustomed to. Yikes. Never once used the word "drama queen"...just INTENSE. It's just that the solution is more obvious than you make it to be. Move on, sever contact...and be happy. Capisce? Buona notte. BTW, do rent that flick though....it's goofy, at best.

illegal alien

I look at everything from EVERY point of view..and EVERY angle...and analyze it over and over and over... This one chick I knew in college used to call me "Mr. Detail" because I nitpicked everything for the 3rd degree. However, I think that most people on the site of the 3rd degree variety or they wouldn't be here, right?

lunch special

P- Do you think you do this on purpose? I know men and women who seek things/people in life that they can't have just to drive themselves nuts. I wonder, because it has vestiges of it...the way you talk about your infatuation. Someone/something you can have too easily is "eh, so what." Someone/something you can't have fuels the fire of desire, anger, or any other emotion you care to insert that keeps you juiced. Is this what this is about? You were critical about a person you could have (and you could be TOTALLY right...a total dweeb...I could hear the obnoxious accent you described already) Yet, you rave about this person you can't have. And, your last quote, why can't you have access to "them"?... sounds so definitive. Given that you love movies about Italian issues, have you seen "Mambo Italiano?" Is your life anything like that? A little different than what I expected (though I knew the general plot) and ALL of the characters were a little too much, too cliche and melodramatic as hell. (The only one I understood, in "context," was Yolanda - she was his live-for-the-moment, no bullshit aunt who sold out and did all the right things you are supposed to do, on the traditional Italian track, only to find she was miserable and then took a "drastic" step. I only understand her because there are so many people from that background who buy into the program because it's what's expected). At any rate, back to you, is this the deal, because you agonize way too much? You remind me of so many high-drama Italians I know! :AH-HA_wink: :lol: "Guido 3,000 miles away."

lunch pail

Yahoo! When I make reservations for a trip way in advance, I always keep checking and re-checking in case a better deal comes along in the interim. So, that's what I did over the weekend. For my Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Atlanta trip in late May/early June, I was able to snag a Lucerne for 3 days at $ 6 more (total) than the Stratus I had originally reserved from Dollar. Looks like I will be piloting a Lucerne around So. Fla. if one is in the premium fleet when I happen to show up at the counter. I hope so.

Somehow I don't think C&G has the critical mass for a get together, given the snippets I've read on mere handfuls at best getting together for an auto show. I'd go to one, but I don't know about most of the others...as private as they are.

Am Italian. Speak Italian. But so happy NOT to have an Italian car. A reliable, inexpensive $ 25,000 GM car works just fine for me. As an art form, though, I appreciate what it is. Let some conspicuous consumer who has oodles of disposable income pop for it.

This site will take ANY topic and take it down the path of homosexuality. Leave it to Let's talk about Catholicism and Christians who won't include us. That was more interesting...

Masochism has an h, Olds.I agree with you. I think the apostles were married, and if they could marry, then so should the parish priest. He might be better adjusted for it and have his intimacy needs met, thus serving his congregation better. On the other hand, he may not be into it and can remain single. They certainly need that option. I don't agree with everything the Catholic church says and does - like the celibate priest issue and that of telling someone how many kids they can/can't have.

I was just pulling your leg!

co-workers

Flybry, you skipped over me. What's with that? :AH-HA_wink:

Standing my ground for the 70's (primarily late) to early 80's. It's when I transitioned from lyricized music to that without lyrics - namely jazz. Driving fast is a definite possibility with the former while driving mellow is the way to go with the latter. People at work know that, if they need some trashy disco or any black vocalist (except rap crap), mine is the office to pop your head into.

box

Who is it that rejects the Bible? Specifc sects of Christianity? You need to ENUMERATE them (via a list) if you choose to make such a broad sweeping assertion. Is it the Episcopals, the Catholics, the Lutherans, the Greek Orthodox? A list is in order. I am at least confident enough to assert that EVERY single Christian (Catholic, Lutheran, Foursquare, AOG, Pentecostal, Baptist, Greek Orthodox, etc. etc....every last God-damn :AH-HA_wink: one of them-God has a sense of humor) is a candidate for salvation. I will not opine on Mormons and Jehovah's Witness since they have another book I know nothing about in addition to/in lieu of the Bible and the Comparative Religions course at my kick-ass Catholic undergraduate university (where Protestants, Jews and Muslims were in attendance without the least amount of discomfort) was one of the first to fill up. Hence, I took "Moral Teachings of the New Testament" where we went through the Gospels and the letters of the Apostles. We ARE keeping it civil. It's just that we are just standing our ground. I also detect more tolerance and inclusiveness among some members of the C&G community than I do of others. This is actually funny. I haven't had a religious debate in a very long time. It's because I try to embody Christian values in how I do my job, how I interact with others, etc. etc. It doesn't need to be discussed. It is internalized...much like a tea bag that has had ample time to steep in a cup of hot water.

seals

That has been a real "black eye" for the Catholic Church...and I am truly embarrassed for it. I am very careful how I donate to make sure the money doesn't get funneled into paying for these legal battles. In fact, I typically donate to other Christian organizations for relief services and such as a result of these events. Several archdiocese have bankrupted over this very issue - Portland OR included. It has never occurred in any parish I've attended nor in any of the schools in which I have been enrolled. Now, this isn't to say it hasn't happened in other sects as well. A big Christian church on Seattle's east side suburbs, called Overlake, had a bad scandal of this type in the 90s. And so have the Boy Scouts over the years. It's just that, admittedly, the Catholic Church is the biggest offender in this regard. But that's just the "bad apple" factor. For starters, the clergy should be able to marry. I've never been against that. I saw bits and pieces of those trials in the media. What a terrible thing for the people who went through that at a young age to have to deal with those memories again, and have to share them with the public in the process. It has been a bad thing. But look at how the tide has turned to vigilance and "whistle blowing"...I think that these events, going forward, will be few and far between in North America.

Quoting scripture to a currently subscribing "Christian" (ehm-ehm) is also irritating. I dropped my best friend from childhood who went from being Catholic when I knew him in LA to making an entire circuit of Protestant churches in the Sacramento CA area to find the "right one" (church, that is). The bottom line is that I have noticed no improvement whatsoever in how he lives his life as a Christian but a drastic improvement in his ability to quote scripture...which has always been in a condescending tone. People should just LIVE their Christianity and SHUT UP.

pre-law

speech

I guess I don't understand why some of the (toward the fundamentalist end of the spectrum) Christian sects are so INVESTED in taking pot-shots at Catholicism (and probably Greek Orthodoxy and Eastern Rite Catholicism, as well) when we are not in the least bit geared toward reciprocating these feelings. Is it that our congregation is a self-confident one? In a Catholic university, two of my business profs were Jewish, one of my stats teachers was Muslin and my operations management prof was Mormon. They were welcome on the campus and on the faculty. I wonder if the inverse would be true at a small Bible college. As I drive down the freeway and see a Lutheran, Episcopal, Baptist, Catholic, Orthodox, AOG or Foursquare church, the first reaction I have is "oh, there's another church that teaches the message of Christianity." The ONLY difference might be that some of the sermon readers, depending on their demographics, may have more of a "twang" than others. That's it.