Very O/T with permission of Leon

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Posted By: Rich Klein

As some of you know, my niece (by marriage, NO ONE in my family every looked that good) is competing for Miss Texas in about six weeks; and she needs help

"I'm getting ready to compete in the Miss America Miss Texas pageant. As a contestant, I need your help to raise money for Children's Miracle Network and the Miss America Scholarship Fund. Please help me reach my goal of $250.00 by clicking on the link below. Your donation will be considered a charitable donation for tax purposes and a receipt will be provided at the end of the year."

http://www.missamerica4kids.org/m.aspx?i=1263839EF41E35&e=92EC+6

And yes; she is THAT pretty in person too. I'll see if we can create a way to get a signed card set of her too (Keeping this somewhat -- well a little in topic)

Any help is greatly appreciated

Regards
Rich

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Posted By: leon

As a board participant you are allowed on off topic every great once in a while...I think we were saying something about no more than 1 a month and I am not sure I remember you ever doing more than 1 or 2, ever.....Also, after that great lunch we just now had, with your free coupon for those huge sandwiches, how could I say no? The only problem is I am so full I might fall asleep at my desk ....good luck to your niece. She is indeed very pretty...and Childrens Miracle Network is a great cause.....

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

It would have been a "children's miracle" for me to date anyone that pretty when I was a child.

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Posted By: Dylan Jasper

I'd like to say that I am as regular of a board participant as anyone here. I read the board everyday, and post nearly everyday. I dont post a lot of threads but when i have they've all been bsaeball card related, and i believe pre war related as well(though there could be one or two, i dont have everything ive written memorized). That being said the morning after smoltz won his 200 game i started a thread in regards to Smoltz HOF chances since he just became the first pitcher in history to acheive 200 wins and 150 saves. I posted early in the morning and had several responses within the first couple hours, later that day i saw my thread was deleted. Now this thread im posting on, which isnt even BASEBALL related has not been deleted. And if the reason is because the person posting is a regular user, like said above by Leon, whats up with that? Am I not a regular user? My post wasnt related to vintage baseball cards, true, but ive seen many threads just like the one i started debating current players Hof chances, and dare i say had Barry, Jim, or someone of the like started the thread, it never would have been deleted. How about MVSNYC's "where'a MVSNYC at" thread. As if that has so much to do with vintage baseball cards. Or how about the thread talking about ARod's hot start this year, or the threads about Bonds HOF chances, or steroid use. In my opinion its favoritism. Robert has a recent thread asking if anyone has paypal coupons!? And that's still there on the main page. My thread was baseball related, and had some interesting debate and responses in the little time it was allowed to be discussed. Better delete that because it'll distract people from reading the threads asking for palpal coupons which are much better reading, not to mention its great relation to vintage baseball cards. If your going to delete all threads not related to vintage baseball cards, fine. If your going to let people post off topic once and a while, fine. But be fair and treat everyone the same. I went through the last 30 days of threads(of which many can be considered O/T) and the handful that i started were all vintage baseball card related. I thought we were allowed one OT thread per month if we are a regular user of the site? Am i missing something here?

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

I mete and dole unequal laws unto a savage race -- Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Dylan- I for one don't want to be accorded any special privileges, and while I am guilty of hijacking threads I don't ever recall starting an O/T one (perhaps Barbaro's death is one of my few).

But I don't know what thread you are referring to that got deleted. Could you refresh my memory?

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Posted By: leon

I didn't delete it. I agree with you 100%, btw......I will look into who did this and take steps so it doesn't happen again. I have left a v-mail for my right hand guy to see if he did it. If he didn't then I will also make sure that it won't happen again...and if he did do it then I will get an explanation. I thought it was a good thread. The one issue I have, if I make it where ONLY I can delete threads (extremely rarely), or revise posts of others (almost never except to resize a scan), is that sometimes I am doing other stuff and it would be a bad thing to only have one person being able to do admin. Again, please accept my apology.....regards

edited spelling..probably still horrible

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Is it really necessary to delete threads? Some, myself included, consider that censorship.

Why not just lock them for all of the world to see the crime which was comitted? That way we can all be taught to be more cautious here.

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Posted By: leon

Great minds think alike . Five minutes before you posted I told Brian the same thing, on a phone call, which has been my feeling for some time. The only way we can make the board better is to continually manage it in a productive manner and change as necessary. I feel we try very hard to take everything into consideration, and listen to all feedback in a receptive manner, before we make a change. Everthing we do is given quite a bit of thought and when we do make mistakes we learn from them...A thread will be coming out in the next few hours about one change which is precisely what you alluded to ...thanks for the good feedback

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

I'm all for Leon censoring and deleting as he wishes....

The Constitution does NOT guarantee freedom of speech. What it says is that Congress shall not abridge that freedom. The Constitution limits the authority of federal government... not that anyone seems to understand that any more.

If Leon deletes or censors here, the thing to do is start your own board. THAT is the freedom that is discussed. Have whatever bumper sticker you want, but have it on your car, not on mine.

It seems to me that over the past couple of months there have been VERY FEW threads that are truly about vintage cards. I perceive that some of the old guys that know about such are so worn out with the graded card folks that they just don't post much any more. The current "Chase, Matty, and Johnson on same sheet" thread is an exception. It is what I'd like to see here... not a bunch of stuff about 10s and crossovers and population reports. That seems more about graded cards in the 21st century card market, instead of about Collecting Vintage Cards.

I'll probably send the gal a few dollars.

Frank.

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Hey Great!
There is more to life than Constitutional and legal issues.
And I know that we are in a beer bar.
I do not expect a clean glass here, so long that you don't overreact when I miss the spitoon by a yard.
I am talking about personal, moral and ethical issues. Which to some transcend the government.

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Posted By: Dylan

I see, thanks for the response Leon. And i thought it odd that it was deleted not only because of the reasons i listed above, but also because youve said in the past you rarely use your powers to delete threads, only in special circumstances really.

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

I didn't realize anyone had invoked the First Amendment. Perhaps they were just objecting to censorship on general principles.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

I'm bumping this up because the tightwads on this board haven't sent hardly any money at all. It is easy, takes about 2 minutes, have your credit card out, do something nice. Help out this Texas gal!

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

You cheap, uncaring folks...





24 hours have gone by, and not a one of you has sent anything in...

Get yourself some good karma started for the short week coming up. Give the Miracle Network a few dollars for this young lady.

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Posted By: leon

Your "karma" thought got me....Not that I am obsessed by it by I do try to live that way. Plus "Sarah" is my daughters name, Rich is a good friend, and there really isn't a better charity (other great ones but can't be better, imho)......thanks for the prod.....regards

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

wonder if there were "SEALS" in Texas ?

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Sarah needs $119 more dollars. A dozen folks send $10 and she's there...

Come on guys, cut back on fancy lunch next week and help this Texas gal out.

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Posted By: ralph

I aint sendin no money no how..go get a 2nd job to pay for that crap

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

You were a little kid once, Ralph. And old people did stuff for you without resorting to a second job.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

I'm sorry, Ralph. You were right to be an uncharitable fellow, I apologize for suggesting you should help a charity such as the Miracle Children's Network.

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Posted By: leon

You can say just about anything you want to but you need to put your full name by your post so we can know who you are. Thanks much.....

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Posted By: Jeff O

Hey Frank, how about letting everyone decide how to spend and/or donate their own money without referring to them as "tightwads" and "cheap, uncaring folks"? I don't think that the March of Dimes considers me either cheap or uncaring with the donations I've made to them this year, regardless of what decisions I make regarding this opportunity to contribute to another very worthy charity.

Disclaimer - I've got nothing against Rich (who I believe I went to a hockey game with in Seattle about 13-14 years ago), his neice or her charity. Rich is a stand-up guy, his neice obviously has her heart in the right place and the Children's Miracle Network is a great charity. I commend Rich for reaching out - every dollar is important. It just frustrates me to see someone hurling insults at those who choose not to donate.

Jeff

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Jeff you are absolutely correct. I have over-reacted.

I over-reacted partly because folks were getting after Rich (whom I've never met nor exchanged emails) in antother thread because this one was so off topic.

I get worn out with folks asking me for charitable contributions. It seems lots of folks know how I should spend my money... I usually wish they'd spend their own money that way.

I spoke once at a Rotary Club about what your will is if you don't have a will, about estate planning. Toward the end someone asked how to pay less in taxes. I told them everyone pays as much tax as they want... everyone can pay less in income tax... everyone can get it down to virtually no income tax. If you don't like what you pay in taxes, give more to churches and charities. If you give enough you can get down to where you don't pay taxes. Most of us chose to spend a bit more than that on ourselves and our families, give less, and work our way up the tax brackets.

I can't save all of the whales... and I didn't convince you to help out Rich's niece. I'll go to bed tonight knowing I sent a few dollars in for her, and that I tried to cajole or shame some others into doing the same. I tried to help her. I figure Rich did. You "helped" me with your post. Did you help her?

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Posted By: Jeff O

Frank - first off, I give you all the credit in the world to not having a knee-jerk reaction to my post. I agree with the vast majority of what you wrote in your most recent post, and it comes across as sincere and polite. Thank you (sincerely) for not taking what I wrote too personally.

As far as whether or not I helped her out, the board will never know. The only reason I mentioned my donations to another charity this year was to make the point that I do donate to charity - in general, where and how much I choose to donate is my business, and I prefer not to make it public. Why? Because I don't like to guilt other people or make myself out to look like I'm someone special because I made some donations. I'm not anyone special - I'm just another man trying to make his way in this world. Could I contribute more to charity? Absolutely. I know for a fact that almost everyone on this board could. If you spend money on baseball cards (and I do), then you have money that you could be giving to charity instead.

I wish Rich's neice all the best in both her charity work - and I wish the same for all of you who donate money to charities quitely every single day.

Jeff

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Amen, Jeff...

You wrote something I thought and didn't put down... Anyone reading this site who has money to spend on baseball cards should well be able to send a very few dollars to that charity.

What will end up happening is that if she falls short, Rich will make up the difference. I don't know him but I'll bet he does that.

Peace.

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

Frank, I may well have contributed but am not going to say, but there are countless worthy charities in this world and I would bet everything I own that many many fine people here give generously of themselves. I don't think it's fair to strong arm people to give to a specific charity, and it is even worse to then insult them as a follow up. I think it was enough that Rich informed us about it.

By the way I enjoyed the book you recommended even though apparently you were too busy to discuss it with me.

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Posted By: Anonymous

Peter, I responded to every email you sent. At length.


And by clicking on that link way above, it is evident that her goal is $500, she has $381 raised, which is where she was yesterday, so you didn't contribute today...

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

BS Frank, if you must know I contributed this morning. Do you want to see the receipt? And shall I reprint the email I sent asking why you hadn't responded to me and the one you sent back in which you said you were too busy?

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

The time of the email is 1035 AM today.

Thank you again for your donation of xxxx to support my fund raising efforts for Children's Miracle Network and the Miss America Scholarship Program. All funds donated will benefit these two great organizations.

Thanks again for your support.
Sarah "Miss Dallas"

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Peter, I've sent you an email.

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Posted By: Cat

I doubt that the thermometer counter is a hotlink to the account and counts the donations real-time. Someone likely has to update the $381 by hand.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Cat, Peter, I just turned the PC back on because of a similar thought. My donation registered shortly after I made it. Not immediately, but soon. Maybe there is a greater delay on this holiday.

I started to send more money, an odd amount, just to see how long it took to register... but that just drags this out more.

Peter, if you made a donation, a sincere thank you to you.

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

Frank, what did I do, fabricate the receipt? What do you mean IF? In any event, I continue to agree with the earlier poster that charity should be a private matter. I only posted the evidence because you intimated I was lying. Have a good night.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Peter, you cheap bastard. I note only 4 xs in that receipt you posted. Only 4 figures? And there better not be a decimal point in there.

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

Jeff: I've been called worse things.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Peter, the email I sent you came back undelivered. And that $381 figure I recall seeing Saturday is still showing this morning...

So what is your email address now? And could you update your Net54 info.



A message (from <fwakefield1@comcast.net>) was received at 29 May 2007 3:18:21 +0000.

The following addresses had delivery problems:

<spaeth@ix.netcom.com>
Permanent Failure: 550_spaeth@ix.netcom.com...User_unknown
Delivery last attempted at Tue, 29 May 2007 03:18:22 -0000

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

Frank the link to my email should work now. I ask you again: do you REALLY think I am lying about having made a contribution? Did I fabricate the email receipt I reproduced, how would I have known how to do that? Should I also reproduce for the Court a copy of my online American Express statement? What is your point????? EDITED TO ADD Perhaps your recollection of the figure you saw is faulty, or would that possibility not even enter your mind?

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Posted By: Dave F

Frank..pardon my english, but I believe your being a jerk about this.


edited for misspelling

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Posted By: ralph

FRank,
Be careful there, how do you know I dont give to charitys
Go to the Miracle Childrens Network web site... last month in Eliz NJ there was a softball tourny. The team I played on won the tourny and donated the winnings to Miracle.
The photo of our winning team should be on the site

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Posted By: barrysloate

Dave- as long as you are editing for spelling, it's "you're."

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Posted By: Dave F

Barry...I try not to look too smart...it intimidates some.

*Notice the use to too, instead of to

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Hey Ralph, I just took you at your word with your first post about how I ain't sending no money no how.... I figured you meant that.

Peter, good news. I just sent $2 to see how quickly the donation site would account for it, and it did instantly. Amazing stuff, technology. Maybe they were entering donations by hand Sunday... but now that we're back in the work week in happens automatically, or they have a mass of volunteers sitting there upping the donation level as donations are made.

At any rate, why doesn't someone else send in $2, or $5 or $10, and see how quickly the site accounts for it?

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

Frank my guess is that you, the infallible GreatWake, were mistaken in your recollection of what the figure was before my donation. What further damn proof do you want?

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Posted By: Dave F

I think the cause is great. I think Rich should be proud of a fellow family member for what she is accomplishing.

I think Frank is bordering on becoming a lunatic.

Frank....I donate fairly often to the Humane Society here in town. How much can I count you in for? $5 $10 $50? Come on Frank..don't be shy...it's a good cause as well.


Point is...there are thousands of good causes. Why in the hell Frank do you feel it is your place to single anybody on this board out over what they have or haven't donated?

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

From my online account.
05/28/2007 CHILDRENS HOSPITAL 888-209-7905 UT CHARITY
Reference No: 320071480246280327
More Detail (amount deleted)

Go to hell Frank. Hopefully you aren't this way in real life but your online persona is the most arrogant, self-congratulatory, self-satisfied one I have ever encountered.

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Posted By: Dave F

Also Frank, when you make your Humane Society donation please post a copy of the transaction...maybe even an updated copy of your banking statement would also help in assuring me you actually made the donation.

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Posted By: E, Daniel

Peter S, just so you don't think those reading this thread were similarly suspicous of your honesty, I believed what you had written from the first.


All the best.

Daniel



Edited to add: My wife and I choose three charities each a year and donate in a measure we feel generous and helpful. Which charities those are, how much is given, and other details are nobody's business but our own. When we get asked by other worthwile causes for donations we smile and politely decline.

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Posted By: Bottom of the Ninth

Dave,

You really thinking he is only "bordering?" I thought Frank's incessant whining was only limited to graded cards and those who collect them.

Greg

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

Thank you. This person (I have to be careful what I can call a Judge, I guess, being an attorney myself) is really offending me. Obviously the problem is that the great infallible one does not recall the figure correctly prior to my donation, which ended in a "0" so only one digit would have changed after it processed mine.