Well, I went back to the friendly neighborhood Midas shop at 8:00am sharp this morning. This time the owner, I think, was there. I explained what had happened and suggested maybe it was time to try another approach, like maybe the right one. Over the course of our conversation I heard things such as: you can't reduce 3", whatever that means and welds don't crack when they cool.
Anyway he gets on it himself and assures me that this time it will not like and if it does he'll give me my money back, $66. The next part is the same as the previous times I went home except the leak is slightly smaller but still there.
I go back, owner looks mystified, puts car on rack while running, does his best "I'm inspecting the space shuttle for defects" act including checking the inlets just in case he misunderstood that it was the outlet. He even tears off a piece of paper to show how thoroughly he searching for this leak that just isn't there.
I put my hand up there show him exactly where it is and he tells me he'll give me my money back but I'm being nit picky! He's all huffy puffy at this point. Back at the office he get my money tosses it on the counter to me and says there's nothing wrong with that, then he tells me don't come back! All I could do was laugh and say you don't have to worry about that. Chalk this up under reason #374,547,958,475,354,001 to do everything yourself.