I don't think the cat wants out; I don't think the cat really wants in. What they really want is for you to leave the door open, so they can change their minds as much as they please.

I've done some pretty harsh things with my kids like this, even cancelled a birthday party once. But I always talked to them and gave them the chance to do the right thing first. My motto: "You can learn this the easy way or the hard way." Take my advice right now or suffer the consequences.

It's the US version of Forklift Driver Klaus! "a senseless orgy of destruction"

You took a real chance searching for that picture, didn't you?

Just yesterday, Timothy Bendig posted this picture of Eddie with the catcher for the 1971 game, Pittsburgh Pirate Manny Sanguillén.

The town I grew up in still doesn't have legal alcohol sales. After 40 years of referendums, my current hometown finally got liquor by the drink about 15 years ago. That meant that restaurants that seated over 100 people within the city limits could apply for a limited number of liquor licenses. But your sales had to stay at least 50% food to keep it. That meant cheap liquor and the most expensive food people would keep paying for. Years later, we got liquor stores and I think the restaurant rules may have eased, because the city is making tons of money now.

I thought their biggest duty was looking for counterfeit money.

My local hospital demands a co-payment before surgery, or at least a credit card number they can hold. Yeah, they send out survey sheets afterward about your experience, but the idea of a refund would never come into it.