Dear Cat,
I’m really happy to see you encourage people to vote. I’m confused about what happened in Michigan and Florida and it seems people are following the bandwagons of certain candidates without understanding all of that. I don’t live in Pennsylvania (far from it) but it’s so important for people to know that they should vote. Thank you for saying so.
— Carrie (Dallas, TX)

Hi Cat,
Right on with your call about Michigan and this whole delegate numbers mess! Can you please tell me why anyone has gotten away with suggesting that Hillary drop out of the race?? It is all lunacy! Some people act like she’s a Nader or something while she’s won every major state except Illinois (big surprise)! A lot of exclamation points I know, but I can’t stand it!
— Fed Up Fred In California

Cat,
Please ask Fed up Fred why Obama is ahead in delegates. Last I heard that is what counts, not where, or when you got them. And why did Clinton state that Pennsylvania was a must win state for her campaign if she was doing so great. I personally dream of the day that the Clintons fade from the public eye. Although I fear that may be a far off dream. 
— Signed Sick of the Clintons

• Dear Sick,
  Not taking sides here… PA was a must-win for Clinton because she was behind in delegates. Without the counts from MI & FL it is more than unfair to underestimate her primary performance. Those ‘missing’ primaries are hugely significant to the tenor of the entire primary season. Senator Clinton has won almost every big state and therefore has as much right to be in this race as Senator Obama. Even before the PA primary, neither candidate could clinch the nomination. — Cat

Cat:
I just want to point out that not everyone who is eligible and registered to vote in Pennsylvania is voting today. Not because they do not want to, but because they choose not to register with either of the two main political parties. I am registered as an Independent and therefore do not have the ability to vote. The simple logic would be to ‘just sign up’ with either party so I can vote, but I feel that would be shortchanging my own political values and is a subtle reminder that our political system does not actually represent the population.

Dear Cat,
I enjoy your column in the Post-Gazette out here in Arizona. You mention the DNC decision to strip Michigan of its delegates. Just a few thoughts. First, if we voluntarily join an organization, we agree to bind ourselves to the rules of that organization – and its method of changing the rules. Nobody held a gun to the heads of the Michigan Democrats forcing them to join the national organization. Second, if you violate the rules, justice demands penalties. We call that accountability. For whatever reason, the DNC choose to limit the earliest Democratic Primaries. And an organization has every right to make its own rules. Understanding those rules, Michigan choose to disregard them. Third, if in our compassion we fail to enforce the penalties what lessons are we teaching? Shall we deny cause and effect? I was Army but the Marines had good expression: “adapt, improvise, and overcome” – a useful philosophy in a dangerous universe. Thanks for your time.
— D. Hodge, formerly of Butler and Ligonier
P.S. If you are related to Sen. Specter, my condolences. I’m not a big fan of the Senator but we are all diminished when one of us has cancer.

• Dear Reader,
  As far as I know, Senator Specter and I are not related. —Cat

Love that beret.Would like to see you in that beret and nothing else.Interested?

Cat:
My ‘call’ on the Ex question is: I am sick of people in serious relationships trying to pass off their ‘friendships’ with their exes as platonic and harmless. They never are! It doesn’t matter if the couple is gay or straight, what matters is that you should put your partner’s feelings first, which means if they’re not comfortable with one of your friendships then you should respect that. I hope that guy left his boyfriend. I’ve been in his shoes before, and I left mine. I’m happy to say it was one of the best choices I ever made. Thanks, and good call.

Cat:
My advice to the April Fools boyfriend and others like him… I don’t know you but I understand people and my guess is that you probably aren’t very funny the other 364 days of the year either. Humor is funny. This was stupid. I’m not saying that you are stupid. I’m just saying what you did was stupid. You’re probably very intelligent and should stick to intelligent things, so instead of trying to be funny this time of the year, you should stick to more suitable things like doing your taxes.

Cat:
I am fascinated, since the advent of the women’s (you will NOT objectify me) movement with the explosion of breast implant surgery in this country. I know the gloss: I want to look better in clothes; it gives me confidence. But I think the primary reason is sexual….to attract the attention of men… and, for different reasons, the attention of women. Now, since women like to frag men in 2008 America, what would you say women would say if the chief cosmetic surgery in this country were penis implants. All guys would be at least eight inches. Would women say, “Good for you, guys!” and not “Men are idiots.” If men were to say, “I wanted to be bigger because it gives me confidence.” “I felt inferior in locker rooms.” “It makes my pants ‘hang’ more fashionably.” I was eight inches in my teens, but now that I’m older…. Whatcha think?

Cat:
I agree with your April Fool’s getting over it advice (although hello…. depending on his age, I’d definitely reassess my relationship with such a dope), but I do have a cautionary tale. When I was in high school dating my now-ex-husband, he told me about a close friend of his who had a similar joke played on him in their sophomore year. This guy’s girlfriend called him to tell him she was dumping him and was interested in his best friend. Tragically, the guy hung himself that night because he was so distraught. She found out the next day when she called to tell him it was a joke. My point is that teens and young adults just are not equipped sometimes for such personal attacks, and often have a serious lack of judgment about The Big Picture or the consequences of seemingly harmless actions (much less pranks). I equate it to that senseless idea of leaving a passed-out friend at a party and not thinking that they could actually die of alcohol poisoning (or less dramatically, be taken advantage of, etc.). I’m not that old (smile), but even I have seen as a parent how greater the potential dangers seem to be for kids today. From violence to self destruction, it’s just not the same level of idiotic-but-rarely-life-threatening things teens did when I was one. It’s so scary. PS: LOVE the columns!

Dear Cat,
I wasn’t shocked when I read caveman’s letter to you. I’ve experienced this first hand. I am financially independent, have a super job, a BMW, my own condo and (gasp!) health insurance. I’ve dated many fabulous wealthy men. They are always afraid that some woman is going to take their money, they don’t want a gold digger,blah, blah, blah. Yet these same men will bypass a financially secure woman and date a downright pathetic one. I dated a very successful man. He had it all. We eventually broke up. I saw him about 3 months later, and he was bragging about his new girlfriend. She had 2 kids to 2 different men, no job, and he was proud to announce that he was paying her mortgage and buying her prescription bipolar medicine. They actually got married. Then they eventually got divorced and she took him for everything! Can I get my violin out now? Amazing! Ladies, if you don’t have an education or a job, don’t worry! Even if you have kids, all the better! There are tons of men out there that are willing to care for you! Apparently, being an educated, financially secure woman in this day and age is TRAGIC!!!!

Hi, Cat:
I read your column today, and you told the 40-year-old guy who wanted to have a child that if he were having a true mid-life crisis, he’d want a sports car, a toupee, and a bimbo to run her fingers through it. Why do so many people associate sports cars with a mid-life crisis? The collector car and sports car hobby is huge! Cars are very interesting and exciting to a lot of people who aren’t necessarily in crisis mode or trying to “compensate” for something. Personally, my life was more of a “crisis” when I was much younger. Now that I am older, more responsible, and financially secure, I can enjoy car collecting as a hobby. Fortunately, I do not need a toupee. And, I have little use for bimbos. Someone needs to rewrite this stereotype. I still enjoyed your column nonetheless.

Cat:
Terrific response to the woman that left her husband of 30 years. My mother-in-law recently did the same and moved in with a boyfriend she had been secretly seeing for a long time. The family has been shocked and has spent a lot of time getting my father-in-law on his feet after this. When that’s the family’s reaction, there’s a reason for it. And if there is a secret, secret reason why this was the best thing to do, maybe she should stop keeping it so secret if she wants her family to understand.

Cat —
Your response to the woman who was too lazy to pick up the phone to express her thanks was terrific! I am sooooo tired of people who use the “I’m too busy” excuse for everything. Baloney! No one is too busy to take five minutes to make a phone call, send an email, or pen a quick note. She was rude, rude, rude to not respond — immediately — when she found the gifts. Thank you for pointing that out.