Well, Chicken Corner missed the Dec. 29 Times story the first time around, but thanks to the Echo Park Animal Alliance list serve news service, the story doubled back to me: LAPD to deputize cats in rats war. [My headline.] They're putting the critters to work, no questions asked. Years ago, my husband was a witness/non-witness in a crime, and a detective used to pop up at odd hours (they don't call ahead) to talk about what RJ hadn't seen. One time, standing at the door, the detective saw my cat Flipper (who at just this moment 2008 is doing some pre-rain-storm prowling around the house). "Does he catch many birds?" flew right out of the detective's mouth. (And rats, by extension.) I immediately said, "Oh, no, no, never!" Which wasn't true. Stupid! Stupid! I didn't realize it was a job interview.