If you're a long-time listener to the show you know that I'm not a big fan of out-of-control, screaming kids. I prefer restaurants that do not have high chairs available, and I would love to see an airline ban children under 12 from first class. Constantly kicking the back of someone's seat should be treated as seriously as smoking in the lavatory, and the captain should land the airplane and kick the offending little brat off.

Actually, I shouldn't call that wonderful child a little brat. After all, It's not his fault that he is an out-of-control misbehaving menace. The fault lies with the parents; parents like that hideous woman I encountered in that Mackinac Island restaurant a few years ago. You remember her, don't you? Every time her toddler would utter a long, ear-piercing screech, would lean over and softly say "Are you through making noise now?' Dammit woman! Shut that kid up!

OK ... here's the latest. Kids in club-level lounges at swanky hotels. This is an adult lounge folks ... not a freaking day care center. They serve drinks there, not chocolate milk. This time it was a great hotel in Las Vegas. We were spending New Years in Vegas with friends, and we managed to score rooms on the Club Level. This was a great place to go after dinner to have a cordial or a cup of coffee and unwind. Well --- it would have been a great place if it hadn't been for the toddlers. There was one particular family at this hotel .. an extended family .. that had about five toddlers in tow. These people seemed to spend virtually their entire day in the lounge. I'm sure they were saving money on meals big-time, because every breakfast, lunch and dinner there they were ... with dishes piled high on a coffee table. As soon as their kids finished a stack of appetizers they immediately set about making a complete pest out of themselves to everyone else in the lounge. They would get out some board games and sprawl right in the main walkway through the lounge. To get from your table to the bar you had to step over about three game boards and countless game pieces. Through it all the adults just sat on their butts stacking up more plates on the coffee table.

What in the hell is the matter with parents out there? Are they blind? Can't they see that their children are creating a problem for other people? Now I can tell you exactly what would have happened if someone would have said something to the parents. The mother would immediately have started yelling "We're paying for a room here just like everyone else, and our kids have as much of a right to be in here as you do." Yeah, lady; you're right. Instead of complaining about your misbehaving children we should be congratulating you because your womb works.

We really do need a better breed of parents out there.