Wait until all the facts are in before judging

No, I'm not talking about the Rod Blagoyovich scandal, although that's an example of what I'm talking about. Blagoyovich tried to sell Barack Obama's senate seat, and there was a firestorm of controversy about it. (Too bad Fitzgerald didn'twait until he'd actually *sold* the seat before taking action, so both Blagoyovich and the man who bought it could be put in jail.)

But, the thing is, as the firestorm has waned, the truth has come out - which is that Rod Blagoyovich, dishonest as he is, did nothing that every other politician doesn't do - "horse trading" - exchanging positions for favors. Blagoyovich should go to jail, sure, but so should every other politician - they're all crooks, and shame on us for putting up with it.

But, what I'm talking about is a case in Phoenix Arizona. A cat was stuck in a tree in a police officer's yard for 8 days. The cop wouldn't let people onto his property to get the cat. I just saw a video about this, which presents everything from the side of the cat's owner, etc and makes the cop look like a jerk.

Then I checked a news article, which points out the cat is now rescued and is fine, but people are so incensed by the story that they're sending death threats to the cop and, very bravely, scrawling threatening messages on his sidewalk.

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoenixmetro/story/Man-claims-Phoenix-officer-wouldnt-let-him-rescue/uSDXo0vALEiuKVsvSvFUfA.cspx

is the link.

And if you look at it from the cop's point of view, he does have a point. If people come in to his yard trying to get that cat, and fall off their ladders and get hurt - they will sue him for everything he has.

Even if they sign waivers promising they won't, the courts will still allow them to do so - this has been documented in several cases.

How many innocent people have lost their life savings because some teenagers disregarded "NO trespassing" signs, walked onto private property, and stepped on a power line or something and got killed, and were still awarded millions of dollars because of the "negligence" of the homeowner.

There was the case of a train yard, a couple of years ago. Two teenagers broke in, past lots of signs saying No Trespassing and Danger, and touched some electrical wires, burning them so badly that I think they actually lost some limbs. And of course it was all the train yard's fault for being negligent, and they had to pay a ton of money to these people.

Pretty soon private pilots are going to be taxed and insured out of business. If a pilot crashes his plane in a populated area, and kills someone, the survivors of that person will be able to sue not only the pilot's estate but also the makers of the plane as well, in order to get their money! Crap!

We're on the slipperly slope to total destruction, I'm afraid...