You're a parent, supervising your children at the local playground as they run over, under, and through the various pieces of play equipment, having the time of their lives. A couple of times you've noticed you're child attempting to do something that you think is really dangerous, and stopped them, for their own good. Another child, not yours, notices what your kid was trying to do, and starts to do it himself. As you glance around the playground, there are a few parents engaged in conversation, and not really paying attention to what their kids are doing. Now the situation is getting close to a problem, a fall from a height and serious injury. Do you:
a) run over to the kid perched precariously, intervene, and stop them from hurting themselves, even though the child is not yours?
b) run over to the group of parents standing around and quickly point out the kid to the group, hoping that one will recognize their kid and realize the same danger you've seen develop, and put a stop to it?
c) watch as the child falls and breaks an arm, observe the parent to see how they act afterwards, and then tell all your friends what a terrible father so-and-so is?
Now you're a business owner on a street, running a hardware shop. Another hardware shop, you're competitor, is across the street. You're in friendly competition for customers, but you are competitors just the same. You notice at closing time, on several occasions, a somewhat shady looking character observing your competitor's shop, and his actions as he closes. One evening, as you close your store, you see the same guy walking around to the back of the other shop. As that shop owner closes up you see the shady guy running out from the back of the store, look around nervously, and then walks away. You haven't witnessed a crime- nobody has - but it's suspicious. Do you:
a) call the competitor and warn him that it looks like someone is casing his store for a robbery?
b) call the police, and notify them of the shady character, and ask them to do a little surveillance for the benefit of your competitor?
c) wait until the robbery occurs, experience schadenfreude, then smile at the thought that some of his customers may be coming to you?
If you're a congressional Democrat, apparently the answer to both is c).
*I know I said I'd not write again about Mark Foley's predations, but that did come with a caveat.