[Superman]

Well, I'll answer your questions this way: When I was at L&I, I had to make a lot of decisions. These decisions were, essentially, the regulation. Or the application of the regulation. And they nearly always meant a five figure impact to some employer, one way or the other. Sometimes more.

When a question first came to me, the answer almost invariably seemed obvious. Incredibly obvious. But eventually I learned to notice that the party raising the question had an axe to grind, and the information I got along with the question was designed to make the question seem simple, and the answer easy. But upon further reflection and investigation.....

I discovered that the question was not really all that easy. And the more I found out, the more layers I peeled back, the more layers I found waiting. It would typically take hours of review, in addition to site visits, etc., for the whole question and all its angles and implications to become clear to me. Eventually, the question would get easier, but in a way FAR different from the ease I experienced when I first heard the question.

It has been said that "To know him is to love him." That is, when you have just a tad bit of information about something someone has done, their actions might seem random or lazy or stupid or whatever, and you're inclined to make a snap judgement. But then, if you were to walk a mile in that man's moccasins, you can come to understand much better why they made the decision that they made. In fact, given sufficient background information, the question moves from "Why did he do that....he must be lazy or stupid?" to "How could he have done it any other way?"

A daughter researched her deceased father's background. He was an ass to everyone, reclusive, etc., but he always came home and brought his paycheck. Then locked himself in his study. One of the stories she exhumed was when dad was a small boy. He brought home some kittens, unannounced. His mother scolded him, and made him take the kittens down to the creek and, one by one, drown them until they were dead. The daughter's original question ("Why was dad such an ass?") changed.....("How was dad able to be so loyal and dependable?")

So no, I'm not cutting anybody any slack when it comes to snap judgements made with virtually no information. I don't know precisely what information I would need in order to second-guess the Supreme Court of the United States of America, but I think it's hilarious that so many of you feel prepared to do just that.