Several weeks ago we wrote about a burglar who was awarded $300,000 by a civil jury because the poor crook got locked in his victim’s garage for 10 days with nothing to eat but dog food and soda pop. The family was away on vacation and failed to provide properly for this unfortunate criminal who was in the process of stealing everything they owned.

Those were the facts in the case. There’ll undoubtedly be an appeal, but in the meantime, some readers chose to eat my lunch because of the initial outcome I reported. Go ahead-shoot the messenger.

Now, from the Allentown (PA) Morning Call we read about another outrageous case. This is even worse than the first one. This case involves an elected official. Please, try to be calm.

The plaintiff-the one doing the suing-is a 56-year-old woman. Over a year ago she was involved in a two-car crash in which she suffered head injuries. The woman was in intensive surgical care for weeks. Later she was transferred to physical rehabilitation.

Since being discharged, the woman claims to be, and this is her lawyer’s description, "cognitively disabled."

I’m told that means she can’t reason out simple ideas that you and I might take for granted. Her lawyers say "she needs help with reading and understanding printed materials, and help with carrying on casual conversations" because of injuries sustained in the accident.

"Our client is virtually unemployable," the lawyers say. Bottom line: the jury awards the woman $2.9 million. At today’s pay scale, it’d take our governor nearly 30 years to earn that amount of money.

I said the woman regarded herself as "virtually unemployable." Considering that claim, you should know that her regular job is that of a representative in the Pennsylvania State Legislature.

That’s a lot to swallow in one gulp. But there’s more. Now this same woman is telling people she’s thinking about running for a second term.

God, protect us from our leadership. Amen.