That Was the Week That Was

Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein has had a bit of a rag-tag history since coming to town. Though his ready self-deprecation saved him from being soundly mocked for his desperate effort to catch on in television, he took a lot of heat when a column last January called "Warriors and Wusses" that included the phrase, "I don't support our troops" won him reader responses like these: "an ivory tower dwelling Marxist punk. . .He should just go get a pedicure with Zsa Zsa and leave politics to the adults." and, "Tell me again why the written opinions of an overeducated, under-experienced, snotty little prick are vital to the image and mission of a major US daily newspaper?"

But every so often Stein shows why he's getting the reasonably big bucks, and today's "Petraeus on Britney" is such a perfectly executed take on the present zeitgeist, in which the obscurely worded phrases of a crackpot realist testifying before Congress meet up with our favorite fallen pop idol train wreck, that further comment is superfluous.

A sample: "The recent performance at the MTV Video Music Awards vastly exceeded initial projections of awesomeness. Not only did the few dancing moves she executed get her heart rate up to 145--prime fat-burning range--but Ms. Spears did not fall or cry...in describing the recommendations I have made, I should note again that I believe Ms. Spears' problems will require a long-term effort, like 40 to 45 years..."

That should provide some charcoal lighter for his in-box.