Joel Stein - wuss, coward, traitor, feeling guilty.

Joel Stein of the Los Angeles Times says he doesn't support the troops. He says that anyone who opposes the war in Iraq but continues to support our soldiers, sailors and airmen is a "wuss".

He says that those who support the troops do so with Chinese-made "patriotic magnets and bracelets and other trinkets." He says he would "hang with" our troops in Vegas. Which means, I suppose, that he would be hoping to get laid. And this even though he says of those same soldiers,

So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse.

As for the yellow ribbons?

Besides, those little yellow ribbons aren't really for the troops.

The real purpose of those ribbons is to ease some of the guilt we feel for voting to send them to war and then making absolutely no sacrifices other than enduring two Wolf Blitzer shows a day.

He's right about that. I'm fifty-something with a 6 year-old and a 9 year-old at home, safe and sound. Several fellow church-goers back home have 20-somethings enlisted and 2 of them are in Iraq. Do I feel guilty? Absolutely. Do I feel grateful? Absolutely. And should one of those fine people, God forbid, get hurt or die over there, will I feel sick to my stomach? Absolutely. Should the American people demand their immediate return? Absolutely not.

Does this mean he celebrates every time one of our young men and women is shot to death or blown to bits? Or does the death of an American soldier fill him with disquiet? Or maybe a flag-draped coffin just gives him a bit of indigestion. But, perhaps not, since he holds our soldiers ultimately to blame.

The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not.

I'm not advocating that we spit on returning veterans like they did after the Vietnam War, but we shouldn't be celebrating people for doing something we don't think was a good idea.

According to Stein, flying the American flag in front of your home or business is "celebrating" those who are "ultimately to blame". Being a patriot is "celebrating" those who are "ultimately to blame". Tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in your front yard is "celebrating" those who are "ultimately to blame" and "to ease some of the guilt we feel for voting to send them to war."

He also manages to draw a parallel, in his mind, anyway, between our fighting men and women, Jack Abramoff and the US House of Representatives.

An army of people ignoring their morality, by the way, is also Jack Abramoff's pet name for the House of Representatives.

I think the guilt trip here is that of Stein, himself. A liberal wuss, a coward and a traitor who can't even run to Canada, now. It is little wonder that the LAT ship is sinking faster than the Titanic.

TAGS: Joel Stein, Los Angeles Times, wusses, cowards, traitors