In that context, the wrangling over Issa's committee seems, at best, petty – and, at worst, the kind of distraction that allows corrupt systems to stay in place while enforcers waste time hunting down individual felons.
The MoD's, or Whitehall's, or whoever's plans to designate Trident's Faslane base "sovereign UK territory" earlier this week seemed, at best, petty – an attempt at humiliation timed to balance Andy Murray's cheering victory.
"Fault Lines" is the best Petty song in years.
In addition to stealing various things that were lying around the office — Rose's white jeans, the restaurant voucher, "only my best CDs," petty cash, computers — he also carefully picked through hundreds of pairs of shoes, rejecting the most lavish styles for those of a more avant-garde sensibility.
He had neither added to his six Test centuries nor his 14 five-wicket spoils but even so, the announcement by the chairman of selectors, Alec Bedser, that Botham would have been dismissed had he not pre-empted it with his resignation was at best a petty demonstration of prerogative, at worst spiteful and vindictive.
Newspaper vendors were unwilling to hand over the posters proclaiming that day's headlines, so the two became perhaps the oldest and best-dressed petty thieves in East London.
One man would distract the proprietor by buying a chocolate bar, and his husband would whisk away the poster with that day's headlines — turning them into probably the East End's oldest and best-dressed petty thieves.
But it certainly had an artistic effect, and, despite the petty inquisitors' best efforts and worst intentions, that effect became a central aspect of many of the best American movies of the time.
John Andretti finished 35th in the drivers standing last year, the best of the three Petty drivers.
Some of the best scenes detail the petty humiliations they endure at the hands of bullying patrons, the most obnoxious being Santo's rancid butterball of a son.
As was the problem with Fox News' short-lived 1/2 Hour News Hour, itself a parody of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, barbs thrown by conservatives attempting humor feel petty at best (see Coulter, Ann) and at worst resonate like Pat Boone covers: vanilla versions of something actually subversive.
