Ms. Lohan at her most recent Southern California court appearance, Wednesday, February 9, 2011: the face that launched a thousand quips.

The big news on Sunday, February 13, 2011 for anyone at all interested in history and the big picture is of course the remarkable triumph of power-to-the-people in Egypt. (For the time being at least; see, eg: “Egypt military vows to hand over power to elected civilians, to stick to Israel peace deal” and “Eighteen days that shook the Middle East.”)

Meanwhile, the counterweights’ managing editor has informed me that a posting of mine from last July – “Why are the puritans still persecuting Lindsay Lohan?” has also attracted some fresh readers this past week. And delving into this I see that, just yesterday, Ms. Lohan herself tweeted to any who would listen: “Congratulations to the people of Egypt. Your voices were heard and you proved that peaceful demonstrations are possible and effective.”

Fresh out of rehab and looking fresh as a daisy, Lindsay Lohan dressed to impress for the launch of Giuseppe Zanotti’s store in West Hollywood, Friday, February 4, 2011.

The deeper reason for the sudden revival of interest in the Machiavellian mean girl, no doubt, is her appearance this past Wednesday at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles, on charges of stealing a $2,500 necklace from a jewellery store in beautiful downtown Venice Beach (a place close to my own heart, since I lived there for a time myself). And I must confess that this latest Lohanesque misadventure has made me wonder whether my confidence in the things she did last summer was misplaced.

Ms. Lohan’s explanation is that the necklace “was being borrowed for her and there was no wrongdoing, just a misunderstanding.” The necklace has now been returned (though by exactly whom still seems to me unclear). My first reaction to this story was sceptical. This has been stiffened by the news that: “The star’s lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley revealed this week that she was considering a plea bargain in order to save Lohan from jail.”

* * * *

I can’t quite put any exact finger on my change of heart. I’m not finally certain that my heart has changed. Looking over my posting from last summer, I see that: “I have been in love with Lindsay Lohan (from a distance of course), ever since I read somewhere that she carries a copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince in her purse.” The more I have looked into the early 2011 winter of her discontent in sunny Southern California, the more I have also had some vague half-sense of somehow recovering a distant lost love.

Lindsay Lohan arrives to be arraigned at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles on February 9, 2011. REUTERS/Phil McCarten.

My first reaction to the borrowed-for-her story was that surely when you borrow a necklace from a jewellery store, the people at the store are aware they have loaned it to you. But the owners of the store in Venice Beach “reported the necklace stolen.” On a little more digging, however, I find: “‘Honestly, it makes no sense,’ Lohan’s jewellery designer buddy Pascal Mouawad told us … ‘I’ve lent her jewellery worth a lot more than $5,000; she’s always returned it.’”

I suppose it’s possible that the jewellery store  – Kamofie & Company – just wants some  free advertising itself: “according to the store’s website its merchandise has been featured in several celebrity magazines, including a photo of actress Amanda Seyfried in People magazine’s ‘World’s Most Beautiful’ people issue last year.” Ms. Lohan has entered a plea of innocent to the charge of theft. She tweeted this past Thursday: “fyi- i would never steal, in case people are wondering. I was not raised to lie, cheat, or steal.” (Of course, of course. Who was?)

The party girl out on the town, before her latest brush with rehab.

At the same time, I still wonder why any lawyer properly convinced of being able to demonstrate her innocence would be “considering a plea bargain in order to save Lohan from jail.”

As matters stand: “A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for February 23” (a week this coming Wednesday). A website of Lindsay Lohan photographs which was drawn to my attention recently does make me think that when I wrote last summer about “outlandish but talented young Hollywood actresses who project a somewhat erratic sexuality, whether they want to or not,” I maybe should have left out “whether they want to or not.”

Yet, having dug a little deeper into the evidence about the alleged necklace theft available so far, it still does strike me as outrageous when LA-based criminal defence attorney Harland Braun says: “She has a defensible case… If she loses at trial, I can’t see her getting more than eight months in state prison.” Whatever else Lindsay Lohan may be, she is hardly a serious criminal. And there is still something absurd (and worse) about a justice system that pretends she is.