She's been out of public consciousness for awhile, but I still love Sinéad O'Connor. For one, she possesses one of the most beautiful shaven heads on the planet, something which fascinated me as a teenager (much to my mother's anxiety).

Not to mention the flexibility and power of her voice. "Nothing Compares 2 U" is still a classic.

Also, there was that time on Saturday Night Live where she managed to outrage a good percentage of the TV-watching world. That's a girl with guts, if not skills in public relations.

That moment is years past now, and O'Connor has retired from the music biz and since returned. Her newest release, her first album of completely original work in seven years, hit stores last month. Its title, Theology, seems to have interviewers playing that game where they ask a question about a thing without really asking it, even fifteen years later.

In a recent interview with one of those public radio guys who are supposed to be above rolling in dirty tabloid headlines, the host still fumbles for words about women and his wife before getting around to his main question: Does society dislike outspoken women?

Gosh, I wonder if that's a pointed query.

O'Connor takes it in stride, though not surprisingly in a totally unexpected direction. Who else would begin (completely without irony) with, "Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton, and me"? And when she gets to her point, it's even more interesting:

"It's not just women, it's small women, actually. No, it is, and I think that's very important because a bigger woman would come around and break your face. You know, they go after the women that they know are not going to come around to them."

Heh. Although I know better, Sinéad — my girlfriend is 5'1", but in a verbal sparring match with Bill O'Reilly, I'd bet on him being in tears by the end of the hour. And you don't seem the type to stay quiet forever yourself.

O'Connor finishes her theory of little women with:

"I think it's acceptable for a large woman to be outspoken, but little women are meant to sit there looking pretty."

Well. True, some media bully small women like the mean kid in the school yard, but she obviously missed out on a certain View cohost's entire last year. Rosie O'Donnell qualifies so highly for outspoken that she was reamed on a daily basis by a certain "fair and balanced" network, but she still managed to get made fun of by Donald Trump, of all people, for not being that little woman as well. Conclusion: Size doesn't matter if you are a woman and outspoken.

In promoting Theology, which she's said was inspired by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, O'Connor tries really hard to occupy neutral political ground on her website:

"Theology is an attempt to create a place of peace in a time of war. I want to be very clear — there is no message. No preaching. Nothing deep and meaningful the artist wants to say, nothing trouble making. I simply wanted to make a beautiful thing, out of something beautiful, which inspires me."

Actually, I'd say that creating things of beauty in a time of war is a pretty darn big message in itself. But despite those words, O'Connor can't content herself with looking — and sounding — pretty. In the interview, she takes a swing at people of all faiths who interpret their scriptures to assume God is on their side:

"I always think if God were here, he, she, or it would be suing a lot of people for libel."

Ah, Sinéad O'Connor. It's good to have you back.