The L.A. Times takes the seemingly contrarian view that yesterday's federal court decision was more a victory than a defeat for supporters of campaign finance reform, focusing on the fact that the ban on soft money contributions to candidates in federal elections was upheld. Since the special three-judge panel also struck down other aspects of McCain-Feingold, including the ban on soft money contributions for "party building" and other activities not related to elections, the interesting question becomes whether the parties can resume collecting such funds pending Supreme Court review of the decision. Since the Supreme Court is more likely than not going to overturn the entire law, it would seem to be a no-brainer.

After allowing myself to go to seed for twenty years, I finally took up the gumption to join a fitness club. I was assigned a personal trainer, and began working out on Monday. A few days later, I am now feeling excruciating pain in almost every part of my body. I haven't even attempted the diet that was suggested, a forlorn effort to get me to eat healthier foods. Dodger Dogs, pizza and Chinese food are my staples, and if the gym sincerely wanted me to lose weight, it wouldn't be located in a mall next to Fudruckers, The Cheesecake Factory, and a gang of movie theatres.

Anyway, yesterday at the gym I ran into the subject of this piece, who along with her friend and cohort Shannon Ainsworth make up the dynamic one-two punch behind the bar at the soon-to-be-defunct Sherman Oaks Lounge. As both worked last night, they took note of the fact that I was drinking away whatever benefits the afternoon's exercise gave me. In any event, Ms. Summersett will be performing tonight at the Lounge sometime after the de la Hoya fight ends, and anyone in the area would be a fool to pass up the opportunity to see her.

This burning question from six months ago has been answered, and I have to admit I'm surprised.

Where did Bush learn to fly a plane? It's not like he was ever in the Air Force or anything....

Last night, I attended my first Dodger game of the year, with bloghomies Tony Pierce, Matt Welch, and the exceedingly generous Howard Owens. Great seats! The "other" player the Dodgers acquired in the Sheffield trade, Odalis Perez, pitched a gem, marred only by Jim Tracy's decision to yank him with two runners on and two outs in the top of the ninth. What earthly purpose was served by not allowing his starter the chance for a shut-out? There was no report of an injury to Perez; the tying run was on-deck, so even a home run would have been survivable. He had thrown 132 pitches, but struck out Thome and Lieberthal in the ninth. The cynic within me would say that Tracy brought in Gagne because it was a "save situation", and that mattered more than Perez getting a complete-game shutout.

[BTW, if you ever go somewhere without your wallet, these are the people to go with--most bloggers have PayPal on their sites, so you can pretty much borrow as much as you want, so long as you promise to contribute a like amount to their site. Being with a blogger is like having an extra low-interest VISA card and a fake I.D., unless I'm the blogger you're with, in which case it's like having the elderly Joe DiMaggio hanging out with you]

What's the story with "Catherine Zeta-Jones" and "Clear Channel"? I've had six unique visitors this morning from that Google search request...are they boycotting her too?

UPDATE: Found out. Here's the story (allegedly). Carry on.

It's about time--Jose Offerman is finally back in baseball, with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League. His first game: vs. Rickey Henderson and the Newark Bears. Perform your magic, Jose !!

For those who are thinking of starting a blog (that includes you, Smilin' Jr.) or who have a blog with a low volume of readers, Volokh Conspiracy has a few helpful tips on making it into the Big Time. Me, I'm quite content to have the traffic I now have, knowing that I'm at the top of the Google search request for "Tanya Ballinger" (the blonde in the Miller Lite ad), and on the first page for those searching for nude pictures of "Hayden Christenson" [sic]. I rule !!

Of the tips Volokh provides, I can't say that I vouch for any of them. I suppose I've gotten a few hits from some well-chosen words on the comments section of other blogs, but I doubt anyone has ever included me on their blogroll because of that. The whole notion that I'm supposed to ask someone to include me on their blogroll is offensive to me, and kind of defeats the whole purpose; at least here, the blogroll is primarily for my own use, and includes several sites that linked to me for a time, then dumped me. If I like a site, I'm not going to lose sleep over whether it generates any reciprocal traffic for my benefit. This isn't an audition, so if someone likes my posts, I don't expect to get renumerated for the privilege. On rare occasions, I will send Atrios or Capozzola a link to a news story, but that's only because I feel the story deserves the attention that blogs which generate a higher volume of traffic can give it.

My advice is to blog for a few months before deciding to follow Volokh's tips. In the meantime, just use the word "nude" once a month, and make occasional references to obscure models or character actors in your posts. The traffic will come eventually...btw, for those really interested in Ms. Ballinger....
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Rishawn Biddle seems to be the only one who gets the significance of the Dixie Chicks cover: a middle finger to the morons and necks who boycotted their music and sent death threats to the group (come to think of it, the group is posed in the shape of a "finger"). Historically, the whole controversy reminds me of the aftermath of John Lennon's infamous comparison of the Beatles' popularity with that of Jesus Christ; the Fab Four suffered a temporary backlash, but their popularity soared thereafter, as fans came to see the group (and Lennon in particular) as being honest generational spokesmen.

The Musician Currently Known as Beck has a blog [link via Ken Layne], and it's pretty good, or at least better than that execrable Roger Avary blog that I had up for a month; god, I would rather watch Killing Zoe again than have to read another post about an advance screening for The Rules of Attraction. For someone who has to work to make this site presentable, it's more than a bit frustrating seeing a politician or celebrity start a "blog" that is little more than a collection of stump speeches and press releases, and is clearly the work of a third party. A good blog should occasionally inform the world of something it doesn't know about the writer.