But does Britney trigger equal-time requirements?

In case of regulatory madness not seen since Ronald Reagan's FDA tried reclassify ketchup as a vegetable, the current FCC has just ruled that TMZ (the TV show) meets the test for "a bona fide newscast" and therefore does not trigger political equal-time requirements.

Meaning the website spin off is free to air pictures of a "buff" Barack Obama at the beach without having dredge up photos of a shirtless John McCain being tortured by his Vietnamese captors. Likewise TMZ is free to report on all the chicks Bill Clinton was hitting on at The Hyde without getting into who Michelle Obama's fifth grade boyfriend was.

So, as I'm sure you are all wondering, what does this all have to do with Britney? Nothing yet, but if TMZ's website is indicative of its TV coverage they certainly haven't been giving Federline equal time during today's custody hearing. Just something for the FCC to think about, since we know they are already watching TMZ.

Look-alike Asians are now just messing with us

One of the main figures in the new OJ affair is Tom Riccio, a memorabilia dealer with a long rap sheet. Riccio secretly audio taped OJ as Riccio helped and encouraged the Juice to hatch a plan to retrieve the collectibles OJ believed were still his to hide from the Goldman family. Riccio also had the tape recorder on when OJ busted into a Vegas hotel room like he had seen one too many episodes of Cops.

Riccio then sold portions of the audio tapes to the website TMZ.com -- which was conveniently launching its broadcast television version the week of OJ redux. This has lead some people to question the relationship of Riccio, who had also been a bit player in the Ann Nicole Smith story, and TMZ.

Even if he didn't have an explicit deal with TMZ to get the goods on OJ trying to get the goods -- and I seriously doubt he did -- Riccio, or any morally flexible celebrity hanger-on, knows that keeping a recording device running while nudging a notorious tabloid-worthy figure towards a making a poor decision has the potential to add up to many dollars as long as there are TMZs out there to pay.

While this might sound like entrapment, it's not. Entrapment is a legal term which only applies to law enforcement. But it is still quite sleazy.

But don't worry, TMZ got their's yesterday when it reported OJ part one judge Lance Ito was spotted in the crowd outside the Clark County Detention Center just as OJ part two was released on bail. The website even ran a video of an interview (now unavailable) it did with Ito. In the interview Ito gleefully declared OJ "guilty as sin."

Only it wasn't Lance Ito they interviewed. It was someone named Jeff Lee. Lee had the gall, as a middle-aged Asian man with a beard, to stand in close proximity to the OJ circus and then deviously play along when a TMZ cameraman couldn't help but identify him as Lance Ito.

Again, it's not entrapment -- but it is quite sleazy.

Anyway, you can't kill what is already dead

I guess I should comment on the whole Don Imus calling the Lady Scarlet Knights of Rutgers "nappy headed hos" brouhaha. Yeah, it was a particularly nasty thing Imus said and, yeah, he needed to apologize and, yeah, Imus is probably undead and, yeah, there is something really goofy about Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson trying to preside as judge, jury and executioner during the kangaroo trial of another professional talker when the reverends both have their own histories (and were permitted to live) of sloppiness when it comes to insensitive and incendiary "racial" language -- in Sharpton's case his words have resulted in not just hurt feelings, but also things such as ruined lives and dead bodies.

But, I ask, does anyone really care? OK fine, I bet Tim Russert cares. And it is probably Imus's association with all those kiss-up media figures and politicians which is driving this story. But is anyone else hot and bothered or in a huff . . ? To answer this question I left my usual comfort zone and ventured out to do a little reporting.

Which took me all the way across the Internet and to the web page of TMZ.com. TMZ, for the uninitiated, is an AOL/Warner Brothers-owned celebrity gossip and news website which came into prominence by breaking the transcript of the drunken, not Jew-loving remarks Mel Gibson made to a Malibu police officer.

Staying true to their roots, TMZ is the go-to spot when a celebrity type says something he or she shouldn't have. For example, the Michael Richard's story was a big deal on TMZ. How big? Well the first post on Richard's comedy club meltdown ended up garnering over 7000 comments.

So, how's the Imus story playing on TMZ? So far the three posts TMZ has dedicated to Imus have barely collected more than 100 comments between them.

Which brings us perilously close to a situation where a story about a "racist" celebrity is getting more links on Drudge than comments on TMZ. Such incongruity in the blogosphere undermines the credibility of us all.