In her media column in today's CityBeat, Cathy Seipp gets a free dinner and visits with her friends at the libertarian Reason magazine, where she has written. The piece contains a nugget about another pal of hers that was news to me:

The American Prospect hired Matt Welch, who considers himself a liberal, as its media critic several months ago. But it reneged on the offer – and killed his first column – citing Welch’s association with Republican Richard Riordan (who at the time was talking to Welch about starting a new L.A. paper) and the libertarians at Reason.

It's the Prospect's loss. Also in City Beat, former ambassador Joseph Wilson (his wife is the CIA operative outed by Bob Novak) chats with Ed Rampell and senior writer Dennis Romero gives some perspective to the city's lap dance compromise. The cover story is about drag racing, with a flashback to the long-gone San Fernando raceway.