X17 makes its mark with Lohan scoops

Congratulations to X17, the celebrity news site that scooped the world on the Lindsay Lohan car crash this weekend while the boys at TMZ were asleep or hiding out in Matthew McConaughey's bushes.

The photo agency that's quickly become the dominant force in Hollywood celebrity journalism broke through the Memorial Day Weekend malaise with word Saturday that the young actress cheated death-- and cheated arrest when she crashed her Mercedes on Sunset Boulevard yards away from Frank Sinatra's old house.

After the photos were broadcast and wired around the world, the site followed up with an exclusive statement from Lohan's father Michael, who's out of prison, licensed as a minister, working with drug addicted youth, desperate to get his family together again-- and the subject of a reality television series produced by our pals at Frozen Pictures:

Lindsay needs to find God, get better, clean house and start all over again with the people who were there for her at the beginning: her family. Too many people are around Lindsay for the wrong reasons. They want to see what they can get from her instead of caring about Lindsay herself. I’m her father. I don’t want anything from her but her love and to be her father first. I’m here for Lindsay as a father and a father only.

And it’s about time that her mother Dina stop building up the walls of division between myself and my children—especially Lindsay. And if Dina really cares about out children--especially Lindsay-- then she should do the right thing so we can both be there as parents. Because what Lindsay needs are both parents. I wish Dina would put things aside and act the way God wants us to: right the wrongs and not
compound the wrongs.

I hope Lindsay finally gets the help that she needs. I want her to know that her Daddy is here for her.

X17 and its website have established themselves as the smart, comprehensive alternative to TMZ, the corporate, porn-pushing and checkbook justice-skirting AOL/Time Warner website that sends kids with video cameras to annoy celebrities outside nightclubs and features distateful headlines like this recent batch:

WHOSE HOLE?
Lilo-- Pole Patrol
Trunks or Speedos?
Katie Holmes' Tasty Treats
Kevin Spacey is a Baller!
Rodriguez Cans in Cannes
"Idol" TiVo Fans Got Screwed
Clooney Turns Tricks in Cannes
Real Ari Really Was an A**Hole
Jacko Gets Male Escort in London
Rosie's Rearview -- Creating a Stink
John Travolta & Kelly Preston Finally Get Lei'd Together!
Lindsay -- Move Bitch, Get Out the Way!
Fan to Jessica: "Once You Go Black ..."
Mouth-to-Mouth McConaughation?
Play "Lost" -- Get Jack Off (The Island)
Duchovny Mooseknuckles Around Venice Beach
Matt: Come on Baby, Light My Fire!
Melinda Doolittle -- Before She Got Screwed

TMZ has been playing catch-up the last 24 hours, but the damage is done. After getting much hype for buying the Mel Gibson arrest report and other scoops handed to the site from Time/Warner's more legitimate operations, TMZ is headed to television. But unless the show is hosted by a shirtless Harvey Levin, the TV show won't come close to reflecting the mucky reality of the website, and with reports that the operation is getting off on the wrong foot with staffing with "straight" news people and syndicated television producers instead of smart, experienced tabloid veterans, TMZ TV seems destined to last as long as the National Enquirer TV show-- which is not long.

While X17 got the Lindsay scoop, TMZ's editor was having this dream: