Bloggers respond quickly to today’s earthquake in the Indian Ocean. They also praise the investigative work of Roger L. Simon, who has some scoops on the United Nations oil-for-food scandal, and link to a Los Angeles Times report that Tom DeLay pulled the plug on his father.
The Easter quake: Another major earthquake hit the Indian Ocean today, less than three months after the tsunami-causing quake that took around 300,000 lives. Bloggers tremble in fear of the possible fallout, but as yet no tsunami activity has been reported.
Texan Fro Munga, like many bloggers, notes that, as the earlier quake came one day after Christmas, this one struck the day after Easter. “End of the World Part II,” he declares. The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog, launched in the wake of the December disaster, has already begun collecting news and warnings about today’s quake. PunditGuy provides another roundup, in real time, of the day’s developments. At Wizbang, Kevin Aylward expresses the cautious optimism of most onlookers. “Let’s hope the region has it’s act together in getting warning out,” he writes.
Read more about the earthquake here.
Roger Simon, private reporter: Mystery novelist turned gumshoe reporter Roger L. Simon previews some findings of an independent committee, set to release a report tomorrow, investigating the U.N. oil-for-food program. Simon reports on private discussions between Kojo Annan, the son of the U.N. secretary general, and Iraqi ambassadors on the subject of Cotecna, the company that was hired to monitor the oil-for-food program and “whose role in the scandal seems so pervasive.” Simon also suggests Kofi Annan might have known more about his son’s involvement with Cotecna than he has previously admitted.
“It’s real blog-journalism,” applaudsInstaPundit’s stalwart Glenn Reynolds. “Simon is doing what the mainstream media used to pride itself on doing—getting to the bottom of the story,” commends conservative Jay Reding, who believes that task has been left to outsiders because “the media’s love affair with the UN has prevented the kind of in-depth reportage that this story warrants.”
“Oil-For-Food Scam Breaking Open,” predicts conservative powerhouse Little Green Footballs. The writer there thinks that Simon’s scoop indicates “that Secretary General Kofi Annan may have been much more involved in his son Kojo’s activities with Cotecna than we have been led to believe.” Linking to an article from the Times of London, novelist and military analyst Austin Bay suggests Annan is pondering resignation—and asks readers to nominate a successor.
Read more about Simon’s scoops.
Skeleton in the closet: An investigative story in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times revealed that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a passionate advocate for federal action on behalf of Terri Schiavo, chose not to artificially prolong his father’s life in 1988. Though a press aide for DeLay insists that the cases differ substantially, liberal bloggers don’t see shades of gray.
“Hypocrisy, Thy Name is Congressman,” writes a D.C. lawyer, who sees additional irony in the tort-reform advocate’s participation in a wrongful death suit filed on behalf of his father. David Sirota, a fellow at progressive think tank the Center for American Progress, agrees. “He’s finished. It might not be today, might not be tomorrow or even next week or next month…but he is done,” he writes. “The hypocrisy on both the Schiavo issue and on tort reform is more stunning than anything I’ve ever seen. Add to that the corruption and ethics charges surrounding him, and I just don’t see how he survives.” Writing at The Hedgehog Blog, Los Angeles lawyer Lowell Brown thinks the article distorts the story to maximize the contrast with the case of Terri Schiavo. The “DeLay family’s experience is totally unremarkable in the medico-legal-ethical world,” he says. “There is no story here. … [A] hit piece is a hit piece is a hit piece.”
Read Slate’s William Saletan on DeLay’s past here, and more blog posts about the story here.
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