Issues That Refuse to Die: Dead Soldiers, Katrina Coverage, Killer Dolphins

Never let it be said that the blogosphere is where old news stories go to die. If anything, certain issues are hashed (and rehashed) by bloggers for reasons with varying degrees of clarity and motivation.

For example, Cindy Sheehan (today's No. 3 personality) and Pat Tillman's family have one thing in common: they're both back in the news because they refuse to let the memories of their soldier sons be obscured by politics, lies and unanswered questions. Sheehan was arrested Monday during a peaceful Code Pink protest in front of the White House, and Tillman's family is pressing for a new inquiry into the friendly-fire death of their former NFL son-turned soldier (today's No. 14 top link). The Cunning Realist calls the Tillman saga "Anatomy of a Disgrace."

Now under scrutiny: media coverage
Attention has shifted from recovery efforts to media coverage of the days following Hurricane Katrina, as evidenced by Jeff Jarvis' blast of media obsession with minutiae while overlooking the big picture, and Power Line's call for an investigation of media coverage (today's No. 6 top blog post), especially coverage of what went on -- or didn't go on -- inside the Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center (todays' No. 2 link). Maybe it was dueling incompetence: a media that doesn't fact-check vs. a FEMA gang that doesn't watch TV or else they'd have known tens of thousands of people were stranded. Also, today's No. 26 top blog post provides a link to the new 88-pageHandbook for Bloggers and Cyberdissidents from Reporters Without Borders. Screenshots offers some perspective on global blogging.

Killer dolphins?
Speaking of things that may (or may not) have happened, today's top news story nonetheless comes from The Observer, complete with unconfirmed reports that U.S. Navy-trained, armed-and-dangerous dolphins may be on the loose in the Gulf of Mexico waters....where's Flipper when you need him?