On Osama's death

I don't have much to say about bin Laden's death. The best encapsulation of my feelings is a quote from Tim Carmody, writing for Kottke:

I hope we can exorcise this man, his damage, and the damage he helped incite us to, from our lives. I have to hope that we have enough strength left in our democracy to do that.

I'm as relieved as the next U.S. citizen that he's dead. But I'm not treating this as an excuse to party in the streets, as the crowds gathered last night at Ground Zero and outside the White House did.

The "war on terror" goes on -- except that, to borrow from The Wire:

Det. Ellis Carver: You can't even call this shit a war.
Det. Thomas Hauk: Why not?
Det. Ellis Carver: Wars end.

It ain't a war -- and it ain't over.

Now get back to your lives.