My feelings about the Osama assasination:

Lots of Americans were mad it took ten years for the government to kill bin Laden, but I think it was worth being extra careful to make sure no one else got hurt.

Jon Schwarz [link]

In short I'd be more enthusiastic about getting Bin Laden if we have not killed so many millions over the past decade on our way to getting him.

However, not sorry he is dead. At this point I say "Kiss a nurse (of whichever gender you prefer) and get the hell out of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and Libya. And close most of the 800+ military bases we have around the world".

Now I am reading quotes from all kinds of peopel.

there are a lot of famous people that are very banal. No wonder Sarah Palin was popular, she was memorable.

but I need an occasion to use this:

I like linebackers. I collect 'em. You can't have too many good ones.

Carl Sagan has a lot worth reading

Oh my goodness. I really want to just randomly, cryptically quote him on FB.

Randomly quote GLaDOS.

but you keep on trying until you run out of cake!

I don't believe in "a life for a life", and I don't even believe that planning and ordering the deaths of thousands of people and plotting thousands more to come makes a person unworthy of compassion, but I do believe it makes him worthy of being shot in the face. I don't wish a slow painful death on anyone, not even him, but I will note that better people have died worse deaths. Like flinging yourself from the top of a burning collapsing skyscraper. That's a worse death than a swift execution. I have compassion for bin Laden as a human being, but I have no sympathy, and a quick death is mercy enough.

not sorry he is dead. At this point I say "Kiss a nurse (of whichever gender you prefer) and get the hell out of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and Libya. And close most of the 800+ military bases we have around the world".

Yep, pretty much this.

I don't believe in "a life for a life", and I don't even believe that planning and ordering the deaths of thousands of people and plotting thousands more to come makes a person unworthy of compassion, but I do believe it makes him worthy of being shot in the face.

This.

I don't actually expect this to change much, but if it removes one boogeyman from the closet of irrational fears that is driving our security approach, then that's more than worth it too.

You know what else I've been curious about? What's the 10 year survival rate for a 70 year old with kidney disease in this country?

I'm going to try to find a link to Lara Logan on CBS's news special from Sunday night - she made some really excellent points on why bin Laden's death does still matter to taking down Al Qaeda, even if it feels to many Americans like an afterthought.

Short version: if we had the intel to get into that compound, we have the intel to get everywhere. And now they know it. Since terrorism only works if you can surprise people, this is a big fucking deal.

To answer people who claim Obama was just the lucky heir to Bush's policies, I present this post from Crooks and Liars. Bush gave up on bin Laden six months after 9/11 when he decided Iraq was more important.

Apparently there were also documents and records seized from the Abbottabad compound, so we now have even more intel than we did before Sunday.

In minor news, I was glad to see confirmation from Betsy H-P that Abbottabad was named after some white guy named Abbott.