Nothing's really changed

bin Laden is physically dead. After a raid on a million dollar luxury compound he'd lived in for five years, within walking distance of the Pakistani Kakul Military Academy, Pakistan’s premier military academy.

And the Pakistani's claim they never suspected.

And so life goes on all around the world.

I went out on my daily lunch walk, enjoying the wonderful Orlando weather this time of year. I listened to the people I passed, listening for any indication that bin Laden's death meant anything to them. I heard nothing out of the ordinary.

I stopped by the local Chick-fil-a and ordered a chicken sandwich. While I ate I listened again for any kind of chatter or conversations about bin Laden's death.

Again I heard nothing out of the ordinary.

I went to a local gas station to check the paper stand at the store. I would have shown a photo of a rack of papers screaming about bin Laden's death, except there were none to photograph. There was all sorts of other news stories, but nothing about bin Laden.

Life continues to go on. It will continue to go on no matter what, including the transition into death. bin Laden started his transition into death when he picked America in 1990 as his jihadist target and set into motion all the terrorist acts that would later come to define al-Qaeda.

He died futher when Afghanistan was invaded by our avenging forces on 7 October  2001 forcing bin Laden to flee like a coward across the Afghan/Pakistan border into Pakistan, where he was sheltered by the Pakistanis.

bin Laden had no heart, no soul. Just an empty physical husk that was finally killed by American special forces on Sunday, 1 May 2011.

A shot to the head. Just like killing a movie zombie.

Life goes on. Gas is still rising. Too many people are still out of work. Too many racists, Republican and Tea Partier alike, are still pushing the birther conspiracy (although I haven't heard The Donald bellowing on his bloody pulpit, starting with his very public berating at Saturday's White House Correspondents Association dinner, through the bin Laden killing).

al-Qaeda has metastasized into independent terror affiliates around the world. al-Qaeda still wants to kill us, and continues to plot acts of terrorism. We're in this for the long haul until one of us, America or al-Qaeda, is destroyed.

Update 3 May

Goodbye birthers, hello deathers.