Osama bin Laden is dead

It was announced last night that Osama bin Laden is confirmed dead.

Net effect on the national situation: a lot of lobbyists spent a sleepless night and will be laboring today to come up with explanations why this doesn't change anything and the government money flowing to their agencies and companies in the name of national security shouldn't be reduced.

Net effect on the world situation: pretty much zip. The Middle East's already in an uproar, the increased uproar won't even be noticeable. Al Qaeda will rattle some sabers, but if they could hit the US itself with anything they'd've done it before this. Suicide bombings... will continue in the usual places at about the rate they've been for the last few years, because that's all the extremists have left.