Who'd a thunk it? Osama as apostate

On reading this, two phrases meandered across the frontal lobes (or was that the amigdila - the older, reptilian bit?).

Hoist by his own Petard
Shooting Fish in a Barrel

Whatever: the image of OBL as a religious outcast, condemned as such by Spanish Muslims, is certainly one to savour.

Innovation as the driver

This Arnold Kling article says in much better words what I have been thinking out loud about in a more stumbling way and with less articulate language. Combining known elements in unknown combinations is the real value-add. There are pointed side-swipes at governments and bureaucracies, too. Kewwl.

Alive in 2005

Some juicy new sites, especially for NZ readers who are currently being regaled with tales about the Wananga, and down the maw of which we currently tip NZD 0.25 Billion. Like most white folk, I have no particular issue with public money going to what Tom Wolfe characterised in 'Bonfire of the Vanities' as 'steam control'. Having a lot of poor, young males hanging about idle is a recipe for societal distress at the very least, as Lee Harris discusses.

Roger Sandall (author of "The Culture Cult") on his site has some very pithy things to say about this sort of misty-eyed hankering after imagined pasts. Mostly, when translated into current-context policy, these 'designer tribalism' ideas are a disaster in the long run, as they act to increase a sense of identity, but at the direct expense of involvement with and understanding of the wider society.

It's all too recognisable here in the Shaky Isles.