Ciphertext

The DU

2004-11-29T09:55:00.000-05:00

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."
~ Obi-Wan Kenobi ~

Lately, I've found myself going to the Democratic Underground for entertainment. I do so, wading through hip-deep piles of liberal moonbat nonsense, at the risk of my own sanity. It is not something I would recommend to the weak of heart, mind, or faith. Every now and then, however, I come across something so priceless, I can't keep it to myself.

Recently, I came across this thread by "bemildred", with her gem of a post, ""International Terrorism" is a Contrived Threat."

"The above distribution demonstrates that terrorism against US citizens is directly related to US intervention and occupation and has little to do with an alleged hatred for Americans, as such. Some of the above victims were involved in illegal or military activities. No U.S. citizen died in 2003 as a result of international terrorism in Europe, Africa, Australia and North America. In South America, only one U.S. citizen died from international terrorism (in Colombia). That person was a pilot of a plane owned by Southern Command."
(Emphasis mine)

It strikes me as odd that the moonbat in question correlates the lack of American deaths by terrorism with her belief that "Terrorism is a Fairytale Myth!" Maybe the explanation is that international terrorists have been too busy with fighting for their lives and avoiding the U.S. military like the plague to really plan much of an attack on U.S. citizens? Apparently not, I guess, at least according to bemildred:

"Not only is international terrorism against U.S. citizens limited to locations were the United States is engaging in occupation or in supporting repressive practices."

These locations where the U.S. is "engaging in occupation or in supporting regressive practices" are obvious euphemisms for Iraq and Afghanistan. So, it seems to me that what bemildred is trying to say that the only regions terrorism is occuring are in the very regions where we are fighting terrorists. Brilliant conclusion! Obviously, bemildred has missed the point of the War on Terror entirely. It is not some scheme concocted by the VRWC to secure its global hegemony, the War on Terror is about taking the fight to the terrorists and putting them on the defensive, so they won't do the same to us.

Fighting the terrorists on their home ground leaves the fighting entirely in the hands of the military. Civilians are spared from having to fight crazed terrorists, like the brave passengers of Flight 93 so heroicly did. Most people, I should hope, would prefer things this way, with the terrorists far on the other side of the world, struggling for their own survival, rather than ending the lives of innocents around the world. Obviously bemildred and her band of loony brigades want the War on Terror to fail, because "Terrorism is a Myth!"

Terrorism is not a myth, it just so happens that we've managed to prevent the unwashed horde of crazed terrorists from reaching their goals for nigh on three years now, and, God willing, may it remain ever so.

If you feel up to risking your very psyche, feel free to wade through the remainder of the argument, and the comments section. Consider it extra credit... I wonder if the VRWC will want to recruit me now?

Setbacks

2004-11-29T08:49:00.000-05:00

"O you who know that we suffer here, do not forget us in your prayers."
~ Dune ~

Based on the information presented already in this post, one could probably make two inferences:
1. I like books by Frank Herbert.
2. I've ran headlong into some kind of problem as of late.

And those two inferences are actually absolutely correct. But I'm not here to talk about the literary works of Frank Herbert, epic though they may be. I want to talk about setbacks, specifically the lessons I've been taught by them. I'm no stranger to setbacks myself. Sometimes I feel like Irony and Misfortune have a running competition going to see which can make my life more miserable. Lately, it seems as though they've tag-teamed to give me a double dose of trouble.

Anyway, moving on, I would like to assert that I'm not the kind of person that gives up easily. I may try different paths on the mountains that represent my goals, I may try the same path again and again, or I may even find an entirely new mountain with entirely new paths to explore. The point is, I don't let setbacks set me back for long. And now I'm sounding like someone from an inspirational audio tape. Time to move on, yet again.

To deal with setbacks, I find the most readily available solution is to bury myself in the drudgery and routine of everday life. That works perfectly, for a while. Then I'm forced to deal with whatever I've been repressing. But by then, it's a little easier, a little less substantial, a little more distant. But many opportunities are always lost in the waiting. The wait-and-see approach fails me time and again, thus, the time seems ripe for a change. Whether I can enforce such a change upon myself remains to be seen, however.

Day One

2004-11-29T07:51:00.000-05:00

"A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct."
~ Dune ~

Welcome to my blog! That's right, I've got my own blog, only because at the last possible moment, a friend spared me from the fate-worse-than-death of getting a LiveJournal.

Some may undoubtedly wonder about the name and URL I've chosen for my blog, and the only explanation I can give is that I'm obsessed with Cryptography at the moment. Hidden Word is the direct translation of cryptography from the Ancient Greek. And if you know anything at all about crypto, ciphertext makes enough sense as a name.

Hopefully, I can keep this site interesting, keep an actual reader base, and get a few comments on my posts every now and then. And I'll try to keep the rants and such to minimum, I'm not some kind of emokid, after all.