The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[g'nad]

g'nad has no snowpants... g'nad needs no snowpants...

[g'nad]

naw... I prefer to share the pain...

[ksen]

Thanks for your "rant."

I was watching "The Godfather, Part II" last night and one episode in particular made me think of the Islamics. Michael Corleone is in Havana and he is being driven somewhere. His car is stopped because there is an arrest in progress. He sits in the backseat and watches as one of the arrestees breaks away from the police, grabs the captain, and blows himself up with a grenade.

Later on at the birthday party for Hyman Roth, Michael relates that story to Mr. Roth. Roth asks him what he thinks of it. Michael says that he was impressed with the fact that the army is being paid to fight, while the rebels were willing to die for "the cause". And for that reason, Michael felt that the rebels would win.

Do we have what it takes to fight this war in such a way as to defeat people who are willing to blow themselves up in order to see us defeated?

[RMDupree]

I can't believe that underwear for farts! LOL!!

g'nad would never wear them. He won't even wear snowpants!

I don't even want to know how he manages to keep warm in those cold, dark and damp caves.

[carton253]

Not there!

[RMDupree]

I don't even want to know how he manages to keep warm in those cold, dark and damp caves.

Neveer mind. I just remembered that he lights his farts.

[Sam Cree]

"Do we have what it takes to fight this war in such a way as to defeat people who are willing to blow themselves up in order to see us defeated?"

Well, Carton will answer this better, but, yeah, it's not like we are given a choice here.

However, I believe (since Carton pointed it out) that if the nations who allow terrorists to exist within their borders can be stopped from allowing that, by whatever means necessary, it can be pretty much ended. There have been Muslim fanatics throughout history, and they have been stopped, throughout history.

Yeah, I agree, there are many leftists, and their followers within our ranks who seem ready to side with the Islamists in their personal quest for power. And they seem to have an air of desperation at the thought of the U.S. potentially scoring decisive defeats against terror, IMO, at least if Bush is to be in charge of it.

Hey, I didn't see the movie, but it sounds like Hollywood was once again making a communist into a hero.

[carton253]

The administration does... as does the military. And for the most part... so do the American people.

Liberals and the media and especially France, Germany, Belgium... and other countries with a high muslim population, they do not.

Plus... there is always the ghost of Vietnam. As someone who was very young during Vietnam... I am tired of everything being framed by that war.

But, half the framing has to do with the "romance" of the anti-war movement... it is hip (to use Janene Garafalo's word) to protest the war. There is a huge insincerity in the anti-war movement. Are they really opposed to war, or are they trying to recapture their youth (if they are older protesters) when they were involved and making a difference. As for the young... are they involved because the '60's have been romanticized, and they want a piece of the action.

But this isn't Vietnam. This time, we are being shot at by crazies who are pursing an irrational goal irrationally. They have no hesitation killing any one of us because they have no hesitation in killing themselves.

So the stakes are different... and because the stakes are different... the people are behind the President.

[RMDupree]

ohmigosh! I loved that "trailer" for The Hobbit. How funny!

I bet PJ has seen it by now. Have you FReepmailed it to Jen yet?

C'mon PJ - just do it!!!

[ksen]

Well, that's all true, but taking out Iraq is not going to end Muslim extremity. Don't get me wrong, this Iraq war needs to happen(the faster the better), but then what? After all, isn't Iraq one of the most secular Arab countries? How will democratizing Iraq do anything to the Islamicists other than drying up a potential weapon supplier?

Will we hit at the heart of the terrorists? Will we take on Saudi Arabia? Will we act against the places that help propagate the ideology of the terrorists?

[Sam Cree]

"Are they really opposed to war, or are they trying to recapture their youth"

IMO, they are not opposed to "war," they are deathly afraid that W Bush will be successful in the war, and that patriotism and American values will be at the forefront, while their leftist arguments will be left in the dust for awhile.

I kind of think their younger followers are just trying to stand out and grab some attention, maybe feel different and important.

Did you read "Radical Son," by David Horowitz? I was kind of in a cold rage for awhile after finishing it. As one of the organizers of the 60's protests, he related how the anti war movement then was mostly orchestrated by the Left, even by out and out communists, which he himself was, at the time.

I am sure today's "anti war" movement is exactly the same, I believe this has already been documented.

[Sam Cree]

I don't suppose the war on terror will end with Iraq. I believe the new sherriff intends to clean up the whole neighborhood. No wonder they are desperate in the halls of academia.

[HairOfTheDog]

C'mon PJ - just do it!!!

Deb, check out this little trailer for 'The Hobbit'... forward it to anyone you think might enjoy it!

Hobbit Fan Trailer
3/04/03, 1:21 pm EST - Xoanon

Here's a little something to get the fanboy in you all tingly. lthanfilm.com has cut together scenes from FOTR and Dragonslayer (thanks to everyone that wrote in!- Xo) into a 'Hobbit' movie trailer starring Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis and of course, Smaug. Hey, a fanboy can dream can't he? Take a look before we Torn the site due to an overload of hits. [More]

[HairOfTheDog]

Source for the above was TORN: TheOneRing.net™

[carton253]

Yes... that is probably the root of the organization.

I haven't read Horowitz' book. I'll have to add it to my list.

I just purchased Dore Gold's new book about the Saudis. Dore is an advisor to Netanyahu.

If you want to read a good book about Iraq, read "The Threatening Storm" by Kenneth Pollack. Now, he's wrong about Iraq and terror (simple-minded more like it) but as the person who sat at the Iraq desk at the CIA, he knows what is happening... it's very eye-opening.

There is a fight for the soul of the country. It's happening now in the Senate regarding Estrada. We can't let them win. If they do, Hillary will be president... (can't even process that)

[Sam Cree]

"There is a fight for the soul of the country"

Yeah, I agree. You'd think it wouldn't even be a contest if schools would require the reading of, say, "The Federalist Papers," or Washington's farewell address, maybe even "The Road to Serfdom," by Hayek.

But instead, academia, with the support of the media, seems intent on degrading the reputations of the men who founded something unique in history, a country based on the idea of individual freedom.

The result, intentional IMO, is that generations of Americans are growing up ignorant of our most beautiful traditions, but educated about our ugly side, and therefore, vulnerable to appeals by the Left and the Democrats to their own ugly side, greed and envy.

[ksen]

It's all the Weekly Reader's fault. They need to offer better books. ;^)

[Sam Cree]

What's the Weekly Reader?

How is All Star?

[ksen]

Weekly Reader was a little 4 or 5 page catalog we used to get in elementary school to order books from.

All-Star is doing fine. She is still catching up on school and is spending time with visiting grampa this week. Thanks for asking.

[ksen]

ah-choo.