Paging calimac: more abuse of LOTR?

Juan Cole on Democratic capitulations on Iraq funding:

"You have a sinking feeling that a small band of nice gentle hobbits is facing off against the Orcs of Mordor, without any magic rings or even just ordinary armament, and without any over-arching strategy."

I get the feeling that Prof. Cole doesn't quite understand the whole "magic ring" thing in Lord of the Rings.

The art of the opening hook

"Depending on who you believe, Edmund Goulding either died from a heart attack or by suicide in 1959 following a depraved life of bisexual adventurism."

-- Lawrence Russell on Nightmare Alley

Alas, the rest of the piece doesn't live up to the first line.