Whatever happened to tboneya, anyway? I haven't seen him for a couple of years.

He was a member of the right wing squad here on the RIA. Then one day he disappeared and took all his postings with him. I miss his comments and thoughts.

I hate rating other reviewers, but this one merits special consideration - for reasons unbeknownst to me, and probably many others, I awoke this morning to find that tboneya had appearently decided to delete his account last night, which came as an absolute shock. His tenure here was one of the longest, if I'm not mistaken, so I figured he would be around until he drew his very last breath.... His posts were marked by a highly literate, challenging, thoughtful and recognizable style of writing, and were always worth reading, whether you agreed with the content, or not.... his online persona seemed to be that of a fearless, unapologetic, but well-read and gentile southerner, with whom you could find yourself in complete disagreement with on one post, but then find yourself nodding your head and saying, "right on, brother" in the next... This duality, along with his love and knowledge for the great game of baseball and his obvious compassion for those who are less fortunate, earned him a spot as one of my favorite reviewers here, even though I would never give him the satisfaction of letting him know it.... Perhaps it was the sometimes unsavory political climate here, or maybe he was indifferent to the changes that were made to the site, or perhaps he had just grown tired and wanted to devote more time to other endeavors....regardless of the reasoning, I respect what must have been a tough decision for him to make - but his leaving creates an unfillable void, and RIA will be a weaker place as a result...

I have both agreed and disagreed with him, but still find him to be the most informative and intelligent reviewers here. He carries a thought well and presents it in a manner that we respect (even if we happen to disagree). As daedalus mentioned already; he's getting a 5 from me, because he deserves it, and I think he deserves to be higher up on the list than he is.

He always has an interesting point of view and is conscise (sp?) in his opinion, whether you agree with him or not.

Politically speaking it seems I have little in common with tboneya and he is still one of my favorite reviewers to read. He writes with a lot of energy and sticks to the topic. In my experience at RIA he deserves to be higher on the list. Its too bad five star ratings are so inflated on this list because he actually deserves it.

Interesting remarks on history- military history or otherwise. Lots of intriguing and spirited comments on baseball, always a plus, and anyone who suggests the great singer/ songwriter John Prine for a weblist of mine automatically has to be a good reviewer. Don't 'know' this guy very well at all, like I sorta "know" some reviewers, and it appears that he and I have relatively little in common as far as social/ political (and often the arts and popular culture) viewpoints go, but I always enjoy reading his take on things.

I always enjoy his posts,regardless of if I agree or not.A gentleman,and an asset to RIA.

The very best of open and fair minded reviewers. We need more like him. A seemingly gracious and classy individual.

Although widely perceived as a genial conservative, tboneya is very intolerant of opinions diverging from his own. He's very self-righteous and narrow-minded. Just smile vacantly and nod your head in response to his comments and you should get along with him fine.

First let me say tboneya is a phenomenal reveiwer and a very nice guy. It is beyond question that he deserves 5 stars for his efforts on RIA. His posts are well written, logical and consistent. However, in the spirit of debate I would like to examine his continual claims with regards to our efforts in the middle east that underly a commitment to the principles of realpolitik that neglect natural actions not deducible from sheer power; and thus contradict his Christian beleifs. One should be called to reference Machiavelli's analysis of Agathocles of Syracuse in his seminal work The Prince when evaluting issues in such a manner. Machiavelli, widely considered the greatest early modern realpolitik theorist still in general understood that there were competing principles and higher moral goals, for him the attainment of honor and glory to which Machiavelli eloquently frames the teleological discussion. Yet even he lucidly details that there is an ends to which humans aspire and eludes to the notion that its not just sheer power. As for Christians, like tboneya, the question is much more complicated. Christians, however should never engage in power struggles for the protection of natural resources unless we are acting upon some other higher moral principle- to do so would be highly immoral. For instance there was no oil in Afghanistan and we fought there and have spent millions propping up a fragile democracy. We've fought in various other theatres that lacked natural resources prior to Iraq. And though real limitations exist in this world and work their way into our impetus for action the ends does not justify the means. Are we to fight solely for -as St Augustine called them- libidinous interests? Does this not fly in face of our just war claims? And what about contrary claims to our actions: reducing terrorism by toppling tryannical states friendly to terror, promoting democracy abroad etc speaks to the limitations of the realpolitik perception. If the war in Iraq was solely about oil it would make absolutely no sense when we could have just sought to reduce the sanctions on Iraq and purchased additional oil for much less than this war cost. But what would that have done to reduce terrorism? And what makes middle easterners universally unable to appreciate the principles of democracy and freedom? Doesn't our Christian teachings tell us that human nature dictates that democracy is compatible with a more just world not our desires. I believe the assumption that oil was the sole criteria and most important criteria for engaging in military actions in the middle east is flawed. However that being said, we can discuss these things til we're blue in the face. Tboneya is still one of the strongest reviewers on this site and deserves bonus stars for being a Civil War buff! :-) (edited recently for more clarity)

UPDATE: tboneya is great; I love his mix of humor and his articulate writing. Definitely in the top five on RIA. He loves the south and is proud of his heritage (he even married two southern belles, lol funny stuff tboneya). He should be rated a lot higher on this list of reviewers, either way he's very high in my book. ORIGINAL MESSAGE: I think tboneya is a sincere rater; they have always been pleasant to me. Keep up the good work!

I can't believe I have never rated you.Well, I'll explain the stars.1-for being well researched and your adroit handling of the English language.2-For your love and knowledge of History.3-For your love of John Wayne movies.4-For your tactfullness and class.5 big stars for your Conservative voice and standing up for what is good and right.I almost took a star away for you being a Kentucky fan, but nah!

I just wanna apologize to him for my 'stupid' comments concerning incest. i took my statements too far and i apologize to RIA and all the reviewers. ... Anyway, he's got a lot of good baseball analysis and I take the pleasure of learning it from him.

Good guy! Gives honest opinions without any BS. Knows his military history too. UPDATE: Along with Irishgit, a top authority on baseball. His love of the sport comes through like a home run!

Very good reviewer, especially on historical issues. Clever, well read and fun to read. One of my favourites.

Looks like everybody who didn't like him didn't have the guts (or perhaps the brains) to come up with a reason why. One of my favorite reviewers.

Rapidly becoming one of my faves.

Tboneya is one of the few people on this site who has completely different views to myself, but I can easily respect. Hes one of the few people that I think should be rated higher. A solid intellect peppered with some humour makes his opinions worth reading.

Tboneya reminds me of my favorite teacher in high school- an ex-military man who taught history. That teacher holds a spot in my heart and since Tboneya echoes so many of Mr. Parsons' sentiments, I've got great affection for him as a reviewer. Not only are his reviews strong and humorous but you can just tell that he's just a good man who loves his family. A terrific additon to this site who deserves to be much higher on this list.

One of the best. Open-minded and intelligent. Smart on many topics. He does use common sense when rating different things. Anyone who appreciates history as much as Tboneya is brilliant. Open minded conservatism is a good thing.

He knows his stuff.

I like his lists, his interests, and his comments. We have exchanged more than a few personal messages - it has always been pleasant exchanging ideas or thoughts with him. I'm sure his students learn a lot from him.

A historian and educator with a great sense of humor, tboneya's a great reviewer and a great person to talk to. He's blunt, honest, and from talking to him I can tell he's a great guy all around.

He's great. I'm glad he's on this website.

I haven't had the chance to read that many of his reviews until recently, and the ones I have seen are almost always accurate and to the point. I don't agree with every single thing he says, but that doesn't mean he isn't a great person with a great flair for life. And like most other people on RIA, I did read a few of his reviews about history, and they are just awesome !

What's not to like? He looks carefully at the issues, expresses himself without using foul language, and (best of all) is a fan of the Kentucky Wildcats.

He made me really mad at first with his comments about Islam, but when I asked him about it, he had some good reasons for his feelings and I gained a lot of respect for him. We are polar opposites in politics, but again like Solenoid, he is a wonderful person and very nice.

Always logical, always insightful. As a fellow lover of U.S. History, I tip my hat off to tboneya.