I rarely post, but I have been reading at TPM for several years. TPM is for me a primary source of news and political discussion.

I was pleased to see Mr. Hitchens commenting here. He is amusing and insightful, according to his lights.

An ex-trotskyite? Oh dear, mustn't have one of those in here!

Posted at October 3, 2008 10:28 PM in response to The Dog That Did Not Bark

It came in the daily Tallahassee Democrat on Tuesday.

Posted at September 19, 2008 10:20 PM in response to Who Is Funding Distribution Of DVDs About Radical Islam In Campaign Home Stretch?

Thanks, BevD. Well said.

Posted at August 28, 2008 12:36 AM in response to Hillary's Smart Speech, and What Bill Should Say Tonight

I'm not sure whether you'll take fiction recommendations, but you might enjoy John Biggins's, "A Sailor of Austria" featuring naval officer Otto Prohaska in a sideshow of the Great War, the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. All of Biggins's Otto Prohaska novels are great fun, and present a rare fictional portrayal of the age of the dreadnoughts and the first submarines.

For myself, this summer, at the age of 54 I am embarking on Gibbon's "History of the Rise and Decline of the Roman Empire". Philip K. Dick's refrain from the novel, "Valis", "The empire never ended", has echoed in my mind over the years.

Doing what you do, you are probably not a gamer, but for anyone who is curious I'll mention two naval sims, "Shells of Fury", (WWI submarine warfare), and "Distant Guns, The Russo-Japanese War at Sea".

Posted at July 3, 2008 12:51 AM in response to Summer Reading

I voted, (here in Florida), for John Edwards, the post-millenial Fred Harris, the Workingman's Friend who never had a chance. So no, Wilder, I don't expect you to love O. Just please vote for him if he is our nominee. This election will be won by party discipline.

Posted at May 24, 2008 12:56 AM in response to Keith Olbermann Says It All On RFK Assassination and Hillary

"The fact that there are Democrats who actually believe it makes me ashamed to be a Democrat."

Being ashamed to be a Democrat, (or nauseated), is actually the price of admission. But yes, isn't this silly? I am sure there is at least one troll here.

Do you want to be a Democrat? Then abase yourself and pull the lever for the Democratic candidate in November, or whatever electronic maneuver passes for voting these days.

I know that the RFK reference touched a nerve. I have had the same thought, that O. might get shot. Let it go.

Posted at May 24, 2008 12:27 AM in response to Keith Olbermann Says It All On RFK Assassination and Hillary

Just what I said to my wife last night. Does he have any idea? I surely hope so.

Posted at February 7, 2008 3:18 PM in response to Obama's Biggest Weakness

I might chime in if the topic is one that I have something to say about, Florida politics, for example.

But TPM, for me, primarily takes the place of television programs and journals, say, Washington Week in Review or Foreign Affairs, that I now find sedate and temporizing. I come to TPM hoping to read smart observers "letting their hair down". Sometimes I'll find the consensus too liberal for my taste, sometimes not enough to the left. TPM's my first stop for political reading when the day is done.

Posted at April 16, 2007 8:45 PM in response to Open Thread

I haven't gone to a demonstration since the 1970's, but I felt the same way. I may have agreed with the reason for the march, but I ended up feeling used. I'm sure it was different at Selma.

Some hotheads would inevitably get themselves arrested, and then it was, "Free the (place-name) + (number arrested)!".

You feel like you have got to endorse a raft of causes that have nothing to do with the reason for the march. Yeah, Mumia, enough about Mumia, already. Nobody where I live ever heard of him.

Posted at January 23, 2007 9:47 PM in response to Street Protest? Why Street Protests?

Ok thanks, Devon, I'll leave it there.

Posted at January 20, 2007 8:24 PM in response to An Afterthought on the Aftersixties