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More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren't so busy denying them. — Harold J. Smith

(Via Dave Ramsey)

". . .the desire for coercion comes first, then the theory to justify it . . ."
-- Glenn Reynolds, Law Professor, University of Tennessee, blogging at Instapundit.

Yes, at the last weekly weigh-in for a while (I'm going on a two-month holiday hiatus) I clocked in at 228 pounds.

I made weight!

I was shooting for 230 by Halloween, and I made it. That also makes it 51 pounds lost since this adventure began back in August, at 279 pounds.

The short-term goal for now is to basically maintain about where I am (although I wouldn't mind shedding a pound or two more) as the holiday season begins. That means not going crazy, of course, but the rules get relaxed a bit--like a "real-food" meal or two every day, and the occasional glass of wine, perhaps.

I also found out this week that I fit into 36-inch jeans. All of those 38-inch-waist shorts I bought recently are a bit loose. Oh, well.

It's gooood.

It is an evil thing, to be generous with somebody else's money.

Thomas Jefferson:

"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.

The people cannot be all, and always, well informed.

The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive.

If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.

And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?

Let them take arms.

The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them.

What signify a few lives lost in a century or two?

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

Context is important.

Well, at least I don't think so. I went to Hobo Day. I'll post pictures, later. And, possibly, a story or at least some explanatory comments, too. Got a lot of things to do though, so be patient.

Meanwhile, be contemplative with the Thoughts For The Day. That's what they're for.

From the book Power in the People by Felix Morley, as linked by Gary Galles at the Ludwig von Mises Institute:

The real sources of American strength…[rest] on the belief that the individual is at least potentially important, and that he fulfills himself through voluntary co-operation in a free society. This belief implies an instinctive hostility to the State—an agency created to discipline society and with a consequent tendency to assume the direction of all social functions.

From the book Power in the People by Felix Morley, as linked by Gary Galles at the Ludwig von Mises Institute:

The Constitution of the United States sets specific limits to the power of government so that the latter may not repress the individual characteristic of liberty.

From the book Power in the People by Felix Morley, as linked by Gary Galles at the Ludwig von Mises Institute:

This Republic is grounded on the belief that the individual can govern himself.

From the book Power in the People by Felix Morley, as linked by Gary Galles at the Ludwig von Mises Institute:

The most that any government can do is set people 'at liberty.' The State can stabilize the condition of freedom, and that is its sole excuse for being…men must develop their liberty from within. It cannot be doled out by government agencies.