The Murph Report » Individual Rights

Token Libertarian Girl | Military Spy Drones Coming to Your Backyard Soon

Chris — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:02:31 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m0Oci_Ni1o

These unmanned aircraft would be the government spies in the sky. Military drones could soon be in your background taking pictures and videos of your private activites. Uh, yeah, where is this in the Constitution?

Nifty Thrifting | Come with an Open Mind

Chris — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:33:12 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUiOS5VKxGs

SHOP MY STORE: http://www.shopvagabondyouth.com
MY BLOG: http://moonriverr.blogspot.com | http://vagabondyouth.tumblr.com
MY TWITTER: http://twitter.com/amyvagabondd
MY INSTAGR.AM: @amyvagabond

I’m introducing a new series of videos where my friends and I take you thrifting and talk about some tips and tricks we keep in mind. As you guys [may or may not] know, I own an online store Vagabond Youth that focuses on solely vintage, recycled, or secondhand clothing, so it is truly my great pleasure to show you guys this side of my business! Each of this videos will focus on ONE important, universal tip one may need when going thrifting and will be followed by a haul video- so stay tuned for a haul video on what we got!

AMY’S OUTFIT:
Lenny round sunglasses – Vagabond Youth, my store www.shopvagabondyouth.com
All accessories – shoplately.com/glintandgleam
American flag top – wholesaledress (no longer available)
Circle skirt – American Apparel
Crossbody bag – Marc Jacobs Natasha
Leopard loafers – XXI

JANICE’S OUTFIT:
Princess crown – BK (lol)
Gold collar – XXI
Dusty rose tank – XXI
Circle skirt – XXI
Boots – XXI
Socks – Target
Backpack – mine *from Korea dongdaemun*

Thanks for watching!
Filmed at:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/sav-mor-thrift-hawaiian-gardens

Jordan Owen | Defending Ayn Rand

Chris — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:08:15 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlPoNvaMiAg

Sheldon Richman | The Myth of America’s Laissez-Faire Past

Chris — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:16:42 +0000

In 1888, at the height of the Gilded Age, a rather prominent American said some startling things. First he observes:

Our cities are the abiding places of wealth and luxury; our manufactories yield fortunes never dreamed of by the fathers of the Republic; our business men are madly striving in the race for riches, and immense aggregations of capital outrun the imagination in the magnitude of their undertakings.

But this did not mean all was well with America. The speaker goes on:

We view with pride and satisfaction this bright picture of our country’s growth and prosperity, while only a closer scrutiny develops a somber shading. Upon more careful inspection we find the wealth and luxury of our cities mingled with poverty and wretchedness and unremunerative toil.

Assigning Blame

Has this man forgotten, as many people do, that in market-based societies the growth of wealth, while inevitably uneven, is over time steady and general? That’s not relevant to what he has in mind: He wishes to assign blame for the poverty he observed:

We discover that the fortunes realized by our manufacturers are no longer solely the reward of sturdy industry and enlightened foresight, but that they result from the discriminating favor of the Government and are largely built upon undue exactions from the masses of our people. The gulf between employers and the employed is constantly widening, and classes are rapidly forming, one comprising the very rich and powerful, while in another are found the toiling poor.

As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the existence of trusts, combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling far in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people’s masters.

Rewards unrelated to effort! Undue exactions from the masses! Widening gulf between employers and employed! Rapidly forming classes! Rich and powerful versus the toiling poor!

We’ve heard this somewhere.

Powerful Minority

But he’s got more to say:

Under the . . . laws . . . the Government permits many millions more to be added to the cost of the living of our people and to be taken from our consumers, which unreasonably swell the profits of a small but powerful minority. . . .

[T]he Government, under pretext of an exercise of its taxing power, enters gratuitously into partnership with these favorites, to their advantage and to the injury of a vast majority of our people.

This is not equality before the law.

Sounding like one of today’s Progressives attacking “trickle-down economics,” he continues:

He mocks the people who proposes that the Government shall protect the rich and that they in turn will care for the laboring poor. Any intermediary between the people and their Government or the least delegation of the care and protection the Government owes to the humblest citizen in the land makes the boast of free institutions a glittering delusion and the pretended boon of American citizenship a shameless imposition.

Call for Reform

And he’s not finished. The speaker calls for reform, which he expects would have the support “of all who believe that the contented competence and comfort of many accord better with the spirit of our institutions than colossal fortunes unfairly gathered in the hands of a few” (emphasis added).

Who is this man? Progressive politician William Jennings Bryan? Socialist Party presidential candidate and union leader Eugene V. Debs?

No. It is neither of them.

Casting a wider net, perhaps it is the “free market socialist” writer and editor Benjamin Tucker?

Again, no.

It is Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. The occasion: his December 1888 State of the Union address, delivered a month after losing his reelection bid in the electoral college (but not in the popular vote) to Benjamin Harrison.

Source of Privilege: The Tariff

The source of corporate privilege that raised Cleveland’s ire was the tariff, one of Tucker’s despised “four monopolies.” (Back in the day, it was said, “The tariff is the mother of trusts.”) As Cleveland puts it, “It can not be denied that the selfish and private interests which are so persistently heard when efforts are made to deal in a just and comprehensive manner with our tariff laws are related to, if they are not responsible for, the sentiment largely prevailing among the people that the General Government is the fountain of individual and private aid.”

Then, astoundingly, he adds:

Communism is a hateful thing and a menace to peace and organized government; but the communism of combined wealth and capital, the outgrowth of overweening cupidity and selfishness, which insidiously undermines the justice and integrity of free institutions, is not less dangerous than the communism of oppressed poverty and toil, which, exasperated by injustice and discontent, attacks with wild disorder the citadel of rule. [Emphasis added.]

Note what Cleveland is saying: The impetus for communism is not the masses’ or intellectuals’ envy of wealth earned through achievement in the market, but rather honest people’s frustration at being exploited through the collusion of capital and State, which Cleveland also labels a form of “communism.” In another place he refers to the “communism of pelf.”

No Laissez Faire

Thus, judging by Cleveland’s address, America in the Gilded Age was no era of laissez faire characterized by rugged entrepreneurship. Rather, it was a neomercantilist corporate state, where government – as only government can – empowered privileged business interests to make fortunes at the expense of regular working and consuming Americans. Cleveland, in this speech at least, echoes the pro-market “anti-capitalist” critique voiced by Lysander Spooner, Benjamin Tucker, and their compatriots for whom justice for worker-consumers was the very basis of their seminal libertarian movement. (Yet see Spooner’s letter to Cleveland and Cleveland’s role in the Pullman strike.) Later classical-liberal historians Arthur A. Ekirch Jr. and George C. Roche III shared their critique. (See also Joseph R. Stromberg’s article “The Gilded Age: A Modest Revision.”)

Cleveland’s words will undoubtedly surprise most people—regardless of their political philosophy.

Sheldon Richman is editor of The Freeman, where this article originally appeared.

Alana Muller | Optimism Should Be at the Top of an Entrepreneur’s Checklist

Chris — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:25:53 +0000

Optimistic entrepreneurs are the most successful kind. They are energetic and fun to be around, and it is exciting to be party to their startup endeavors. Sure, they require a good heaping dose of realism, too, but their passion and conviction ooze through every pore of their being and their enthusiasm is downright contagious.

One might wonder if my colleagues and I simply see the world through rose-colored glasses, especially in a questionable economy. I say, we’re seeing things in their appropriate light. Just last week, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in conjunction with LegalZoom, released its inaugural Startup Confidence Index. The results mirror my own experience — entrepreneurs today are surprisingly optimistic about 2012. In fact, more than 25 percent of them plan to expand their staffs in the next several months, and twice as many of them — 68 percent — expect the economy to improve or stay the same during the year.

In my own work with the FastTrac program, where we open a portal to the entrepreneurial ecosystem for current and aspiring business owners — before, during and after the startup process — I am exposed to this type of optimism on a daily basis. Nothing gives me a greater charge than to hear from one of our entrepreneurs around the world — their willingness to share their successes, their setbacks, how they are moving forward and their ideas to help other entrepreneurs. It is incredibly inspiring.

But, let’s face it; optimism alone is not enough to ensure business success. I am often asked if there is a checklist — some source code to determine what it takes to cut it as an entrepreneur. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet. However, there are some indicators of entrepreneurial potential.

Successful entrepreneurs develop feasible ideas into profitable businesses. They recognize opportunity; consider and implement sales and marketing plans; convert prospects into customers; locate and acquire financial capital; build solid, effective management teams; and they ably manage risk. In fact, speaking of risk, it is critical for an aspiring entrepreneur to identify his or her risk tolerance level. He or she might ask:

Do I often seek out and try new and different things?

Do I enjoy the challenge of finding a solution when I encounter a problem?

Do I embrace the discomfort associated with trying something new or different as part of the learning process?

Am I open to asking others for help or guidance?

There is no hard and fast rule for whether the answers to any of these questions will help an individual to succeed as an entrepreneur, but a “Yes!” response to questions like these indicates a person’s ability to work through the uncertainty associated with entrepreneurship with confidence, perseverance and aplomb.

An individual with a strong desire to succeed coupled with passion for what he or she is doing helps to get the entrepreneurial ball rolling. I have discovered, too, that the best entrepreneurs I have encountered exude determination, physical energy and resiliency — they tirelessly pursue a vision and readily overcome the setbacks and disappointments often experienced when launching or growing a business. They are always selling — they have their stories down cold and are eager to share their vision with anyone who will listen, making them interesting and persuasive and compelling. They hold themselves accountable for achieving results and have the self-discipline necessary to move the business forward, to shift gears as necessary and to take action even in ambiguous, confusing environments. They are a confident breed, and others gain energy from simply being around them.

That, of course, brings us back to optimism. Above all, great entrepreneurs are optimistic. Their passion, their belief, their can-do attitude all lead to a positive vision for the future.

In fact, you might wonder, what is better than an optimistic entrepreneur? The answer: Many optimistic entrepreneurs! The point here: Don’t go it alone. Entrepreneurship by its very nature can be daunting and lonely and risky and scary. There is no need to go through it by oneself — in fact, I don’t recommend it. Instead, an entrepreneur should surround him/herself with the best — the best support network (family, friends, informal advisers, and mentors), the best business partners and employees (people who care [nearly] as much as you do), the best board of directors or advisory board (be sure that they are fully committed to supporting you and truly enthusiastic about your success and the success of your business). Indeed, optimism and enthusiasm and a positive attitude feed on themselves and regenerate, leaving more of the same! Part of success is simply believing — truly, deeply in your heart of hearts, in your gut — that you will succeed.

So count me in. I stand by the optimistic entrepreneurs. Like them, I have high confidence in the future, and 2012 is a perfect place to start — and to ‘startup’ your idea.

The Style Haul | Benefit Cosmetics!

Chris — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:46:10 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quwVmXLjA7Q

Lauren takes us to the Benefit Cosmetics (http://www. http://www.benefitcosmetics.com.com), a makeup boutique that puts an emphasis on playful packaging, snappy monikers & a feel-good philosophy. And, as always, we see the best of beauty and fashion on YouTube.

Subscribe to Lauren’s Channel! http://www.youtube.com/larynmichael

Follow her on Twitter! https://twitter.com/#!/stylehaullauren

Like us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stylehaul

BEAUTY

xoBrunetteBarbie – A pop of Color for SPRiNG?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4BXDnlZDh0

sunnysideup11100 – Bright Spring/Summer Makeup Tutorial!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGAn8TQ_ATk

crystalis007 – New Drugstore Summer Makeup Haul!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HfOkIq-eMo

nitraab – Summery Makeup – Big Lashes and Bold Lips!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGWHAp3aC2o

kentralmakes3 – Wet N Wild Fauna Tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gmgOisZkV4

FASHION

GlamAholic54 – A Week in my WARDROBE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I-aqmmIGNs

mS3riKa – SPRING FASHION: Pairing Skinny White Jeans with a Pop of Color & *NEW* Arm Candy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xa-fEteIUE

EmJustLikeYou – Spring Look Book: Colored Denim Pants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aCcuOVgA6c

beautycakez – Style: Spring 2012 Lookbook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0THPNwjGUE

ARose186 – Collective Clothing Haul! Forever 21, Etsy, etc!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUvMDp9-zaY

*To sign up for the StyleHaul newsletter, click the link: http://eepurl.com/eYe4o

I would vote YAY on Bill C-26: The Citizen’s Arrest and Self-defence Act

Chris — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 06:54:29 +0000

As it is well known self-defence is a right in any free society, and, thus we should be able to use it to defend person and property. For it is by citizen’s helping with those whom are commiting harm, and, force against others that will lesson the tax burden toward peace officers. In addition citizens arrests, and, self-defence are well founded in common law practices of all free societies universally. For these reasons, and, the fact this bill helps toward the ability of all of the above mentioned rights of a free people I vote yay on bill C-26, “The Citizen’s Arrest and Self-defence Act.”

http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/LegislativeSummaries/bills_ls.asp?Language=E&ls=c26&Parl=41&Ses=1&source=library_prb

Token Libertarian GIrl | House Passes CISPA to Destroy Internet Privacy

Chris — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:18:39 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gl-GuyNkJg

House passed CISPA last night. This is a nightmare bill that will destroy Internet privacy.

Sources:

Campaign for Liberty letter against CISPA:
http://www.campaignforliberty.org/profile/7788/blog/2012/04/25/c4l-letter-hil…

CISPA Roll Call (thanks to Campaign for Liberty):
http://www.campaignforliberty.org/profile/7788/blog/2012/04/26/cispa-roll-cal…

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Reason TV | Kennedy talks with (genius!) Matt Ridley

Chris — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:17:26 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2D82i-Ex4k

“[Some people] simply don’t believe that when two people trade one is not ripping the other off,” exclaims Matt Ridley, zoologist and author of The Rational Optimist. “A big problem with the world is that human beings find positive sum games difficult to understand.”

Ridley sat down with Reason’s Kennedy to discuss his thoughts on free trade, ideas having sex and the irrationality of apocalyptic science.

About 7 minutes.

Filmed by Anthony Fisher and Jim Epstein. Edited by Joshua Swain.

For more Ridley and Reason:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar9fZU-D9lQ&feature=player_embedded
http://reason.tv/video/show/the-reasontv-interview-with-au

Visit Reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv’s YouTube channel to receive automatic notifications when new material goes live.

Peter Schiff | Talking about Michael Moore

Chris — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 08:28:51 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXWoU0YqsU0