• • • Capitalism’s Leni Riefenstahl 
Max Dunbar, 3:AM Magazine Altruism  Atheism  Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  We The Living  Capitalism  Personal life  Yaron Brook  Image  Review of Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, by Jennifer Burns.Rand lives on, a grinning ghost in the corridors of power. Sales of her books, always at high plateau, spiked during the 2008 crash. To her supporters, the bank bailouts vindicated Rand. ‘We’re heading towards socialism,’ declared Yaron Brook, head of the Ayn Rand Institute, ’we’re heading towards more regulation. Atlas Shrugged is coming true.’ Cult devotees are famously resistant to the lessons of experience. It evidently didn’t occur to Brook that, like Soviet Communism, Rand’s doctrinaire capitalism had already been put into practice, and found wanting.     Share on Facebook

• • • Morality of war 
Patti Roscoe, The Rotator (Rotary Club of San Diego) Ayn Rand Institute  Yaron Brook  (Link is to PDF file.)It’s been a long time since a speaker evoked such a buzz once we were adjourned. [....] When Dr. Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute began his presentation with a quote from General Sherman – War is Hell – we knew we were in for quite a ride. [....] “Provocative, challenging, offensive, infuriating, thought provoking and bone chilling” were just some of the words and impressions I heard and felt as I walked from the room. Groups of people, in twos and fours, were in serious discussion everywhere, agreeing and disagreeing; expressing their beliefs or disbelief in the speech; or just trying to grasp the concept of it all.     Share on Facebook

• • • Ayn Rand and business 
Mandy De Waal, ITWeb Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  Capitalism  Egoism  Leonard Peikoff  Personal life  Yaron Brook  Inaccurate  Includes abstract of the book Ayn Rand and Business, by Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni.Born 105 years ago, Ayn Rand's thinking is experiencing a major revival. The Washington Post declared Randoids 'in' for 2010; Hollywood is remaking her movies; and Rand book sales are brisk. Yaron Brook, president of the Ayn Rand Institute, says sales of Atlas Shrugged are “going through the roof”. Rand's magnum opus made it into Amazon.com's top 50, selling more than 500 000 copies in 2009.     Share on Facebook

• • Christianity and capitalism: Peas in a pod or irreconcilable? 
Nikola Milanović, Stanford Review - Fiat Lux (Stanford U, CA) Ayn Rand Institute  Capitalism  Yaron Brook  Is Christianity compatible with Capitalism? Are the two systems based on mutually exclusive ethical foundations that make them incompatible? This was the question asked in the recent debate held between Jennifer Roback Morse of the Acton Institute and Dr. Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute. The debate was sponsored by two groups, each supporting one perspective of the issue. The Catholic Community at Stanford, a collective group of students and faculty dedicated to liturgical programs and well known for their community service initiatives, invited Mrs. Morse. The Stanford Objectivists, a student group dedicated to studying the philosophy of Ayn Rand and perhaps best known for their unsolicited e-mails to students, invited Dr. Brook.     Share on Facebook

• • •Upcoming debate tackles questions about Christians and capitalism 
Kay B. Day, The US Report Altruism  Ayn Rand Institute  Capitalism  Egoism  Yaron Brook  I believe Rand’s principles are not incompatible with the Christian faith. For her, the contract or promise was sacred, a covenant. Rand’s philosophy, though she had no love for any religion, belonged to the marketplace and the free exchange of goods. She saw corporate cronyism as theft. Despite her declining the idea of organized religion, she set forth high standards in her philosophy, and I would call them moral standards.     Share on Facebook

• • The cross and the dollar sign — are they incompatible? 
Garry Reed, The Examiner Altruism  Ayn Rand Institute  Capitalism  Egoism  Yaron Brook  On February 2, Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute and Jennifer Morse of the Acton Institute will meet at Stanford University to debate the question: "Is Christianity Compatible With Capitalism? Egoism Vs. Altruism." Libertarians reject what they call corporatism because it's a state-created legalism that grants private business organizations certain political privileges and protections, but embrace laissez-faire capitalism because it embodies the natural process of free people freely trading in a free society. And while Christian libertarians embrace free market capitalism many non-libertarian Christians do not.     Share on Facebook

• • John Stossel interview 
Dennis Miller, The Dennis Miller Show Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  Yaron Brook  Audio  (MP3 link.)[Miller:] I’m reading Fountainhead again right now and I now imagine Peter Keating as Barack Obama in my head as I read it, but when I watched [your] Ayn Rand show a couple weeks ago -- boy -- her true devotees have that glaze in their eyes, don’t they? That one guy who was sort of Boswell to her Sam Johnson? He was a true believer, wasn’t he? [Stossel:] They are. You know, the people I had on the show, they were pretty smart. One guy ran a very successful bank. [Miller:] Yeah, that was the guy on the right. I’m talking … They were all fine. Listen, I’m an Ayn Rand fan myself, but when I read the biography of her -- she was a bit of a whack dame, and you weren’t gonna get the guy on the left [an apparent reference to Yaron Brook, president of the Ayn Rand Institute] to budge almost on anything. [Stossel:] Oh no, and these debates they have over Objectivism and how many angels can dance on the head of a pin just lose me. [Miller:] Right, you can sense that they would want nothing more than to be in that lower Lexington apartment with her, the old man off drinking in the corner, just going over the minutae of that night after night.     Share on Facebook

• • • Stossel - January 7, 2010 
John Stossel, Fox Business - Stossel Altruism  Atlas Shrugged movie  Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Egoism  Personal life  Yaron Brook  Video  (Link is to Part 1; all parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.)     Share on Facebook

• • • Interview with an Objectivist 
Jordan Carr, Stanford Review - Fiat Lux (Stanford U, CA) Altruism  Atheism  Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology  The Fountainhead  The Virtue of Selfishness  Capitalism  Egoism  Elan Journo  Harry Binswanger  Leonard Peikoff  Yaron Brook  Interview with Dakin Sloss, founder and president of the Objectivists of Stanford.     Share on Facebook

• • • Objectivists expand presence 
Jordan Carr, Stanford Review (Stanford U, CA) Altruism  Atheism  Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  Capitalism  Personal life  Yaron Brook  Image  If you are wondering whether or not the Objectivist revival at Stanford is a sign of an attitudinal shift in our generation; simply put, it is not. It is no coincidence that Objectivism’s presence at Stanford and at other college campuses is disproportionate to its national influence. Objectivism’s appeal is greatest to students with minimal responsibilities to others, and it does not work within the context of most adults’ lives. One wonders how many of today’s objectivists will remain when it is their turn to write the tuition checks.     Share on Facebook

• • This morning 
National Journal - The Hotline Ayn Rand Institute  Yaron Brook  Tivo Tip. This p.m. FBN's "Stossel" will focus on Atlas Shrugged and guests will include BB&T Bank CEO John Allison, Clemons prof. Bradley Thompson, Ayn Rand Inst.'s Yaron Brook, Reason TV's Nick Gillespie (Reason TV) and Yvonne Salons John Hu.     Share on Facebook

• • Why is it my right to take something from you because I “need” it? 
David Geracioti, Registered Rep. Ayn Rand Center  Capitalism  Don Watkins  Yaron Brook  In an excellent editorial published on 29 December in Investor’s Business Daily (one of my favorite op-ed pages), Yaron Brook and Don Watkins, of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, point out the problem with ObamaCare. Actually, their point is really aimed at the problem, the error, that those opposed to socialized medicine make: They only oppose it on the grounds that it’s too expensive or won’t work. Those against it should be opposing it on a more philosophical, ideological basis. And, that is, you are not your brother’s keeper.     Share on Facebook

• ‘Stossel’ lets reporter become commentator 
Walt Belcher, Tampa Tribune Ayn Rand Institute  Yaron Brook  [John Stossel’s new TV show] will have a studio audience, and guests not usually seen or heard from on other shows - people who share the less government, more individual freedom view. Among them are Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute (Stossel is a big Ayn Rand fan); John Allison, chief executive officer of BB&T; Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute; and "Superfreakonomics" co-author Stephen Dubner.     Share on Facebook

• • John Stossel’s moving his opinions from ABC to Fox 
John Timpane, Philadelphia Inquirer Ayn Rand Institute  Yaron Brook  "[My new show] certainly feels unlike anything I've seen out there before," he says. "We're planning a whole show on [the Ayn Rand novel] Atlas Shrugged, and another one on global warming. [....] I'm not starting with the Atlas Shrugged one because nobody would watch the second one," he says, chuckling.     Share on Facebook

• • • Atlas flexes his muscles 
Terry Savage, MoneyShow.com Altruism  Ayn Rand Institute  Egoism  Yaron Brook  Sales of Atlas Shrugged are estimated to be well over 400,000 copies this year. And that doesn’t include an additional 350,000 copies of various Rand books distributed free to high schools around the country, according to Yaron Brook, president and chief executive officer of the Ayn Rand Institute. Brook was in Chicago this past week to talk with a group of investment managers about the resurgent interest in Rand’s beliefs. Amazingly, in the midst of the leftward move in Washington, Brook remains optimistic, suggesting that current events are creating a unique opportunity to spread Rand’s beliefs—and rebut the negative connotations that many in the media have given to the terms she uses.     Share on Facebook

• • TV newsman John Stossel finds his freedom at Fox 
Peter Larsen, Orange County Register (CA) Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Yaron Brook  "The plan is to do a single subject, so it will be a little different than most of what's on cable," he says, of shows that will tackle topics such as Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged," a book the libertarian Stossel says predicted 50 years ago the future we're living today. "I believe in the dignity of the individual and she celebrates that," says Stossel, noting that the "Atlas Shrugged" episode might be the debut episode, with Yaron Brook of the Irvine-based Ayn Rand Institute one of the guests.     Share on Facebook

• • Picks and clicks for November 28- December 4, 2009 
Dikla Kadosh, Jewish Journal (Los Angeles) Alex Epstein  Elan Journo  Yaron Brook  A provocative new book, “Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism,” argues that America’s foreign policy is failing across the Middle East. Contributors Yaron Brook, president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, and institute fellows Elan Journo and Alex Epstein will discuss various aspects of American foreign policy in the Middle East at an event co-sponsored by the Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.     Share on Facebook

• • • A Rand occasion: on Thanksgiving & black friday, be thankful for the producers 
Allen Barton, Pajamas Media Ayn Rand Center  The Virtue of Selfishness  Capitalism  Egoism  Yaron Brook  Video  Yaron Brook on Ayn Rand’s views of Thanksgiving.     Share on Facebook

• • • Why conservatives love Ayn Rand 
KPFK - Uprising (Los Angeles) Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  The Virtue of Selfishness  Capitalism  Personal life  Yaron Brook  Audio  Inaccurate  Interview with Johann Hari.Anyone who can read Ayn Rand and feel a sense of admiration is, on a very basic level, not a democrat. She explicitly did not believe that human beings were equal. In fact, she said there should be a democracy of superiors, that the supermen should have a vote, people like her, but not the lice, the disgusting people, the people like you and me, presumably, who believe in slightly higher taxes on rich people and so on. [....] I think everyone should read Ayn Rand because it really gives you an x-ray of the subconscious of the kind of Rush Limbaugh right, of how they view ordinary people. [....] These are people who believe that only the rich are fully human, and Ayn Rand is very clear about that. She literally describes the people who aren’t rich as subhuman. [....] [In Atlas Shrugged] she describes with glee how people are dying in the streets.     Share on Facebook

• • • Rand disciple spreads her word 
Bob Barr, Atlanta Journal-Constitution - The Barr Code Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Yaron Brook  Yaron Brook heads the Ayn Rand Institute, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., but this 48-year-old Ph.D. permits little grass to grow under his feet. His zeal to spread the philosophy and ethic of Rand takes him across the country and around the world. It brought him earlier this month to Atlanta. In addition to delivering to students in a packed Georgia Tech classroom a speech containing the elements of Rand’s philosophy, Brook fielded tough questions for over an hour. He parried with the students on topics ranging from the industrial revolution to global warming, and from the Federal Reserve to religion.     Share on Facebook