• • • Like oil and water, Jesus Christ and Ayn Rand just don’t mix 
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Atheism  |Atlas Shrugged  |Capitalism  |Individualism  |Image  | While Rand was correct in her theory that reason was the only true way of gaining knowledge as opposed to faith and religion, Rand took her ideas into the political realm and went off track. Supporting laissez faire capitalism, Rand led the charge of an “everyone person for themselves” society. A type of society where if you can’t make it all on your own, you are destined to fail. Any Rand’s political form of natural selection goes against the morals of human nature and the greatest emotion of them all, compassion.  

• • • Ayn Rand’s atheism still affects today’s politics 
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Atheism  |Atlas Shrugged  |Capitalism  |Egoism  |Individual Rights  |Individualism  | It would be sad if a high-ranking member of the government was forced to pretend he didn’t like a classic novelist because of pressure from a group of priests. That is not seperation of Church and State, an ideal that America gets further away from every day. Ayn Rand, according to her writings, believed in individual rights. It’s not selfish when a philosopher tries to get people to think for themselves and search out their own knowledge.  

• • • Paul Ryan flip-flops on Ayn Rand, slams atheists 
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Atheism  |Atlas Shrugged  |The Fountainhead  |Capitalism  |Egoism  |Individualism  | Now that Catholic groups have opposed Ryan’s budget by invoking Ayn Rand’s hatred of poor people, Ryan himself disavowed his long known adoration of right-wing’s favorite fiscal heroine, dumping on her Godlessness today.  

• • Book review: Flourishing and happiness in a free society by Edward W. Younkins 
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The book will not be easily accessible for most casual readers of libertarian philosophy, as the author assumes that the reader has a foundational understanding of economics, Objectivism, and Western philosophy.  

• • • Atlas Shrugged flops 
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Atheism  |Atlas Shrugged movie  |Atlas Shrugged  |The Fountainhead  |Egoism  |The Fountainhead movie  |Image  | Last year’s movie version of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged flopped at the box office and with the critics. The original novel, published in 1957, is only slightly better than its movie version. Fountainhead (1943, 1949) is another insignificant Ayn Rand novel/movie. In the realm of twentieth-century philosophy, Ayn Rand’s Objectivism falls one tier beneath the Existentialism of Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.  

• • “Read Ayn Rand” is world’s biggest message 
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Atlas Shrugged movie  |Atlas Shrugged  |The Fountainhead  | Nick Newcomen has written the words largest message in this way, telling people to “Read Ayn Rand”. As Atlas Shrugged the movie part 2 is about to hit the theaters this is relevant yet again.  

• Profile in Fine Arts: Margi Griebling-Haigh, composer and artist 
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[Griebling-Haigh and husband Scott Haigh’s] 19-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, is a student at Cambridge University north of London, England. She is majoring in Classics (Latin and Greek) and is an accomplished composer in her own right having had a symphony based on the books of Ayn Rand performed thrice in Monterey, California.  

• • Is profit ‘greed’ when it’s honestly earned? 
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Capitalism  | Libertarians generally extrapolate from Ayn Rand’s writings that an objective (if not entirely Objectivist) definition of greed is “the desire for the unearned.”  

• The 32 Annual Razzie Award nominees are in; Adam Sandler sets a record 
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Atlas Shrugged movie  | It was a surprise that Razzie favorite Madonna, winner of more Worst Actress nominations than any other woman [...], scraped by this year without so much as a mention for her directorial debut, W.E. [....] Some other lucky omissions were…The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence), Atlas Shrugged Part 1 [....] and What’s Your Number?  

• • The self-made man is a Right Wing myth 
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Atlas Shrugged  |Capitalism  | Let a Democrat say we need to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% of the population and his call will be met with howls of protest from the Right saying that is punishing success. They portray taxes as Socialist wealth redistribution, an onerous and unfair burden, and confiscation. They then defer to a story of the self-made man a la John Galt in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged as the model of how they succeeded and no one gave them anything and the poor deserve to be poor because they are lazy losers. We are the winners by dint of our superior ability.  

• • • Part 2 of Atlas Shrugged movie getting ready to roll production 
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Atlas Shrugged movie  |Atlas Shrugged  |We The Living  |Image  | On February 2—Ayn Rand’s birthday—John Aglialoro, the producer of Atlas Shrugged Part 1, announced cameras will soon roll on Part 2 of the planned movie trilogy of Rand’s novel. The film will be in theaters this fall. And, as with the first movie, The Atlas Society (TAS) will be heavily involved both in promoting the movie and spreading Rand’s Objectivist philosophy.  

• • Canadian Libertarian candidate talks Toronto-Danforth election, issues 
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Atlas Shrugged  | Who is John Recker? Many libertarians will recognize the line, “Who is John Galt?” immediately because it is the first line published in Ayn Rand’s magnum opus, “Atlas Shrugged.” So, who is John Recker?  

• • TCM celebrates January 20 birthday of Oscar & Tony-winner Patricia Neal 
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The Fountainhead  |The Fountainhead movie  |Video  | The Fountainhead, from 1949 [airs] at 9:15/8:15c. Based on the book by Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead stars Gary Cooper as an architect hired to design the world’s tallest building. Among his obstacles, a corrupt boss and affection for a married woman ([Patricia] Neal).  

• • • Film Screening: Atlas Shrugged Tues Jan 17 
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Atlas Shrugged  | The Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged is a feature length documentary film that examines the resurging interest in Ayn Rand’s epic and controversial 1957 novel and the validity of its dire predictions for America. Set in what novelist and philosopher Rand called ‘the day after tomorrow,’ Atlas depicts an America in crisis, brought to her knees by a corrupt establishment of government regulators and businessmen with political pull. Despite critical scorn and continued derision from intellectuals on all sides of the ideological spectrum Atlas has remained a popular favorite and today sells more copies than it ever did.  

• • 2012: End of the World or New Opportunity? 
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Atlas Shrugged movie  |Egoism  | Ayn Rand wrote one of the most widely read novels in history when she penned Atlas Shrugged. In an interview, Rand once said something to effect that the world would end when she died. Does that statement make Ayn Rand the most self-centered person ever? Probably not, though she did write another book on the virtues of selfishness. That’s beside the point. What Rand meant by her statement is that at death, her world would end.  

• Denver’s new Still Museum honors SF’s most eccentric artist 
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Like a figure from an Ayn Rand novel, [Clyfford] Still’s ego and talent remain legendary.  

• • Is Atlas Shrugged II in the works? 
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Atlas Shrugged movie  |Image  | According to a report out by The Atlas Society this afternoon, a Part II to the movie Atlas Shrugged could gear up for production in 2012 and is currently seeking financing.  

• • Bob Barr shows true colors in his endorsement of Newt Gingrich 
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Newt lacks many Libertarian principles and he also lacks many of the ideals put forth by Ayn Rand, which makes it a bit confusing as to why Bob Barr would endorse Gingrich to be President of the United States. Barr is a longtime devotee to Rand principles, however this action seems to betray those principles.  

• • Conservatives whining about Hollywood’s liberal agenda again 
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Atlas Shrugged movie  | Conservatives already had their own whimsical fantasy film earlier this year called “Atlas Shrugged.” The dollars tell the tale. Box office totals (source, Box Office Mojo): “Cars”: $244 million, “Cars 2”: $191 million, “Happy Feet”: $198 million, “Happy Feet 2” (which opened two weekends ago): $51.8 million, “Atlas Shrugged”: $4.6 million.  

• Misunderstanding atheism; military atheists spark conversation 
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Atheism  | Atheists can be certain types of Buddhists, Christian atheists, or even some forms of Wiccan. They can also take on a religious adherence to other doctrines, such as Ayn Rand’s Objectivism or Marxism.