Per Arne Karlsen

A message from Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute: UPCOMING AYN RAND INSTITUTE EVENT—THE ATLAS SHRUGGED REVOLUTION, SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 I am very pleased to announce that on Tuesday, September 14, 2010, in New York City we will hold our second annual Atlas Shrugged Revolution fundraising dinner event. Last year’s event attracted 125 attendees and raised more [...]

Due to popular demand, we have created a quick-and-easy means of upgrading to our new Audio, E-book, and Premium subscriptions. If you wish to upgrade, simply click on the Renew/Upgrade button in the navigation bar, log in, and make your selection. Upgrade prices based on your existing subscription and the upgrade alternatives will appear next to the options. (For instance, if you currently have a Print subscription with two issues remaining, the price for upgrading to a Premium subscription will show as $10.)

Full descriptions and general pricing for all options can be found on the subscriptions page.

Upgrade today and access TOS on the go!

Due to popular demand, we have created a quick-and-easy means of upgrading to our new Audio, E-book, and Premium subscriptions. If you wish to upgrade, simply click on the Renew/Upgrade button in the navigation bar, log in, and make your selection. Upgrade prices based on your existing subscription and the upgrade alternatives will appear next [...]

If you are attending OCON next week and have any interest in starting an Objectivist community club in your hometown, this is a good opportunity to learn from those who have a successful track record in such ventures:

Join the Oclubs.org workshop at OCON. Learn how to start & grow an Objectivist Community Club in your hometown!

• The Colorado Objectivist community has more than 60 members and 7 monthly events
• Chicago has 40 members in its community and 7 events per month
• Atlanta’s new Objectivist community is thriving with 30 members and 1 event per month

Learn how these cities got started!  Join Oclubs for a 45 min presentation and workshop at OCON. This event is either for people who already run a community club and want to grow it or for people who want to start one.

Wednesday, July 7 at 6:15p -7:00, 5th Floor, Charleston F room

Oclubs.org was started to support the leaders of Objectivist clubs. We create resources, answer questions, and share advice. Read our Mission Statement here.

If you are attending OCON next week and have any interest in starting an Objectivist community club in your hometown, this is a good opportunity to learn from those who have a successful track record in such ventures: Join the Oclubs.org workshop at OCON. Learn how to start & grow an Objectivist Community Club in your [...]

If you are attending OCON next week and have any interest in starting an Objectivist community club in your hometown, this is a good opportunity to learn from those who have a successful track record in such ventures: Join the Oclubs.org workshop at OCON. Learn how to start & grow an Objectivist Community Club in your [...]

The print edition of the Summer issue has been mailed; the online and e-book versions have been posted to our website; and the audio version will be posted on Wednesday, June 30. (Due to production setbacks, the print edition mailed a few days late. I apologize for the delay.)

The contents of the Summer issue are:

From the Editor

Letters and Replies

ARTICLES

Israel and America’s Flotilla Follies (and How To Avoid Them in the Future)
by Craig Biddle

Why Anthony Daniels Smears Ayn Rand
by Alan Germani

How to Protect Yourself Against ObamaCare
by Paul Hsieh

The Montessori Method: Educating Children for a Lifetime of Learning and Happiness
by Heike Larson

A Review of the Korean Television Series Dae Jang Geum
by Sarah Biddle

An Interview with Philosopher of Science David Harriman

Objective Moral Virtues: Principled Actions
by Craig Biddle

BOOKS REVIEWED

Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, by Susan Jacoby
Reviewed by Daniel Wahl

The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450, 2nd ed., by David C. Lindberg
Reviewed by Frederick Seiler

The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History, by Gregory Zuckerman
Reviewed by Daniel Wahl

That First Season, by John Eisenberg
Reviewed by Joseph Kellard

If you have not yet subscribed to TOS, you can do so now and achieve instant access to this new issue and all back issues. Subscriptions start as low as $29. Subscribe online or by calling 800-423-6151.

Enjoy!

The print edition of the Summer issue has been mailed; the online and e-book versions have been posted to our website; and the audio version will be posted on Wednesday, June 30. (Due to production setbacks, the print edition mailed a few days late. I apologize for the delay.) The contents of the Summer issue are: From [...]

I’m pleased to announce three new TOS subscription options and a substantially reduced price on our online-only subscriptions.

The new subscription formats are audio, e-book, and premium. The Audio subscription (which includes access to the website or HTML edition) provides MP3 versions of TOS articles and reviews that can be downloaded to and played on your computer and a wide variety of audio devices. This enables you to enjoy TOS articles while driving to work, exercising at the gym, strolling on the beach, or the like.

The E-book subscription includes access to both EPUB and PDF versions of the journal (as well as the website edition). The EPUB version offers reflowable, resizable text and works with a variety of devices including laptop and desktop computers, the Apple iPad, the Barnes & Noble Nook, and the Sony Reader. The PDF version is a digital replica of the print journal, which can be viewed on all the aforementioned devices plus the Amazon Kindle. (Kindle subscriptions are available separately as well.) The E-book subscription provides you with highly flexible mobile access to TOS articles.

The Premium subscription includes all of our subscription products—print, audio, e-book, and website—enabling you to read or listen to articles practically anywhere and anytime.

Finally, the price of our Online Only subscription has been reduced from $49 to $29, enabling almost anyone to subscribe to the rational alternative to liberalism and conservatism.

Full descriptions and pricing for all options can be found on the subscriptions page.

Enjoy!

I’m pleased to announce three new TOS subscription options and a substantially reduced price on our online-only subscriptions. The new subscription formats are audio, e-book, and premium. The Audio subscription (which includes access to the website or HTML edition) provides MP3 versions of TOS articles and reviews that can be downloaded [...]

Forbes recently published an argument against the stimulus bill, focusing on its so-called “dark side.”

A little over a year ago the Obama administration passed a staggering $787 billion stimulus package designed to rescue the economy. More than half of that money has now been spent, and the economy is still just creaking along. But now people are realizing that there is a dark side to this spending orgy. It has to end, and then we have to pay the bill.

Yes, Americans are learning that they will have to pay the bill. And hopefully they are learning that government spending is no way to stimulate the economy. But what Americans most desperately need to learn is that such spending packages are not merely economic atrocities but also, and more fundamentally, moral atrocities.

This spending bill, like all welfare legislation, amounts to legalized theft and forced redistribution of wealth. It forces producers—such as those who design and manufacture sofas, and those who design and manufacture video games—to hand over a large portion of their earnings to those who refuse to work and choose instead to lounge around on sofas and play video games all day.

This is utterly immoral. It is a gross violation of individual rights. Thus it is profoundly un-American.

Americans who care about individual rights should condemn such legislation not merely as economically untenable, but also—and more importantly—as morally unacceptable. Only then will we begin to reverse the statist trend that is leading this once-free country ever closer to tyranny.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/astrowoosie/120750647/

Forbes recently published an argument against the stimulus bill, focusing on its so-called “dark side.” A little over a year ago the Obama administration passed a staggering $787 billion stimulus package designed to rescue the economy. More than half of that money has now been spent, and the economy is still just creaking along. But now [...]

Anyone concerned with freedom in the financial markets should read this new, internal review by the SEC, in which the Commission admits that it:

• failed to “take appropriate action” related to fraud at Allied Capital, a politically-connected company staffed with former SEC employees;
• did not visit Allied’s offices a single time during their “investigation”—“even though they were located just blocks from the SEC”;
• never investigated “whether Allied was a Ponzi scheme, because of how it financed its dividends” (using proceeds raised from the sale of stock to uninformed investors);
• “inexplicably” deleted the work papers from an examination of Allied in which an SEC employee expressed concerns that the company was engaging in a Ponzi scheme;
• vigorously investigated David Einhorn—the man who exposed Allied’s fraud —both “after Allied met with [SEC] officials” and “without any evidence of wrongdoing” on the part of Einhorn;
• gave clearance to an SEC employee who “supervised the investigation against Einhorn” to register as a lobbyist for Allied immediately after leaving the agency;
• took no action when Allied admitted to the SEC that one of the company’s “agents” had engaged in “illegally obtaining Einhorn’s phone records”;
• concluded soon after the investigation that Einhorn was not guilty of violating federal securities laws but never told him what his status was with respect to the law and whether he was still being investigated “despite his request for such notification.”

The SEC is under new management and, according to The Washington Post, has promised “to fix the problems.” But since then it has:

• sucker-punched Goldman Sachs with charges of fraud for letting sophisticated investors pick what they want to buy from a list of what other investors want to sell;
• continued with the fraud charges against Goldman despite a 3-2 split along party lines among the five commissioners;
• timed the charges to coincide with the push for financial legislation by Obama.

The SEC has not been and is not concerned with prosecuting fraud. Since its inception, the SEC has pursued not justice, but power, and it has used that power to support its political masters. The case against Goldman is more of the same.

Related: Book Review: Fooling Some of the People All the Time

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsmoorman/2298671281/

Anyone concerned with freedom in the financial markets should read this new, internal review by the SEC, in which the Commission admits that it: failed to “take appropriate action” related to fraud at Allied Capital, a politically-connected company staffed with former SEC employees; did not visit Allied’s offices a single time during their “investigation”—“even though they were [...]

“Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” is tomorrow, May 20. If you’d like to participate and help defend the requirements of human life and civilized society, please email your drawings to blog@TheObjectiveStandard.com by midnight tonight (May 19).

Here is the final batch of drawings of Mohammed, in defense of the requirements of human life and civilized society. In honor of “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,” we have placed all of the drawings together on a single dedicated page, which can be found here.

I wish to thank those who participated in this campaign, and to encourage everyone to distribute this link far and wide today. Let the world know that you will not be silenced.

Drawing of Mohammed by Mark Wickens

Drawing of Mohammed by William Green

Drawing of Mohammed by Amit Ghate

Drawing of Mohammed by Andy Fingerhut

Drawing of Mohammed by David Chayes

Drawing of Mohammed by Jeffery Small

Drawing of Mohammed by Martin Gasser

Drawing of Mohammed by Diana Hsieh

Drawing of Mohammed by Richard Watts

Drawing of Mohammed by Meredith McCurdy

Drawing of Mohammed by Gus Van Horn

Drawing of Mohammed by Kyle Haight

Drawing of Mohammed by Greg Perkins

Drawing of Mohammed by Anne Haight

Here is the final batch of drawings of Mohammed, in defense of the requirements of human life and civilized society. In honor of “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,” we have placed all of the drawings together on a single dedicated page, which can be found here. I wish to thank those who [...]

Here is the final batch of drawings of Mohammed, in defense of the requirements of human life and civilized society. In honor of “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,” we have placed all of the drawings together on a single dedicated page, which can be found here. I wish to thank those who [...]

Here is the final batch of drawings of Mohammed, in defense of the requirements of human life and civilized society. In honor of “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,” we have placed all of the drawings together on a single dedicated page, which can be found here. I wish to thank those who [...]

Here is the final batch of drawings of Mohammed, in defense of the requirements of human life and civilized society. In honor of “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,” we have placed all of the drawings together on a single dedicated page, which can be found here. I wish to thank those who [...]