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998 Files:

TypeTitleAuthorDate
Op-edThe Productive Meaning of Thanksgiving Edward Hudgins11/23/2005
Description: Hudgins argues that the happy meaning of Thanksgiving and the season it inaugurates is found in the bounty that we produce and our ability to produce it.

ArticleMulticulturalism and its DiscontentsBruce Thornton11/8/2005
Description: Bruce Thornton explains how multiculturalism is a the root of the London bombings. And now France is suffering the same fate for the same reasons.

ArticleThe Means and Ends of IslamistsEdward Hudgins11/8/2005
Description: The riots in Paris point to the true ends of Islamists. In this piece, published after the London bombings, Edward Hudgins shows that their violent means reflect their culture of death and the silence of their more peaceful co-religionists is moral abdication.

FrontReportScared of HalloweenEdward Hudgins10/31/2005
Description: The politicalization of Halloween

FrontReportEating Our Independence for BreakfastEdward Hudgins10/13/2005
Description: The small erosions of freedom that result from paternalism

Op-edColumbus Day: In Praise of ExploitationEdward Hudgins10/10/2005
Description: Columbus opened a whole new land for those who would tame nature and build a new, free and prosperous nation. We should celebrate the opportunity for America that he gave us—not apologize for it.

FrontReportThe EdukatorsEdward Hudgins9/8/2005
Description: The latest leftist export-European, the film ''The Edukators,'' is about radicals who guilt-trip the rich by breaking into their homes, rearranging the furniture and leaving notes like ''You have too much money.'' This flick shows the ocean-wide moral gap that separates America from the Old World.

Op-edFascism in a LeiEdward Hudgins9/6/2005
Description: A bill before Congress would accelerate the politics of racial, ethnic and cultural division in Hawaii and the rest of the United States.

ArticleThe Next Chief JusticeDavid Mayer9/6/2005
Description: With the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist the Senate and the country will debate whether John Roberts, President Bush’s nominee to take over the top Supreme Court job, is qualified for the position. In his article ''The Next Chief Justice,'' written before Rehnquist’s passing, David N. Mayer, a Constitutional scholar and Professor of Law and History at Capital University, sets out the criteria by which this justice should be judged.

FrontReportA Cool American CapitalistEdward Hudgins8/24/2005
Description: Air-conditioning and human achievement.

FrontReportApollo 11 on Human Achievement DayEdward Hudgins7/20/2005
Description: The glory of human achievement.

FrontReportThe London MassacreEdward Hudgins7/7/2005
Description: Atrocities like the London bombings, and the ideologies that support them, must be loudly and publicly denounced.

FrontReportMad Hot BallroomDavid Kelley7/5/2005
Description: A review of the film Mad Hot Ballroom.

FrontReportOne Giant Leap Toward Fascist AmericaEdward Hudgins6/23/2005
Description: In Kelo vs. New London, The US Supreme Court has delevered a mortal blow to property rights.

FrontReportDegraded Discussion of GitmoEdward Hudgins6/17/2005
Description: Comparing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay to a Stalinist Gulag or a Nazi death-camp is not only incorrect; it's dishonest and disgusting.

Center NewsBidinotto Rejoins TOC 6/10/2005
Description: Robert Bidinotto rejoins the staff of The Objectivist Center.

FrontReportFlushing the Koran or Reason Down the Toilet?Edward Hudgins6/8/2005
Description: The lesson of the Koran abuse story is that those who reject reason must reject freedom; those who embrace irrationality must embrace intolerance and force because they have closed off all rational appeals. And that is why peaceful and free regimes -- whether in Middle East countries or America -- must be based on a culture and philosophy of reason, not mysticism.

FrontReportStar Wars: Are the Sith Selfish?Edward Hudgins5/25/2005
Description: A review of Revenge of the Sith.

FrontReportAnti-Human Earth DayEdward Hudgins4/22/2005
Description: Earth Day marks the worship by eco-extremists of the planet itself at the expense of all we humans who inhabitant it.

FrontReportRobin Hood and the Robber CongressEdward Hudgins4/18/2005
Description: The Estate Tax and the morality of the producer.

Op-edTax WarsEdward Hudgins4/14/2005
Description: As we rush to meet the April 15 deadline to file our tax returns, many fail to realize those 1040 forms do more than just make us all personally poorer. The tax code is a principal instrument that creates and sustains the politicized, partisan, uncivil, contentious conflict society so many bemoan.

FrontReportThe Real ResourceEdward Hudgins4/1/2005
Description: There is no such thing as a "natural resource," and we need not fear using them up. The human mind is the ultimate resource and our only fear should be of restrictions on our freedom to use them.

ArticleEliot Spitzer: Ayatollah GeneralRoger Donway4/1/2005
Description: Since becoming the attorney general of New York, Eliot Spitzer has conducted an aggressive campaign against the financial industry, restructuring the business landscape in accordance with his moral vision, as though he were a religious dictator suddenly transplanted from the Middle East.

ArticleIn This Issue April/MayEdward Hudgins4/1/2005
Description: From the Editor.

ArticleSovietizing America: How Sustainable Development Crushes the IndividualEdward Hudgins4/1/2005
Description: Michael Shaw and Edward Hudgins An unrecognized threat to the liberty and prosperity of each American has spread throughout the country, taking root in every state and county. Its current and most serious manifestation was fashioned by an international organization with the explicit goal of replacing the autonomy of individuals over their own land with a collectivist control system that ultimately destroys the natural rights of each citizen.

MiscellaneousApril/May 2005 Soundings 4/1/2005

Center NewsWe've Moved 4/1/2005
Description: The Center has moved to Washington, D.C..

Center NewsEugene Holloway Joins the Center 4/1/2005
Description: Eugene Holloway Joins the Center as director of operations.

Center NewsHudgins Gets the Word Out 4/1/2005
Description: Edward Hudgins is busy speaking about freedom and individualsim.

Center NewsKelley Lectures at the University of Arizona 4/1/2005
Description: TOC Founder, David Kelley Lectures at the University of Arizona.

Center NewsSighitngs, April/May 2005 4/1/2005
Description: Neil DeRosa writes about Science, Robert Bidinotto speaks in Montana

ArticleThe Ideas That Promote TerrorismDavid Kelley4/1/2005
Description: In an address to the March against Terror in Washington, D.C., David Kelley appealed to all who stand for happiness, freedom, progress, and reason to join in opposing those who want to control the mind, roll back progress, stifle freedom--and who are willing to kill and maim to do so.

FrontReportDeep SavagesEdward Hudgins3/18/2005
Description: Cultures of oppression must be exposed for what they are.

FAQFAQ Love and SexAndrew Bissell3/9/2005
Description: Romantic love is a profoundly selfish act: it is based in one’s own values and should be undertaken for the sake of one’s own happiness. Objectivism holds that we love another person most profoundly when we love him or her as a whole person, one who is physical and spiritual, sexual and rational. And we experience our greatest sense of self and one of the fullest pleasures in life when we are loved in this complete and integrated way.

ArticleIn This IssueEdward Hudgins3/1/2005
Description: Editor's Desk

ArticleThe Hidden Danger of Social Security PrivatizationFrank Bubb3/1/2005
Description: Most current proposals for reforming Social Security provide that investment choices would be limited to diversified funds that invest in a broad range of stocks, bonds, or both. Could such personal retirement accounts become a vehicle for imposing more government control over business?

ArticleSocial Security, Autonomy, and IndependenceEdward Hudgins3/1/2005
Description: The debate over reforming Social Security reflects a deeper battle for the soul of the Republic. It pits those who would take the first steps in restoring the morality needed to sustain a free society against those who have undermined that ethos.

Center NewsAyn on the Air 3/1/2005
Description: Radio and newspaper appearances for the Center

Center NewsThe Center at CPAC and the Presidential Classroom 3/1/2005
Description: The Center mkaes an appearance at CPAC and the in the Presidential Classroom

Center NewsNew York City Centenary Bash 3/1/2005
Description: The New York City Centenary Bash.

Center NewsRand Centenary in D.C. 3/1/2005
Description: TOC holds a celebration of the Ayn Rand Centenary in D.C.

MiscellaneousMarch 2005 Soundings 3/1/2005
Description: Social Security

ArticleThe History, Economics, and Philosophy of Social SecurityDavid Kelley3/1/2005
Description: The problem with Social Security is the blithe indifference to economic reality, on the assumption that "we're all in this together." And the problem with that appeal to solidarity as a moral premise is that it encourages such indifference.

ArticleYou Can't Handle the Truth!Frederick Cookinham3/1/2005
Description: Objectivists have defended honesty on the basis of self-interest. Films provide an excellent context for testing this original concept of honesty, because they engage us emotionally and prompt us to take ideas more seriously.

ArticleNASD Punishes Quattrone for Asserting His RightsRoger Donway3/1/2005
Description: Kenneth G. Hausman, a lawyer for former investment banker Frank Quattrone, describes the outrageous behavior of the National Association of Securities Dealers in permanently banning Quattrone from the industry-and the basis of his appeal to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Op-edAyn Rand at 100: The Moral Defense of FreedomEdward Hudgins1/31/2005
Description: A celebration of Ayn Rand on the centennial of her birth.

FrontReportScorsese's Aviator Reflects Randian LessonsEdward Hudgins1/17/2005
Description: In The Aviator, a bio-pic about Howard Hughes (1905-1976), director Martin Scorsese projects on the screen a moral message that is rarely found in philosophy books much less in movies: the path to joy in life is loving one's work.

ArticleGenerosity and Self-InterestDavid Kelley1/7/2005
Description: People give directions to strangers, contribute to charities, volunteer in hospitals, and send food and supplies to earthquake victims. Why?

ArticleMore on Law and PunishmentWilliam Perry1/1/2005
Description: A recent Supreme Court decision has given a bizarre twist to the state of sentencing law.

ArticleThe Need for a New IndividualismEdward Hudgins1/1/2005
Description: The political and economic manifestations of individualism—freedom and capitalism—cannot stand on their own; they require sound moral ideas of rational self-interest.

ArticleQuattrone Appeals His ConvictionRoger Donway1/1/2005
Description: Frank P. Quattrone is appealing his conviction for obstruction of justice, and his arguments are being supported by several associations of lawyers.

Center NewsGraduate Scholarships Available 1/1/2005
Description: Graduate Scholarships Available

Center NewsSightings, January/February 2005 1/1/2005
Description: Ed Snider is recognized by the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Center NewsTellin Leaves Bequest to the Center 1/1/2005
Description: Tellin Leaves Bequest to the Center

ReviewThe Normality of FreedomTimothy Sandefur1/1/2005
Description: Randy Barnett offers a systematic defense of a libertarian interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

Center NewsWhy Support Graduate Students? 1/1/2005
Description: Why Support Graduate Students?

Center NewsFighting for Doctors' Freedom 1/1/2005
Description: Edward Hudgins, incoming executive director of The Objectivist Center, was recently on the front lines of the battle of productive individuals versus wealth appropriators.

Center News2005 Advanced Seminar and Graduate Seminar 1/1/2005
Description: Announcement about the 2005 Advanced Seminar

Center NewsSummer Seminar Will Have Exciting ProgramWilliam Thomas1/1/2005
Description: The 2005 Summer Seminar!

MiscellaneousJanuary/February, 2005 Soundings 1/1/2005
Description: A selection of Ayn Rand tributes.

ArticleWhat Is So Wrong about Being Wrong?Charles Tomlinson1/1/2005
Description: Being wrong is a human condition, not a cosmic judgment.

ArticleOPS: Other People's Stuff*Charles Tomlinson1/1/2005
Description: Everything in our world is covered with a thick, gooey atmosphere of Other People’s Stuff.

ArticleCharles Tomlinson Led a Wonderful LifeWilliam Perry1/1/2005
Description: Charles Tomlinson, a long-time supporter of The Objectivist Center, died on December 28, 2004, after living an excellent life.

Center NewsCharles Tomlinson Dies 12/29/2004
Description: Charles Tomlinson died Tuesday, December 28, 2004. Charles was a long-time supporter of The Objectivist Center.

FrontReportGoodwill Toward MenEdward Hudgins12/17/2004
Description: Christmas season is a time of goodwill toward men. But what does this sentiment really mean?

ArticleEpistemology and Politics: Ayn Rand's Cultural CommentaryDavid Kelley12/1/2004
Description: The events Rand wrote about are long past, the people long gone. Many of the issues and trends have disappeared off the rader screen. But her essays remain relevant today and her comments have staying power because she brought a philosophical perspective to bear.

Center NewsCenter Loses a Great Friend 12/1/2004
Description: Charles Tomlinson -- In Memoriam

ArticleAyn Rand at 100Edward Hudgins12/1/2004
Description: How do the most productive individuals, those who are responsible for a society’s prosperity, find themselves abused by politicians and dishonest businessmen and women? Ayn Rand sees the key in morality, and she coined the phrase that best describes the root of the problem: the sanction of the victim.

Center NewsThe Objectivist Center to Move to DC 12/1/2004
Description: The Objectivist Center to Move to DC -- Edward Hudgins to be Executive Director.

Center NewsCenter Holds First Teleseminar 12/1/2004
Description: A recap of the Center's first teleseminar.

ArticleFreedom, Achievement, Individualism, ReasonWilliam Thomas12/1/2004
Description: The most essential aspects of Objectivism can be expressed in four basic values. To understand Objectivism as a system, one needs to grasp what these values are and how they fit together.

ArticleThe Fountainhead SingsChris Matthew Sciabarra12/1/2004
Description: Max Steiner—a student of Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler—wrote the film score for The Fountainhead. A new CD and a deluxe booklet celebrate his achievement.

MiscellaneousIf 12/1/2004
Description: When planning her funeral, Rand said that she wanted no eulogies, just a reading of her favorite poem, "If," by Rudyard Kipling. David Kelley, later the founder of The Objectivist Center, gave that reading, and we present the poem here as the memorial Ayn Rand thought most fitting.

MiscellaneousDecember, 2004 Soundings 12/1/2004
Description: Ayn Rand and Olympic Swimming, Sears and Kmart, Christmas, Cigarettes, Howard Hughes, The Apprentice, and in Prison. Also: Michael Chrichton's State of Fear.

ArticleHonoring Ayn Rand 12/1/2004
Description: Sixteen individuals—from the world of politics to the world of the academy, from the corporation to the think thank—pay homage to the philosopher and novelist on the one-hundredth anniversary of her birth.

Center NewsBoard of Trustees Changes 12/1/2004
Description: Board of Trustees Changes

Center NewsNew York Fall Conference Succeeds 12/1/2004
Description: A recap of the Center's Fall conference.

Center NewsRand the Writer Celebrated in New Book 12/1/2004
Description: TOC publishes The Literary Art of Ayn Rand.

FrontReportThe IncrediblesDavid Kelley11/22/2004
Description: The Incredibles: David Kelley reviews the movie, the many references to Ayn Rand that have been made by reviewers, and the culture of egalitarianism.

FrontReportWhom Should We ThankRoger Donway11/22/2004
Description: Whom should we thank on Thanksgiving? All of those who, down through the centuries, have advanced civilization by means of their productive achievements. For it is they who allow us to live in the luxuriant world of the twenty-first century.

FrontReportDefining the ElectionEdward Hudgins11/4/2004
Description: Moral values, individualism, and the 2004 election.

ArticleDemonize, Then PulverizeSam Kazman11/1/2004
Description: Ten years ago, a new type of lawsuit was filed against the tobacco industry. It began by making the industry into a national pariah and then demanding huge payments in compensation for the expenses it had supposedly thrust upon the U.S. states. That pattern is quickly becoming the model for many other lawsuits

ArticleThe States of FreedomRoger Donway11/1/2004
Description: Last month, Navigator reported on freedom around the world. Now, two reports have surfaced evaluating the economic freedom of U.S. states. Unsuprisingly, their different methodologies produce different winners and losers.

MiscellaneousNovember, 2004 Soundings 11/1/2004
Description: Educational atrocities, the cost of government regulation, Mexican immigration, environmentalism, health-care cost incentives.

MiscellaneousSuggested Readings: Government and Business 11/1/2004
Description: The Rule of Lawyers, Property Matters, Government Failure, Just Get Out of the Way.

Center NewsDebating the Ideas Behind the War on Iraq and Terrorism 11/1/2004
Description: Synopsis of the October 22, 2004 conference: "Lessons from the Iraq War: Reconciling Liberty and Security."

Center NewsObjectivist Group Visits Scotland 11/1/2004
Description: The traveling Objectivists took their annual trip in October, touring Scotland. Twenty-five Objectivists visited castles, lochs (lakes, in American parlance), universities, shops, and other tourist attractions.

Center NewsFree State Objectivists Meet in New Hampshire 11/1/2004
Description: Free State Objectivists Meet in New Hampshire

Center NewsHudgins Tells Postal Service Privatize! 11/1/2004
Description: Edward Hudgins spoke on October 21 at a conference held by the inspector general of the U.S. Postal Service.

Center NewsSightings, November 2004 11/1/2004
Description: Private Property, Harry Potter, and David Kelley in Bulgarian

LettersLetters: Animal Rights, Frank Quattrone 11/1/2004
Description: Animal rights; the case for Frank Quattrone.

FrontReportKilling the Dead DraftEdward Hudgins10/27/2004
Description: Domcratic demagogy, draft fears, and national service.

FrontReportGovernment Medicine's Prejudice Against InnovationEdward Hudgins10/20/2004
Description: Government intervention in medicine costs lives.

Op-edMedicine Could Reach For Stars, FDA WillingEdward Hudgins10/6/2004
Description: Lessons from technology and space travel can be applied to the FDA. In each case, privatization may be the answer.

Op-edSignals from SpaceShipOneEdward Hudgins10/5/2004
Description: Burt Rutan and SpaceShipOne make history with private space flight and win the Ansari X Prize.

Op-edHow Price Gouging Laws Make Hurricanes WorseFrank Bubb10/4/2004
Description:

Laws against price gouging are supposed to help the victims of hurricanes. In fact, they make shortages worse and encourage individuals to evade the need for them to take precautions, expecting that governments will help them in their time of need. Such laws should be repealed!


ArticleThe Benefits of Price GougingFrank Bubb10/1/2004
Description: To understand why price-gouging laws contribute to the shortages that follow natural disasters, one must understand that prices are a means of conveying information about a continually changing reality.

MiscellaneousOctober, 2004 Soundings 10/1/2004
Description: Aid to North Korea, John McWhorter and barbarism, Working hard in America

MiscellaneousSuggested Readings: Liberty 10/1/2004
Description: The Rule of Law in the Wake of Clinton, You Can't Say that, Cato Supreme Court Review, Restoring the Lost Constitution

Center NewsCenter Hosts First Graduate Seminar 10/1/2004
Description: Center Hosts First Graduate Seminar

Center NewsSightings, October 2004 10/1/2004
Description: Bidinotto Watch, Ideas in Iraq, Contribution reminder, Postmodernism book published, Camp Indecon update

Center NewsAt the Center 10/1/2004
Description: Staff News

Center NewsHudgins Communicates Ethics 10/1/2004
Description: Ed Hudgins speaks at Atlas Economic Conference

ArticleLaw and PunishmentWilliam Perry10/1/2004
Description: Frank O. Bowman of Indiana University has said: ‘There has not been a single case in the history of American criminal law with the immediate impact of this one.’ What case is he talking about, and why is it so important?

ArticleThe Freedom OlympicsRoger Donway10/1/2004
Description: Americans typically measure their freedom by looking backward or forward--backward to the early republic or forward to their ideal republic. But another useful gauge can be obtained by looking outward--to the world's other republics, and to its non-republics as well. That is, we may wish to know, in the spirit of international sports competitions: How well does America do in its pursuit of freedom, when compared with other countries?

FrontReportReport from the Front: Private Space TriumphEdward Hudgins9/30/2004
Description: Private entrepreneurs triumph! Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites complete their first space launch in pursuit of the X prize.

Center NewsDavid Kelley translated into Bulgarian 9/28/2004
Description: Dr. Kelley is translated into Bulgarian.

Op-edObstruction of FreedomEdward Hudgins9/10/2004
Description: Visionary banker Frank Quattrone has been sentenced to eighteen months in prison, allegedly for obstruction of justice, even though the government never indicted him for any crime whose prosecution he might have been obstructing. This case and Martha Stewart's open the floodgates for government assaults on those who have done nothing but arouse the fury of muckrakers and the envy of egalitarians. Americans should understand that a government powerful enough to quash a Frank Quattrone on such a bogus charge can crush any of us.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Two George BushesEdward Hudgins9/3/2004
Description: While John Kerry might flip-flop on the same issue, President Bush sounds like Ronald Reagan on some issues and like Teddy Kennedy on others. Only when advocates of freedom advocate consistent policies based on consistent premises will we have a chance to expand the sphere of individual liberty.

ArticlePoetry of FreedomJohn Enright9/1/2004
Description: John Enright discusses some of his favorite poems. Included are selections from Byron, Milton, Dryden and others.

LettersLetters: Don Giovanni, Lost in Translation 9/1/2004
Description: Letters about Don Giovanni, Lost in Translation, and Rockefeller.

ArticleFree VerseRoger Donway9/1/2004
Description: A selection of poetry recomendations--alll about freedom--from Roger Donway.

Cultural CalendarThe Doctor as LockeanRoger Donway9/1/2004
Description: Thomas Sydenham, follower of Francis Bacon's methodology and close friend of John Locke, brought an intense empiricism to seventeenth-century medicine. As a result, the age of the Enlightenment dubbed him "the English Hippocrates."

MiscellaneousSeptember, 2004 Soundings 9/1/2004
Description: Aristrocrats of Production, Technology Awards and honors, and a survey on 'Trusting Business.'

Center NewsSightings, September 2004 9/1/2004
Description: Christopher Robinson receives his Ph.D. in cognitive science.

Center NewsHudgins Debates a Subjectivist 9/1/2004
Description: Edward Hudgins debates a subjectivist at The Institute for Humane Studies.

Center NewsAndrew Bissell Interns at the Center 9/1/2004
Description: An interview with Andrew Bissell, the Center's 2004 summer intern.

Center NewsA Great Week in Vancouver 9/1/2004
Description: The Objectivist Center held its Fifteenth Annual Summer Seminar in Vancouver, British Columbia, July 3rd -10th. The event featured a stellar program, the yearly gathering of Objectivists, and an abundance of events. Throughout the week, participants enjoyed the beauty of the area, intellectual stimulation, and the company of like-minded individualists.

ArticleWhy Art Became UglyStephen Hicks9/1/2004
Description: Stephen Hicks shows that approximately a hundred years ago artists started down a road that has led them step by step to today's aesthetic dead-end. Hicks outlines the postmodern philosophy that underlies modern art, reviews famous pieces, and ends with a call for a new aesthetic that will be attuned to the realities of the twenty-first century.

Op-edBig Tobacco's Suicidal DetenteAndrew Bissell8/12/2004
Description: Tobacco company Philip Morris is supporting a Congressional plan that would place on it even more regulations. But as Andrew Bissell argues in this op-ed, for too long tobacco companies have tried to make deals with anti-smoking zealots who want to shut them down, only to find such deals don't purchase peace but simply invite more attacks. Whether one is a smoker or not, one must recognize that consumer freedom is in danger when government can snuff out industries and products of which they disapprove.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Atlas ChasedEdward Hudgins8/6/2004
Description: The United Nations' plan for global taxation is an attempt to chase productive individuals seeking to evade looting governments anywhere they go. America should stand strong against this contemptible policy.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Kerry's CollectivismEdward Hudgins7/30/2004
Description: The Democratic presidential nominee is true to form in his opposition to individualism.

ArticleStarting and Sustaining An Objectivist Discussion GroupJackie Hazelton7/30/2004
Description: This talk describes how we did set up a new a group, how we have kept the group alive for four and a half years, and what I've learned from the many Objectivist groups in which I have been involved.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Obese Medicare and Fatheaded PoliticiansEdward Hudgins7/18/2004
Description: The goverment's war on obesity is a war on individual liberty. The greatest danger to the country is from obese government.

Op-edCelebrating Apollo 11's Sense of LifeEdward Hudgins7/18/2004
Description: July 20 marks the 35th anniversary of the first Moon landing. That achievement is a wonderful manifestation of America's optimistic sense of life, our understanding that if we put our minds and wills to a task, we can do almost anything. But that day also reminds us that in the long run, private entrepreneurs, not government agencies, make goods and services available for everyone. So let's take time to reflect on the great achievements of the past and to recognize that America's optimistic sense of life means that our greatest achievements will be yet to come!

ArticleThe Case for Frank QuattroneRoger Donway7/1/2004
Description: Frank Quattrone, the star investment banker of the dot-com era, was convicted in May 2004 on two counts of obstructing justice and one count of witness tampering. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 8, and faces up to twenty years in prison. What was the exact nature of Quattrone’s alleged crime? And how strong was the evidence against him?

Center NewsSightings July/August 2004 7/1/2004
Description: Dr. Brian Simpson will present courses in economics based on the works of Ayn Rand and George Reisman.

Center NewsExplaining Postmodernism published! 7/1/2004
Description: Stephen Hicks’s book Explaining Postmodernism, written while a senior fellow at The Objectivist Center, has been published by Scholargy. The book traces postmodernism from its roots in Rousseau and Kant through its current adherents, such as Foucault and Rorty.

Center NewsBringing Western Values to Capitol Hill 7/1/2004
Description: The Objectivist Center took the discussion about the basis of a free society where it is needed most: Capitol Hill. A star-studded lineup, including Christopher Hitchens and TOC executive director David Kelley, discussed “What Are Western Values and Should We Return to Them?”

Center NewsAbout Fundraising Letters 7/1/2004
Description: Why do you get letters from TOC asking for money?

ArticleIn Defense of Cowboy CapitalismRoger Donway7/1/2004
Description: Pro-capitalists need to offer a defense of big-business executives that is not undercut by libertinism, postmodern moral skepticism, religious morality, or utopian illusions.

ReviewHard America, Soft America: A New 'House Divided'Frank Bubb7/1/2004
Description: Hard America consists of “the parts of American life subject to competition and accountability”; “Soft America” consists of “the parts of our country where there is little competition and accountability.” That is the intriguing disjunction that informs Michael Barone’s new book, Hard America, Soft America, employs to analyze the history of the United States during the last century.

ArticleRockefeller and the MuckrakersRoger Donway7/1/2004
Description: Throughout his long life of ninety-eight years, John D. Rockefeller Sr. heard the same lies told about him year after year, decade after decade, and generation after generation.

MiscellaneousSuggested Readings: Capitalists 7/1/2004
Description: Suggested Readings: Capitalists, Rockefeller, Gates, etc...

MiscellaneousJuly/August Soundings 7/1/2004
Description: Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Tax Hikes; Rural Property Rights; Whom do Americans Trust?

Center NewsTOC Gives First Graduate Scholarships 7/1/2004
Description: The Objectivist Center awards graduate scholarships to Walter Foddis and Shawn Klein.

Center NewsCorrection for March Issue 7/1/2004
Description: Correction to March Issue

Op-edWhat Unites America? Unity in Individualism! Edward Hudgins6/30/2004
Description: On July 4th we celebrate the creation of the United States of America. But today Americans seem more divided than at any time in recent memory. In the Declaration of Independence we can rediscover the source of unity and freedom—the creed of individualism that defines this country.

Op-edThe Iliad and Islam Edward Hudgins6/24/2004
Description: ''The Iliad,'' Homer's epic about the Trojan War, made a great story whether recited in ancient palaces or made into Hollywood blockbusters. But the violent rage of Greek warriors and their obsession with the gods mirror the brutal and primitive aspects of Islamic culture today. The solution offered by later Greek philosophers in the classical era—a secular philosophy of reason and disciplining emotions—could bring enlightenment to a backwards part of the world today.

Center NewsTOC Graduate Scholarship Awards 6/17/2004
Description: Announcement of the first annual graduate students awards.

EventsTOC Fall Conference 6/15/2004
Description: Save the date! The Objectivist Center will hold its Fall Conference in New York City on October 30th, 2004. This one-day event will be held at the American Management Association at 48th st. and Broadway in Manhattan.

Center NewsReagan's Legacy, 1911-2004 6/6/2004
Description: Reagan's Legacy: Optimism, Confidence in Individuals.

LettersLetters: Art, Movies, Death (June, 2004) 6/1/2004
Description: Art, artists, viewers, and value; The Virtues of Lost in Translation; Euthanasia

ArticleThe Problem of Animal RightsShawn Klein6/1/2004
Description: Americans overwhelmingly support some degree of legal protection for animals, and a quarter of those polled say that animals should have the same rights as humans. What arguments have philosophers made in favor of such legislation and how well do those arguments hold up? Could a philosophy of law that started from a valid of theory of rights justify extending some protection to animals?

ReviewWhat Does Science Say about the Mind?Robert Campbell6/1/2004
Description: Owen Flanagan, author of The Problem of the Soul, has his heart in the right place. He wants to reject the religious view of the mind as an immaterial substance. But the scientific view, Flanagan insists, is a physicalist view and every experience is just a physical event. Despite that, Flanagan says that he believes mental processes are real. What does that mean for a physicalist? And what does it mean for free will?

MiscellaneousJune Soundings 6/1/2004
Description: Trashing petty regulations; Media refuse subpoenas; Postmodern prostitution in art; Voting on the truth of the Bible.

MiscellaneousSuggested Readings: Enlightenment Thought and Action 6/1/2004
Description: The Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment By Roy Porter; Locke in America: The Moral Philosophy of the Founding Era By Jerome Huyler; The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World By Jenny Uglow; Self-Help By Samuel Smiles

ArticleThe Arizona Objectivists Achieve Success 6/1/2004
Description: The Arizona Objectivists: a case study of a successful discussion group.

Center NewsObjectivism from the Source 6/1/2004
Description: The Objectivist Center will hold a distance learning course from September 15 through December 1, 2004; learn about Objectivism from your home!

Center NewsObjectivism around the World 6/1/2004
Description: Objectivism and Ayn Rand in India, Italy, Mexico and Turkey!

Center NewsMartin Anderson meets Ed Hudgins 6/1/2004
Description: Martin Anderson, former advisor to President Reagan, meets with Ed Hudgins.

MiscellaneousSightings, June 2004 6/1/2004
Description: Ayn Rand, Homosexuality, and Human Liberation is published; Center Member tours with Disney; Journal of Ayn Rand Studies issues call for papers.

ArticleJohn Rennie: Enlightenment EngineerRoger Donway6/1/2004
Description: London Bridge—as every child used to know—was falling down. John Rennie was the man brought in to replace it.

EventsWhat Are Western Values And Should We Return to Them? 5/19/2004
Description: An Objectivist Center Policy Forum on June 3, 2004 in Washington, D.C. featuring David Kelley, Ed Hudgins, and speakers from conservative, old left, and new left points of view: Lee Edwards of The Heritage Foundation; Marcus Raskin of the Institute for Policy Studies; Christopher Hitchens, author; and Berry Latzner of American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Cannes' Cultural CorruptionEdward Hudgins5/19/2004
Description: The applause from a crowd of rich elites at the Cannes film festival for a movie bashing the rich is radical chic at its worse, and illustrating the need to reject an altruistic ethics.

Op-edAre the People of the Middle East Fit for Freedom?Edward Hudgins5/14/2004
Description: Here's a twist on the Iraqi torture story. Our revulsion at the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and our system's ability to uncover and correct those abuses are signs of our moral and political health, based on universal principles of justice. But the lack of outrage in the ''Arab street'' to the mutilation of the burned bodies of dead allied soldiers or -- it seems -- the beheading of an American civilian raises the question, are the people of the Middle East fit for freedom? America's ability to transform dysfunctional societies is limited; citizens of those societies will need to reform their own countries for themselves.

FAQWhy is Objectivism atheistic rather than agnostic?Damian Moskovitz5/5/2004
Description: Agnosticism, in the philosophical sense, holds that we should not reject anything that we have not disproved (particularly the claim that God exists). Because agnosticism refuses to reject arbitrary propositions, agnosticism is false. Agnosticism is wrong about how to approach claims that lack evidence. A proposition that is not supported by any evidence at all should be rejected not as false, but as arbitrary, and should not even be entertained as a hypothesis. The proposition that God exists is an example of an arbitrary proposition (see David Kelley, ''Is Objectivism Compatible with Religion?''). The burden of proof is on he who advances a claim—it is not the atheist’s responsibility to disprove the existence of God, whether or not it is possible to do so.

EventsTOC in Scoltand 5/4/2004
Description: Join TOC on an exclusive education and travel experience with Alumni Campus Abroad. Scotland, OCtober 6-14, 2004.

Center NewsUpdate on Atlas Shrugged Movie, May 3, 2004 5/3/2004
Description: According to The Atlas Society, while there have been reports that the Atlas Shrugged might be scrapped, the producers expect the project to go forward.

ReviewA Romantic ManifestoWilliam Thomas5/1/2004
Description: Fans of Ayn Rand have long awaited a new novel similar to hers in ideas and idealism. They may well find what they have been seeking in Alexandra York's recently published Crosspoints.

Center NewsHelp the Center 5/1/2004
Description: Ways to shop and support TOC

Center NewsSetzer leads two Florida groups 5/1/2004
Description: Luther "Luke" Setzer runs two different Objectivist groups in the central Florida area. The first is Space Coast Objectivism Promoters and Explorers (SCOPE). The second is the Objectivist Club at the University of Central Florida (OCUCF) group.

Center NewsHudgins rips taxes 5/1/2004
Description: Edward Hudgins, director of TOC's Washington office, was active recently in his opposition to the current tax system.

Center NewsLas Vegas Conference on Values of Capitalism 5/1/2004
Description: The Objectivist Center held its 2004 Spring Conference on April 17 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The theme was "Values of Capitalism." The scene was the sumptuous Treasure Island Hotel and Casino.

PerspectivesHollywood Canonizes an Eco-TerroristRobert Bidinotto5/1/2004
Description: If violence seems more prevalent today, it is because influential people are more ready to glamorize it. Consider the coming canonization of Paul Watson, one of the Founding Fathers of modern eco-terrorism.

PerspectivesAn Israeli Airman Attains New Heights in PaintingMichelle Fram-Cohen5/1/2004
Description: When Uri Gil retired from the Israeli air force, he was the oldest combat pilot in the world still on active reserve duty. He was also an accomplished painter, whose quest for beauty has led him to master the oil-and-tempera technique of Jan van Eyck

ArticleMozart's Don Giovanni: An Enlightenment Hero?John Kerns5/1/2004
Description: The greatest of the Enlightenment's composers chose as one of his chief protagonists the seducer Don Giovanni. Did Mozart mean to present the Don as a symbol of independent thinking and action? Or is he supposed to be a dissolute roué who gets his just deserts by being dragged down to Hell?

Cultural CalendarThe Lovesong of Alexander PopeRoger Donway5/1/2004
Description: In one astonishing poem, a cool and witty Enlightenment Catholic made eternal a twelfth-century woman's cry for carnal love.

MiscellaneousMay Soundings 5/1/2004
Description: Art Renewal Center ; Great Britain's leading playwrights David Hare; funding of the arts; musuem entrance fees.

MiscellaneousSuggested Readings: The Fine Arts 5/1/2004
Description: What Art is By Louis Torres and Michelle Marder Kamhi; From the Fountainhead to the Future, and Other Essays on Art and Excellence By Alexandra York; Human Accomplishment By Charles Murray; Music in Western Civilization By Paul Henry Lang

Op-edA Flashback to ''Atlas Shrugged''Adam Reed4/28/2004
Description: The recent train disaster in North Korea replays in reality a fictional crash from Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged." In this op-ed, Adam Reed observes that in both cases it was the hobbling of the human mind by repressive governments that turned technology from a live-giving force into a destroyer of lives. He concludes that man's right to live by the judgment of his own mind is a necessary precondition for human life. Where this right is denied, people die.

Center NewsThe Best Moral Case for Capitalism 4/27/2004
Description: In May 2002,Dinesh D'Souza and David Kelley debated "The Best Moral Case for Capitalism." The FreedomFest website now has available several portions of this debate.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Grinding Humans into the MudEdward Hudgins4/22/2004
Description: Bush Sr. pandered to evironmentalists and his son is following in his footsteps.

Op-edApril 15: A Day of Moral ShameEdward Hudgins4/14/2004
Description: Americans should lament April 15 - tax day -- as the day that too many of us all too willingly surrender our liberty and opportunities in life. Those who understand tax independent individuals do not want to be robbed of their money or freedom should advise their fellow citizens to rebel against the current immoral tax system.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Rebirth of the SpiritEdward Hudgins4/10/2004
Description: One need not accept a mythology or religion to appreciate the periodic need to reflect on what's important in our lives, to refocus on all the potential that lays before us, to revitalize our drive to achieve our goals, and overall to refresh our soul.

EventsGraduate Seminar in Objectivist Philosophy and Method: Application Information 4/1/2004
Description: Application information for the Graduate Seminar in Objectivist Philosophy and Method: July 31 - August 7.

CommentaryHonoring the Choice to DieMichelle Marder Kamhi4/1/2004
Description: What is the most humane way to treat individuals who, at the end of a long life, express a clear-minded wish to die? As a society with an increasingly aged population, we need to confront this question head-on.

MiscellaneousSuggested Readings: Human Accomplishment 4/1/2004
Description: The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance By Anthony Gottlieb; Art: A New History By Paul Johnson; Music in Western Civilization By Paul Henry Lang; A History of Invention: From Stone Axes to Silicon Chips By Trevor I. Williams, William E. Schaaf, and Arianne E. Burnette

Center NewsTOC Reprints Unrugged Individualism 4/1/2004
Description: The Objectivism Center has reprinted David Kelley’s Unrugged Individualism: The Selfish Basis of Benevolence.

Center NewsStudent Scholarships For Spring Conference Now Available 4/1/2004
Description: A special donation has made available two student scholarships to attend our Spring Conference April 17 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

ReviewThe Silver Screen as Philosophic MirrorRussell La Valle4/1/2004
Description: Cultures have a sense of life, just as people do, and that sense of life sets the trends and styles of the culture. With that in mind, it is illuminating to look at the films nominated in the ''Best Picture'' category of the Academy Awards during the last two years.

Center NewsHudgins At The Movies 4/1/2004
Description: Edward Hudgins' latest op-eds deal with some recent films: ''The Passion of Christ'' and ''The Barbarian Invasions''.

Center NewsSightings, April 2004 4/1/2004
Description: We The Living; Thor Halvorssen and FIRE; Stephen Hicks on Ayn Rand and Business Ethics.

InterviewAn Interview with Charles MurrayDavid Kelley4/1/2004
Description: David Kelley talks with the author of Human Accomplishment about his work’s philosophical premises and arguments, including the objectivity of excellence and the significance of expert opinion. They discuss as well the cultural history of the modern world and what it says about the driving forces underlying creativity.

ReviewWhat Hath Man Wrought!William Thomas4/1/2004
Description: Charles Murray’s Human Accomplishment is a study of mankind’s remarkable discoveries and creations. Covering 2,750 years, from 800 B.C. to 1950, it employs anecdote and argument to awaken “a sense of wonder” at the greatest feats of human accomplishment in art and science.

Center NewsChicago Objectivists Love Enright's Salon 4/1/2004
Description: Marsha Enright’s New Intellectual Forum in Chicago is one of the most successful Objectivist salons in the country.

Center NewsKelley Will Present Epistemology Paper at Advanced Seminar 4/1/2004
Description: A preview of the 6th annual Advanced Seminar in Objectivist Studies.

MiscellaneousSoundings, April 2004 4/1/2004
Description: U.S. senators trading well; we-centered world; Brain-drain in Germany; Voting on the Iraq War; Iraq better off without Saddam?

EventsSeminar Deadline Is June 14 4/1/2004
Description: June 14 is the registration deadline for the TOC Summer Seminar. This year’s seminar is being held in Vancouver, British Columbia, from July 3 through 10.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Black Like Me?Edward Hudgins3/19/2004
Description: John Kerry's appeals to black voters are paternalistic racist. More and more African Americans are rejecting collectivist dogma for true individualism

Op-edThe Problems with ''The Passion's'' Moral Message Edward Hudgins3/3/2004
Description: The controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's film ''The Passion of the Christ'' reflects a deep divide between those who are concerned about the erosion of morals that traditionally are provided by religion and those who fear that religious dogma will promote intolerance. In this op-ed, I argue that Gibson's thought provoking film ultimately delivers that wrong message concerning sin, sacrifice and suffering. Only a moral code of personal responsibility, not original sin; self-interest, not self-sacrifice; and achievement, not suffering; can avoid the dangers of moral relativism and intolerance, and ensure both personal happiness and a free society.

Center NewsWilliam Perry Joins The Objectivist Center 3/1/2004
Description: The Objectivist Center has hired William E. Perry as director of community relations.

ArticleThe ''Lost'' Parts of Ayn Rand's Playboy InterviewDon Hauptman3/1/2004
Description: March marks the fortieth anniversary of Ayn Rand's influential Playboy interview. Recently, the author acquired the original manuscript materials of the interview. In this article, he reveals the questions and answers that were not published and provides an inside look at how Rand and the magazine's staff collaborated to create this landmark document.

ReviewCreeping Collectivism Corrupts a Good Economist David Henderson3/1/2004
Description: Joseph Stiglitz, author of The Roaring Nineties, used to write intelligently on such subjects as taxation and indeed won the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics. Unfortunately, a collectivist morality now infects his work, prompting him to say some remarkably silly things.

Cultural CalendarMichelangelo's DavidRoger Donway3/1/2004
Description: Roger Donway celebrates the achievement of Michelangelo's David.

MiscellaneousMarch Soundings 3/1/2004
Description: Liberal apprehension; law-making in Britain; Justifying the welfare-state; The Vagina Monologues; Republican Spending Explosion

MiscellaneousSuggested Readings: Environmentalism 3/1/2004
Description: The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World By Bjørn Lomborg; Bountiful Harvest: Technology, Food Safety, and the Environment By Thomas R. DeGregori; Cutting Green Tape: Toxic Pollutants, Environmental Regulation, and the Law Edited by Richard L. Stroup and Roger E. Meiners; In a Dark Wood: The Fight over Forests and the Rising Tyranny of Ecology By Alston Chase.

ArticleDeath by EnvironmentalismRobert Bidinotto3/1/2004
Description: What does it mean, in practice, to hold a philosophy that values pristine nature, apart from any use that humans may make of it? The question is urgent because just that is the fundamental premise of the environmental movement, and the consequences are human deaths.

Center NewsEd Hudgins Reports from the Front, March 2004 3/1/2004
Description: The latest Reports from the Front--frequent comments on cultural and political matters--by Ed Hudgins, TOC Washington Director.

Center NewsSightings, March 2004 3/1/2004
Description: Stephen Hicks and David Mayer establish websites; Shawn Klein accepted into Ph.D; Camp Indecon at Woodland Park, Colorado, from July 17 through July 24, 2004; The Objectivist Travelers schedule tour of Scotland; new issue of Aristos; Anthem movie news; The Atlasphere

Center NewsEd Hudgins Speaks on Space and More 3/1/2004
Description: A report on recent speaking events and op-eds by Ed Hudgins, TOC Washington Director.

Op-edExample of Our First PresidentEdward Hudgins2/26/2004
Description: An op-ed celebrating the birthday of George Washington and the moral example he set for all of us.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Special Interests or the Special Use of Force?Edward Hudgins2/25/2004
Description: The denouncing of special interests by all the presidential candidates is deeply hypocritical and evades the truth that government creates these special interests in the first place.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Happy Birthday George Washington!Edward Hudgins2/14/2004
Description: George Washington’s achievements reflected his outstanding moral character and political legacy.

Op-edInadvertent Observations: Finding the barbarianEdward Hudgins2/7/2004
Description: A review of the Oscar-nominated French Canadian film ''The Barbarian Invasions,'' by TOC's DC director Ed Hudgins. While the title suggests a not-so-thinly veiled attack on America, the film perhaps inadvertently exposes the flaws both of leftist public policies and the moral decadence that tends to accompany them.

FrontReportReport from the Front: Happy Birthday Ronald ReaganEdward Hudgins2/6/2004
Description: A tribute to President Ronald Reagan on his 93rd birthday.

FrontReportReport Follow-up: Assault on Science SpreadsEdward Hudgins2/3/2004
Description: The omission of evolution from Georgia's schools is retreat from science.

Center NewsThe Objectivist Center Holds Forum on Islam in America 2/1/2004
Description: Event report from the forum on Islam in America held in DC in November.

ArticleFortress AmericanismRoger Donway2/1/2004
Description: Foreign ideas—mostly European ideas—are having a growing influence on American judges, lawyers, and political theorists. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this. As a nation of immigrants, America has thrived by importing the fresh perspectives of foreigners. But when the foreign ideas influencing U.S. elites are also alien ideas—alien to the fundamental philosophy of our founding—then they bring danger.

PerspectivesArt and IdealsDavid Kelley2/1/2004
Description: The earliest known paintings and musical objects are approximately thirty to forty thousand years old, a time when man's life was a struggle for survival. Yet, unlike tools, these art objects have no clear survival value. Why, then, did humans begin creating such objects at that point in time? One hypothesis points to the development of man's conceptual capacity.

LettersLetters: My Choices, My CriticsRobert Bidinotto2/1/2004
Description: Numerous readers of Navigator wrote to comment on the author’s recommendations in 'The Top Ten Films—Objectively Speaking' and 'One Hu