Objectivst Round-up

Welcome to the May 14, 2009 edition of the Objectivist round-up. This week presents insight and analyzes written by authors who are animated by Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. According to Ayn Rand:

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

"About the Author," Atlas Shrugged, Appendix.

So without any further delay (and in no particular order), here's this week's round-up:

Rebecca Knapp presents A Hero Speaks Up for Hedge Funds posted at The Undercurrent, saying, "In the past months, Washington has used its pull over and over to force businessmen to buy into its programs. One businessman has finally said NO."

Kelly Valenzuela presents Living in the "Dark Ages" posted at Rant from the Rock, saying, "Well, I'm new to blogging and Objectivism, but I kinda liked this entry, if I do say so myself. :-)"

Ryan Puzycki presents Capitalism In Crisis? posted at The Undercurrent, saying, "Richard Posner, writing in the WSJ, claims that the current financial crisis is a crisis of capitalism. But the government interventions so pervasive in our mixed economy are what have brought about this crisis."

Randal Allen presents Malcolm Gladwell vs. the Self-Made Man posted at The Undercurrent, saying, "Malcolm Gladwell's recent book Outliers suggests that the secret to success is waiting for your ship to come in. Is individual greatness merely a result, as Outliers claims, of one's environment chancing to provide the necessary resources? This article evaluates Gladwell's ideas about the self-made man."

Alex Moya presents The High Cost of a Free Lunch posted at The Undercurrent, saying, "As the Obama administration embarks upon an unprecedented expansion of the welfare state, we must realize that we are paying not only with our tax dollars, but with our very freedom."

Khartoum presents The Argument from Self-Interest. posted at Philosophy, Law and Life..

Ari Armstrong presents Out-Of-Wedlock Births Approach 40 Percent posted at AriArmstrong.com, saying, "The out-of-wedlock birth statistics reveal a scary trend, though of course not all such births are a problem."

Kyle B presents MBAs 20% Off! posted at The smallest minority.

Grant Jones presents Obama: Historical Revisionist posted at The Dougout, saying, "On the next Obama apology tour."

Doug Reich presents Plato's Beauty Pageant posted at The Rational Capitalist, saying, "What is the philosophical connection between a Saudi Arabian beauty pageant and Obama's regulatory "czar", i.e., how is modern religion related to Platonism?"

Myrhaf presents The Idiocy Americans Swallow posted at The New Clarion, saying, "This post generated a lively argument in the comments. I would like to note that I am not opposed to gardening. My point is that gardening to avoid high prices at the supermarket is not a good way to save money."

Benjamin Skipper presents The Triumph of the American Imagination: A Book Review posted at Benpercent, saying, "My book review of Neal Gabler's biography *Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination*."

Jason Stotts presents On Bisexuality posted at Erosophia, saying, "First thoughts on the viability of bisexuality"

Michael Labeit presents On "Common-Sense Regulations" posted at Philosophical Mortician, saying, ""Common-sense" nonsense."

John Drake presents The danger of current search technology posted at Try Reason!, saying "Modern search engines offer great value in finding useful web sites through their reputation system. However, these reputation systems should not be considered a substitute for objective knowledge. I look at one case, the Chrysler bankruptcy, that shows the limitations of reputation systems."

Doug Reich presents The Story of Stuff is the Stuff of Evil posted at The Rational Capitalist, saying, "An evil environmentalist propaganda film aimed at children should be banned in public schools on the grounds that the showing the film would violate the separation of church and state."

Gus Van Horn presents From Fifth to Forty-Second? posted at Gus Van Horn, saying, "All states are not equal. Nor are all rankings of freedom by state."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Objectivist round up using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.