Category: The Atlasphere

All things Atlasphere can be found here, columns, podcasts, interesting anecdotes, and more.

Holcberg: FCC Fining CBS Violates Free Speech

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

ARI’s David Holcberg has published a spot-on letter to the editor for use in newspapers around the country:

Indecency Fines Against CBS Are an Ominous Attack on Free Speech
Friday, March 17, 2006
By: David Holcberg
Dear Editor:
The $3.6 million in “indecency” fines levied by the FCC against CBS are an ominous attack on the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment.
Just as the government doesn’t fine newspapers that publish cartoons that Muslims deem indecent, it shouldn’t fine broadcasters that air shows that viewers deem indecent. Viewers are free to change the channel or turn off their TV set if they do not like what they see. They can’t be forced to patronize a station they find indecent.
Moreover, it is the parents–not the government–who should be responsible for determining what their children are allowed to watch on TV.
David Holcberg

How to Help Wafa Sultan

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Wafa Sultan — the woman who spoke out so bravely against the roots of radical Islam on al Jazeera last month — is currently in hiding, in response to the Fatwa put on her head by crazed Islamofascists. Find out how you can help.
Hat-tip: Atlas Shrugs.
UPDATE: Some interesting background about Ms. Sultan, from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Sultan grew up in a large, traditional Muslim family in Banias, Syria, a small city on the Mediterranean about a two-hour drive north of Beirut. Her father was a grain trader and a devout Muslim, and she followed the faith’s strictures into adulthood.
But, she said, her life changed in 1979 when she was a medical student at the University of Aleppo in northern Syria. At that time, the radical Muslim Brotherhood was using terror to try to undermine the regime of President Hafez Assad. Gunmen of the Muslim Brotherhood burst into a classroom at the university and killed her professor as she watched, she said.
“They shot hundreds of bullets into him shouting, ‘God is Great!’ ” she said. “At that point, I lost my trust in their god and began to question all our teachings. It was the turning point of my life, and it has led me to this present point. I had to leave. I had to look for another god.”

Later in the same article:

An angry essay on that site by Sultan about the Muslim Brotherhood caught the attention of Al-Jazeera, which invited her to debate an Algerian cleric on the air in July.
In the debate, Sultan questioned the religious teachings that prompt young people to commit suicide in the name of God. “Why does a young Muslim man, in the prime of life, with a full life ahead, go and blow himself up?” she asked. “In our countries, religion is the sole source of education and is the only spring from which that terrorist drank until his thirst was quenched.”
Her name began appearing in Arabic newspapers and Web sites. But her fame grew exponentially when she appeared on Al-Jazeera again last month, saying she was not a Christian or a Muslim or a Jew but a “secular human being.”
The appearance was translated and widely distributed by the Middle East Media Research Institute, known as MEMRI, which said the clip had been viewed more than a million times. A link to the videotape and translated excerpts can be found at http://memri.org/index.html.
Sultan said she has received numerous death threats on her telephone answering machine and by e-mail: “Oh, you are still alive? Wait and see” and “If someone were to kill you, it would be me.”
Sultan said her mother, who lives in Syria, is afraid to contact her directly, speaking only through a sister in Qatar.

See the full article for more.

Bank Won't Lend When Eminent Domain Is Involved

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

A terrific AP article in this morning’s San-Antonio Express News:

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — On its face, it appeared to be an odd decision for a banker, to turn down business on a principle that most people don’t think much about.
And so far, the banking giants haven’t seen fit to follow the lead of BB&T Corp.’s John Allison, who declared in January that the nation’s ninth-largest bank would no longer make loans to developers who plan to build commercial projects on land seized from citizens through the power of eminent domain.
“We happen to believe in the fundamental concept of individual rights, and one of those is property rights,” Allison said. “If that is jeopardized, our entire financial system is also in jeopardy.”
The prospect of losing out on a few loans, or taking a stand alone, hasn’t shaken Allison’s resolve and has only added to his reputation as a banker whose thoughts routinely stray to the philosophical.
Colleagues probably should have seen it coming from an executive known to quote Aristotle during board meetings.

Later in the article:

“John has a pretty unshakable moral compass, and frankly I think he is right on this,” said Charles Moyer, dean of the business school at the University of Louisville. “The potential for abuse is great, and someone needs to stand up for it. I was not surprised it was John and BB&T.”
Allison is an executive who mixes in re-readings of the works of Thomas Aquinas and John Locke into a book-a-month habit.
“My absolute favorite writer is Ayn Rand,” he said, referring to the Russian American philosopher and advocate of capitalism.
Allison’s reasoning against eminent domain is based in part on a strong belief in property rights, one of Locke’s cornerstone values, and one shared by the farmers in rural North Carolina.
“To these people, property rights are the single most important thing,” he said. “It’s the basis of economic freedom in this country, so they take it very seriously.”
Slipping into the role of college professor, a job for which Janeway said he’d be well-suited, Allison asks rhetorically why there is a need to use the power of government to force people from their homes. The answer sounds like one that would please a banker focused on shareholder value and the next quarter’s results, but that doesn’t hold sway with Allison.
“They really want to use it as lever to drive down the price,” he said, adding there have already been abuses of eminent domain rules, with the victims mostly among the poor, minorities and the elderly.

There’s lots more. Keep reading…

OCON 2006 Early Registration Ends March 15

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

The Ayn Rand Institute will hold its 2006 Summer Conference at the Seaport Hotel in Boston from June 30 to July 8. The early registration deadline is March 15.
Some of the diverse highlights of the program include:
– Aristotle’s Ethics: Its Critics through History
– Essential developments towards Musical Romanticism
– Understanding 20th-Century Philosophy – The Case of Quine
– Ayn Rand, Public Speaker: A Philosopher Who Lived on Earth
The conference schedule offers the flexibility of registering for optional courses, individual sessions, and special events.
Check the registration and pricing information here.

Where Is Avis M. Brick?

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

Excerpts from a letter that was forwarded to us:

My parents split in the United States way back in February 1960. My mother went to New York, we children (one boy and two girls aged 7,6,5) stayed back in the Chicago vicinity with my father and his bookstore. Years later we moved to Germany and as I grew up I took up searching for our mom, who never had left my mind. In the beginning my efforts were timid for fear she might reject any contact — thus maybe losing her for good. Later I realized I would have to do throw those fears overboard if I wanted to have a chance at all.
I pictured my mother always with a book in her hand and managed to detect book titles on old photographs which helped me to know just a tiny bit more. This way and with the help of other bits of information I discovered that Ayn Rand had become important to her shortly around the time of the divorce. A bit of research revealed that “Avis M. Brick” later became the manager of the NBI Book Service (ca. 1967). Furthermore she is said to have assisted Joan Kennedy Taylor together with David Dawson editing the magazine “Persuasion” (1965-1968). These are real clues, but I actually have lost track beyond the year 1969. Did Avis stay engaged to Objectivism? Did she make friends there, maybe marry again? Did she change her name? Did she stay in New York? — Is she still on earth?
[…]It also must be said that I am aware that I would have to leave it up to Avis alone to decide whether she wishes any contact at all.
But I would defininitely like her to know I have highest respect for her early made decisions and it would mean a world to me to meet her in the end.

There’s currently no one named “Avis” in the Atlasphere. If you have any leads, please contact us and we’ll pass along the information.

Greenspan Authoring Autobiography

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

From an article at CNN:

Recently retired Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan believes that there will be a major independent candidate for president from the nation’s political center, according to a published report.
In an interview with The New York Times about his post-Fed activities, Greenspan said he makes that prediction in a memoir, for which he recently got an estimated $8.5 million advance from Penguin Press, a unit of British publishing concern.
Greenspan told the Times he plans to argue that the current “ideological divide” separating conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats leaves “a vast untended center from which a well-financed independent presidential candidate is likely to emerge in 2008 or, if not then, in 2012.”
He also told the newspaper the book will focus on “the forces that will determine how the next decades are likely to unfold.” Among his conclusions are that “global competitive pressures are likely in the years ahead to bias most market-oriented economies toward the U.S. model.”

Later in the article:

He told the newspaper he plans to write some of his early life history, including the influence of his mentor, the author and novelist Ayn Rand, who shaped him as a young man into a libertarian. And he promised the newspaper he also will describe his “encounters with, and impressions of” numerous politicians, cabinet members, presidents and world leaders.

See the full article for more about Greenspan’s post-retirement activities.
Hm, gotta figure out how we can get an interview with him….
UPDATE: Incidentally, the $8.5 million advance Greenspan received from Penguin for this book is the second-highest advance ever for a non-fiction book.

Modern Individualism in 'An Army of Davids'

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

My copy of Glenn Reynolds’s new book An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths arrived in the mail a few days ago.
I’ve not had time to read it yet, but I skimmed it at some length the other night, and it looks readable and very interesting. It also struck me as one of the most thoroughly pro-individualist books I’ve seen in recent years.
Hopefully we’ll be able to publish a formal review of the book soon at the Atlasphere. In the interim, John Podhoretz provides a pretty good review in the New York Post. It begins:

It’s only March, but I can guarantee you there won’t be a more exciting or inspiring book published this year than “An Army of Davids.” Glenn Reynolds, its author, is best known for the Web log called Instapundit, but he is also a musician, the creator of a record label, a law professor, an expert on space (he drafted a position paper on the matter for Al Gore’s 1988 campaign) and an unpublished novelist.
“An Army of Davids” is a book about how technology has freed people like Reynolds to pursue their interests in ways that would have been unthinkable 30 years ago. For example, Reynolds can record, mix and complete an album in his basement with a $1,500 computer and software written in Poland – a process once restricted to those with access to multimillion-dollar studios.

Keep reading for more. Or just buy An Army of Davids and see for yourself!

Dr. Madeleine Cosman, RIP

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

The Objectivist Center reports that Dr. Madeleine Cosman has died. See their announcement for more information.
Full Context‘s Karen Reedstrom conducted a lengthy interview with Dr. Cosman in 1997. The Full Context web site seems to be down, but a cached version of the interview (with excerpts, at least) is still available via Google.
Here are some tasty excerpts:

Q: Your book Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. What is it about and why do you think it was so well received?
Cosman: Iâ??ve written 14 books and that one was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Award. That sounds somewhat startling for someone who is an expert in medical law. It is a very lavishly illustrated book, which has approximately 800 or more medical/legal documents as its origin. My original intent, and this is one of the things the Pulitzer Prize committee liked, was to determine whether it was possible to take a very demanding and unforgivingâ??as well as unpopularâ??subject, medical law, and make it appealing to an intelligent popular audience. To my great delight, the book got a huge amount of favorable response, and itâ??s still selling beautifully in several languages, including Japanese. In fact, when I was doing work at the Supreme Court this past summer, I went with one of my medical students to the Library of Congressâ??s book store, and they were featuring Fabulous Feasts! So, completely without preparation I ended up doing some book signings in the Library of Congress.
Q: You were one of the activists working to derail the Health Security Act of 1993. How do you view your own role in the defeat of “ClintonCare?”
Cosman: With gratitude. I worked exceedingly hard, and Iâ??m extremely grateful that the message was effective. I did several things, besides lecturing nationwide, after I had read all 1,364 pages of that pernicious legislation. I wrote The ABCâ??s of the Clinton Medical World which the Cardozo Law Forum published. We did it in a special tabloid version illustrated whimsically with Renaissance woodcuts. It was an elegant and charming document, but its intent was to force people to actually read the legislation. I felt confident that once they read it that they inevitably would reject it. I originally wrote it for the U.S. Congress because I was testifying in Washington, and discovered, to my horror, that no one had actually read the legislation. They had read short versions, précis, and synopses, but no one had actually read this turgid and quite vicious legislation with its desperate penal sanctionsâ??really horrible criminal sanctionsâ??against physicians for actions which under other circumstances would probably be considered ethical and proper.
Q: Well, my readers and I would like to thank you for your efforts! What was the effect of The ABCâ??s of the Clinton Medical World?
Cosman: It was extremely effective. Though originally created for Congress, it was then disseminated throughout the country. The effect was quite dramatic. Some in favor of the Clinton Health Plan were so upset that they actually made threats against the Cardozo Law School for having published it. People were alerted to what was truly in the plan as to, say, “capitation,” or “community rating,” or “medically necessary” and other terms which do not mean, in the legislation, what they mean in plain English. Their definitions in the legislation were truly pernicious.

I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. Cosman personally, but like many I appreciate her work and I know she will be missed.

The Man Who Took on Socialism – and Won

Posted on by s1e2t3u4p5

The Telegraph had a moving column about Arthur Seldon, the British champion of Capitalism who passed away in October, under the unequivocally assertive title: “The man who took on Socialism – and Won.”
In 1957, Arthur Seldon established the Institute of Economic Affairs with fellow-economists Ralph Harris and Antony Fisher. They advocated free-market economics and limited government – against the established Keynsian theories and Welfare State morals – and succeeded in rescuing Britain from its post World War II decline.
Seldon stood out among pro-free market economists by announcing that Capitalism was not only practical, but moral. He opened his book The Virtues of Capitalism, with the declaration:

Capitalism requires not defence but celebration. Its achievement in creating high and rising living standards for the masses without sacrificing personal liberty speaks for itself. Only the deaf will not hear and the blind will not see.

The Telegraph goes even further:

Seldon understated his point. Not only did capitalism raise living standards without sacrifice of personal liberty: it also guaranteed it. Capitalism has nothing to do with its caricature of oppressed workers enslaved to big bosses and exploited by them. Markets, which are the metaphysical temples in which the creed is practised, bring together buyers and sellers of goods and labour, and allow them the freedom to exercise their will about what, or what not, to buy and sell.

Seldon’s victory over Socialism is patently clear:

Now, as huge economies like China and India learn the Seldonian lesson, the options that socialists and sentimentalists have for dining à la carte from the menu of capitalism become ever more restricted. There will still be outbursts about a non-existent concept called “market failure”, and protests that welfarism liberates people from poverty rather than traps them in it, or that the state must know best. But these are merely tragic harrumphs from the defeated. Seldon has won.

Read the entire column…

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