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.

Edward Cline presents An Inauguration of Tyranny posted at The Rule of Reason, saying, "Watching news media coverage of Barack Obama’s journey to the White House was much like watching the broadcast propaganda of a dystopian fantasy in films like V, or the Richard Burton’s 1984, or Fahrenheit 451 -- except that the news media is not a vast government department spewing out lies and disinformation, haranguing and brow-beating the public, but a nominally independent entity reporting Obama’s triumph with deliriously mindless happy talk."

Non Talbot Wels presents Public Water District Takes On Private Fires posted at The Undercurrent, saying, "As wildfires raged through southern California this year, firefighters often did not have the water needed to fight the fires, resulting in a considerable amount of preventable fire damage. Who is responsible for this ongoing problem and how can it be prevented?"

Roberto Sarrionandia presents Why be an activist? posted at Tito's Blog, saying, "Why activism is important"

Jim Woods presents So Help Me God posted at Words by Woods, saying, "Are Americans still so well read in history as to obstruct the ascension of faith-based power-lusters, who in the name of their God would restrain our liberty?"

Stephen Bourque presents Dennis Prager: If There Is No God, Part 4 posted at One Reality, saying, "One must never relinquish the responsibility of thinking for oneself by surrendering it to authorities - scriptural, spiritual, scientific, or otherwise."

Rachel presents Is irony a heavy metal? posted at Brass in Pocket, saying, "What do an NPR article and a hard-rock song have in common?"

Michael Labeit presents On Black Business vs. Black Bureaucracy posted at Philosophical Mortician, saying, "A recession!!! Obama, quick - to the idiot mobile!!!"

Michael Labeit presents On "Mortgage" posted at Philosophical Mortician, saying, "The latin meaning of "mortgage" is unsuitable relative to the actual results of mortgage."

Rational Jenn presents A Sign Of The Times posted at Rational Jenn, saying, "This is funny, in a not-so-funny kind of way (and yet, still funny!). The comments on Amazon for this toy are encouraging, in that they're evidence that many Americans haven't totally lost their minds."

Stella presents It's not wrong to put a price on health posted at ReasonPharm, saying, "Yes, good health costs money. Get over it!"

Paul Hsieh presents The Value of Innovation in Health Care posted at We Stand FIRM, saying, "I link to an article detailing numerous positive private sector innovations in health care, and discuss why we need a government that will protect our freedom to innovate."

Diana Hsieh presents Circumcision as Mutilation posted at NoodleFood, saying, "Should parents be permitted to permanently alter the normal body parts of their children?"

Ari Armstrong presents Obamanomics Threatens Economic Recovery posted at FreeColorado.com, saying, "Obama's grand plans to "help" the economy promise only to squander wealth and create uncertainty."

Shaun Connell presents This is How Capitalism Dies posted at Financial Planning, saying, "What is the future of capitalism in the next few years? What are the anti-capitalists trying to attempt? What's going to happen...? Who is behind the collapse? The answers are in this article."

Myrhaf presents Inauguration posted at The New Clarion, saying, "Here are some thoughts on the inauguration of the 44th POTUS."

K. M. presents History is not the case against collectivism posted at Applying philosophy to life, saying, "This post argues that mere historical arguments against collectivism are insufficient and miss the moral issues."

John Drake presents Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire posted at Try Reason!, saying, "History has a way of showing philosophic truths. I found a very interesting example while reading the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

Daniel presents The "Shimmy" Song posted at The Nearby Pen, saying, "Links to a sublime performance of the "Shimmy" song in Emmerich Kalman's Die Bajadare, and has an excerpt from We the Living of Rand's thoughts on it."

Monica presents The Bankruptcy of Ethanol posted at FA-RM.

Monica presents The Nature of Collectivism posted at Spark A Synapse.

Flibbert presents Flibbertigibbet posted at Flibbertigibbet, saying, "Most of my posts these days involve me being Scrooge McDuck BEFORE he got that giant money bin to swim in, but this post is a response to all the attention FDR's New Deal is getting and how spending tax dollars does not actually stimulate the economy.

In fact, the people who think like that are the very ones preventing me from getting my money bin! Curse you, Beagle Brothers!"

Grant Jones presents Ordinary Courage: The Revolutionary Adventures of Joseph Plumb Martin posted at The Dougout, saying, "Michigan War Studies Review published my book review of the classic soldier's memoir of the Revolutionary war."

Jason presents What Causes Sexual Attraction? posted at Erosophia, saying, "Have you ever wanted to know how sexual attraction operates? Have you ever wondered what the goal of sexual attraction is? Find out in my new essay abstracted from my forthcoming book "Sexual Perfection: Foundations of a New Sexual Ethic"."

Kim presents Good Things Day After Day After Day posted at Kim's Play Place, saying, "So many people have found the 3-good-things exercise from Martin Seligman, as recommended by Jean Maroney, beneficial. I post how our family uses it."