Articles

The latest attack on BB&T’s educational donations—and on academic freedom—comes by way of this Charlotte Observer editorial, which opens with the obvious truth that “A public university's faculty and administration—not donors—should have the final say on the content of courses.” The editorial closes with the obvious truth that “it’s wrong…

“Gifts with Strings a Knotty Issue,” is the latest in a recent stream of articles about academics going berserk because BB&T, under the direction of CEO John Allison, has made contributions to universities with the stipulation that Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged be included somewhere in the schools’ curricula. For…

In the "question" period of my recent talk at Georgia Tech, a student's fifteen-minute monologue included the claim that a recent Islamic conference in India had condemned terrorism—and that the western press had ignored this conference. MEMRI covered the conference, which was attended by some ten thousand clerics, scholars and…

Yaron Brook, director of the Ayn Rand Institute, has a timely and important op-ed in today’s Forbes.com titled “War On Free Political Speech,” in which he answers common arguments for campaign finance restrictions. Here are the opening paragraphs: This presidential campaign will be, by far, the most expensive in U.S.…

On March 13, I gave my talk “‘No Substitute for Victory’: The Defeat of Islamic Totalitarianism” to an audience of about forty at Georgia Institute of Technology. In the talk, based on my article in The Objective Standard, I rejected all forms of theocracy, but emphasized the danger posed by…

It occurs to me that in my last post I should have acknowledged not only Lin Zinser—the founder and director of FIRM—but also all the writers and activists who have embraced the organization’s mission and contributed to its success: Ari Armstrong, Linn Armstrong, Martin Buchanan, Betty Evans, Linda Gorman, Diana…

Lin Zinser, founder of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine (FIRM) and contributor to TOS, has set an outstanding example of how to engage in principled activism. I’ll let her accomplishments speak for themselves—and add only this: Thank you, Lin, for defending man’s right to life. FIRM: Year End Results…

Surveys MacLean’s major works (including The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare); indicates their value to readers who love men of intelligence, ability, and courage; and incites a keyboard stampede to Amazon.com for the used copies of MacLean’s books, which are tragically out of print.

Examines key aspects of Newton’s discoveries, shows how he embraced and employed the scientific context established by giants who came before him (such as Galileo and Kepler), and indicates how he rose to even greater heights of explanation through a breathtaking unity of observation, experimentation, conceptual expansion, concept formation, generalization, induction.

Surveys Darwin’s education, work experience, expeditions, and inquiries; examines his observation-based, hands-on approach to gathering data from which to draw conclusions; and highlights the objectivity and truth of his consequent theory of evolution.

Zeros in on the basic principle of America and demonstrates that this principle mandates a policy of open immigration, debunks several common arguments for prohibiting or limiting immigration, shows why all such arguments are necessarily invalid, and indicates what Americans must do if we are to reestablish and maintain the kind of moral, rights-respecting immigration policy that was advocated by the Founders.

Craig Biddle introduces the Spring 2008 issue.

Examines four paintings by Friedrich (plus one by Theodor Kittelsen), analyzes them by means of a new concept Mr. Boeckmann calls design-theme, and integrates them under the concept of “visual romanticism,” thus going a distance toward objectively defining that school. (The article is accompanied by five color images of the paintings discussed.)

Yaron Brook’s latest commentary at Forbes.com, “To Stimulate the Economy, Liberate It,” is an excellent lesson in how government coercion, by violating individual rights, cripples the economy. Don’t miss it—and do pass it along to all your active-minded friends and relatives. This is the rare kind of short essay that…

Nick Provenzo of the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism reports that members of the City Council of Berkeley have decided to use their guns to keep U.S. Marine Corps recruiters out of the commune. Would that the U.S. military could cease defending Berkeley. It would make for a great…