Almost forty years after animal rights advocates began asking us to put down our steak knives, plant advocates may start asking us to relinquish our salad forks as well. Plants have rights too, they say, and we ought to “reconsider our ethical approach to eating them.” Michael Marder, a philosopher…

On Thursday, the United States Postal Service reported a net loss of $15.9 billion for the year. As it becomes increasingly insolvent and increasingly dependent on taxpayer-funded support and bailouts, USPS continues to hold a legal monopoly on the delivery of standard and first-class mail—a monopoly that violates our rights…

Through the invention and sale of its Kindle e-reader, Amazon has brought incredible convenience to many readers. The compact, sleek, and affordable Kindle allows its owners to carry upwards of one thousand books anywhere. It enables easy searching, highlighting, and note-taking; instantaneous book purchasing; transferring of purchases to other devices;…

Lamenting predicted cuts under the Romney budget plan, Neal Lane, former director of the National Science Foundation, called for more “federal investments in science and technology” in a recent New York Times op-ed. “Scientific knowledge and new technologies,” argued Professor Lane, “are the building blocks for long-term economic growth.” According…

On Monday, Alex Epstein, president and founder of the Center for Industrial Progress, will debate arch-environmentalist Bill McKibben at Duke University. Epstein will argue that fossil fuels improve the planet; McKibben will argue that they harm it. In July, McKibben, whom the Boston Globe has called “the nation’s leading environmentalist,”…

Georgia Congressman Paul Broun made some waves when he stated that the theory of evolution, the fundamental integrating theory of biological science, is a lie “straight from the pit of hell.” Charles Darwin spent more than twenty years of his life gathering evidence for the theory of evolution. He presented…

The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) is asking those who think life would be better without capitalism to think again. Their newly released short, “It’s A Wonderful Life! (with Capitalism),” features an anti-capitalist protester who, after excitedly uttering the words “Life would be so great without capitalism,” is knocked unconscious…

On Friday, I posted on TOS Blog explaining why evolutionary anthropologist Eric Michael Johnson failed, in a recent Slate article, to disprove Ayn Rand’s ethics. I also showed that his article betrayed a gross misunderstanding of Rand’s philosophy. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Johnson responded on Twitter: How shocking. A magazine dedicated…

New York Times opinion writer Nicholas Kristof has expressed consternation that many of his readers were “savagely unsympathetic” in their responses to a column in which he shares the story of his recently deceased friend, Scott Androes, in hopes that “his story would help readers see the need for universal…

Prompted by pro-life Georgia representative Terry England’s bizarre comments comparing women to farm animals, the Center for Reproductive Rights has released a star-studded video encouraging viewers to “draw the line” against attacks on abortion and contraception rights by signing a petition called the Bill of Reproductive Rights. The first article…

Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez and his team of surgeons at the University of Maryland School of Medicine deserve praise for their success in “the most extensive face transplant performed to date.” Seven months after receiving a new face, Richard Lee Norris, a 37-year-old Virginia resident who for fifteen years was…

Even if it were true that historical tribes had primitive rules that nod to modern altruism, this would not disprove Ayn Rand’s ethics.