1 She did have an uneasy alliance with conservatives at one point--even with WFB's National Review.

2 Rusty: Sorry, but this Slantpoint guy's blog is so cluttered with cheesey spam that it's impossible to read. And I do mean impossible, not just difficult or inconvenient. His attempt to make a dime off of patent crap actually obscures most of his text. Ayn Rand was a dumbass. She could write decent romantic novels (Atlas Shrugged, etc.) but her political and ideological insights weren't worth the trouble to turn a page. She was the right-wing equivalent of a Wiccan.

3 Demo, you're kidding right? The copulation (can't use the 's' word for some reason) scenes in Atlas Shrugged had all the romance of two machines stamping out doors for a Hyudai Elantra. Objectivists tend to scare me. Reason is not the constant they treat it as. And they say they have free will yet reject the supernatural which is contradictory (either you're bound to the laws of physics which determine your thoughts or you've got some sort of unexplainable power to control chemicals in your brain which is, erm, supernatural). I truly value a lot of her thoughts on capitalism and she has changed my mind on many things, but the religion that she inspired is just spooky at times.

4 Sharp as a Marble--You've invoked the perfect word that pretty much sums up my feeling on her and her philosophy--spooky!

5 Regarding her "romantic writings" -- as a matter of policy, I refuse to let someone who looked like Ayn Rand to arouse me in any fashion, no matter how minor. Think what you will about her philosophy (I think spooky covers it well), but she looked like a freshly shaved ape. I may be shallow, but I cannot remove that fact from her "love stories." She ranks second on the "kill the mood thought" list. Of course, Wilford Brimley in a Speedo is number one, with just cause.

6 Any one ever had an 'objectivst' friend? Dude, they're like Nazis in their metaphysical certainty of objective reality. And talking to them? It's like talking to a La Rouchie, only less anti-Semetic.

7 ..especially if he also says "Speedos...It's the right thing to do."

8 While stationed at las Pulgas (a base in Pendelton means the Fleas in Mexican) I went to the base library a few night a week and read ATLAS SHRUGED and FOUNTAIN AEAD. I thought they were both great books and are the 20th centuries best representation of the philosopohy expressed in "Two Treatises of Government" over 350 years ago. This pamphlet was what Jeferson, Lee and Franklin based the Declaration of Independence upon. It is what Tom used as his foundation for the Bill of Rights; especially Ammendments #1,#2 and #10. Her ideas are the same as the founders of this great country. If you think her ideas are weird you need to rethink your positions on government and the last election. Unless you voted for JFK, in which case your thinking is consisstent. Ronnie was also a great fan of hers. I doubt W is but I know I am a fan of Locke and therefor Jefferson and by extension Ronald Reagan and Ayn Rand. Dumb Jarhead Cerritos

9 Murray Rothbard, who was once friends with Rand, wrote a humorous one-act play about objectivism, titled Mozart Was a Red. my son tells me it's from back in the day when Rand, Rothbard and Greenspan used to hang out together. I'd never read her work, so my son used the play to explain some Randian principles. I thought it was a hoot.

10 I've always agreed that the most telling clue of the flaws in Rand's philosophy is that there are no children in her novels.

11 But there are MANY novels without children.

12 I'll be a bit more explicit: None of the significant characters are parents, and the few examples of parenthood are either dispensible or degenerate. Let's assume that's not mere coincidence. What might it be about Rand's dogmas and the nature of true parenthood that would lead to her stories being that way?

13 I'm actually trying to think of a novel, written by ANYONE of any note, especially by a FAMOUS author, that showcases parents as non-degenerate, admirable characters... let's see... Dickens..? heck no. Edgar A. Poe..? get outta here. Daniel Defoe..? Next. Hemingway...? H.P. Lovecraft...? My point is WHAT THE HECK DOES IT MATTER IF SOMEONE DOESN'T WRITE ABOUT PARENTS? Hell, I've never been a parent, and neither was Ayn Rand. And who the heck cares that there were no children in a novel? How many children were in Day of the Jackal or Hunt for Red October or Tom Jones for that matter? who cares. "I don't like such-and-such a writer/philosopher because she didn't write about ankle-biters and she was ugly".. my my, the heights of your intellectual thought are so beyond my eyesight that you're in orbit practically. After all, don't we all read "In Cold Blood" and "Alice B. Toklas" because Truman Capote and Gertrude Stein were 2 very pretty, deliciously attractive individuals who loved to write about children?

14 Darkwolf, my point has absolutely nothing to do with Rand not writing warm and fuzzy stories about delightful children and perfect parents. Just go read the piece by Cathy Young that Rusty links to in this post, or Whittaker Chambers' review of Atlas Shrugged.