• • • Economy stinks, despite unemployment drop 
Cal Thomas, Wichita Eagle (KS) Atheism  |Atlas Shrugged movie  |Atlas Shrugged  |Capitalism  |Syndicated  | The price [of gasoline] is nearing $6 a gallon for premium and is more than $5 for other grades at some pumps. It sounds like the plot of a disaster movie, which, in fact, it is. Timed perfectly to address public angst is “Atlas Shrugged II,” the second film in a planned trilogy, opening Oct. 12. One doesn’t have to be an atheist, like the book’s author, Ayn Rand, or a disciple of her philosophy of objectivism (which she described as “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”) to appreciate the fictional warnings. Though “Atlas Shrugged” was published in 1957 as a warning against centralized political control, the movie’s message is as contemporary as today’s news.   Published: 2012-10-09