• • • Bill: Make 'Atlas Shrugged' mandatory 

Atlas Shrugged  |Paul Ryan  | An Idaho Republican state senator who introduced a bill requiring high school students to read “Atlas Shrugged” said he doesn’t plan to push for passage. Sen. John Goedde, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, introduced the bill Tuesday that would mandate students pass a test on Ayn Rand’s 1957 best-seller, frequently cited by conservative politicians such as U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., as inspiration for their politics.  

• • Books and politics: Conservatives like ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ liberals pick David Sedaris 

Atlas Shrugged  | The next time you’re browsing the popular picks aisle at Borders (or clicking around on Amazon), the book you take home may say more about you than just your preference for paperback romances or historical non-fictions. The latest infographics by Engage, using data gathered from Facebook via the Trendsetter app, parses popular book choices and compares them with political leanings. Among the most highly engaged voters on either side of the spectrum Noam Chomsky’s Failed States (liberal) and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged (conservative) are the most popular.  

• Hotel replaced Bibles with 'Fifty Shades' 

Atlas Shrugged  |Syndicated  | "I was thinking originally of putting in a book by Ayn Rand -- 'Atlas Shrugged' was my first thought," [owner Jonathan] Denby said. "(But) because everybody is reading 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' we thought it would be a hospitable thing to do, to have this available for our guests, especially if some of them were a little bit shy about buying it because of its reputation."  

• Georgetown faculty challenge Ryan budget 

Paul Ryan  | Dozens of Georgetown University faculty members signed a letter to Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., challenging his use of Catholic teaching to defend budget cuts. [....] “[W]e would be remiss in our duty to you and our students if we did not challenge your continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few," the letter said. "In short, your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ."  

• • Georgetown faculty challenge Ryan budget 

Atheism  |Egoism  |Paul Ryan  | Dozens of Georgetown University faculty members signed a letter to Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., challenging his use of Catholic teaching to defend budget cuts. [....] "In short, your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ." The letter said Rand's "call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love."  

• • • ‘Atlas’ appeals to the Hollywood averse 

Atlas Shrugged movie  |Atlas Shrugged  | Some Hollywood observers say being on the outskirts of the industry may pay off for the producers of the film version of Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged.” The first part of the envisioned “Atlas Shrugged” trilogy will be released on about 300 screens in 80 markets Friday with a promotional campaign centered largely on word-of-mouth spread by conservative leaders.  

• ‘Naked Cowboy’ considers White House bid 

Robert Burck, who was dubbed the Naked Cowboy for his daily walks around Times Square wearing only his underwear, guitar and cowboy hat, said his major inspirations for his presidential bid are the writings of Ayn Rand and his perception of government becoming larger under President Barack Obama, Politico reported Friday.  

• The almanac 

Personal life  | Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include [...] novelist Ayn Rand in 1905.  

• The almanac - 2 February 2008 

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include [...] novelist Ayn Rand in 1905.  

• • ‘Atlas’ fans set for 50th anniversary 

Ayn Rand Institute  |Atlas Shrugged  | Report on an Orange County Register article about the 50th anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged.
While the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, Calif., prepares to honor the book's upcoming anniversary, fans and critics alike have begun debating what makes the 1,168-page book so notable. "I think the appeal is that the book is an enormously challenging book," Onkar Ghate, a fellow at the institute, said. "The story is gripping. It's exciting. It's a mystery, as she said, and people want to see how the mystery is resolved." "It's sloppy and it's exuberant and it's overwritten and it's melodramatic," Michael Szalay, an associate English professor, told the Register.  

•The almanac 

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include [...] novelist Ayn Rand in 1905.  

•Angelina Jolie taking more serious roles 

Angelina Jolie seems to be opting for more serious film roles, including Dagny Taggart in the film adaptation of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."  

•The almanac 

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include [...] novelist Ayn Rand in 1905 [...].  

• •Thanks, Mr Greenspan 
,
Critics grumbled that he was a gold bug, an old-fashioned believer in the gold standard, and a disciple of the high priestess of free markets and of unbridled capitalism, the novelist Ayn Rand. Again this was true, and Greenspan recently confided that he still re-reads her "Atlas Shrugs" every few years.