Ayn Rand on Johnny Carson: make this go viral 14AUG12 & Ayn Rand Was an Illegal Immigrant 14FEB12

HERE is an expose on rep paul ryan's hero ayn rand. Share his admiration for this selfish, greedy, callous, crude and crass illegal immigrant (she was, see below and consider all the conservative ballyhoo about Pres Obama's executive order for Dreamers) with everyone you can, because the romney-ryan cabal is intent on imposing her destructive and divisive philosophy on the entire nation....

I just stumbled upon an article in Salon published today by David Haglund:
 Did You See This? Ayn Rand on Johnny Carson

In it is a two part video uploaded to YouTube by warpicachu of Johnny Carson interview Ayn Rand in depth on her philosophy.  It's amazing, the absolute kiss of death to the Ryan/Romney ticket.
She explains the core concept of her teaching, the central value, which is selfishness.

Did You See This? Ayn Rand on Johnny Carson

By David Haglund

Ayn Rand and Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show in 1967

Ayn Rand is back in the news this week, thanks to Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as the GOP's VP nominee. As David Weigel explains elsewhere in Slate, Ryan's longtime (albeit partly disavowed) devotion to Rand could have consequences for American monetary policy if he and Romney are elected—while Rand's strident atheism may cause problems for Ryan on the campaign trail if reporters choose to bring it up.

What may get lost in this high-toned Rand discussion is just how much a part of popular culture she was in her own lifetime. Lest we forget, the YouTube user warpicachu has uploaded her long 1967 interview with Johnny Carson in two parts. Besides hearing Rand distill her philosophy into a few TV-friendly sentences, you'll also get another glimpse at late-night talk shows as they used to be. "We do like to sit down occasionally," Carson says, "and get some views of people who are important in the world today."

See the videos below the fold, and enjoy.

PART 1

PART 2

There's so much I could pull out from these videos and quote to you from what this evil woman says... but I just don't know where to begin... every comment she makes is a new ad for the Obama campaign.
Remember, Paul Ryan made Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged required reading for all his staff and interns!  What will the "values voters" say if they know just exactly what his philosophy espouses.
LET'S MAKE THIS GO VIRAL!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/14/1120166/-Ayn-Rand-on-Johnny-Carson-make-this-go-viral

Ayn Rand Was an Illegal Immigrant

According to today's anti-immigration Republicans, the Russian-born novelist should have returned to Soviet tyranny. 14FEB12

Shikha Dalmia

NOTE, the opinion expressed about ayn rand being a great American is that of the author of this piece, included here only to show this darling of the right wing gop / tea-baggers was in fact an illegal immigrant!

Earlier this month was the birthday of Ayn Rand, the controversial philosopher and novelist, who emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1926. Regardless of what one thinks of her ideas, there is no denying that she was a great American. When the American intelligentsia was playing footsie with Soviet communism, Rand unabashedly defended liberty and individual rights, America’s core values, famously declaring: “[The] United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world.”

But this proud naturalized American, who arguably did more than any contemporary figure to restore the faith of Americans in America, might have been hounded out of the country if one of our current crop of Republican hopefuls had been president when she arrived. Why? Because Rand lied and bent every rule to gain entry into the United States.
As a vehement anti-Bolshevist, she knew that she would die waiting in line if she applied for permission to permanently relocate to America, although that’s exactly what she intended to do. Temporary tourist visas were easier to land, but only for those who could prove they didn’t plan to settle here. So what did Rand do? She committed perjury. She convinced an American visa officer that she had a fiancé waiting for her in Russia whom she intended to marry after a six-month visit with her relatives in Chicago.
But Rand instead married an American citizen in 1929, gaining a path to citizenship. According to Mimi Gladstein’s biography, Rand timed her wedding before her visa, which she had gotten extended, finally expired.
However, others doubt that Uncle Sam would have handed a three-year extension to a Russian passport holder, raising suspicions that Rand might have been—gasp!—an illegal immigrant when she got married.
http://reason.com/archives/2012/02/14/ayn-rand-was-an-illegal-immigrant

Compassion Wins: A Longtime Atheist Becomes Christian 5APR12

THE power of compassion....

Patrick Greene, a lifelong atheist known for his public stands against Christianity, recently announced that he has become a Christian.

Patrick Greene, via Christian Piatt

There are lots of ways to look at this. Some Christians may take this as validation that they were right and atheists were wrong. Some might consider it a point for the good guys. But such attitudes further the divide between people with more in common than not. Aside from that, it misses the most important point.

Greene was what I would call a militant atheist. He threatened to file lawsuits against the courthouse in Henderson County, Texas, if they didn’t remove a nativity scene from the public property. It wasn’t just that he didn’t believe in God; he fought publicly against the expression of Christianity wherever he deemed it inappropriate.

The story was particularly striking to me because it took place in Malakoff, Texas, a tiny town outside of Dallas where my grandparents lived for years. My grandfather was the postmaster there for a long time, and I spent some of my best childhood days wandering the oak-lined property where they had their modest lake house.

I can only imagine how they would have taken such vocal opposition to their belief, but I’d like to think it would have been something like what actually happened.

Greene, who had been a taxi driver for 33 years, was diagnosed with cataracts. He didn’t have insurance or the cash needed for necessary surgery, and so he was at risk of losing his license and his only stream of income along with it.

Upon reading about his situation, Jessica Crye mobilized people at her Christian church to donate to a fund to help Greene pay for his surgery. The small community of faith collected $400, and their generosity inspired others to join in. Atheists and Christians came together to add to the fund until there was enough for Greene to cover his medical bills.

Patrick Greene was dumbfounded. He could hardly conceive of a Christian woman, whose faith had been the object of his attacks for years, would respond his disdain with compassionate generosity. There are other elements to the story, like Greene’s lingering doubts about his unbelief, but to me that’s not what matters most in the story.

Most important is Crye’s response to Greene’s need. In looking past their differences, and even his own disregard for her closely-held faith, she found her sense of compassion. It was this Christlike act that moved Greene to reevaluate his position on faith. Crye and her church did not hold the gift over his head, requiring him to renounce his atheism in order to receive it. They didn’t crow about a sense of moral superiority. They just gave because they believed it was the right thing to do.

And it was.

But before reading too much into this, it’s important to note that Christians weren’t the only ones who gave to the fund. Atheists, too, were moved to help their fellow spokesperson. One could assume that they did so selfishly, hoping that he would continue his anti-religious crusade. But the fact is that they did the same thing as the Christians; they reached out to care for a fellow human being.

Yes, the Christians could have found more reason not to help. And yes, bystanders can make any number of assumptions about the atheist’s motivations. But we can also take the story as an object lesson in the fundamental common ground – the basic goodness – in human beings, regardless of their religious beliefs.

Christians are as guilty as atheists of widening the distance between two perceived groups. And both have the opportunity, every day, to close that gap with simple acts of compassion. The risk, of course, is that the act may not be met with a desired result, but that’s not the point. Compassion has no agenda. If it does, it’s no longer compassion. But if we give without expectation of a result, we leave room for Love to inspire.

But it takes us removing ourselves and our ideologies from the center of the story. When we do, amazing things can happen. Often times, they won’t turn out how we expect, but that’s one of the vulnerable risks of Love.

Loving, in itself, is an act of faith, regardless of where you spend your Sunday mornings.

Christian Piatt is the creator and editor of BANNED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BIBLE and BANNED QUESTIONS ABOUT JESUS. He co-created and co-edits the “WTF: Where’s the Faith?” young adult series with Chalice Press, and he has a memoir on faith, family and parenting — PREGMANCY: A Dad, a Little Dude and a Due Date — set to hit book stores everywhere on April 1, 2012.

http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/04/05/compassion-wins-longtime-atheist-becomes-christian