Happy anniversary!

The New York Times' article on the upcoming 50th anniversary of Atlas Shrugs is a pretty standard offering in the liberals-gawking-at-conservatives school of journalism. The reporter tries his or her damnedest to take seriously and be objectively respectful about this whacked-out conservative icon on the grounds that all sorts of rich people love it, and Alan Greenspan takes it seriously, and the GOP keeps winning elections. Logic dictates, then, that there must be some deep, inexplicable merit to Ayn Rand novels, much like with Nascar. And maybe, if one conducts enough interviews, one of those wealthy Rand aficionado will say something intelligible about what exactly that merit is.

Which is to say, the piece is pretty painful. Except for this part, which is just funny:

The book’s hero, John Galt, also continues to live on. The subcontractor hired to demolish the former Deutsche Bank building, which was damaged when the World Trade Center towers fell, was the John Galt Corporation. It was removed from the job last month after a fire at the building killed two firefighters.


Long live John Galt!