Contents
* Junto meeting Sept. 1
* Upcoming speakers
* NEW Info about audience members who spoke at Juntos
* NEW NYT: “Reconstruction Lifts Economy After Disasters”
* NEW “Ayn Rand & Prophecy of Atlas ” documentary
* NEW Review “I Am John Galt” heroes & villains of our time
* NEW Victor Davis Hanson: our best people “kind of shrug”
* NEW “Country in Crisis: So What’s to be Done?” Huyler
* NEW Time at Freedom Fest was well spent, James D. Smith
* NEW Larry Abrams thriller “The Philosophical Practitioner”
* NEW “Language Play, Intelligence, and Literacy” Hauptman
* NEW “The Narratives That Guide Our Lives”
* NEW Becky Akers writes for “The New American”
* NEW Ayn Rand’s critics attack straw men, not her ideas
* NEW “I Am John Galt” reviewed by Harry Binswanger
* NEW Humor for Junto
* NEW Michael Hussey upgraded Facebook “NYC Junto”
* NEW New York City Ayn Rand Meetup Aug. 28
* NEW Ayn Rand walking tours in Manhattan?
* NYCjunto-discuss list
* About this newsletter
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Junto is a group that shares information
and discusses current issues…
plus presents speakers to talk with us:
Richard Epstein
“Is the administrative state consistent with the rule of law?”
Thursday, Sept. 1
Admission Free — No reservation necessary
* We’ll socialize from 7:00pm.
* The meeting begins at ABOUT 7:30pm
with a discussion of current issues and events.
* The featured speaker is introduced at ABOUT 8:00pm.
* The meeting will continue to ABOUT 10:00pm.
General Society Library,
20 West 44 St., between 5th and 6th Aves., NYC
near the Grand Central Terminal
Subway: 4, 5, 6, S to Grand Central — 42nd St.
or
B, D, F, 7 to 42nd Street — Sixth Ave. at Bryant Park
or
A, C, E, N, Q, R, S, 1, 2, 3 to Times Square — 42nd St.
Bus: M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M42, M98, M101, M102, M104, Q32
Train: MTA Metro-North Railroad to Grand Central
Car: Some private parking facilities in the area. Parking on
side streets is metered, limited to specific days and times.
Please note:
* Junto is not the usual sort of meeting with a long speech
followed by Q & A. Junto’s invited speakers give a short
presentation and are challenged to defend their assertions.
* Discussions are intense, but polite. Participation by all
attendees is highly encouraged.
* Junto meets on the first Thursday of every month, at the
General Society Library, 20 West 44 St., NYC, between
5th and 6th Aves., near Grand Central Terminal
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This talk, “Is the administrative state consistent with the rule
of law?” is based on Richard’s newest book: “Design for Liberty:
Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law’.
This book will be published in Nov. 15, 2011, Harvard U. Press.
It can be ordered on Amazon now: tiny.cc/EpsteinBook
Richard is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU
Law School. He’s an expert on many areas of the law,
including property, torts, land use, civil procedure, contract
law, workers’ compensation, and Roman law.
He’s author of “Takings: Private Property and Eminent Domain,”
“Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Right to Health Care,”
“Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical
Liberalism”, and “Simple Rules for a Complex World”.
He is also the Peter and Kirsten Senior Fellow at the Hoover
Institution and senior lecturer at the University of Chicago
where he was on the regular faculty from 1973 to 2010.
He teaches mainly at NYU. Read more about him and find
links to many of his writings at tiny.cc/RichEpstein and at
tiny.cc/EpsteinBioLinks
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Visit NYCjunto.com for more information and to sign up for
the Junto e-newsletter.
Junto on Facebook: on.fb.me/JuntoNYC
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Junto focuses on libertarianism, Objectivism and investing.
Our founder and host is Victor Niederhoffer. Visit his site at:
DailySpeculations.com
**************************************************
Please email the above text to your freedom loving friends
who might be interested in Junto.
Feel free to use the above text to promote Junto among
libertarians, Objectivists and investors.
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Come to Junto, meet the upcoming speakers:
* Oct. 6, Janine R. Wedel, prof. public policy, George Mason U.
“Shadow Elite: How the World’s New Power Brokers
Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market”
Her talk will be based on this book of the same title:
janinewedel.info/books.html
Learn about her at: JanineWedel.info
* Nov. 3, Kathryn Schultz, author “Being Wrong”. What it
means to be in error. Why people tend to assume they’re
right about most everything. Error is a fundamental human
condition and should be celebrated.
BeingWrongBook.com/author
* Dec. 1, David Friedman, prof. law, Santa Clara U., Liberty
magazine contributing editor, anarcho-capitalist
davidDFriedman.com
* Jan. 5, 2012, Ilana Mercer, “Lessons for America from
Post-Apartheid South Africa” bit.ly/MercerBook
bit.ly/MercerColumn
* Feb. 2, 2012, Ayn Rand’s 107th birthday celebration.
Speaker Donald Luskin market commentator.
His subject will be announced later.
He co-wrote “I am John Galt: Today’s Heroic Innovators
Building the World and the Villainous Parasites Destroying It.”
It introduces you to real-life titans who’ve lived their lives like
Rand’s fictional heroes and the malefactors who’ve lived like
her fictional villains: Steve Jobs as Howard Roark, Paul
Krugman as Ellsworth Toohey, John Allison as John Galt,
Bill Gates as Henry Rearden and Barney Frank as Wesley
Mouch, etc.
Watch Donald on a short video on Amazon: tiny.cc/uv2eb
NEW———————————————————————
Info about audience members who spoke at Juntos:
*The Alliance of Egyptian Americans
Ahmed Fathi, VP, NY & Conn chapter: AEAmisr.org
*Dan O’Connor, US Congressional candidate
NY district 12, Chinatown: DanOConnor2012.com
NEW———————————————————————
New York Times headline:
“Reconstruction Lifts Economy After Disasters”
In just five words, this is the an example of the broken window
fallacy. It was first identified by Frédéric Bastiat in his 1850
essay “That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Not Seen.”
It illustrates that destruction and the money spent to recover
from destruction aren’t a net-benefit to the economy. Read
more at: tiny.cc/BrokenWindow
NEW———————————————————————
“Ayn Rand & the Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged” a documentary
Opens in theaters October 7, 2011. It examines the resurging
interest in Ayn Rand’s epic and controversial 1957 novel and
the validity of its dire prediction for America.
Among those interviewed are Anne Heller, a Junto speaker,
and Harry Binswanger, part of the Ayn Rand Institute.
The producers say: Set in what novelist and philosopher Rand
called ‘the day after tomorrow,’ “Atlas” depicts an America in
crisis, brought to her knees by a corrupt establishment of
government regulators and businessmen with political pull
– the ‘looters’ and the ‘moochers’– who prey on individual
achievement.
“Atlas” is less a conventional work of fiction than a
philosophical manifesto in the form of a romantic novel.
Directed an written by Chris Mortensen.
Learn more: tiny.cc/AtlasDoc
NEW———————————————————————
Review of “I Am John Galt” a book about Rand’s characters
and of the heroes and villains of our time
From this review: “This is not a book for archetypical heroes
of fiction, titans of industry, or giants of philosophy. This is a
book for you and me: People who produce, rather than steal,
their living. And the book explains how this is our fight, too.
“But this is no abstract, unreadable philosophical or economic
tract. The authors, to put it bluntly, kick ass and take names.
They take issues you’d expect to be as dull as ditchwater, make
them vitally interesting, and put faces on them.”
Read the review at: tiny.cc/GaltReview
NEW———————————————————————
Victor Davis Hanson says our best people “kind of shrug”
“On the one hand, our Atlases are productive, entrepreneurial
people who appreciate the singularity of the American
experiment and the opportunity to profit and thrive, even when
coming out of a severe recession. Real opportunity, they know
well, is often best found in crises, not just in continued prosperity.
“But, on the other hand, they are deeply worried that the rules
of the game are changing for only the second time in American
history and that they are unliked, targeted and to be punished
for being successful. The result is not that the private sector is
fleeing the US (where would one go?). Nor are entrepreneurs
and go-getters shutting down their businesses that they have
built from the ground up.
“Instead, what we are witnessing is a sort of shrug, a pause,
best summarized millions of times over as something like ‘I’m
hoarding cash, hunkering down, and am going to wait this bad
bunch out.’
“So the globe is tottering as the tired-of-it-all American Atlas
has finally sorta shrugged.”
Read all of this essay at: tiny.cc/AtlasKindAShrugs
NEW———————————————————————
“A Country in Crisis: So What’s to be Done? ”
by Jerome Huyler, PhD., Seton Hall U.
Jerome is offering all of us this full treatment he developed
from his Junto talk this past winter: “What’s to be Done?”
He says it couldn’t be more timely:
“This country is courting unimaginable calamity. And, neither
the new debt-ceiling law nor any other proposed reform (not
the “flat” or “fair” tax, not even the balanced-budget amendment)
offers any real hope of relief. This essay explains why that is and
what must be done to put the country on a course to recovery.
This game-changing plan promises to shift the terms
of debate, for:
1) it deals not in details that can’t reach the root of the problem,
but in essentials that can. It asks Americans to think about what
government must do for us, and what we must be expected to do
for ourselves. Just what is government’s proper role?
2) it will set the stage for sweeping tax cuts, furnishing the
capital and incentives that generate jobs and spread opportunities
for success. How so?
3) it will, in time, cut federal spending by 40%, 50%, as much
as 75% without eliminating any essential services, and
4) It will explain exactly when this country first went off course
and just how we got from that day to this….
5) It sees the need to recover the ideals of limited government,
individual liberty and constitutional order….
For a free copy of the nine page essay, email:
j.huyler@verizon.net or friend him on Facebook for link.
NEW———————————————————————
The time at Freedom Fest was well spent — by James D. Smith
James, who often attends Junto reports: “Of special interest
to Objectivists and admirers of the work of Ayn Rand, I was
in attendance at the David Kelly and John Mackey debate
on the virtue of selfishness.
“…If selfishness is simple self-interest and acting in a way that
promotes things that interest us as individuals, as long as life
is voluntary, and we are protected from brutes and those who
think they have a right to rob us because we ‘owe them a
living’, I agree that it is a virtue”.
James will give us more of a report at the next Junto.
NEW———————————————————————
Larry Abrams thriller “The Philosophical Practitioner”
He reports it will be available in hardcover again. It will be
re-published by Amazon.
Here is a link to a recent review by Will Thomas in The
New Individualist: “The Gumshoe of Quandaries”:
tiny.cc/gumshoe
Larry often attended Junto when he lived in NYC.
NEW———————————————————————
“Brother, Can You Paradigm? Language Play, Intelligence,
and Literacy” by Don Hauptman
Don has attended some Juntos. On Wed., Oct. 12, 2011 at
6:30pm he’ll speak at Mid-Manhattan Library, 455 5th Ave.
at 40th St. Learn more at: tiny.cc/WordPlay
Don is a wordplay enthusiast. He’ll challenge the canard that
puns are a “low” form of humor. He’ll demonstrate, with
amusing examples and fascinating visuals, that the best
wordplay is literate, sophisticated and cerebral.
NEW———————————————————————
“The Narratives That Guide Our Lives”
Robert Bidinotto has recently self published a thriller. In this
essay he explains why stories such as “Atlas Shrugged”
are important. He was the editor of the magazine of The
Objectivist Center.
…[Narratives] provide us with our foundational interpretive
template for understanding the world around us. What binds
every culture or subculture together are the value-laden
messages conveyed by these tales. That’s because Narratives
work for a culture just as they do for an individual. Looking at
the glory that was Greece, for example, it is instructive to note
that Homer, that society’s seminal poet and storyteller,
preceded by hundreds of years Aristotle, who represented the
apex of formal Greek philosophical thought. The former was
the true father of Greek culture, while the latter lived during its
waning days. If abstract, systematic philosophy were the true
fountainhead of a culture — or its salvation — then the
sequence of their appearances should have been reversed.
Read all of this essay at: tiny.cc/lifeGuides
NEW———————————————————————
Becky Akers writes for “The New American”
Read these at:
tiny.cc/BeckyA
* Leviathan’s Laws: The Insanity of New York City Housing
* Bobby Franklin, Liberty’s Hero
* Eliminate the Driver License
* Liars to the Left of Us
Becky has attended some Juntos.
NEW———————————————————————
Ayn Rand’s critics attack straw men while leaving
Ayn Rand’s ideas sadly unexamined, by James Valliant
It begins:
“Ayn Rand is hot right now. Sizzling hot. As government grows
more intrusive, and our freedom shrinks, her novels, “The
Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged”, are selling at an
unprecedented clip. Given today’s headlines, it is easy
to see why.
“Less easy to understand is the remarkable level of ignorance
about Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism.
“Can anyone doubt the truth of writer David Mamet’s recent
comments about arguing politics? Defining what he meant by
‘Brain Dead Liberalism,’ he suggested that unless you can state
your opponent’s position with such accuracy that he or she
would agree, ‘Yes, that’s what I think,’ no meaningful debate is
even possible. The left’s inability to meet this requirement, he
explained to Andrew Napolitano on his show Freedom Watch,
helped move him to the political right.
“Yet, in the case of Ayn Rand, this is precisely what has been
missing….”
Read all of this essay at: tiny.cc/RandCritics
NEW———————————————————————
“I Am John Galt” reviewed by Harry Binswanger
“Given the book’s title, and given that the authors are not known
Objectivists, I expected pretentiousness and ignorance. I was
wrong; I’m pleased to say it is neither. Despite its shortcomings,
the book has two great virtues: 1. it exhibits a far better
understanding of “Atlas Shrugged” and Objectivism than I can
recall seeing from anyone outside “the movement,” and
2. the writing is supple and first-handed, gliding you
comfortably along a 300-page journey….
Harry is a member of the Ayn Rand Institute’s Board of
Directors and professor in their Objectivist Academic Center.
Read all of this review at: tiny.cc/ReviewIAmJohnGalt
NEW———————————————————————
Humor for Junto
Oleg Atbashian, who designed and cares for the Junto site,
has his own humor/political site. It’s humor about what’s going
on in the U.S. but told in the style of the old Soviet:
tiny.cc/humorUSSR
Here are a few examples:
“My policies are based on a robust economic model: A big
sinking ship raises the water level for smaller ships. And
borrowing, printing, and burning trillions of dollars on massive
infrastructure projects built by unemployed real estate agents
and sacked mid-level managers is just what this country needs
to get our common ship sinking just a little bit faster. The
collapse of America will raise the volume of the waters beneath
and will thus lift all previously disadvantaged ships, like North
Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and the new thriving democracies in
the Middle East. Our shared sacrifice is good for everybody,”
Obama said.
John Kerry: “Being a free and prosperous nation in charge
of our own destiny is not what the rest of the world would
like us to be, and we must respect that.”
“As American president I felt very strongly about destroying
the US economy in order to strengthen our position in the
world through moral superiority. Now that I have succeeded,
I feel even more secure about my reelection in 1012,”
Obama said.
Read more at: ThePeoplesCube.com
NEW———————————————————————
Michael Hussey upgraded the Facebook group “NYC Junto”
NYC Junto Facebook page has been upgraded to the new
groups format, which makes it easier for members to connect
and share.
Members can post and comment on updates, chat with
everyone at once, schedule group events, create shared
docs, and more.
NEW———————————————————————
New York City Ayn Rand Meetup Aug. 28
Come join us that Sunday, 3:00pm.
As always, we’ll talk about Ayn Rand, her works, Objectivist
life, challenges, options, associations and knowledge.
Give and take, open to all, no charge, no reservations.
It’s at The Midtown Restaurant, 155 East 55 St, between
3rd and Lexington Avenues, in Manhattan, free.
Benny Pollack, Ayn Rand Meetup organizer says:”Join our
group of regular Objectivists for a lively discussion on topics
related to Ayn Rand and Objectivist philosophy in general.
“Please join us. If you are already versed in the topic, want
to learn or just want to spend an intellectually stimulating
afternoon, please come. I hope to see you all there.”
The Ayn Rand Meetup is on the last Sunday of each month.
Learn more about it at: AynRand.meetup.com/8
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Ayn Rand walking tours in Manhattan?
Fred Cookinham has a set of two Rand tours.
* Tour one: “Atlas Shrugged Tour” from the Waldorf=Astoria
to and through Grand Central Terminal.
* Tour two: “Ayn Rand’s Park Avenue Tour” from Grand Central
to Two Park Avenue.
All Ayn Rand tours are related to both her life in NYC
and her writings about the city.
* Tour one: “Atlas Shrugged Tour” 1-1/2 hour
11:00am, meet at SE corner Park Ave. and east 50th St.
See places Rand researched and fictionalized in the novel,
around and in Grand Central Terminal
Sat. Nov. 5, Sun. Nov. 6
* Tour two: “Ayn Rand’s Park Avenue Tour” 1-1/2 hour
11:00am, meet at NE corner on east 42nd St. at Vanderbilt Ave.
Where Rand lived and held her salons. Where she learned about
architecture from Ely Jacques Kahn, in his own masterpiece
Art Deco building. Scenes from “Atlas Shrugged.”
Sat. Oct. 1
plus
EVERY Wed. through Sept. 28.
6:00pm, meet at NE corner on east 42nd St. at Vanderbilt Ave.
“Skyscrapers of The Fountainhead” 2-1/2 hours
11:00am, meet at Number 1 Broadway, at Battery Place.
The changing styles in architecture — from Beaux Arts to
Art Deco to International Style — that form the background to
the story of Roark’s struggle. Was Roark Wright? — the real-life
models for Rand’s characters.
Sat. Aug. 27,
Sun. Aug. 28, Sat. Nov. 19, Sun. Nov. 20
“Ayn Rand’s Fifth Avenue” 2-1/2 hours
11:00am, meet at the Columbus statue in Columbus Circle,
within the circle of fountains at Broadway and 59th St.
Art and architecture in the glamour shopping district of the
Twentieth Century world. Central Park So., Rockefeller Center,
the Stork Club and where Random House published “Atlas
Shrugged”. Where Rand bought her paintings, clothes and
fancy dinners.
Sat., Sep. 24, Sun. Sep. 25
For a private tour by Fred Cookinham, some Saturdays, Sundays
and evenings are open. Call the phone number at the bottom of
InDepthWalkingTours.com
Fred Cookinham’s walking tours keep getting better,
because he never stops researching. He’s often at Junto and
Ayn Rand Meetups.
$20 per person, $15 for people 65 and older. Schedule,
directions, other NYC tours: InDepthWalkingTours.com
Highlights of previous years * Fred gave special “Ayn Rand
and Free Market Tour” for Mont Pelerin Society. * Hear Fred
give “Ayn Rand’s Park Ave”. on BBC’s Radio 4 “The Right
Stuff” on their site. * His interview on “Hardfire” Ayn Rand
Revealed, at Amazon and other places. Answers questions on
Rand’s life, loves, philosophy, works and influence.
Differences between helping a person and sacrificing,
when’s “volunteering” not voluntary? Fred’s interviewer then
Chair Manhattan Libertarian Party, Joseph Dobrian.
Watch part: bit.ly/ARfred
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NYCjunto-discuss list
Junto members can discuss Junto speakers, articles from
other places and other topics of interest.
You can read these posts at: yhoo.it/JuntoP
To post to this list you need to be a member of it.
Become a member at: yhoo.it/JuntoD or send an email to:
NYCjunto-discuss-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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About this NYC Junto newsletter
* Iris Bell moderates and writes this e-newsletter
* Oleg Atbashian created NYCjunto.com. He also sends out
this e-newsletter and cares for its email list.
* Andy George helps with the sound system and supplies
the music.
* We’re looking for volunteers to help with Junto publicity.
* Our founder and host is Victor Niederhoffer. Visit his site at:
DailySpeculations.com
* This e-newsletter comes out twice a month. You might get an
occasional extra email about a timely event.
* To subscribe to this newsletter put “Junto list” in the subject
line and email your name and preferred email address to:
info@nycjunto.org
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