USA / RUSSIA : 17 August UPDATE: Ayn Rand Joins GOP Ticket; Why Is Rand Still Popular?

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/08/paul-ryan-and-ayn-rand.html
     By Jane Meyer

      Be very careful!
      Russian emigre and philosopher Ayn Rand...has risen from the dead.
      The USA's new Republican VP candidate...young Paul Ryan from southern  Wisconsin...follows Rand's ultra conservative philosophy...closer than Deadheads did Grateful Dead concert schedules.
      Except...of course...for her atheism.
      Which...brings to mind this thorny issue...what happened to Wisconsin's progressive politics this blog's editor so admired while growing up in neighboring Illinois?

     NEW!!! The BBC Magazine's Tom Geoghegan details Rand's philosophy...background on her life...and the continuing appeal of her individualism and defense of selfishness especially to Americans.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19280545