My new book “Ayn Rand Nation” is out this week, and as the title indicates, it describes how the Russian-born philosopher has become a phenomenon in the thirty years since her death.

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In past posts I’ve described how the CEO of Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne, created a website called Deep Capture that is aimed at smearing the critics of his stewardship of Overstock.com.

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I’ve been closely following the antics of Patrick Byrne, CEO of a Utah-based internet retailer called Overstock.com. Overstock is mainly known for bad service, junky products and restocking charges if you try to send back their crud. To the media it is known for two things: accounting fraud and a company-financed smear campaign.

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The lead article in The Big Money today is a devastating smackdown of a CEO I’ve been tracking for several years now, Patrick Byrne of Overstock.com.

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The always weird story of Patrick Byrne, chief executive of Overstock.com, is getting weirder by the minute.

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As happens after every major national calamity, conspiracy theorists have concocted alternate theories of causality for the Great Meltdown of 2008.

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The Salt Lake Tribune is running a “clarification” at the top of the web version of this article that appeared in the newspaper a few days ago.

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Today the always entertaining Utah Republican financier Patrick Byrne–who, amazingly, runs a public company–answers the musical question, “How many really crazy things you can do before your shareholders ride you out of town on a rail?”

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Whatever you might think of the Daily Kos, one thing you have to admit is that its bloggers don’t pull any punches. One just gave a one-two punch to the famously unethical Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com.

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The SEC recently nailed an abysmal little company called Pegasus Wireless. The charges are so serious that they make one wonder (perhaps prematurely), why isn’t this case being criminally prosecuted?

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Stock market conspiracy theories are dangerous. I write about them often because they divert attention from real problems in the markets–of which there are far too many.

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As I’ve described in the past, the Investor Village message board–a disgraceful vehicle for misinformation during the subprime lending crisis–has distinguished itself in the cause of investor poverty.

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The new chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, can take swift action to prove that she is not a tool of Wall Street and the corporate establishment (as many, myself included, tend to believe).

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Barack Obama calls his transition website change.gov, and his campaign slogal used “change” about a million times, so I am utterly flummoxed — and disgusted — by his selection of Mary Schapiro as SEC chairman, to replace the horrendous Chris Cox.

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Make no mistake about it: the arrest of Bernie Madoff kicks off one of the biggest scandals in U.S. history. Not Wall Street history. U.S. history.

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Whether you are for Barack Obama or John McCain, anybody who cares about corporate crime has cause to rejoice come January 20. On that day, the worst SEC in recent history begins to be phased out, with the new commander in chief naming a new SEC chairman to replace the wretched Christopher Cox.

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Chris Cox today earned his pay as SEC chairman — proving that he is exceeded only by his predecessor from the 1990s, Arthur Levitt, at making grand gestures that actually mean little.

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One of the problems that confront CEOs, politicians and other people in public life, now that we are in the Internet era, is that it is hard to lie about what one has said. But my favorite CEO, the ever-entertaining Patrick Byrne of Overstock.com, has found a way of overcoming that obstacle.

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As I’ve written a number of times on this site and in my blog, stock market conspiracy theorists have scandalously monopolized the attention of market regulators — diverting them from real issues, such as stock fraud and corporate wrongdoing.

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I hate to be a stick in the mud about this, but something has been sticking in my craw about the talk of Hillary Clinton possibly becoming (if she joins the Obama ticket and if they win) vice-president of the United States. It has to do with cattle.

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In previous posts I’ve described how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the premiere lobbyist for the interests of Corporate America and against the public, has embraced the cause of money-losing CEOs blaming their misfortunes on “naked short selling.”

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Here’s what’s known in the news business as a “man bites dog” story: a crooked CEO who thumbed his nose at the law has actually been incarcerated.

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Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, the right-wing zealot and anti-education activist, has gained attention in the past for neat stuff like suggesting that uneducated people are so useless they should be burned. Well, Byrne has a new gambit at present, and it’s slimier than ever.

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The so-lurid-it’s-almost-funny saga of Overstock.com, and its unhinged CEO Patrick Byrne, took another twist over the weekend. Seems that Byrne sent out a spam email to customers claiming that Wikipedia was a vehicle for “mass mind control.”

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I’ve written in the past about how 60 Minutes, the CBS newsmagazine, was suckered by a corporate disinformation campaign and did a glowing segment on the Canadian drug-maker Biovail.

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A particularly disgraceful bit of news emerged on Friday. The Federal Reserve has guaranteed a credit line to help keep Bear Stearns afloat. I think this is a terrible idea.

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I’m fascinated by Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, whose in-your-face deceptions and misconduct are a constant challenge to securities regulators. Rarely in one location can one find so many issues, ranging from shady accounting to ethical and corporate governance lapses.

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The corporate train wreck Overstock.com, having just seen its stock price plummet 75% in three months, is desperate for a diversion from its lousy finances.

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New developments in the strange case of NovaStar Financial, a subprime lender whose stock was aggressively pushed by stock market conspiracy theorists.

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Ron Paul and his campaign have responded vociferously to reports that their candidate’s newsletters made a variety of bigoted comments (in addition to cozying up to stock scamsters).

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Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has been making a lot of noise lately for being in the very uncommon position of being right. He was unfairly excluded from a Fox News debate Sunday night.

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Richard Widmark just celebrated his 93rd birthday. This icon of old Hollywood is the last of his breed, and he has been unjustly deprived of the recognition that he rightly deserves.

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It’s easy: just claim that your company is the target of a conspiracy by nefarious market forces. The technique is used by penny stock companies and by some even larger outfits — in particular, a money-loising Internet retailer called Overstock.com.

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I’ve always been a bit intrigued by the lawsuit that was filed against Wall Street brokerages last year by Electronic Trading Group LLC. This suit was dismissed yesterday, which is a shame.

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There’s an intriguing article in the New York Times today about the “tangled past” of Felix Sater, who is partnering with the Trump organization in real estate deals.

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