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As if the book weren't sloggy enough to read, now you can catch the movie -- Part I, anyway. The trailer was unveiled at CPAC last weekend, much to the delight of randy Randians, who cannot wait for it to hit the big screen. Yes, Ayn Rand's dog of a book has now been made into a movie -- at least, part one of a movie.

Guess which day it will be released? That's right, April 15th. I'm not sure who the backers of the film were, but it's fair to assume at least some of them are the usual suspects, given the ridiculous assertions on the film's website about the relevance of Atlas Shrugged to today's society:

Ask yourself: What would happen, if our producers disappear - Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin and other industrialists fall off the radar, their companies shuttered and their creative genius no longer powering America? The answer lies in Atlas Shrugged Part I.

For the millions around the world who have read Rand's books, for those curious about her controversial philosophy, and for the uninitiated, and skeptical - the film, which only covers the first third of the book, is an opportunity to a faithful adaptation.

Rand's unique literary genius - which we hope to make accessible to a broader audience via film - is to show the price to be paid by the individual and society when the tragic words "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" are carried out.

Gotta say, I don't think of Sergey Brin or Steve Jobs as industrialists, at least not in the Ayn Randian sense of things.

This movie is just part of a larger strategy, one that Sarah Palin articulated when she told Sean Hannity that "pop culture is the influencer in this country". As much as I hate to admit it, she's on the mark with that, which is why her little reality show and Bristol Palin's Dancing with the Stars appearances gave me heartburn. We're a country that loves stupid more than serious.

We have a coordinated attack on liberal values being mounted via popular culture, and this movie is just another weapon in the box. Early reviews on it are terrible, but I guarantee you it will spawn a cult of Rand-ites who memorize every word and cling to it like a religion. If it was good enough for L. Ron Hubbard, why not Ayn Rand?

Maybe I'll be less cranky about this when polls show people engaging in even a minimum of knowledge about the world they live in and the country they inhabit. I expect that to be about the time icicles drop on Satan's head. Start the countdown clock.