Presently, has_attribute? is significantly different than what ActiveRecord does. Here is AR's definition:

1. File activerecord/lib/active_record/base.rb, line 1667
   def has_attribute?(attr_name)
   @attributes.has_key?(attr_name.to_s)
   end

Currently, has_attribute? is simply an alias to attribute_present?

def attribute_present?(name)
attribute = read_attribute(name)
! attribute.blank? || attribute == false
end
alias :has_attribute? :attribute_present?