Libertarians, My Libertarians!
Cruel to be kind means that I love you . Because, while I think you are mistaken, your hearts are in the right place -- yes, even you, Silas -- unlike some people . This Breitbart fellow (discussed in the link above), by all appearances, deliberately doctored a video of Shirley Sherrod to make her remarks appear virulently racist, when they had, in fact, the opposite import. I heard that at a recent Austrian conference, some folks were talking about "Callahan's conservative turn." While that description is not entirely inaccurate, I must say that a lot of these people who today call themselves conservative give me the heebie-jeebies.
Dear Gene,
ReplyDeleteWe would like to invite you to join us for the third Kilkenomics festival of economics in Ireland between October 31st and November 4th.
We’re unique - the only festival brave (and foolish) enough to put the best comedians and economists in the world on the same stage. The San Francisco Chronicle calls us "an utterly bizarre idea but the public love it", while the Sunday Times says we’re "one of the oddest festivals anywhere; comedy with a pint and a point."
We’ve had some amazingly diverse contributors in the three years since we launched, including Jeffrey Sachs, Peter Schiff, Willi Hutton, Max Keiser, Megan Greene, Bill Black, Heiner Flassbeck and Andrea Catherwood, among many other great speakers. We’d love you to be part of the 2012 festival, which is already shaping up to be our best yet.
Please let us know if you’re available to join us. At this stage, we can offer flights (hopefully from Europe), five-star accommodation, a modest per diem and the warmest welcome you can imagine to Kilkenny’s medieval city.
We’re locking down our programme right now, so I’d love to hear from you as soon as you can.
What Is Kilkenomics?
As the global financial and economic crisis continues, there’s more and more jargon and frankly, bewildering commentary in the media every day.
We know economics is central to our lives, but increasingly, we feel in the dark. We want to know what’s going on, why, who’s responsible and how it can all be sorted out. Kilkenomics is all about making the world of economics clear and accessible to all.
Moderated by some of the brightest and funniest standup comedians, Kilkenomics – the first economics festival in Europe – gives economists, financial analysts, journalists and other leading thinkers the opportunity to discuss and explain important issues such as the property bubble, currency fluctuation, the European and US debt crises, taxation and natural resources and the environment – and many more.
We think mixing comedians and economists gives the audience the best of both worlds. The comedians make topic accessible and give the average guy the "permission" to ask hard questions. We communicate to a wide audience, simplifying big issues and making them accessible to all.
Previous programmes have featured innovative debates and discussions on the asset bubble, the great crash, the role of bankser and banks in the system, resource wars, government waste, employment, geo-politics, economic theories, recessions and jargon-busting.
Some of our world-class experts have included: Heiner Flassbeck, George Anders, David McWilliams, Philippe Legrain, John Mauldin, Bill Black, Ha-Joon chang, Peter Antonioni, Constantin Gurdgiev, Pinchas Landau, Vikas Nath, John Lanchester, Martin Lousteau and many more.
We’ve also booked the best in stand-up comedy, with the likes of David O’Doherty, Des Bishop, Karl Spain, Neil Delamare, Barry Murphy, Fred MacAulay, Colm O’Regan and Colin Murphy - among others - all bringing humour to hard sums.
Want to know more?
This is what the 2011 programme looked like: http://www.kilkenomics.com/about-kilkenomics/contributors/
Don’t trust us? Ask the press!
Irish Independent: “Kilkenomics is a curious combination of comedy and economic punditry that works surprisingly well”
The Australian: "Davos with jokes"
UK Sunday Times - "one of the oddest festivals anywhere, comedy with a pint and a point"
The Irish Times: “Never has economics been so central”
San Francisco Chronicle: "an utterly bizarre idea but the public love it"
BBC - "having a laugh despite the gloom"; "comedians give permission to the audience to feel comfortable"
The Irish Times -"A little jewel where players manage to talk human without being patronising"
BBC World Service "having a laugh despite the gloom"
Bloomberg "Lenny Bruce meets John Maynard Keynes"
The Guardian "wildly successful"
The Sunday Tribune "Laugh? I nearly defaulted!"
Please e-mail me: gcallah@mac.com
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