Fr. Robert Sirico

Speaker Profile

Fr. Robert Sirico has been active in public policy affairs for more than twenty years.  His concern that religious communities knew little about the economic issues surrounding today’s social problems prompted him to found the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in 1990.  Father Sirico regularly lectures in the U.S. and around the world, and his writings have appeared in various journals, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, National Review, The London Financial Times, and Crisis. In addition to his duties at the Acton Institute, he serves most recently on the staff of Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Grand Rapids, and is the founder of a new religious community, St. Philip Neri House, also in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  His latest book is entitled Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy (May 2012, Regnery Publishing).

Event Information

Milwaukee Athletic Club
758 N. Broadway
Milwaukee, WI  53202

Cocktail Hour: 5:30pm
Dinner: 6:30pm
Speaker: 7:15pm

Jay Lehr, Ph.D.

Speaker Profile

Jay Lehr, Ph.D. (jlehr@heartland.org) is senior fellow and science director of The Heartland Institute, an independent nonprofit organization based in Chicago. He is an internationally renowned speaker, scientist, and author who has testified before Congress on more than three dozen occasions on environmental issues, and consulted with nearly every agency of the federal government and with many foreign countries.Dr. Lehr is a leading authority on groundwater hydrology. After graduating from Princeton University at the age of 20 with a degree in Geological Engineering, he went on to receive the nation’s first Ph.D. in Groundwater Hydrology from the University of Arizona. He later became executive director of the National Association of Groundwater Scientists and Engineers.

Dr. Lehr is the author of more than 1,000 magazine and journal articles and 30 books. He is editor of Rational Readings on Environmental Concerns, McGraw-Hill’s Handbook on Environmental Science, Health and Technology (2000), Wiley’s Remediation Technologies Handbook (2004), Environmental Instrumentation and Analysis Handbook (2005), the six-volume Water Encyclopedia (Wiley Interscience, 2005). He recently completed for Wiley Interscience Nuclear Energy Encyclopedia: Science, Technology, and Applications (2011).

Dr. Lehr has spoken before more than 1,000 audience on topics ranging from global warming and biotechnology to business management and health and physical fitness. He invariably receives the highest scores for entertaining and energizing even the largest audiences.

He was featured in Parachute Magazine in March 2010 for setting a new world record for having jumped from an airplane each and every month for 32 years.

Event Information

Milwaukee Athletic Club
758 N. Broadway
Milwaukee, WI  53202

Cocktail Hour: 5:30pm
Dinner: 6:30pm
Speaker: 7:15pm

Randal O’Toole

Speaker Profile

Randal O’Toole is a Cato Institute Senior Fellow working on urban growth, public land, and transportation issues. O’Toole’s research on national forest management, culminating in his 1988 book, Reforming the Forest Service, has had a major influence on Forest Service policy and on-the-ground management. His analysis of urban land-use and transportation issues, brought together in his 2001 book, The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths, has influenced decisions in cities across the country.

In his book The Best-Laid Plans, O’Toole calls for repealing federal, state, and local planning laws and proposes reforms that can help solve social and environmental problems without heavy-handed government regulation. O’Toole’s latest book is American Nightmare: How Government Undermines The Dream of Homeownership. O’Toole is the author of numerous Cato papers. He has also written for Regulation magazine as well as op-eds and articles for numerous other national journals and newspapers. O’Toole travels extensively and has spoken about free-market environmental issues in dozens of cities. An Oregon native, O’Toole was educated in forestry at Oregon State University and in economics at the University of Oregon.

Event Information

Milwaukee Athletic Club
758 N. Broadway
Milwaukee, WI  53202

Cocktail Hour: 5:30pm
Dinner: 6:30pm
Speaker: 7:15pm

Gary Wolfram, Ph.D.

Speaker Profile

Dr. Wolfram is the William E. Simon Professor of Economics and Public Policy and Director of Economics at Hillsdale College, and President of Hillsdale Policy Group, a consulting firm specializing in taxation and policy analysis.  He was a member and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Lake Superior State University, served as a member of Michigan’s State Board of Education from 1993 to 1999, was Chairman of the Headlee Amendment Blue Ribbon Commission and has been a member of the Michigan Enterprise Zone Authority, the Michigan Strategic Fund Board, and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority Board.Dr. Wolfram’s public policy experience includes serving as Congressman Nick Smith’s Chief of Staff, Michigan’s Deputy State Treasurer for Taxation and Economic Policy under Governor John Engler, and Senior Economist to the Republican Senate in Michigan.  Professor Wolfram graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at Santa Barbara.  He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and has taught at several colleges and universities, including Mount Holyoke College, The University of Michigan, and Washington State University.  He has a weekly column for The Michigan View, and has contributed to Human Events, American Spectator and National Review. His publications include Towards a Free Society: An Introduction to Markets and the Political System, and several works on public policy issues.  He was named Hillsdale College’s Professor of the Year for 2004 and received the Emily Daugherty Award for Teaching Excellence in 2011. In 2003, Michigan Runner Magazine also named him one of the top 25 runners in Michigan of the past 25 years.

Event Information

Milwaukee Athletic Club
758 N. Broadway
Milwaukee, WI  53202

Cocktail Hour: 5:30pm
Dinner: 6:30pm
Speaker: 7:15pm

Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

Speaker Profile

Thomas E. Woods, Jr., is a senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and creator of Tom Woods’s Liberty Classroom. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard and his master’s, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is the author of eleven books, most recently Rollback: Repealing Big Government Before the Coming Fiscal Collapse and Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century.His other books include the New York Times bestsellers Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse (read Ron Paul’s foreword) and The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, as well as Who Killed the Constitution? The Fate of American Liberty from World War I to George W. Bush (with Kevin R.C. Gutzman), Sacred Then and Sacred Now: The Return of the Old Latin Mass, 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, and The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy. His critically acclaimed 2004 book The Church Confronts Modernity was recently released in paperback by Columbia University Press. A collection of Woods’ essays, called W obronie zdrowego rozsadku, was released exclusively in Polish in 2007. Woods’ books have been translated into Italian, Spanish, Polish, French, German, Czech, Portuguese, Croatian, Slovak, Russian, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese.

Event Information

Milwaukee Athletic Club
758 N. Broadway
Milwaukee, WI 53202

Cocktail Hour: 5:30pm
Dinner: 6:30pm
Speaker: 7:15pm

That said…Anthony Wile just wrote a fascinating editorial at the Daily Bell which sparked the idea for this blog post. It’s on the latest developments surrounding the Megaupload and Bodog fiascos, (and yet so much more). I thought I would share one of his insights.

“It took the elites a number of centuries to control the damage done by the Gutenberg Press. These massive technological changes are not merely dealt with by flicking a “kill switch.”

The Internet, as we often point out, is a process not an episode. Many of its ramifications are yet to unfold.”

(You can read the full article if you click on this link. It’s worth your time.)

The reason I feel compelled to share it is that I am reminded (and really excited) about the many possibilities. The possibility for increasing liberty through the use of technology will EXPLODE in the years ahead and NOTHING will be able to stop it if “they” let it. This is good news for the common man and bad news for the powerful, the elite, and the totalitarian minded among us. Thankfully I do not think they see: their days are numbered.

If the prospect for Liberty in our life time excites you as much as it does me, then I hope you will join us some time at the Wisconsin Forum. Browse our new website for more information. We look forward to meeting you at one of our future meetings, in the company of like minded individuals from all walks of life.

(To read more on technology as it relates to Liberty I recommend reading this essay from former Wisconsin Forum Speaker Gary North. Fair warning…it may change your life if you understand it’s ramifications and look into the details and links provided. It is perhaps one of the most powerful “windows” into what technology will bring, for good or ill, and there is nothing the powerful can do to stop or contain the process ultimately.)

Take care and we hope to see you soon!

In Liberty,

Ryan Law

Wisconsin Forum Board Member

The Board of the Wisconsin Forum would like to make you aware of an upcoming event hosted by the Milwaukee Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. Richard Brookhiser, one of America’s preeminent historians of our country’s founding, will speak about his recently published book James Madison on Wednesday, March 21st at Noon at the next Federalist Society luncheon event at the Milwaukee Athletic Club. Details regarding the luncheon are attached. In James Madison, Mr. Brookhiser chronicles Madison’s role as the Father of the Constitution but also examines Madison’s lesser-appreciated role as the Father of Politics. Mr. Brookhiser is a journalist, historian and biographer who has written and spoken about politics and politicians (living and dead) for over forty years. He has authored ten books, including George Washington on Leadership, What Would the Founders Do? and Alexander Hamilton, American. Mr. Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review, where has written for 35 years, and is a columnist for American History. He also wrote a column for the New York Observer for twenty years and has contributed to The New Yorker, Commentary, and Vanity Fair. He wrote and co-hosted the PBS documentaries Rediscovering George Washington and Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton. He appears frequently on the History Channel and the Colbert Report.

Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Here is a link to more information on this event.

Doug Bandow

Speaker Profile

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, specializing in foreign policy and civil liberties. He worked as special assistant to President Reagan and editor of the political magazine Inquiry. He writes regularly for leading publications such as Fortune magazine, National Interest, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Times. Bandow speaks frequently at academic conferences, on college campuses, and to business groups. Bandow has been a regular commentator on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. He holds a J.D. from Stanford University.

Event Information

Milwaukee Athletic Club
758 N. Broadway
Milwaukee, WI  53202

Cocktail Hour: 5:30pm
Dinner: 6:30pm
Speaker: 7:15pm

Dr. Robert Genetski

Speaker Profile

Robert Genetski’s contributions in the world of economics and finance range from serving as Chief Economist for a major Midwest Bank to teaching at NYU and the prestigious University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. In between, he has managed to be crowned a top-five speaker in the field of Economics and Finance, and is renowned for the simplicity with which he explains critical elements and classical principles of economics. In his free time, he has also managed to author several other books, notably A Nation of Millionaires, Taking the Voodoo Out of Economics, and Winning with Money.

Prof. Richard M. Esenberg

Speaker Profile

Richard M. Esenberg is a professor of law at Marquette University Law School. Mr. Esenberg has overseen international acquisitions and business expansions throughout Europe, Latin America, and Canada. He also has served as lead trial counsel in major intellectual property and advertising litigation and as trial counsel in numerous public-law cases. He recently published You Cannot Lose If You Choose Not to Play: Toward a More Modest Establishment Clause, 12 Roger Williams Law Review 1 (2006) and his recent paper, Of Speeches and Sermons: Worship in Limited Purpose Public Forums is forthcoming in the Mississippi Law Journal. Professor Esenberg is a frequent columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and publishes a blog, Shark and Shepherd.

Event Information

Milwaukee Athletic Club
758 N. Broadway
Milwaukee, WI  53202

Cocktail Hour: 5:30pm
Dinner: 6:30pm
Speaker: 7:15pm