The Cato Institute Presents P.J. O'Rourke

Start: Oct 14 2010 10:30 am

End: Oct 14 2010 2:00 pm

Called "the funniest writer in America" by both Time and The Wall Street Journal, P.J. O'Rourke is firmly established as the nation's premier political satirist. With a string of national best sellers that includes Parliament of Whores, All the Trouble in the World and Age and Guile, he is also the best guide an audience will find to national and world affairs. He covers the major stories of our time with the skill of an investigative journalist, but returns with the satirical spin that has earned him international renown as the modern day Will Rogers. On October 14, P.J. is going to speak at a luncheon event sponsored by the Cato Institute. The event is open to the public with a $50 fee.

Best-selling political humorist P.J. O'Rourke writes the mirthful political theory companion to his classic mirthful political science book, Parliament of Whores.

Instead of starting with deep political thinkers of yore such as Hume, Locke, and John Stuart Mill, in his new book, Don't Vote - It Just Encourages the Bastards, O’Rourke starts with a party game of late-night giggle sessions in all-girls boarding schools: “Kill, F@#%, Marry.” Pick three men—or, in O’Rourke’s version, three political ideologies, i.e., Democrat, Republican, and Independent (a.k.a. Confused). Then you choose which to terminate with extreme prejudice, which to go for a roll in the hay, and which to settle down with permanently for a boring life in the suburbs. This astute tool of political analysis works on the parts of government as well as on the political thinking that led to those parts: kill the Department of Education, screw Social Security, and marry the Armed Forces. The same for political policies: screw the bailout, marry a balanced budget, and kill health care reform before it kills you.

Read P. J. O’Rourke on the pathetic nature of politics and laugh through your tears or—what the hell—just laugh.

About the author: Born in 1947 in Toledo, Ohio, P.J. O'Rourke graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, then won a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to study for an M.A. in English at Johns Hopkins. In the early 1970s, he wrote for and edited several "underground" publications, including a Baltimore weekly called Harry. He joined the National Lampoon in 1973, became its managing editor in 1975, and was named editor-in-chief in 1978. Currently he is a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly and serves as the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow of the Cato Institute.

O'Rourke's books have been translated into a dozen languages and have been bestsellers worldwide. Three have been New York Times hardcover bestsellers: Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance, both of which went to #1, and All the Trouble in the World. When not on the road, P.J. O'Rourke divides his time between New Hampshire and Washington, DC.

Author's site: http://www.pjorourke.com/