Hawkeye Republican

That’s right folks- starting tomorrow until next Thursday I will be absent for a spell, out of the country even. I know what you must be thinking. Who will cover breaking Bono news **gasp**! What if Bono tries to cure cancer or pilot a mission to Mars, while I am off gallivanting around the German countryside?!?!? Pandemonium, pandemonium!

Rest assured, it is my prediction that with the end of Live 8 and the G8—like a grizzly bear bundling up for the cold winter ahead of bureaucratic African aid distribution—Bono will go dormant for some time as governments muddle through details. The work is done for now and everyone needs a little space to breathe to propose a structure of distribution and work through the debt cancellation. In bureaucracy, there are always at least 12 forms to sign before even being permitted to sign a form.

So now that your Bono fears have subsided, what possible reason could I have for leaving the valiant Hawkeye Republican to my dear male colleagues? They rarely even post pictures.

The answer is that I will be in Gummersbach, Germany, attending the World Freedom Summit. For about the past 25 years, the International Society for Individual Liberty has organized this event in various locations around the world in cooperation with several other European think tanks; this year, including the Institute for Liberal Vales, the Libertarian International and the Institute for Free Enterprise.

The conference will focus on classical liberal views i.e. today’s conservative principles, as well as topics of social and economic freedom. Should be interesting considering the speaker guest list: The Heritage Foundation’s resident flat tax man Daniel Mitchell, globalization author Eric Weede, European Parliament Member and German big-wig Peter Jungen and several other notable European folks.

I honor of Bono and all the folks in the news I will miss covering in the next week- Achtung, baby! Achtung!