March 9, 2009 3:42PM # Events This Week at Cato By Cato Editors --- SHARE **Thursday, March 12** [**Climate of Extremes**](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=5764) 12:00 PM (Luncheon to Follow) ![climate](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/climate.jpg?itok=QptW-C3S) BOOK FORUM: Cato senior fellow in environmental studies [Patrick J. Michaels ](https://www.cato.org/people/patrick-michaels)will discuss his new book, *[Climate of Extremes: Glo](http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&method=&pid=1441420)[bal Warming Science They Don’t Want You to Know](http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&method=&pid=1441420)* with David Legates, Delaware state climatologist and director of the[ Delaware Environmental Observing System.](http://www.deos.udel.edu/) The book illustrates the crucial unreported news about climate change: that changes in hurricanes will be small, that global warming is likely to be modest, and that contrary to daily headlines, there is no apocalypse on the horizon. [Free registration](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=5764) for this event is now open, and it will be simulcast live on Cato’s Web site. **[Transportation Reauthorization: Looking Beyond the Recession](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=5881)** 1:30 PM (Refreshments Provided) CAPITOL HILL BRIEFING: [Randal O’Toole](https://www.cato.org/people/otoole.html), Cato senior fellow and author of [*The Best-Laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future,*](http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&method=cats&scid=43&pid=1441366) will join [Robert Poole](http://www.reason.org/poole.shtml), director of Transportation Studies at the [Reason Foundation](http://www.reason.org/index.shtml) for a discussion on transportation reform during the recession. Register [here](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=5881) for this free event. **Friday, March 13** **[Can the Pentagon Be Fixed?](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=5789)** 12:00 PM (Luncheon to Follow) Most defense analysts agree: the Pentagon is in serious need of reform. Acquisition programs run above cost and behind schedule. The U.S. defense budget is higher than at any point during the Cold War, but capability has not kept pace. We field fewer ships, aircraft, and tanks than we did in the days of lower procurement spending. And our defense spending prepares us better for the conventional wars we imagine than the unconventional conflicts we fight. Featuring [Winslow Wheeler](http://www.cdi.org/staff/staffinfo.cfm?staffID=81&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=15&from_page=../program/index), director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the [Center for Defense Information](http://www.cdi.org/); Colonel [Douglas Macgregor](http://douglasmacgregor.com/), U.S. Army (Retired), Straus Military Reform Project adviser; Danielle Brian, executive director of the [Project on Government Oversight](http://www.pogo.org/); [Thomas Ricks](http://www.cnas.org/node/650), senior fellow at the [Center for a New American Security](http://www.cnas.org/) and special military correspondent for the *Washington Post*; and [Benjamin Friedman](https://www.cato.org/people/benjamin-friedman), research fellow in defense and homeland security at the [Cato Institute.](https://www.cato.org) Please [register](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=5789) for this free event or watch live online. ##### Related Tags [Energy and Environment](https://www.cato.org/research/energy-environment), [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).