Milt's File - Extension 720 - WGN Radio 720 Chicago

MILT'S FILE

December 2002

December 31, 2002:
BOOT ON "NEO-CONSERVATISM." Here's the article we discussed with its author, Max Boot, last night. It is as good a definition of the basics of neo-conservatism as any we have seen.
http://opinionjournal.com/

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME...according to a number of "expert" analysts in The National Review. The predictions are as good or better than you will get from your corner astrologer. David Frum, the first up, will be our guest on January 9th.
http://www.nationalreview.com/

IT BEGINS IN FIRST GRADE! We carry on a good deal about the decline (and politicization) of college education. But the trouble begins much earlier as this disturbing and fact-laden article from the New York Daily News discloses.
http://www.mostnewyork.com/

BEYOND VICTIMHOOD. The author of this column, Armstrong Williams, is a leading African-American broadcaster and business executive. His views are in some contrast to those of, say, Jesse Jackson.
http://www.townhall.com/

THE BEST FILM CRITIC WRITING TODAY. We don't know why it took us so long to put Stanley Kauffmann up on this file. He has been writing thoughtful and graceful film reviews for over twenty years for the New Republic. Here is his latest with an accesible file of other, earlier reviews.
http://www.thenewrepublic.com/

THE WRITER'S WRITER. Most journalists we know--and lots of English professors as well--assert that H.L. Mencken was the best writer of American prose in all of the twentieth century. He was also a great curmudgeon and cynic. Here is a fine review of a new biography of Mencken.
http://www.theatlantic.com/

THE BERLIOZ ROMEO AND JULIET. A great operatic setting of Shakespeare's play with stunning performances by all the principals.
http://classicalplus.gmn.com/

December 30, 2002:
ON THE NATURE OF CYBER-WAR. This study from the New York Council on Foreign Relations is well worth reading despite its length and the scary view it presents. This may well be the shape of things to come.
http://www.csis.org/

MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT NORTH KOREA. They are apparently another country in our future. This BBC site (we stumbled upon it while tracking the human origins story) has many interactive tag-ons. Taking them all togther provides a valuable primer about the last Stalinist state in the world.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/

THE HARM DONE BY THE "RAELIANS." This article from yesterday's New York Times suggests, quite properly we think, that the outrage stirred by "reports" of human cloning may block progress in the proper medical use of cloning research.
http://www.nytimes.com/

AND SPEAKING OF HUMAN CLONING...and other problems in modern bioethics: Here is the transcript of a recent discussion by a number of the members of the Presidential Commission on Bioethics. It is led by the commission's chairman, and our frequent guest, Leon Kass.
http://www.thepublicinterest.com/

GARY HART FOR PRESIDENT? There is just such a movement now underway. And Hart himself seems to be taking it rather seriously. Here is a well-detailed story from the current issue of The New Republic recounting how it all got started and who is doing what and with which and to whom.
http://www.thenewrepublic.com/

A REVIEW OF "HOLOCAUST: A HISTORY." The authors, Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt, were recently guests on the program. Here is a sharp, if somewhat too brief, review of their important book as it appeared yesterday in the Boston Globe.
http://www.boston.com/

DO YOU STILL TAKE CROP CIRCLES SERIOUSLY? If so, it's time you acquainted yourself with the findings turned up by skeptical investigators. This article and the other sites it leads you to will give you more than you probably want to know about a great modern "paranormal" hoax and public susceptibility.
http://www.csicop.org/

ONE OF THE GREATEST SINGERS EVER. That was and remains the general view of Mark Reizen. His is the most effortless and beautiful basso voice we have ever heard. Here is generous sample of his Russian recordings. His last operatic performance was given at the Bolshoi in Moscow when he was ninety years old!
http://www.russia-in-us.com/

December 27, 2002:
A CONNECTICUT JEW IN KING FAHD'S COURT. Senator Lieberman has just been talking with the royals in Riyadh and here is the account of that visit in Saudi Arabia's English language newspaper.
http://www.arabnews.com/

ANOTHER JEWISH VISITOR TO THE MIDDLE EAST. This time, the eminent American playwright and movie director, David Mamet, offers his thoughts from Jerusalem--and moving thoughts they are. Michael Oren, with whom he has a significant encounter, was a guest on our program a few months ago.
http://www.forward.com/

WHERE DO FORMER EXTENSION 720 PRODUCERS GO? Sometimes to Turkmenistan--at least that's where Cheryl Collins has been recently and here is the Tribune story she filed when she got to Uzbekistan. Cheryl worked for us many years ago and has often been back to help out between producers, usually interrupting her busy schedule as a free lance writer to do so.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/ (registration with Chicago Tribune required)

AN ADDENDUM TO TIME'S PERSONS OF THE YEAR STORY. Michelle Malkin,who appeared on Extension 720 a few months ago, does have a penchant for digging up important stories neglected by the mainstream press. This one is a beaut!
http://www.townhall.com/

WHO ARE WE REALLY? It has long been theorized that the human species originated in Africa and migrated from there over 100,000 years ago. Now, newly examined Genome data suggest that origin may be less unilocal than that. This story from the BBC gives a good overview.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/

DO YOU LIVE IN A SPRINKLER CITY? If not, you may wind up in one after your next move. This amusing, but rather sociological, article is by David Brooks of the Weekly Standard. He has become one of the most accute and entertaining of the large horde of journalistic specialists on "the way we live now."
http://www.weeklystandard.com/

THE POSTMODERNISM GENERATOR STRIKES AGAIN. You can find articles of this density and obscurity in many modern critical and "literary" journals. This one, as it happens, was generated by a computer programmed to turn out nonsense in the the contemporary scholarly style. If you find the link toward the bottom you can have the generator turn out a new article just for you.
http://www.elsewhere.org/

THE GREAT CHALIAPIN! In his day this Russian Basso was considered the greatest singer-actor on the international operatic scene. Scroll down to hear his performances of a number of songs as recorded in his sixties.
http://www.russia-in-us.com/

December 26, 2002:
THE COMING DETHRONEMENT OF SADDAM. Michael Kelly, former editor of the New Republic and now of the National Journal, looks forward to what he deems an inevitable military action against Saddam. And his view is optimistic..sort of.
http://www.townhall.com/

THE DEMOGRAPHIC REMAKING OF EUROPE. A major population shift is occuring. Thus story, focused on Italy but also treating other European countries, would be even more startling if it went on the examine the current demographic projection that Italy will have a Muslim majority by the year 2050.
http://www.nytimes.com/

WILL WE BAN HUMAN CLONING? The president apparently has that intention but there are many "buts" that becloud the issue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

MORE ON THE SAME. The president's Council on Bioethics (chaired by our friend and frequent guest, Dr. Leon Kass) issued its report on the issue last July. Here is the executive summary of their report. It makes fascinating--and sometimes chilling--reading.
http://www.bioethics.gov/

RELIGION AS SOCIAL ADAPTATION? There can be a "darwinian" approach to the question of how religion originated. But we think that psychological theorizing of the sort done by William James (The Varieties of Religious Experience) comes closer. Furthermore, a very strong hypothesis is that religion originates in the revelations that God allows us!
http://www.nytimes.com/

THE GREAT KAEL! Pauline Kael was the critic's movie critic. And she wrote with fervor, as if movies were the most important thing in civilized life. She appeared on the program a few times in its early days. This wonderful interview with her was published shortly after her death last year.
http://www.newyorker.com/

A SEASONAL MUSICAL PRESENT. Here is the best find we have made in a year of
searching for good music on the internet. This is a full concert given in July by the pianist, Martha Argerich and a major Swiss orchestra conducted by Rabinovitch-Barakovsky.
http://www.rtsi.ch/

December 23, 2002:
THE CHANGING MEANINGS AND CHALLENGES OF "LIBERALISM" AND "CONSERVATISM." This excellent essay from the New York Times is from one of the best of their writers. In fact, Rothstein has distinguished himself as one of the few NY Times editorialists who is not a "knee jerk liberal."
http://www.nytimes.com/

IN WHAT WAY IS OUR AIRPORT DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER AIRPORTS? It isn't! Check out this amusing and disturbing column by Carl Hiassen and see if it reminds you of anything closer to home.
http://www.miami.com/

DOES ARCHITECTURE MATTER? It does to us and that's why we have done many programs evaluating the new buildings of Chicago. It matters also to Roger Kimball, one of our favorite guests and the Managing Editor of the New Criterion. Here is his excellent new essay on Architecture and Ideology.
http://www.newcriterion.com/

YOUNG HITLER. Does this new film humanize the monster? And how in the world did Sidney Blumenthal (remember him from the Clinton Whitehouse?) become a co-producer of this film?
http://www.forward.com/

THE PERSONAL LIVES AND FAILINGS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. A fascinating essay from the current Boston Review. By the way, the scowling figure in the photograph is Martin Heidegger, the source of much of the malignity in modern philosophy.
http://bostonreview.mit.edu/

THE SEGREGATED CAMPUS. Why do black militants (and their academic advocates) want seperate housing for black students. And what are the consequences?
http://206.183.2.199/

THE BACH CHORUS OF MILAN. An excellent performance group is heard here in some generous excerpts from Bach cantatas. Be sure to listen to their treatment of "Der Gerechte Kommt Um."
http://www.corobach.it/

December 20, 2002:
WHAT'S MISSING? A good part of what we knew Iraq to have by way of WMDs has "turned up missing." That was the burden of Powell's press conference yesterday. Here's a rundown, from the British press, on what we suspect they are hiding.
http://news.independent.co.uk/

THE PROSPECT OF WAR. This story from today's Guardian (London) provides valuable detail about war preparations and about the decision points that will shortly be reached.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/

THE NORTH KOREA-YEMEN AXIS. What about those missiles? How will they be used? Why, after interception, did we allow them to be delivered? This article sheds useful light on a disturbing event--and on the policy confusions in Washington.
http://www.townhall.com/

THE PERSISTENCE OF MARXISM. A fine essay from the new issue of The Economist. Marxism still lives in the North Korean government and in the culture of western leftism.
http://economist.com/

JOHN LEO ON TARGET. The bitter truth is made more bearable by wit--and Leo has that gift in rich supply. This column is a gem and and it should give you some deep "yuks."
http://www.usnews.com/

WHAT DO PEOPLE REALLY NEED? Here is a brilliant, engaging and important speech given recently by Lionel Tiger. He is a man of all sciences, originally trained in anthropology--and he has been a guest on Extension 720, but not often enough. Read this! It is one of the most edifying things we have ever posted.
http://www.aei.org/

A PSYCHIC-CONTROL PROGRAM! It is not merely "harmless fun." As Paul Kurtz of CSICOP pointed out on a recent program, considerable damage can be done by these conscienceless tricksters. But can it be controlled by city regulations? San Francisco is going to try. Good Luck!
http://sfgate.com/

THE ROUSING OVERTURES OF ROSSINI. What is more tuneful and more joyous than these overtures to Rossini's operas? And who has ever conducted them better than Toscanini? Here are eight of them. Just ignore the weird script and link on "Au."
http://www.saeronam.or.kr/

December 19, 2002:
WORSE THAN A CRIME, A BLUNDER! Another commentary on the Lott affair. Compared to other instances of foot-in-the-mouth crises this one suggests, says Emmett Tyrell, that Lott is not up to his job.
http://www.townhall.com/

CONSERVATISM AND THE POST-9/11 WORLD. Roger Scruton is one of the wisest and best informed social philosophers known to us. He appeared recently on the program discussing his new book "The West and the Rest." Here he is again in a fine article that appeared a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/

LA FALLACI: BRAVERY ADDED TO WIT AND CANDOR. She is an outstanding journalist who kept silent for the last twenty years until 9/11 prompted her to write one of the strongest books of our time. Before she went into internal exile she appeared on Extension 720. We are making an effort to get her back on the program.
http://dynamic.washtimes.com/

PIPES STAYS ON THE CASE. Did you know about this new undertaking by PBS? We didn't--and if Pipes has the details right there is reason to "view with concern."
http://www.danielpipes.org/

THE TWO FACES OF ISLAM. The book by Stephen Schwartz getting much attention in Washington is described (rather than reviewed) in this interesting article. All the more interesting when one learns that Schwartz is a convert to Sufism!
http://www.boston.com/

THE GOLDHAGEN REVIEWS ARE STILL COMING IN. Here's another review of the book that is subtitled "The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust." We discussed the book with Daniel Goldhagen just about a month ago. It has since then, to borrow a phrase, received "mixed reviews."
http://www.newsday.com/

THE LIBERTARIAN VIEW OF "MENTAL DISEASE." Just how real various modes of psychosis and even "neurosis" may be: that is the question that agitates the authors of the books reviewed here in the leading libertarian journal of opinion. It should be noted that the editors of the American Psychiatric Journal would take a decidedly different position.
http://www.reason.com/

POSSIBLY THE GREATEST CHAMBER WORK FOR CLARINET. Carl Maria von Weber had a wonderful sense of how to use that instrument--and here is a piece that all clarinet players (in his youth the proprietor of this site was one of those) love.
http://classicalplus.gmn.com/

December 18, 2002:
WILL SADDAM DESTROY HIS COUNTRY IN ORDER TO "SAVE" IT? This story from the AP does really suggest that our adversary may be close to being mad--or else that the extremity of his situation is driving him in that direction. Either way, the people of Iraq lose heavily.
http://www.boston.com/

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS GIRDS FOR WAR. Hitchens, who has appeared on Extension 720 a few times, recently left The Nation magazine because they rejected his "go after Saddam" position. He is, indeed, one of the most outspoken, left-wing supporters of the administration's Iraq policy. As such, he seems to be getting some privileged access to the war-planners.
http://www.thisislondon.com/

READ IT AND WEEP. This poll, commissioned by the National Association of Scholars, has just been released. It demonstrates the disheartening decline in the quality of American education at both the secondary and collegiate levels.
http://www.nas.org/

AN IMPORTANT ACADEMIC CONSERVATIVE CHECKS IN ON THE LOTT QUESTION. Abigail Thernstron and her husband have done the most important study on the changing situation of America's Black community. She is a former Harvard professor and does have the ear of the Bush administration.
http://www.nytimes.com/

MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT STROM THURMOND. From a great site run by and for historians, here is a quite informative account of the career of the centenarian who got the Majority Leader into his present quandry.
http://hnn.us/

WHAT GOOD IS HAPPINESS, IT CAN'T GET YOU MONEY! For a long time clinical and social psychologists have been pursuing the blue bird of happiness. Some of them think they have now found the key to it all--i.e.not being alone! This news story gives a fairly accurate account of some of the relevant recent research.
http://www.usatoday.com/

ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING GUESTS WE EVER HAD ON EXTENSION 720. A listener alerted us to this obituary which we missed last month. Harry Rositzke was, indeed, a character out of a LeCarre spy novel--and he played a major role in the winning of the cold war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

TASTEFUL CHICAGO JAZZ. Johnny Dodds was one of the best of the classic jazz clarinetists. Here he is joined by Lil Hardin-Armstrong and a small group who did some gem-like performances in 1938.
http://redhotjazz.com/

December 17, 2002:
WHAT DO THE SAUDIS REALLY WANT? Pretty much what the Prince wants and what he wants doesn't seem particularly helpful to us. That understatement should lead you to read this very important article from the current Weekly Standard.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/

GEE GEE'S TAKE ON LAW..the Cardinal, that is. Georgie Anne Geyer, in this recent column, examines the continuing crisis in the American division of the Catholic Church. She will be with us, by the way, for our year end news review as she has done for the last ten years or more.
http://www.uexpress.com/

ANTI-ISRAEL CAMPAIGNING ON CAMPUS. A very ugly development is the channeling of anti-Israel sentiment into anti-jewish verbal (and sometimes physical) assault. A distinguished professor from Harvard paints the scene with appropriate concern.
http://online.wsj.com/

WHAT DR. SEUSS WAS TRYING TO TELL US. Louis Menand is a brilliant critic and cultural observer. Here he takes on the "deeper meaning" of the Cat in the Hat. Does this check with your sense of what those books were "really" about? E-mail is welcome at extension720@tribune.com.
http://www.newyorker.com/

FEMINISM, CAREER AND THE NEED FOR SLEEP. The problems of Tony Blair's wife do sound rather familiar. Does anyone know of a workable solution consistent with the principles of "you can have it all" feminism?
http://www.nytimes.com/

THE PSYCHOANALYST AS MADMAN. This riveting account of the life and times of Masud Khan has just been published in the Boston Review. One of the worst things about psychoanalysis is that its practitioners and their "discoveries" and claims are never open to independent (i.e. non-psychoanalytic) evaluation.
http://bostonreview.mit.edu/

FIFE AND DRUM AND REVOLUTION! Here is the music to which the soldiers of the Continental Army marched. A wonderful unit within the U.S. Army performs on this site which we have just found.
http://www.mdw.army.mil/

December 16, 2002:
RUMSFELD'S HIT LIST. The intrinsic interest and importance of this story explains our linking to the Drudge Report. There will be more on this--particularly the New Yorker article by Sy Hersh. We will get that one linked as soon as it is available.
http://www.drudgereport.com/

AND HERE IS HERSH'S PIECE....just published by the New Yorker and, as ever, a fascinating read.
http://www.newyorker.com/

THE PRESIDENTIAL "KILL DIRECTIVE." Here is the related story that came from the White House on Sunday. Should we have a hit list and, in effect, assassination squads? Your opinion is welcome. E-mail to: extension720@tribune.com.
http://www.startribune.com/

MEARSHEIMER AND WALT WEIGH IN ON IRAQ. John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, and Steve Walt, formerly of the U of C and now at Harvard, have long been two of Extension 720's strongest guests on security matters and international affairs. They share concerns about the possibility of war with Iraq and recently co-authored a piece that is generating great attention. Here it is, as published in Foreign Policy magazine. They will both join us soon to discuss their views.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/

A CLAUSEWITZIAN VIEW OF THE WAR ON TERRORISM. This essay by a noted British historian appeared yesterday in the New York Times. It is sharply and realistically conceived and written with attractive clarity and directness.
http://www.nytimes.com/

THE SAUDI KIDNAPPING PROGRAM AND ITS STATE DEPARTMENT ENABLERS. This is a mess and is undoubtedly painful all around. But should the State Department have allowed this to go on for so long--including the abduction of two girls from Chicago?
http://www.nationalreview.com/

THE "GREAT MAN" IN HISTORY. Here is a portion of Carlyle's famous essay (written about 150 years ago) defining history as a record of the conseqential actions of "persons of lasting influence." He is, of course, both wrong and right. But, he does lay out his case with lasting linguistic force.
http://www.blupete.com/

LA NINA DE LOS PEINES. She was one of the most celebrated of the Flamenco artists of the first half of the twentieth century. Now a great retrospective CD has just been issued. Here are eleven(!) full tracks.
http://www.flamenco-world.com/

December 13, 2002:
KEEPING SADDAM ON THE HOOK...or at least not letting him off the hook. Now, what will our "allies" have to say about the reliability of the twelve thousand pages?
http://www.nytimes.com/

THE NEW REPUBLIC ON SENATOR LOTT. Michelle Cottle, one of the magazine's senior editors, makes some good points about Lott's cast of mind as revealed by his record. But, do the liberal commentators remember that for a number of years the Democratic Leader of the Senate was a former member of the Ku Klux Klan? (requires free registration)
http://www.thenewrepublic.com/

THOUGHTS OF A SAUDI JOURNALIST. This fellow has an American education all the way from his B.A. to his PHD. Here he puzzles--in the main English language newspaper of Saudi Arabia--over why people here don't hold his nation in highest regard. The answer apparently is poor P.R. rather than Wahhabism, Al Qaida or the recent killing of schoolgirls who ran out of a burning building because they had left their heads uncovered.
http://www.arabview.com/

CRIME AND COMMUNITY: A VALUABLE ANALYSIS FROM THE U.K. This speech by Oliver Letwin, a conservative member of parliament, is one of the best analyses we have ever seen of urban crime, its causes and its containment. And, despite its length, it is written with admirable vividness and lucidity.
http://www.cps.org.uk/

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE DEMYSTIFIED. This fine article from the National Geographic is in the spirit of tonight's program. The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, in the person of its founder, Paul Kurtz, will take on telepathy, precognition, mediumistic contact with the dead and other assorted modes of mumbo-jumbo.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

ANOTHER GREAT RUSSIAN PERFORMER. The pianist Natasha Vlassenko in the Mozart two-piano concerto. And, as a bonus, a fine performance of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
http://www.classical.ru:8080/

December 12, 2002:
THE SMOKING GAS CANISTER? This story from today's Washington Post may play an important role in justifying the attack on Iraq--if it ever happens.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

ANOTHER "LOTT MUST GO" CALL FROM A CONSERVATIVE INTELLECTUAL. Tom Sowell, of the Hoover Institution, is a leading columnist and economist and, not irrelevant here, black spokesman. His views are noted in Republican circles.
http://www.townhall.com/

THE LATEST FROM ROME AND THE BOSTON ARCHDIOCESE. Cardinal Law seems to be on the way out. The details of the revolt within his archdiocese are given in this story. The crisis within the American Catholic church is one of the matters we will be discussing on Wednesday, Dec. 18th in our program on American Religion.
http://foxnews.com/

SALMAN RUSHDIE, FATWAS, MISS WORLD, NIGERIA AND CONTEMPORARY ISLAM. Mark Steyn is a brilliant journalist who recently had this to say in the Canadian National Post.
http://www.nationalpost.com/

LO THE (STILL) POOR INDIAN. Who rakes in the money at the Indian gambling casinos? Not necessarily the tribal elders. Safire in the NY Times has the facts and the proper indignation.
http://www.nytimes.com/

IS ANYBODY OUT THERE? The question is constantly asked by SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence) researchers. Have we had any answers? This article from the current Scientific American will fill you in.
http://scientificamerican.com/

ERASOVA SINGS TCHAIKOVSKY AND RACHMANINOFF. A great Russian singer in a moving recital of songs by two Russian masters.
http://www.classical.ru:8080/

December 11, 2002:
CAN WE WAGE A "JUST WAR" AGAINST IRAQ? The question is seriously addressed in this important paper by a leading religious scholar.
http://www.fpri.org/

THE MILITARY UNDERREPRESENTATION OF CONGRESSIONAL FAMILIES. This is surprising and rather disheartening news, if correct. And, on the basis of his past performances, there is no reason to think that Armstrong doesn't have the facts straight.
http://www.townhall.com/

A CRITICAL BUT SYMPATHETIC VIEW OF A MAN WITH A PAST. This article by Noemie Emery in the Weekly Standard is bound to amuse some and anger others. How do you react to it? Let us know at: extension720@tribune.com.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/

AN UPDATED VERSION OF THE TURING TEST. We will know that computers have become beings when we can't tell their outputs from human outputs. So said Alan Turing many years ago. But that differentiation between man and "intelligent machine" is assisted by computer technology itself. A fascinating paradox and well-reported in this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/

READING POSNER IN NEW ZEALAND. A while ago we discussed Judge Richard Posner's book Public Intellectuals with him. It has had mixed reviews in this country but here is an absolute encomium from the University of Canterbury. The author's message to Posner seems to be, "hit 'em again harder, harder."
http://www.aldaily.com/

OF THE MAKING OF BOOKLISTS THERE IS NO END. We talked about some of the "best books" of the year last night. Here is a list (or the lists, by category) from January Magazine, a journal that deals only with books and their authors.
http://www.januarymagazine.com/

THE PRINCE IGOR SUITE. Arranged from Borodin's opera by Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov, this performance features a great singer--Margaret Field.
http://classicalplus.gmn.com/

December 10, 2002:
BOOT ON THE 12,000 PAGES. Max Boot, who was with us recently on the program, is one of the best of the "hard-headed" strategic experts. This article was published earlier today in the on-line edition of the London Times.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

LOTT MUST GO....says an eminent conservative academic. Robert George is a political philosopher who teaches at Princeton and who often gets a serious hearing in the Bush White House.
http://www.nationalreview.com/

PROFILING CONDOLEEZA RICE. The National Security Adviser will have an important voice in the internal Iraq debate, as was indicated in last night's program. Here is a full profile of her rather unique background--and it also happens to be the cover story of the current Newsweek.
http://www.msnbc.com/

OF GOLF AND THE TIMES...golf at Augusta National, that is. A new regime at the New York Times has aroused the attention of many press-watchers. In this instance the critical commentary comes from Brent Bozell at the Media Research Center.
http://www.mediaresearch.org/

THE ELIZABETHAN AGE..that is, Elizabeth Taylor. On the occasion of her being honored at the Kennedy Center, the Washington Post published this celebratory (hagiographic?) article. A fascinating life and public presence and well recounted here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

BARTOLLI! Another great discovery on the Internet: the wonderful voice of Cecilia Bartoli in songs by Paisello, Scarlatti, Vivaldi and others. To hear it all, ignore the heiroglyphic text and just link on the fifth line down (Au, etc).
http://www.saeronam.or.kr/

December 9, 2002:
IS THE INVASION ON? Or are they leaking this sort of information to scare Baghdad into compliance? Why does the N.Y. Times always have these stories first?
http://www.nytimes.com/

THE CONSCIENCE OF KASS. We did a program with Leon Kass, chairman of the Presidential Commission on Bioethics, about a month ago. His very worthy new book had just appeared. But we missed the important review of that book in the Weekly Standard. Here it is. The reviewer, Andrew Ferguson, has also been a guest on Extension 720.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE DISCOVERS THEODICY! Here is one of the most curious things we have come upon in a long time. One might very well say, "read it and weep."
http://www.newyorker.com/

CHRISTIANITY AND ANTISEMITISM. Daniel Jonah Goldhagen recently discussed that subject with us. Here is a review of his new book from the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/

KORS ON THE UNFREE UNIVERSITY. Alan Kors is founder and co-chairman of the Foundation forIndividual Rights in Education (www.thefire.com). In our opinion he is one of the sharpest observers of the university scene and its particular modern pathologies. In this interview he specifies the ways in which some American universities have slid toward the repression of open advocacy of certain political views.
http://206.183.2.199/

THE NEW YORK THAT WAS. Pete Hamill, an old friend of the program, indulges in a nostalgic riff on one of the glories of New York when he and I were growing up: The Automat!
http://www.nydailynews.com/

A FEAST OF TRADITIONAL JAZZ. Miff Mole, a great trombonist, fronted this group. Tasteful jazz at the end of the twenties featuring such masters as: Frank Teschemacher, Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa and Phil Napoleon.
http://redhotjazz.com/

December 6, 2002:
WHY WAS O'NEILL DUMPED? Some interesting thoughts and facts are put forward in this New Republic web-site feature. And if you read on there are some other instructive tidbits.
http://www.thenewrepublic.com/

IS ISLAM INHERENTLY VIOLENT? That depends, says Krauthammer, on the historical period you examine. Right now it is being turned in that direction by some who claim leadership but, of course, they are opposed by others from within the tradition.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

A TRULY INTERESTING ARTICLE ABOUT A TRUE GENIUS. The man in question is none other than Einstein. The release of a vast collection of his papers is changing our picture of him--and here is a first glance at the new, emerging portrait.
http://www.usnews.com/

PRESIDENT CLINTON ON THE MEDIA CONSPIRACY. This column by John Fund of the Wall Street Journal reminds us that we will not be required to suffer Clinton-deprivation anytime soon. But maybe we will have to go "cold turkey" or would that diminish our understanding of the evil intentions of the "conservative press"?
http://www.opinionjournal.com/

OH HOW THE MIGHTY ARE FALLEN! The hazards of celebrity as viewed by a writer in the British Spectator magazine. Does the same apply to Michael Jordan and the seven showbiz types now in some trouble with the law?
http://www.spectator.co.uk/

THE INNER LIFE OF A GREAT ACTOR. Surely Alec Guinness was, in his quiet way, one of the most accomplished and versatile of modern actors. Here, reviewing a biography of Guiness, is an appreciation of his art and career from another fine actor, Simon Callow, who has twice appeared on Extension 720.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/

HAYDN, A VIRTUALLY ENDLESS DELIGHT...because he wrote so much fine music. Here is a spirited performance of his 39th symohony. Listen for the wonderful bassoon and horn parts.
http://classicalplus.gmn.com/

December 5, 2002:
MARXISM AND AMERICA-HATING. This important essay demonstrates that the persisting Marxist vision requires a great capitalist villain--and that we are it. To understand the rage against the U.S. in the first, second and third worlds (and in the fevered indictments from such American anti-Americans as Chomsky and Vidal) you need to read this.
http://www.policyreview.org/

A FELLOW YOU SHOULD KNOW. Stanley Crouch is one of the best scholars and critics of Jazz and Blues. But he is also a sharp and candid commentator on contemporary issues and he does an always interesting column for the New York Daily News. Here is his latest--eminently readable and laudable.
http://www.nydailynews.com/

THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH:THE CONTINUING CRISIS. When we talked about this story last night a "firestorm" of calls ensued--mostly from Catholic listeners who were angry at, or disillusioned with, their church. The problem may or may not be resolved by lawsuits and monetary settlements.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

THE FUTURE OF THE FAMILY. The statistics are worrisome to say the least. Divorce rates, later and later marriages, less time spent with kids, "alternate forms" of family. Some new studies illuminate the problems and the possible futures of American familial life.
http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/

WHO THE HELL WAS HEIDEGGER, REALLY? We wandered into a conversation about Martin Heidegger the other night. The man was a cad and a Nazi enthusiast, but he continues to exert great influence as a "modern philosopher." Here is a classic essay which attempts to penetrate the murk of his thought.
http://www.tnr.com/

THE RETURN OF THE GREAT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA. Here is a truly fascinating article: they are rebuilding the fabled Library of Alexandria which, whatever great treasures it once contained, was surely not destroyed by Julius Caesar nor by invading barbarians. But how to make it, once again, the greatest repository of all of the world's wisdom?
http://wwics.si.edu/

BIG BAND JAZZ, CIRCA 1930-32. This rather chintzy band was led by one of the greatest of American song-writers, Hoagy Carmichael--and it featured such great sidemen as the Dorsey brothers, Benny Goodman, Jack teagarden and Bud Freeman. Be sure to catch the March Of The Hoodlums and Georgia On My Mind.
http://redhotjazz.com/

December 4, 2002:
IS IT PR OR WAR PREPARATION? This story from the British Guardian newspaper is a puzzler. Is the Pentagon mounting a major charade, an enemy-deceiving diversion or are they really getting ready for a massive urban assault?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/

DASCHLE, GORE AND BUSH. This column by our old friend Mort Kondracke is, we think, on target. There's politics and then there's cheap shots--and Kondracke knows the difference and suggests that some of our leading public politicos should keep that difference in mind.
http://www.rollcall.com/

KURZWEIL IN RUSSIA. She is the editor of the Partisan Review, an important public (and rather "intellectual") journal. Her encounters among the Russian "intelligentsia" reveal some surprising confusions on both sides.
http://www.bu.edu/

A DEFINITIVE ARTICLE ON A GHASTLY SUBJECT. If you want to know about the scourge of AIDS and what is--and is NOT--being done about it, this article is invaluable. Eberstadt is a top scholar and the article is from the prestigious journal put out by the Council on Foreign Relations.
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/

WHAT SHALL WE GET FOR AUNT ALTHEA? The Christmas Gift recurring crisis is how to fit the gift to the person. Emerson, in this classic short essay, has something useful to say on the subject.
http://www.blupete.com/

THE LANGUAGE MAVEN. William Safire's columns on the changing language and on linguistic lapses has always delighted us. Here is the latest one from Sunday's New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/

42ND STREET: THE ORIGINAL VERSION. This was a "pastiche musical;" i.e. it included songs from various other sources (including songs from the original film of the same name with Dick Powell).It was great fun when we saw it in the version put togther by Gower Champion. Here it is with the original cast.
http://community-2.webtv.net/

December 3, 2002:
THE IRANIAN PROFESSOR SENTENCED TO DEATH. We understand that the death sentence has now been commuted to life in prison. Dr. Aghajari's crime seems to have been his suggestion that "core Islam" is being violated by militant Islam.
http://memri.org/

WHILE BROWSING THE NEW YORK OBSERVER...we came upon this column by an old friend. Richard Brookhiser, the distinguished biographer of George Washington, has an interesting view of modern Islam in all its varieties.
http://www.observer.com/

IS SOLZHENITSYN AN ANTI-SEMITE? Surely not says Richard Pipes (father of Dan) in this engrossing essay from the current issue of The New Republic. But, brooding about the history of the Jews in Russia does bring the great writer to some unexpected insights.
http://www.thenewrepublic.com/

ALL THE LATEST TELEVISI0N NEWS--FROM AUSTRALIA! Does this all sound familiar even though the names are different? It is all, apparently, about the (Australian) dollar and about common denominator taste.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

INSTEAD OF SELF-CONTROL JUST SUE! How repsonsible is McDonald's (and, for that matter, Wendy's, Burger King, et al) for the adipose expansion of the American waistline? And don't really fat men have the right to sue those who peddle the addictive hamburgers?
http://www.weeklystandard.com/

WHO OWNS AMERICAN PUBLISHING? GERMANY! And for the rich detail about the Bertelsmann takeover and the opening of their new compound in New york, read this important article from the Observer. Many of the people mentioned in this story are routinely in touch with Extension 720 which remains the first Chicago stop on the travelling author tour.
http://www.observer.com/

WHO ACTUALLY GOES TO POETRY READINGS--AND WHY? This confession by Judith Shulevitz in the New York Times hits the tender spot. We too would rather hear a recorded poet than sit there sensitively "appreciating."
http://www.nytimes.com/

THE GREAT CANON OF PACHELBEL...with an extra gigue thrown in. Pachelbel's "greatest hit" is hypnotically beautiful and here it is beautifully performed at the Mozart Festival.
http://classicalplus.gmn.com/

December 2, 2002:
THE CONTINUING EVOLUTION OF TERRORISM. This piece from the new issue of Time magazine is on target. The asymetric advantage of terrorism lies in our not knowing which of thousands of targets and methods they will choose next.
http://www.time.com/

HOW TO DEAL WITH THE "INTERNAL ENEMY"? Are civil liberties endangered by the Bush administration's pursuit of terrorists and their supporters? Is such a limit upon conventional civil liberty required by the extremity of the "present danger" that we face? This article from The Washington Post brings important information to bear upon these questions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

HAVE YOU EVER READ ANYTHING MORE VILE? This fellow Miller--an academic "communications scholar"--confesses here that he did not believe in his own book-length diatribe against Bush. Now he goes on to play psychiatrist as he attempts to defame the president as a "sociopath." I trust he has tenure to protect him from the consequences of villification parading as "expertise." For shame, sir!
http://www.thestar.com/

LUTTWAK ON WOODWARD ON BUSH! The new book ("Bush at War") by Bob Woodward gets a rather severe review from a "strategic intellectual" who has been around for rather a long time.
http://www.latimes.com/

THE STRUGGLE FOR ISLAM. A wise, former military intelligence specialist offers an interesting view in this article. The question is: where is Islam going? The answer, he says, lies in the non-Arab sectors of the Muslim world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

WHEN IN DISGRACE WITH FORTUNE AND MEN'S EYES...have a good meal or try a new recipe. This fellow Kummer, at the Atlantic Monthly, writes with gusto about restaurants around the world and about dishes worth doing at home. Check out some of the links to other articles by him. A welcome change from the worries of the world.
http://www.theatlantic.com/

SHAKESPEARE AND BERNSTEIN. Leonard Bernstein never did better than the wonderful score for West Side Story, his transpositon of Romeo and Juliet from Verona to New York. Here is the recording by the original cast.
http://community-2.webtv.net/

Archive of Milt's File: