MILT'S
FILE
September 30, 2004:
Milt's File is taking the day off, but will return
tomorrow.
September 29, 2004:
YET AGAIN: WHY DO THEY HATE
US? This time the speculative answer comes from Fareed Zakaria
writing in Foreign Policy magazine and making fairly
useful sense.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/
THE
BEST RATHERGATE COMMENTARY...that we have so far seen is this
by John Leo who examines the multiple causes that prompted the
"rush to judgement" by the anchorman and his colleagues.
And, as a measure of Leo's decency and Rather's long service and
present shame, the former does not echo the loud call for the
quick retirement of the latter.
http://www.townhall.com/
WHEN
KERRY CALLED FOR "PREEMPTION" AGAINST SADDAM. This Senate
speech was turned up earlier and has recently got some deserved
attention. The turner-upper was our friend Tom Bevan of Real Clear
Politics where, on Monday, he once again reviewed the facts.
http://realclearpolitics.com/
YES,
BUT ZAIDEH LOVED ROOSEVELT! The third word is a transliteration
of the Yiddish for "grandfather" and that, Jeff Jacoby
would agree, reamains one of the silliest--but still opearative--reasons
for American Jews voting the straight Democratic ticket.
http://www.boston.com/
THE
JOY OF BEING ILLEGAL AND LATINO. Increasingly, we seem to be pushing
American police departments into the insane position of taking
pains to not inconvenience ILLEGAL residents...even when they
commit public offenses!! Heather MacDonald of City Journal--and
a frequent guest on our program--reports on a new instance of
this madness.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/
THE
NEW GANGS RISING ACROSS THE NATION. A consequence of the large
illegal and unchecked immigration from the south is the emergence
of an hispanic gang culture. Again, Heather MacDonald is on the
case and provides this valuable and troubling report in City
Journal.
http://www.city-journal.org/
WHAT
TO DO ABOUT IMMIGRATION, LEGAL AND ILLEGAL...is the most pressing
item NOT BEING DISCUSSED in this campaign. This article by Lawrence
Harrison, in today's Boston Globe, is a welcome follow-up
to the two preceeding ones by Heather MacDonald.
http://www.boston.com/
THE
IDEOLOGY AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE OF DEATH. The passing of Kubler-Ross
gives Ron Rosenbaum (one of our favorite program guests) occasion
for this fine critical/cynical essay on why "nil nissi bonum"
cannot apply in this instance.
http://slate.msn.com/
GIVING
COMMUNION TO PRO-CHOICE POLITICIANS. Is there an official Catholic
position? Father Richard Neuhaus obviously had an inside line
to the last meeting of the American Bishops--and here, in
First Things, he provides a behind-the-scenes report on present
church politics as relevant to our national politics.
http://www.firstthings.com/
WHAT
THE E.U. CAN LEARN FROM CHARLEMAGNE...or, if you prefer, from
Karl der Grosse. The lesson, suggested in this curious review
in The Economist of a recent biography, is that the "European
elite" had best make only small plans.
http://www.economist.com/
THE
NEW AMERICAN-JEWISH LITERARY MAFIA IS RUSSIAN!! So declares Donald
Weber in this critical survey of the new Jewish novelists. He
does, indeed, make a persuasive case--persuasive enough to have
fostered the intention to get some of these books and actually
read them.
http://chronicle.com/
KITTY
KELLEY GETS WHAT SHE DESERVES FROM THE ECONOMIST. I.e. an appropriately
brief, somewhat condescending and correctly disdainful review.
http://www.economist.com/
THE HIDDEN METATEXT OF INDIGENALITY...is deconstructed in this
essay from the Australian Humanities Review, thereby
demonstrating that their academics are just as inscrutable and
unreadable as ours.
http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/
LAUGH?
I THOUGHT I'D CRY. The connection between risability and the darker
affective states is worth pondering; and also worth experimental
investigation if you have ALL the cartoons the New Yorker
ever published available as stimulus material. That, according
to this article from the New York Times, is why one hears
peals of laughter coursing down the halls of the Psych Building
at the University of Michigan.
http://www.nytimes.com/
A
TRUMPET, A PIANO AND A BUNCH OF STRINGS...seems an unlikely orchestration.
But, it works marvelously in this inspired septet by Camille Saint-Saens.
The third, andante, section is hauntingly woven.
http://classicalplus.gmn.com/
September
28, 2004:
Milt's File is taking the day off, but will return
tomorrow.
September 27, 2004:
THE DEATH OF NETWORK NEWS...is
pre-figured and speeded up by the sad case of Dan Rather and the
forged documents. So says Anne Applebaum as she fits the current
scandal into a prognostication of "the inevitable" in
this Washington Post column.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
AND
MORE ON RATHER. This overview from the AP suggests that he will
be eased out soon by the CBS suits. We confess some regrets: Rather
was always "interesting" and he once gave us a Ficus
tree as an earnest of his appreciation for having been invited
on our program to promote his book. No one else has ever done
that!!
http://apnews.myway.com/
BUT
WHAT KIND OF PILOT WAS HE? George W. was a first rate pilot and
an active one says the retired colonel who swore him into the
Air National Guard. This interview story from a down-home Texas
paper has not received much national play...but it should!
http://www4.thedailytimes.com/
A
REALISTIC EVALUATION OF THE U.N.? Read it and decide for yourself...but
we are always impressed by the clarity and force of Victor Hanson's
analyses. This most recent one from the Wall Street Journal
does not disappoint.
http://www.benadorassociates.com/
THIS
GOES ON OUR FAVORITES FILE. If you aspire to understand recent
developments in Quantum Theory and the continuing search for an
adequate "Theory of Everything," this new site will
become a regular stop as you wander the internet.
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/
WHERE
DID "RACE" COME FROM...particularly when coded by pigmentation?
Richard Dawkins, having raised the question, comes to an ingenious
and sort-of-evolutionary answer in this excerpt from his new book.
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/
A
TOUR OF A DEAD CIVILIZATION...and of the places where it was killed
is reported in this moving article from the Washington Post.
http://msnbc.msn.com/
IN
WHAT WAY ARE HOUSTON HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS?
For all we know they may be better educated than those in many
other parts of the country, EVEN THOUGH two-thirds of them require
considerable remedial instruction before they can take courses
at the college level. Yuch!!! All veteran teachers of college
undergraduates (like the proprietor here) will not be surprised--though
the educationists and the college deans will continue to find
ways of ignoring the appalling standards of far-too-many of our
secondary schools.
http://www.chron.com/
AL
ALVAREZ DOES AN EXPLANATORY NUMBER ON PHILIP ROTH...and on the
latter's newest novel. Both of these literary eminentos have appeared
on our radio program and the former is a worthy claimant of the
right to decipher (never deconstruct!!) the latter as he does
in this brilliant essay from the U.K. Guardian.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/
BOOKS,
TERMINABLE AND INTERMINABLE. This article from yesterday's New
York Times Books section calls to mind the projects that
some of our old friends are still working on...foremost among
them, Bob Caro who may (or may not) complete his biographical
masterwork on LBJ sometime next year.
http://www.nytimes.com/
BOOK
REVIEWS, REVIEW JOURNALS, PUBLISHERS AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF
CORRUPTION...in India, mind you. Surely the opinion-indebtedness
of editors to publishers, though it is the case in India according
to Mr. Srinivasa-Raghavan, could never happen here. Right? This
article from an Indian business journal is....ah, edifying.
http://www.business-standard.com/
ICHIRO
SUZUKI BEATS US AT OUR OWN GAME. He is on the verge of setting
a new season batting record...and that's only the half (well,
the two-thirds) of it. This article from Sporting News
reviews, in gratifying detail, the achievements of this "gentleman
from Japan."
http://msn.foxsports.com/
WHO'S
THE RICHEST? Once again Forbes Magazine has worked up
the data in many ways. But what stands out for us is that among
the ten richest American billionaires, five are Waltons!! Pursue
the many links to your voyeuristic content...but remember: Happiness
doesn't buy money.
http://www.forbes.com/
MATURE
BIG-BAND JAZZ/SWING. The categories blend by the 40's and 50's,
but solid jazz veterans like Benny Carter adapted with grace--as
is evident in these vintage recordings with his "big band."
http://www.tuxjunction.net/
September 24, 2004:
THE TERRORISTS ARE GOING AFTER
AUSTRALIA...says Krauthammer, to turn the coming election against
Prime Minister Howard and, thus, to get our most reliable partner
to pull out of Iraq!!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
THE
DEBATES WILL BE DECISIVE...say these writers for the National
Journal. Their rundown on the preparations, the handlers
and the strategies seems to us to set the stage realistically.
http://nationaljournal.com/
VIETNAM,
PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS AND THE NEW YORK TIMES. This story from
today's edition suggests that they are finally facing electoral
reality over on 43rd Street.
http://www.nytimes.com/
IT'S
BUSH SAYS GLASSMAN...AND HERE'S WHY. The former publisher of The
New Republic is not just predicting; he is opining in this
article from Tech Central Station. Clearly his choice
is not the same as that of the colleagues he left behind at TNR.
http://www.techcentralstation.com/
WHAT
DID THE KERRYITES KNOW...and when did they know it, as concerning
the Burkett memos? Someday, long after this election, it will
all be unraveled. Until then the question persists: Did the Kerry
camp have advance knowledge of the CBS "revelations?"
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/
MICHELLE
MALKIN DEFENDS INTERNMENT...both in World War II and as a possible
expedient in the future. For this she has been heavily vilified
by critics from the left. Now Tom Sowell comes to her defense
in this piece published yesterday.
http://www.dailynews.com/
HERE'S
WHAT MAY FINALLY SINK NEW ORLEANS. Not another dread hurricane
but, rather, the rising of the waters that is now visible in the
Antarctic. This report from New Scientist will surely
activate the global warming doomsayers.
http://www.newscientist.com/
DER
BESUCH DEM HISTORISCHEN ADOLF. Hitler studies we shall have with
us for centuries to come. Two fine works that will serve as foundation
documents are thoughtfully reviewed in this essay from First
Things.
http://www.firstthings.com/
THE
ACADEMIC NOVEL...as a modern literary genre probably began with
The Masters by Snow. It has flourished ever since and
has reflected the successive ailments of "University Life."
This essay from The American Prospect puts it all in
order and reminds us of some the available delights.
http://www.prospect.org/
AND
SPEAKING OF ACADEMIC NOVELS...what about Bellow's lightly fictionalized
memoir of Allan Bloom? Here's what the always interesting Robert
Fulford had to say shortly after the publication of Ravelstein.
http://www.robertfulford.com/
GRAHAM
GREENE EVALUATED AND APPRECIATED. He is--almost against our judgement--a
favorite writer and why that continues to be the case is clarified
in this fine essay just published in Book Forum.
http://www.bookforum.com/
IS
THIS THE ORIGINAL SLYTHY TOVE...that did gyre and gimble in the
wabe? And if you don't remember your Lewis Carroll you can just
settle for the Dinocephalosaurus Orientalis.
http://www.reuters.com/
A
GREAT JAZZ CLARINETIST. Kenny Davern does it with outstanding
precision, taste and lyrical invention. Here he is in five extended
improvisations on great standards including Summertime and Mood
Indigo.
http://classicalplus.gmn.com/
September 23, 2004:
Milt's File is taking the day
off, but will return tomorrow.
September 22, 2004:
KEEGAN SAYS "STAY THE COURSE"
IN IRAQ. John Keegan is a great (and, happily, non-academic) military
historian who has graced our program many times. In this op-ed
for the U.K. Telegraph he argues, in his usual practical
and informed manner, that the Iraq insurgency can be, and is being,
effectively dismantled. England and the U.S., he argues, must
persist; and the payoff will more than justify their efforts and
redeem their present losses.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
LUCY
RAMIREZ, PLEASE CALL DAN RATHER! The whole miserable tale grows
stranger and stranger...and, as the lies pile up, less and less
believable. Here's the story from USA Today that broke
the "Lucy did it" revelation. Whoever may have forged
the papers, the larger question is: What did the Kerry people
know and when did they know it? And ditto for Rather and CBS!!
http://www.usatoday.com/
THE
JOURNALISM "INTELLECTUALS" ZERO IN ON THE RATHER MESS.
Here are some of the Poynter Institute Faculty asking and answering:
What went wrong? What lessons should be drawn? What should now
be done?
http://www.poynter.org/
THE
TANTALIZING QUESTION OF THE CBS-KERRY CAMPAIGN CONNECTION...is
further amplified by the "less than coincidental" parallels
between the documents from the two sources. NewsMax may be ahead
of the crowd on this.
http://www.newsmax.com/
BUSH'S
REAL MILITARY CAREER. This piece by Byron York was published in
The Hill about ten days ago and should have received
far more attention than it got. The real story about Bush as Air
Guardsman seems to involve more time put in at flight training
and mission performance than Kerry spent in Vietnam!
http://www.hillnews.com/
TOM
BEVAN ON THE BATTLEGROUND POLLS. This latest analysis of the data
from the "swing states" was worked up by the co-proprietor
of the always informative Real Clear Politics website. Rs are
entitled to smile a bit and Ds to frown...but "who knows
what shocks will come?"
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/
THE
FAR RIGHT YOU SHALL ALWAYS HAVE WITH YOU...though it often seems
strangely continuous with the far left; and so it appears to be
in eastern Germany after recent regional elections. This highly
informative article is from the current issue of The Economist.
http://www.economist.com/
IS
A PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI PEACE POSSIBLE? Yes, says Dennis Ross who
went seeking it for Bill Clinton for some eight years. The big
"but" is that it can only be achieved through significant
American intervention--or so he argues in his recent book which
is reviewed here in the new issue of Foreign Affairs.
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/
ISLAM
IN AND WITH EUROPE...is the real meaning of Eurabia says this
Israeli scholar. While her views, as conveyed in this interview
in yesterday's Front Page magazine, are "extreme,"
they require respectful and close consideration for, among other
things, the light they shed upon anti-Israelism and anti-Americanism.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/
CA N'ARRANGERA PROBABLEMENT RIEN! So the French governmant has
a plan (sort of!) to reverse anti-semitism by showing a movie
to the kids. Perhaps, like chicken soup "it couldn't hurt"
but doesn't that depend upon what they hear in their after-lycee
madrassas?
http://www.voanews.com/
DIDN'T
I READ THIS VERY ARTICLE SOMETIME AGO? At any rate, it treats
of the deja-vu experience and its hidden causes which are now,
perhaps, adequately explained by young Dr. Brown who is interviwed
here by Benedict Carey of the New York Times. Why is
that name so familiar?
http://smu.edu/
AN
ANTI-PATRIARCHAL, ANTI-SMOKING AND HIGHLY PC CARMEN...is reviewed
here, with his tongue firmly in cheek, by Denis Dutton. Delightful
stuff!
http://www.artsandlettersdaily.com/
THE
METASWING OF STAN KENTON. That's how one music critic described
this great band that toned it arrangements with dissonances, Latin
metrics and resonances to "Les Six." Peanut Vendor is
a classic as is Willow Weep for me. And then, there's The Concerto
To End All Concertos.
http://www.tuxjunction.net/
September 21, 2004:
Milt's File is taking the day
off, but will return tomorrow.
September 20, 2004:
THE NUCLEARIZATION OF IRAN...will
not, apparently, be halted by U.N. resolutions, nor by IAEA resolutions,
investigations or abject pleading. This coverage by Reuters yesterday
does not address the question of how to block the fabrication
of the Iranian nuclear bomb--but some appropriate entity had better
look to it soon.
http://www.reuters.com/
YES, THERE WERE BLUNDERS IN IRAQ...says Larry Diamond in this
important essay from the current issue of Foreign Affairs.
Why and how were they made? At what cost? Can they be fixed and,
if so, how?
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/
THE
POLLS AS OF YESTERDAY...suggest that the Bush lead is holding
in the most important "battleground" states. This useful
summary article was provided by Bloomberg; also reported are the
obligatory and far less useful comments from the usual campaign
sources.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/
IF
KERRY IS AGAMEMNON, WHO IS ULYSSES? David Brooks' Homeric rendering
of the turbulence in the Camp of Kerry may well outlast this campaign
and wind up in some future anthology of political satire.
http://www.nytimes.com/
THE
WORKS, WAYS AND FUTURE OF THE NEOCONS...as perceived through its
American correspondents eyes rather darkly, by the U.K. Economist.
Despite their "more sophisticated than thou" stance
they do manage to come up with a few telling insights.
http://www.truthout.org/
A
MUSLIM COLUMNIST IN SINGAPORE...struggles with the hard reality
of Muslim terrorist violence and comes out--after some rather
delicate hedging--against killing the innocent. But, as he confesses,
he might not be so "bold" if he lived in Ramallah or
Chechnya.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/
THE
CHANGING OF THE GUARD IN BEIJING...as reported by the official
news agency, Xinhua. It's good to know that deadening Communist
officialise has not yet disappeared from the linguistic repertoire.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
IF
DEMOGRAPHY IS DESTINY...then the way to predict the future is
to reason about the consequences of population decline in the
west and (curiously) in much of the rest of the world as well.
Some quite surprising recent projections are intelligently presented
in this article from Newsweek.
http://msnbc.msn.com/
MEDICAL
TECHNOLOGY FROM THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE. This article from the
Phoenix Business Journal does rather recall the little
gizmo that "Bones" used to wave around the patient's
head and pelvis before pronouncing his always acurate diagnosis.
http://msnbc.msn.com/
WHO
IS COMMUNICATING AT YOU? The media, of course. And to whom do
the various media that you depend upon actually belong? This useful
guide to the media mega-corporations and all their holdings makes
for some fascinating browsing.
http://www.freepress.net/
HAS
SPIEGELMAN TRIVIALIZED 9/11? The question has arisen and been
ventilated in numerous book reviews. Here's an interesting review
of those reviews from the Christian Science Monitor.
http://csmonitor.com/
HOW
LINDBERGH WON THE PRESIDENCY IN 1940...and how Philip Roth came
to imagine this alternative history as revealed by him in yesterday's
New York Times. Compelling reading!
http://www.nytimes.com/
A
FEW MORE SUCH MITZVAS (MITZVOT) AND THE WAR MAY BE LOST. The adventures
of Madonna in Israel do, after all, provide a welcome change from
the usual news beamed from the Middle East.
http://apnews.myway.com/
BRAHMS'
TRIO IN A MINOR...calls for a virtuoso clarinet performance and
here are three seperate versions with three such virtuosi. We
think its a toss-up between Hill and Collins, though Pay aquits
himself well. Whichever performance you choose, the music is Brahms
at his most moving.
http://classicalplus.gmn.com/
September 17, 2004:
OH, WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE
WHEN FIRST WE VENTURE TO DECEIVE: The Houston Chronicle
zeros in on the fellow who now is strongly suspected of being
"the source" of those CBS memos and he appears to have been obsessed
(but not consistent) in his long-expressed fulminations against
George W.
http://www.chron.com/
MEMOGATE,
RATHERGATE, SIXTYMINUTESGATE....or whatever suffix you prefer,
the real question is: What happened and how? This chronologically-ordered
review of the sad saga has been supplied by Human Events
which, in this undertaking, has effectively summarized the available
facts.
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/
KRAUTHAMMER:
THE INNER PSYCHIATRIST EMERGES AGAIN! This column from today's
Washington Post, examining Kerry's inconsistencies (across
time) on questions of war, concludes with some reflections on
the Senator's "character." We think that the classic polarity
between ambition and principle provides just as good an analytic
tool when it comes to the higher American politics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
WHY
ISRAEL WILL HAVE TO ATTACK THE IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITY......according
to a columnist writing today in The Australian.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
A
STRANGE DAY AT WHITEHALL: It wasn't as dangerous as the Gunpowder
Plot, but the MPs had a right to wonder whether the Chamber was
and will remain secure from the Invasion of the Fox Hunters. Here's
some of the needed detail as supplied by the U.K. Guardian.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/
PUTIN
MAY BE ROLLING BACK RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY....but there is still enough
of it left for his two predecessors (they didn't have live predecessors
in the USSR) to leap into the denunciatory mode. This coverage
from the Moscow News is rich with relevant links.
http://www.mosnews.com/
A
NEW INSTANCE OF DARWINIAN "NATURAL SELECTION"....has just been
reported from a research project focused upon high-altitude Tibetan
mothers and their children. Add this to butterflies in Liverpool
and the beak lengths of Galapagos Finches! Howzat? Well, those
are two prior claimed instances of evolution in action.
http://www.nature.com/
5764
AND ALL THAT: WHAT KIND OF YEAR HAS IT BEEN FOR AMERICAN JEWS?
An interesting--and somewhat worried--overview as it appeared
a few days ago in The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/
AND
STILL, THE DIPLOMATS DITHER AND THE DARFURIANS DIE: The Economist
has just published this review of the situation in Sudan. They
are trying to be hopeful but, or so it seems to us, the gloom
shows through.
http://www.economist.com/
A
GREAT SCHOLAR AND NOBLE SOUL PASSES: James David Barber was a
truly inspired political scientist and--where necessary--political
activist. We knew him, Horatio--a fellow of infinite worth and,
in the old days, a frequent guest on our program. The obituary
is from the Chronicle of Duke University.
http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/
THE
BIRTH OF LANGUAGE? This study, just reported, makes the large
claim that it has revealed how languages are formed. We predict
that this will be met by more skepticism from the "linguistics
community" than it has received from the press. But, all the same,
the autonomous emergence of a language that follows universal
structural rules is surely interesting (if true).
http://www.forbes.com/
AND
SPEAKING OF THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE: Here's an informative review
of a new book that sounds like the definitive summary of ALL thought
and scientific conjecture on that subject.
http://csmonitor.com/
PURE
WILLIE NELSON: This generous selection includes The City of New
Orleans, On the Road Again and Heartbreak Hotel.
http://www.hhtabby.addr.com/
September
16, 2004:
Milt's
File is taking the day off, but will return tomorrow.
September
15, 2004:
THE EUROPEAN UNION BESTIRS ITSELF OVER THE GENOCIDE
IN DARFUR...but ever so slowly in the "diplomatic" mode;
and, meanwhile, hundreds (or is it now thousands?) die every day.
This report of some ministerial activity is from Deutsche
Welle.
http://www.dw-world.de/
SPEAK
TRUTH TO RUSSIAN POWER...and don't let Putin get away with the
re-Sovietization upon which he is now launched. That is the underlying
"action implication" of this op/ed by Robert Kagan in
today's Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
THE
SILENCE OF MUSLIM LEADERS IN THE AFTERMATH OF BESLAN...is noted,
analyzed and condemned by one of the leading columnists at the
Jerusalem Post who, at the same time, finds some hope
in one Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia.
http://www.jpost.com/
SO
WHAT KIND OF YEAR HAS IT BEEN FOR THE JEWS...asks the Israeli
newspaper Haaretz. The answer, erev Rosh Hashonah, seems
to be: greater political prominence in the U.S., greater anti-semitism
in Europe...and everyone is a little more...uh, tense.
http://www.haaretz.com/
AN
ANGUISHED VOICE FROM ISRAEL. Plaut, the author of this article
in today's Front Page magazine, perceives the Israeli
left to be undermining the very continued existence of the state
itself. There are few more angry voices in Israel, but his passion
is informed by a "realpolitik" view that does not admit
of "compromise" with those who disdain and condemn the
Jewishness of the Jewish state.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/
A
WORTHY EVALUATION AND CRITIQUE OF THE BUSH REGIME'S FOREIGN POLICY...is
presented here by the magazine of the same name. Melvyn Leffler,
eschewing extremity, finds present policy to be in continuity
with that of earlier regimes--but thinks that some additional
realism is required.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/
THE
RATHERGATE IS OPEN...and, even to lots of "friends of Kerry,"
CBS has some explaining--or revealing--to do. Here's what ABC
is saying about its competitor's dilemma today.
http://abcnews.go.com/
AND
THIS ONE IS GETTING RATHER A LOT OF ATTENTION TODAY. Ann Morse,
writing for the National Review Online, recalls another
time when D.R. plopped himself into the soup.
http://www.nationalreview.com/
READING
(CLOSELY) THE SENATOR'S FIRST BOOK...is the possibly arduous,
but not unuseful, task that David Skinner of the Weekly Standard
set for himself. Herein, the findings and thus a much delayed
book review.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/
THE
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS NOT HEAVEN...its a neuro-optical
phenomenon caused by oxygen-deprivation. So says this qualified
physician/anesthesiologist writing in the Skeptical Inquirer.
Sorry!
http://www.csicop.org/
IF
IT HADN'T BEEN DARWIN IT WOULD HAVE BEEN, WHO? Alfred Russell
Wallace, of course--and here's a fine review of two new books
about him and his other, less "scientific," interests.
http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/
BETWEEN
THE SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS OF PSYCHOBABBLE AND HAPPY PILLS...is
where lots of the "unsick but unhappy" find themselves.
The U.K. New Statesman provides a usefully cynical evaluation
of the "happiness industry."
http://www.newstatesman.com/
MISTAH
BUTLER, HE DEAD...but the ghost of America's "leading neo-nazi"
will, undoubtedly, go marching on. This report of his demise and
some reactions to it is from the San Francisco Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/
CLOSER
TO HEAVEN THAN TO HELL...AND THE LOCAL WINE IS GREAT...in Orvieto,
the jewel hill-town of Tuscany. Our enthusiasm for the place was
renewed by this fine, appreciative and evocative article in the
New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/
A
GREAT COLLECTION OF MIXED SWING AND POP. Don't miss: Etta James,
Sinatra and the Stan Kenton and Benny Carter bands.
http://www.tuxjunction.net/
September 14, 2004:
Milt's File is taking the day off, but
will return tomorrow.
September 13, 2004:
THE IRANIAN NUCLEAR THREAT...worries,
as it should, the International Atomic Energy Agency which will
not be soothed by the recent report from the leading Iranian group
opposing the regime of the mullahs. Here's the AP story as reported
today in the Jerusalem Post.
http://www.jpost.com/
MORT
KONDRACKE AS JOHN KERRY. The executive editor of Roll Call
(and a rather freequent guest on Extension 720) tries to put himself
in the shoes of the newly elected President Kerry facing some
decisions on Iraq.
http://realclearpolitics.com/
THE
"PAJAMA STORY" AND THE BELEAGUERING OF "SIXTY MINUTES."
John Fund, writing in today's Wall Street Journal, heralds
the emergence of the blogs as a source of "expert" investigative
journalism. We think he's got it right.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/
THE
BUSH/NATIONAL GUARD KERFUFFLE. The Washington Post is
exerting itself to be "fair and balanced" in this review
story from yesterday's paper--and, as we read it, CBS comes out
tainted with the tag of "motivated carelessness."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
A
STRONG DEFENSE (AND COMMENDATION) OF THE FOX NETWORK...and it
comes from our favorite leftist, civil-libertarian, Nat Hentoff
who excells in confounding those whose judgements are routinely
derived from hard-wired ideological programs.
http://www.washtimes.com/
THE
NEXT BIG (GEOLOGICAL) THING...will probably be the eruption of
the Mauna Loa volcano which covers "half of the island of
Hawaii!!" This fascinating interactive site tells you all--and
possibly more than--you want to know about Hawaiian vulcanology.
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/
THE
AFRICAN-CARIBBEAN-ENGLISH COMMUNITY GETS "COSBYED"...and
the message, like the problem, is the same: "gangsta"
street culture is helping to wreck a generation of young men.
This coverage of the strong j'accuse delivered by Garth
Crooks is from yesterday's U.K. Observer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
SHAKESPEARE,
SHYLOCK AND THE TRIAL OF DR. LOPEZ. The complex questions of what
prompted The Merchant of Venice and of what its author
intended are addressed here in a compelling essay by Stephen Greenblatt
from yesterday's New York Times magazine.
http://www.nytimes.com/
THE
SPECIAL EXCELLENCE OF ALAN FURST...is proclaimed and explained
in this equally excellent essay from the New Criterion.
Its special relevence here is that Alan Furst will be appearing
on our radio program tonight.
http://www.newcriterion.com/
WHY
DO SO MANY PRESIDENTS AND VICE-PRESIDENTS COME FROM YALE? Is it
conspiracy, happenstance or a reflection of the superior (and
worldly) education provided there? The question is well-asked
if not fully answered in this essay from yesterday's Boston
Globe which, inevitably, holds some special interest for
the former Yale assistant professor who is the proprietor of these
premises.
http://www.boston.com/
THE
DECIPHERING OF BRITSPEAK AND FRANCOSPEAK...doesn't get any easier
as the world grows evermore multilingual. But now some experts
are helping to translate what the Brit really means when he says
"I hear what you say" or what the Gaul means when he
says je sarai clair. This article from the Economist
delights and informs but leaves you wanting more, much more.
http://economist.com/
THE
CURSES OF THE BILLY GOAT AND THE BAMBINO...and various other such
memorable hexes in the history of baseball are examined in this
fine article just published at a major website concerned with
culture and religion.
http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/
A
GREAT PERFORMANCE OF BEETHOVEN'S FOURTH VIOLIN/PIANO SONATA...by
Argerich and Horigome at the Lugano Festival. And filling out
the program: Saint-Saens, Poulenc and Bartok!
http://www.rtsi.ch/
September 10, 2004:
TWO SMART GUYS READ THE POLLS...PART I.
This is Mort Kondracke's take as published today in Roll Call.
They are even again!
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/
TWO SMART GUYS READ THE POLLS...PART II. This, from the two smart
guys who run RealClearPolitics.com, is a poll-based analysis of
the likely Electoral College outcome. Bush wins!
http://realclearpolitics.com/
THE
WASHINGTON POST DIGS IN...on the possibly false National Guard
documents. This coverage, published earlier today, summarizes
the doubts raised about the documents used on the 60 Minutes
program and features some useful sidebars presenting the
documents themselves.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
AND
YET MORE ON THE MESS AT CBS. The Weekly Standard staff
seem convinced that CBS fell for a hoax. Here is their breathless
entry into the discussion, as beamed out only a few hours ago.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/
A
REPORT FROM THE GREAT STATE OF ILLINOIS...which may interest our
broader readership: The Hollinger scandals have now drawn in our
former governor, Big Jim Thompson. The writer of this article
from a local conservative e-daily was at one time the editor of
the Chicago Sun-Times which was, so theaccusation runs,
plundered by Lord Black while his board looked the other way.
http://illinoisleader.com/
ISLAMIC
TERRORISM IS THE ONLY CONTEMPORARY TERRORISM...argues Victor Davis
Hanson in this embittered and outraged essay just published at
National Review Online.
http://www.nationalreview.com/
TECHNOLOGY
IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM...is a topic of high interest and
some expertise in Israel. The lessons that some of their counter-terrorism
specialists have to offer are well summarized in this recent report
from the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.
http://www.tau.ac.il/
ISLAM
AND THE DARFUR GENOCIDE. How, if at all, are they linked? That's
the basic question addressed (but not answered simply) in this
forum published today at Front Page magazine. We found
the comments of Professor Walid Phares particularly well-pointed.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/
HAS
ISLAM BEEN SHAMED INTO CONSIDERING INTERNAL REFORM? This author,
writing in the current issue of the New Statesman, thinks
that he perceives such a shift to now be underway, if slowly and
with still uncertain outcome. But, he insists, something important
is happening.
http://www.newstatesman.com/
MIDEAST
PEACE THROUGH DESALINATION? Perhaps that is the last, best hope
for a true settlement of the outstanding issues conmcerning Israeli
settlements in the West Bank. At any rate, this report from the
BBC does suggest that the toast over a final peace accord might
be drunk, if ever, in purified sea water.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
WHO
GOT HERE FIRST, AND HOW? The settlemet of the western hemisphere
now looks more complicated than the Anthro 101 account that "undifferentiated
mongols" crossed the Bering Land Bridge some 12,000 years
ago. Now, many other possibilities are under examination and this
site, designed by the Burke Museum at the University of Washington,
offers a truly fascinating (and quite interactive!) account of
the competing theories and the bodies of supportive evidence.
http://www.washington.edu/
EICHMANN AGAIN! A new biography of the senior technician of the
Holocaust has recently appeared. According to this approving review
from the U.K. Guardian the "banality" of his
evil was of a different order than that sketched by Hannah Arendt.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/
WELL,
YOU HAVE TO ADMIT HE'S A GREAT LINGUISTIC THEORIST. That's what
they (his ambivalent defenders) often say about Noam Chomsky.
But Keith Windschuttle, an Australian historian, thinks otherwise
and, in this essay from the New Criterion, explains why.
http://www.newcriterion.com/
SOME
CLASSIC COUNTRY. This fine anthology features, among other welcome
selections, the great Tom T. Hall performance of Old Dogs and
Children and Watermelon Wine.
http://www.hhstarr.addr.com/
September 8, 2004:
NOT BY FORCE ALONE...or even primarily,
will Iraq be pacified. So said Donald Rumsfeld in the press conference
reported here by the Boston Globe. Of extra interest
is his partial endorsement of the "soft power" hypothesis
of Joseph Nye.
http://www.boston.com/
IN
THE WAKE OF THE SLAUGHTER AT SCHOOL NUMBER ONE. The video made
by the terrorists, the march in Moscow yesterday and the Russian
announcement of a "preemptive" anti-terrorist policy
are effectively reported in this article from an Australian news
service.
http://www.news.com.au/
AND
JUST WHAT HAVE THE CHECHEN "REBELS" ACHIEVED? They have,
says Anne Applebaum in today's Washington Post, significantly
lessened their chances for getting any concessions from the Russian
government. Applebaum spent many years on the scene and deserves
her reputation as a sharp observer of East-European affairs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
YASSER,
THAT'S OUR BABY...may no longer be the theme-song in Ramallah
according to this closely observed report from that "capital
city" to the U.K. Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
THE
LABOR DAY POLLS SUGGEST THAT BUSH HAS IT...says the spokesman
for the Gallup Organization who presents the data from seventeen
past elections. BUT, the old polling data are not that trustworthy
and four times out of seventeen things went otherwise and, and,
and...
http://www.gallup.com/
WHEN
A VETERAN OF THE LEFT DESPAIRS...as Nick von Hoffman does as he
casts his disappointed eye upon the Kerry campaign, then something--it
may be asserted--has really gone wrong for the Dems. In his view,
as elaborated in this contribution in today's New York Observer,
the decline began with the Swift Boat ads.
http://www.observer.com/
THE
CAMPAIGN COUNTERATTACK IS LAUNCHED...on this very day, says John
McIntyre in his column at Real Clear Politics. McIntyre, a rather
frequent guest on our radio program, thinks (or is it "hopes?")
that the Kitty Kelly slime assault will backfire.
http://realclearpolitics.com/
THE
FRENCH CONNECTION WITH SADDAM...is discussed in this excerpt from
Bill Gertz's new book as published in today's Washington Times.
Bill--an old friend and frequent guest on Extension 720--will
be discussing this and related revelations with us on tonight's
program right after the ball game.
http://washingtontimes.com/
A
PROFESSOR OF LINGUISTICS CHOOSES NOT TO BE CALLED AFRICAN-AMERICAN.
John McWhorter, also a rather frequent guest on our program, has
his reasons and they strike us as, in fact, well-reasoned. This
op-ed is from yesterday's Los Angeles Times.
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/
NOBODY
DOESN'T LIKE SAMUEL PEPYS. He is, in fact, one of our favorite
indulgences...and that rendered all-the-more welcome this fine
appreciative article from the current issue of the Hudson
Review.
http://www.hudsonreview.com/
WOMEN AND CHESS...and how the Queen became so powerful, as explained
by one of the best of the feminist historians. This interview
with Marian Yallom appeared a while ago in the San Francisco
Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/
SCHEINBLUM,
EPSTEIN, BLOMBERG AND HOLTZMAN...are some of the former major-leaguers
in the contingent headed by Koufax: Jewish star-players of yesteryear.
And here are the details on their recent reunion.
http://www.jta.org/
THEY
ALSO SERVE WHO CELEBRATE THEMSELVES...at the Venice film festival.
We couldn't resist the stars at competitive play as reported by
the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
TWO
CONCERTOS, A CAPRICCIO AND A BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY. All performed
live at a great concert in Lugano two years ago. The rendition
of the Brahms Double Concerto is, we thought, particularly moving.
http://www.rtsi.ch/
September 7, 2004:
Milt's
File is taking the day off, but will return tomorrow.
September 6, 2004:
IN THE WAKE OF THE HORROR AT BESLAN...comes
this report of the capture of one of the Chechen terrorists who,
it seems, does value (his own) life. The article appeared today
in The Age of Melbourne.
http://www.theage.com.au
WHO
WERE THE CHILD-KILLERS IN BESLAN? Mark Steyn argues, in The
Australian, that the key to the horror was the presence of
Islamist fanatics among the "Chechen insurgents" group.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
THE
LOOMING IRANIAN THREAT...and what to do about it are discussed
in this important forum presented today by Front Page
magazine. There are, apparently, some very menacing Mullahs in
our future.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/
THE
FALL BEHIND CANDIDATE...is, according to the stunning polls released
by both Time and Newsweek, John Kerry. The present
crisis in the Kerry campaign is reported here--we think quite
verisimilitudinously--in today's edition of Newsweek.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
SO,
WHERE DOES THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE REALLY STAND? Bill Safire of
the New York Times is an old pro and a practiced practitioner
of electoral realpoltik. Here's how he reads the present "advantage
Bush" situation.
http://www.nytimes.com/
STILL
MORE ON HUNTINGTON'S VIEW OF THE AMERICAN FUTURE...as presented
in his recent--and heavily reviewed--book, Who Are We? The
Challenges to America's National Identity. This partially
approving but amendatory essay appeared recently in The Claremont
Review.
http://www.claremont.org/
DO
WE HAVE A HEALTH INSURANCE CRISIS? Well, if we do, says this physician
at the Manhattan Institute, it involves far fewer people than
we have been told. This op-ed appeared a few days ago in the Los
Angeles Times.
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/
THE
CONSERVATIVE PRESENCE ON CAMPUS. This report, in the New York
Observer, of the growth of a slight Republican renaissance
at Columbia University may--or may not--be an augury of things
to come.
http://www.nyobserver.com/
NEW
AGEISM IS "BORING FROM WITHIN" THE LEFT...and is, in
fact, a great danger to the "progressive" cause. So
says this academic philosopher writng in Counterpunch,
a leading left-socialist journal. Will troubles never cease?
http://www.counterpunch.com/
I
DREAMED OF AUNT EUPHEMIA...AND THE NEXT DAY SHE DIED!! Such reports
do strongly support clairvoyance and, more generally, pscyhic
powers...DON'T THEY? Not at all, says Michael Shermer--a frequent
guest on Extension 720--in this column from Scientific American.
http://www.sciam.com/
A
GIFT TO THE WODEHOUSIANS AND THE DRONES. A new biography of P.G.
has appeared and the fellow who played Jeeves on T.V. is enthusiastic--but
reservedly--and said so yesterday in the U.K. Guardian.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/
TIGER,
TIGER BURNING LESS THAN BRIGHT. Even when he's off his game he's
good--but Tiger Woods' lapse into merely "good" has
Lawrence Henry, writing in the American Spectator, a
little depressed. And, nota bene: this is the first purely non-political
piece we have ever seen in that publication.
http://www.spectator.org/
CLASSIC
BIG BAND JAZZ...by Red Nichols and "his orchestra."
Most of these fine recordings were done in 1939 but a few go back
to 1930. Of exceptional interest is "Poor Butterfly."
http://redhotjazz.com/
September 3, 2004:
THE OLD (REPUBLICAN PARTY) IS NEW AGAIN...according
to George Will who here reacts to the present, and to the now
completed Republican convention, with his usual penchant for evoking
the past and finding some continuity therewith.
http://www.sacbee.com/
AND
ANOTHER REACTION. This one from John McIntyre, co-proprietor of
Real Clear Politics.com and a frequent guest on our program.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/
DIONNE
TO THE DEFENSE OF KERRY THE WARRIOR. E.J. recently did a book
urging the Democrats to be proudly "liberal" and discussed
it with us on Extension 720. In his column today he attacks the
leading Democrat for Bush for questioning Senator Kerry's war-like
resolve. Good try...but.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
DICK
MORRIS LOSES HIS (CYNICAL) COOL...and, after last night's speech,
goes all out for Bush. This column from the man who guided Clinton
in the development of the "triangulation" strategy appeared
in today's New York Post.
http://www.nypost.com/
A
HORRIBLE STORY FROM IRAN...and the complicity (by silence) of
the Britsh press are detailed in this article that appeared a
few days ago in the U.K. Telegraph. When will the left-tilted
feminists take up the cause of women killed in the name of Islamic
Sharia?
http://www.benadorassociates.com/
CAN
OR WILL ISLAM TURN TOWARD EQUALITY FOR WOMEN? That question--inherent
in our last item--is illuminated in a valuable study reported
last year and summarized here in an article from Foreign Policy.
http://www.britannica.com/
COUNTERING ISLAMISM...A LA FRANCAIS. So, at last, the head scarves
are off in the schools of France. Or are they? The use of wigs
as a substitute measure may suggest Jewish orthodoxy. Sauve qui
peut...and here's the story from today's New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/
CONSTERNATION
AT THE ACLU...or, at least, among some of its board members. One
of those is Nat Hentoff, whom we much admire (and with whom we
serve on the Advisory Board of the Foundation for Individual Rights
in Education) but with whom we also differ on the works and ways
of the ACLU. Here's his recent denunciatory report as published
in the Village Voice.
http://www.villagevoice.com/
WINE,
HAPPINESS, CALIFORNIA, AUSTRALIA AND THE FALL OF MOUTON CADET.
Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker makes his belated debut
(after all he has lived in France in recent years) as an oenophile.
http://www.newyorker.com/
AND
SPEAKING OF WINE...and gin, scotch, sherry and beer, this release
from the University of Missouri flak-office will provide a good
rationalization for anyone who needs to defend his/her "modest"
drinking regimen.
http://www.missouri.edu/
THE
RISE OF THE QUEEN...in the game of chess and in European history
has been tracked by a Stanford professor who is here interviewed,
over a chess board, for the San Francisco Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/
THIS
GREAT PERFORMANCE...of a Ravel piano concerto is followed by his
still stirring and startling Bolero.
http://ra.mmv.ru/
September 2, 2004:
Milt's
File is taking the day off, but will return tomorrow.
September 1, 2004:
EUROPEAN ANTI-AMERICANISM COMES AT A
HIGH COST...says Fareed Zakaria in this sharply stated essay just
published in Foreign Policy magazine. One hopes this
will be read and appreciated at the Quai d'Orsay.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/
THE
PROTESTOR BOOMERANG. Dick Morris suggests, in this well-bethought
column, that the protests in New York may well work to the disadvantage
of the Kerry campaign. Perhaps the organizers should have briefed
themselves on the history made in 1968 when the kids opposing
Lyndon Johnson went "clean for Gene (McCarthy)."
http://www.thehill.com/
AND
SO SAYS THE NATIONAL JOURNAL AS WELL! When Bill Schneider and
Dick Morris agree, the "leaders" of the hundred-and-one
protesting collectives might to well to "consider that they
may be mistaken."
http://nationaljournal.com/
IS
THIS KERRY INTERVIEW A SPOOF? That was our first thought but--upon
reflective perusal--we now guess that it all really happened and
that the transcript is as authentic as it is...ahhhh, unengaging.
http://us.gq.com/
WERE
THEY "LOOTERS" ACROSS THE AVENUE? Our headuarters is
at WGN Radio located in the Tribune Tower in Chicago and across
Michigan Avenue from the Sun-Times building. Thus the charges
against Lord Black and his colleagues at Hollinger, as detailed
here by Reuters, do take on a certain special and piquant interest.
http://www.reuters.com/
TALK
RADIO IN BAGHDAD...does sound not unlike talk radio in Chicago
but the callers have more immediate problems and more legitimate
gripes. This story from yesterday's New York Times does
suggest, to us, that the socio-political transformation of Iraq
will be irreversible.
http://www.nytimes.com/
NUCLEAR
DISARMAMENT OR UNIVERSAL MUTUAL ASSURED DESTRUCTION? These may
be the ultimate choices available in a militarily nuclearized
world, according to this valuable article just published in the
Chronicle of Higher Education.
http://chronicle.com/
HOW
MUCH IS TEMPERAMENT? HOW MUCH IS "ACCIDENT?" When it
comes to human personality and behavior, that is. Jerome Kagan
of Harvard is a senior and much respected figure in developmental
psychology and by opting for inborn temperament he has stirred
a classic academic controversy. Its all here in good coverage
from the Boston Globe.
http://www.boston.com/
WHAT
POPULATION EXPLOSION? The demographic projections have changed
so radically that all sorts of "experts" are as confounded
as is Paul Ehrlich. This story from the New York Times
tries to sort it out.
http://www.nytimes.com/
A
HUNDRED YEARS OF "CONSERVATIVE" READING. The people
at, or near, the National Review have polled themselves
on the "great (non-fiction) books" of the last century.
There is some valuable guidance here, some odd choices and a few
that provoke either rage or appalled amusement.
http://www.nationalreview.com/
A
POLITICAL STREET THEATER PERFORMER IN NEW YORK...is immortalized
by Matt Labash of the Weekly Standard who tries to tag
along.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/
AND OH, T'IS TRUE, T'IS TRUE!! We spent about half an hour earlier
today waiting out and trying to decipher a phone menu not very
unlike the one imagined here in this bitterly brilliant satire
from today's Slate.
http://slate.msn.com/
A
PRECURSOR TO THE CLASSICAL SYMPHONY? Some historians of western
music have attributed that special significance to the Orchestral
Trios of Johann Stamitz. Whether or not that is the case, the
music is rich in post-baroque tonality.
http://classicalplus.gmn.com/
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