THE SEARCH FOR WMDs TAKES A NEW TURN. As usual, Krauthammer's Washington Post column sheds a non-obvious light; this time on a question that has been hammered into redundancy by lesser commentators.

HOMELAND SECURITY AND LIBERTY ARE NOT ANTITHETICAL! So argues Heather MacDonald, a rather frequent guest on our program, in this solid article from the current number of the City Journal.

A RARE EVENT. A man who thinks he "wuz robbed" when they handed out this year's Nobels. We don't presume to judge but the story is intrinsically interesting. And we say nothing here about Arafat's earlier Nobel--after all, it was only for "peace."

AND SPEAKING OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE...this award seems to have a political purpose well worth pursuing. Let's hope it does not endanger the recipient.

"DOES THE MORONIC INFERNO OF THE INFORMATION AGE SPELL DOOM FOR OLD-FASHIONED ART?" So asks Martin Gayford in this somewhat dismaying, but still amusing, article from the current issue of the U.K. Spectator.

KAZAN AND RIEFENSTAHL? OUTRAGEOUS! We fully share the views conveyed in this item from today's issue of the Weekly Standard website and would like to think that the editorialist at the Philadelphia paper was merely stupid and undereducated rather than viciously dishonest.

REALLY BAD POETRY: YESTERDAY AND TODAY. Apparently, there was more of it around when Wyndham Lewis and Charles Lee anthologized it in the thirties. Or was it just easier to tell the difference then as compared to now? A good whack at these issues is to be found in this article from today's Slate.

A GREAT WRITER IS NOT NECCESSARILY A GREAT PERSON. Evelyn Waugh surely wasn't! But the life is, inevitably, a key to the art and in this fine essay, from the U.K. Telegraph, William Boyd examines the connections--and makes you want to go back and read everything of Waugh's that you may have missed.

PROKOFIEV'S THIRD PIANO CONCERTO. A great work, vigorously performed by Alexander Toradze and the Kirov Orchestra conducted by Gergiev.

THE ENTIRE EXTENSION 720 WITH MILT ROSENBERG WEBSITE CAN BE ACCESSED HERE.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LISTEN TO EXTENSION 720, STREAMING AUDIO IS AVAILABLE HERE. THE SHOW RUNS FROM 9 TO 11 P.M. CENTRAL TIME, MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

WHAT DID THE CALIFORNIA RECALL ELECTION REALLY MEAN? There seem to be a hundred different answers to this question flooding the press today. This one from the New Republic is, perhaps, worth pondering.

IN IRAQ: POSSIBLY, THE TIMES THEY ARE A'CHANGING. This article from today's Front Page magazine paints a far more optimistic picture than you get from, say, the New York Times.

IT'S MORE THAN FOOTBALL AT O.S.U. Columbus, Ohio doesn't seem quite the right place for a confrontation over Mid-East problems--but "go know!"

WHEN TELEVISION COMES TO THE INTERNET. Actually, it has already done so. But it will expand quickly over broadband. With what cultural and programming consequences? Two somewhat opposed predictions are offered here by qualified observers. The articles are from today's Financial Times.

IT GOES TO YOUR HEAD. Brain science is turning up some important new data about emotion and brain activity. Here is a quite exciting report on some recent research from New Scientist magazine. And do follow up on some of the interesting links.

DOCUMENTING A LANGUAGE IN FLUX. The top guy from Merriam Webster's Dictionary was on the program a few nights ago. Here is a colorful and informative story from today's Boston Globe about how they document linguistic shifts from Springfield, Massachussetts.

CALLING ALL POSTMODERNISTS (AND THEIR OPPRESSED STUDENTS). Read this, and it may set you free from cynicism and anhedonia. This extract from Terry Eagleton's critique of critical theory was published in the U.K. Guardian.

THERE WERE THESE TWO ENGLISHMEN...one of them, Peter Ackroyd, wrote a book about England and the English. The other, Christopher Hitchens, reviewed it with his usual flair for stong judgments and explosive commentary. We link to the current issue of The Atlantic.

SPIRITUALITY VS. THEISM. It's a battle being enacted--according to this academic essayist--on prime time television. And, according to conventional religionists, we had better understand that the event at Sinai did not merely produce "The Ten Suggestions."

WHEN SATCHMO WENT HOME. After a few less successful attempts, Louis Armstrong married Lucille--and they lived happily ever after in this house in Queens which is about to open as a museum. The story is from today's New York Times. Be sure to check the slide-show.

HAVING VISITED HIS HOME...let's listen to some of Armstrong's perfect jazz. These recordings with the 'Hot Seven" were made in 1927.

THE ENTIRE EXTENSION 720 WITH MILT ROSENBERG WEBSITE CAN BE ACCESSED HERE.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LISTEN TO EXTENSION 720, STREAMING AUDIO IS AVAILABLE HERE. THE SHOW RUNS FROM 9 TO 11 P.M. CENTRAL TIME, MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

ES K0MMT DER ARNOLD. We have checked the five leading California papers and the best (or, at least, most colorful) coverage that we found is in the Sacramento Bee. So here is their front page with a smorgasbord of interesting links.

GRISLY ACCOUNTING IN JERUSALEM. In this rather strange story, the Jerusalem Post argues that the tough Israeli line is producing results--though 240 civilians killed in one year seems to us to be somewhat short of progress.

ONE MAN'S FAMILY(IES). The "dear leader" Kim Jong Il may have some other things on his mind these days; i.e. family matters as well as nuclear weapons. This story ran today in the U.K. Independent.

OBVIOUSLY THEY DID NOT POLL THE READERS OF THE MANCHESTER UNION LEADER. The Gallup people have asked whether Americans find the media too liberal or too conservative.The ratio is 3/1. In which direction? Read on.

IS CIVIL WAR COMING TO THE EPISCOPALIANS? This story from today's New York Times suggests that a schism is in the cards. Perhaps all the more so because the weight of opinion in the world-wide Anglican Communion is with the clergy now meeting in Dallas.

HOW DO FINLAND AND ICELAND DIFFER FROM NIGERIA AND BANGLADESH? In corruption, of course. For a full ranking of virtually all countries of the world on thier "corruptibility" we have this study just recently released by Transparency International.

JOY AND CONSTERNATION AT THE FACULTY CLUB! Whether it will be one or the other (in response to Atlantic magazine's new rankings of American universities) will depend on where the academic pursues his leisurely labors. The proprietor of this File has taught at Yale, Dartmouth and (sob) the University of Chicago.

THE CENTURY OF MEGAMURDER. The Communists killed more innocents than did the Nazis; they had more time and more countries. This article from today's Front Page magazine reviews the figures and the "silent complicity" or "rationalizing service" of many "intellectuals." For a more complete survey of genocide and democide over the last cetury the work of Rudolph Rummel is indispensable.

WHEN IT COMES TO PSYCHOTHERAPY, CAVEAT EMPTOR! But what the potential buyer needs is a good guide to the pseudo-psychotherapies. According to this review from the Skeptical Inquirer, here is a new book that spots the frauds, kooks and incompetents doing the therapy hustle.

NADINE GORDIMER'S FICTION. Assesed here by the newest winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, J.M. Coetzee, of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. The essay/review is from the current issue of the New York Review of Books.

THE SUITE FROM "THE HISTORY OF DIOCLESIAN." This rare work by Purcell is movingly performed by the Berlin Baroque Soloists.

THE ENTIRE EXTENSION 720 WITH MILT ROSENBERG WEBSITE CAN BE ACCESSED HERE.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LISTEN TO EXTENSION 720, STREAMING AUDIO IS AVAILABLE HERE. THE SHOW RUNS FROM 9 TO 11 P.M. CENTRAL TIME, MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

THE L.A. TIMES SOLDIERS ON--OR IS IT, BLATHERS ON. At any rate they seem to have recall-fatigue today if this column of musings, election esoterica and gossipy odds and ends is pathomnemomic. This link requires a free registration.

BEHIND THE WILSON AFFAIR--A FATHER-SON CONFLICT? Is that heading confusing? This article from the current Weekly Standard may, or may not, clear it all up. The father and son are, of course, the two Bushes.

IRAN: THE NUCLEAR TEMPTATION AND THE "AMERICAN THREAT." This informative, "realpolitik" analysis of how thay are thinking, worrying and planning in Tehran has just been issued from the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv. A must-read item!

HITCH AND THE GRANDSON OF THE AYATOLLAH. Chris Hitchens has recently been in Iraq where he uncovered--among other things--the grandson of the Ayatollah Khomeini. The resulting interview is a bit of a stunner--and complements the preceeding article from the Jaffee Center.

WHEN IT COMES TO SCANDAL MANAGEMENT, REMEMBER CLINTON! So says Tony Blankley in this straightforward dispensation of advice to Bush and friends.

THE PIED PIPER OF CAMBRIDGE. Considering how distorted and how deeply inimical is the anti-Americanism of Noam Chmosky, it remains evermore amazing that he is still enthusiastically read and commended by hordes of college students. Keith Windschuttle has done the ultimate article on the "deep structure" of Chomskyian political thought. Here it is, as just reprinted in the Australian journal, Policy.

THUS DID DONALD DAVIDSON REFUTE BISHOP BERKELEY! One great modern philosopher takes on the work of another, only recently deceased. And, in point of fact, Rorty does a quite good job of making the difficult accesible in this recent article from the Boston Globe.

A GREAT RESTAURANT REVIEWER! We found one--in the Village Voice. The restaurants are all in the New York area, but Sietsema connects to the socio-historical meaning of eatery escapades--and does it with great style. After you read about his forays on the Argentinian strip do check out some of the other linked reviews.

BROTHER CAN YOU SPARE AN ELVIS...that is, eighteen cents? To comprehend you will need to read this article from Discover Magazine--after you count the loose change on your person at this moment. As for the two first paragraphs, the simplest explanation is the best--somebody goofed.

WITHOUT COURTSHIP WHAT HAPPENS TO LOVE (AND THE FAMILY)? Leon Kass of the University of Chicago--and a frequent guest on our program--addresses this concern in a well written and closely-thought article from The Public Interest. Kass, a physician as well as philosopher, is now the Chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics.

THE RED HEAD AND THE HAWK. These two great jazz players put together a small band in 1933 and did some very tasteful stuff. Here are ten choice recordings. Don't miss "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate."

THE ENTIRE EXTENSION 720 WITH MILT ROSENBERG WEBSITE CAN BE ACCESSED HERE.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LISTEN TO EXTENSION 720, STREAMING AUDIO IS AVAILABLE HERE. THE SHOW RUNS FROM 9 TO 11 P.M. CENTRAL TIME, MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

DESPERATELY SEEKING OSAMA...with time out for lunch. This account is rich with on-the-scene detail and yet has its possible comic aspect. The source is the English language edition of the German magazine, Der Spiegel.

HERE'S WHAT DAVID KAY REALLY SAID..about his findings on the search for WMDs in Iraq. The full testimony before the congressional joint committee has a good deal more in it than some of the congressional participants have told us.

GEORGE WILL REALLY CALLED IT! This column from a month ago features a pre-vision of the assault upon Arnold. Pretty sharp! Or is it easy to predict this sort of thing in this latter day of defamatory politics?

THE NEED FOR CRAZIER MEDIA LABS. This premonitory interview with the founder of the MIT Media Lab is from Wired News. If you don't quite know what Wi-Fi, 3G or MLE are, do check out the links to both the American and the Irish Labs.

BRAINWASHING IN THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT! This telling, if understated, description of the P.C. police in action at the graduate level is from Critical Mass, the wonderful blog about academic life and its hazards that is put up almost every day by Erin O'Connor. She appeared with us recently in our discussion of the emergnce of "academic blogging" as a partial answer to the misuse of graduate students and junior faculty.

BABY, ITS TIGHT LIKE THAT! And, apparently, there are great opportunities for those vendors who realize that Americans are getting used to being the fattest people in the world--and want to let it all hang out. This story was carried by Reuters Financial two days ago.

WE KNEW HIM HORATIO, A FELLOW OF INFINITE GRACE. This is our second item about the recently deceased George Plimpton who visited our program many times and was always a delightful presence. This story from yesterday's New York Times captures some of the essence.

THE OTHER WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS. In fact it was the same guy. But when not writing his superb poetry he was writing ghastly and utterly tiresome nonsense of the "metaphysical" variety. And the latter (sob!) infects the former. Read about it in this review/essay from the current U.K. Spectator.

THE HULK HITS AMMAN. The film, that is. This charming, faux-naif review has just appeared in The Star, the English language weekly magazine of Jordan. If it happens on a bus in Amman, how many times a day does it happen in, say, Chicago?

THE MAJESTIC THIRD! Among Beethoven's five piano concertos this is, we confess it, our favorite. It is performed here with great spirit by John Lill and the City of Birminham Orchestra conducted by Walter Weller.