A recorded edition of Extension 720 will air tonight after the end of the Cubs doubleheader.

Milt's File now enables comments from all visitors. We welcome--indeed, we urge--that you chime in with your commentary whenever one or more of our items stirs some responsive thought or mere spasm of emotion.

HERE'S THE MAN WHO WILL BE THE FIRST POST-SADDAM PRIME MINISTER. There is fair reason to expect that he will not be the last...but it won't be light duty. Still...someone's got to do it. This report is from our friends at Al Jazeera.

THE TERRORIST SUSPECTS: WHO ARE THEY? These brief portraits do raise some questions. Adam Pearlman? And a graduate of Brandeis? Well, one has heard of "deep cover" but...

SAM HUNTINGTON ON THE MEXICAN PRESENCE. His book on the subject has stirred as much reaction as his earlier one on the "clash of civilizations." Here's the article version as it appeared in a recent issue of Foreign Policy. (Free registration required.) Huntington will be our program guest for the full two hours on Monday, May 31st.

A PROFILE OF AMERICAN ATTITUDES ON FOREIGN POLICY--RIGHT NOW. Drawing from many seperate studies, the people at Foreign Policy magazine have put together a composite and "personalized" portrait of present attitudes. Well done--and, thus, quite informative.

YOU CAN CALL HIM AL--OR YOU CAN CALL HIM ----? There may be someone who has responded with full praise to Al Gore's recent fulminatory oration. But we haven't found him. Most of the commentary has taken the line (if not with quite the same open condemnation) pursued here in yesterday's lead piece from Front Page.

CATHOLIC CANDIDATES, CATHOLIC BISHOPS. One does get a sense of deja-vu as some (but not all!) men-of-the-mitre say they will withold the wafer from those candidates who are abortion-tolerant. Hmmmm.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE ELECTION UP NORTH...in Canada, that is. It's only a month away and if you need a briefing, here it is--from four more-or-less partisan "experts" lined up by the Toronto Globe and Mail.

THE NEW WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL ON THE MALL...is getting panned by many commentators. Here's Krauthammer's critique.

A NEW ASTRONOMICAL FINDING WITH REVOLUTIONARY IMPLICATIONS. A planet that happened almost overnight (i.e. in just a few million years) has been located. And with it: evidence of the requirements for the formation of organic compounds. That's life! The report has just appeared in Astrobiology magazine.

SO WHAT'S SCIENCE AND WHAT'S FICTION IN "THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW?" OR: How could global warming produce a new ice age? This article posted by MSNBC seems authoritative though brief. Appended are some equally informative links.

THE GREAT LIEBLING ON CON ARTISTS IN NEW YORK. Luc Sante in the Village Voice reviews the career of the greatest of the New Yorker writers--with special attention to AJ's appreciation of the high arts of deceit.

THE NEXT TIME YOU DROP A FEW THOUSAND IN LAS VEGAS...you may seek gustatory solace at this place just off the strip. The restaurant guy for the Las Vegas Review Journal seems to enjoy his work and here he makes The House of Love sound like a plausible "destination."

MENDELSSOHN'S PIANO TRIO IN C MINOR. This moving, fluid trio was a virtual companion piece to his famous violin concerto. Both were written for, and performed by, the violinist, Ferdinand David. This performance by members of the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale of Bologna is a rich, musicianly reading.

Tonight on Extension 720, Milt talks with Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, and Steven Antler, perhaps better known as Econopundit. More information on this and other programs is available at our monthly program guide. You can listen to the show from 9 to 11 p.m. central time here.

Milt's File now enables comments from all visitors. We welcome--indeed, we urge--that you chime in with your commentary whenever one or more of our items stirs some responsive thought or mere spasm of emotion.

WILL THERE BE A 9/11 SEQUEL? Here is the fairly detailed coverage of yesterday's press conference in which Ashcroft and Mueller warned of a coming major assault in the U.S. by Al Qaeda. Does this sort of thing reduce the liklihood of it's happening--and at what cost? Your commentary is solicited.

WHAT IS DICK MORRIS PROPOSING? We think he is on target in suggesting that terrorist killings in Iraq are having--and will have--influence in the presidential election. But to "lie low" seems impossible. Why not "add on" and go for a decisive win? This too needs discussion; let's have some here.

A WISE BUT CHASTENED BACKER OF THE IRAQ WAR...takes a somewhat mournful view and adopts a stoic tone in his commentary on where we have arrived. This New York Times op-ed by Fouad Ajami seems to us honestly self-critical and disappointed; but its representation of the Iraqi reality still argues for "staying the course."

GEORGE WILL TAKES A LONGER (BUT NOT QUITE SANGUINE) VIEW...of the prospect for lasting success in Iraq.

THE SARIN SHELL SEARCH CONTINUES...as well it should, both for its bearing on the WMD issue and for the protection of military and civilians against whom the gas might be employed. This coverage by CNN has a favorable noise/information ratio and some quite useful links as well.

A TASTE OF THE FEAST TO COME...as the Kissinger tapes are released is this story revealing that Nixon was drunk one night when Heath, the British prime minister, tried to call. The poor man needed some "surcease of sorrow" as all hell was breaking loose in the Watergate crisis but it does set one wondering about anodyne-assisted decision making in high places through the course of history.

A MARXIST PRESIDENT MAKES HIS CASE IN THE WASHINGTON POST. This is a most curious contribution. Behind its surface plausability lie rash, anti-deomocratic and unconstitutional violations. The overall impression we gather is that some American PR firm has signed on and has produced a fairly good imitation of early (very early) Castro.

SO NEAR AND YET SO FAR! Genomically the human and chimpanzee species are 98.5% identical. How, then, did they turn out to be so different? A major study done in Japan has provided some strong leads toward a definitive answer. Here's the report as conveyed late yesterday by Reuters.

AND SPEAKING OF GENETIC SIMILARITY...there is evidence that the Lemba tribe of South Africa share a model haplotype with modern Cohanim (i.e. descendants of the ancient Hebrew priesthood). This great story about another "lost tribe" appeared in the San Diego Jewish Journal.

IF SWEEPS GO CAN SCARE BE FAR BEHIND? A change in the way they measure TV audiences may well put an end to the scary stories about the thousand things that endanger you and of which you have been totally ignorant until your local news-shop kindly explained it to you. This welcome news is conveyed in the current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review.

MARK TWAIN ANTICIPATES THE POMOS. Philip Roth in his most post-modern vein could not have done better than this. This fall-over-laughing bit of happy obfuscation and self-parody had escaped our attention until a happy internet-wandering stumble uncovered it just yesterday.

ON THE ROAD WITH HOPE AND CROSBY. There were seven movies in which Bob Hope and Bing Crosby pursued their picaresque travels to such destinations as Zanzibar, Bali, Hong Kong and Utopia. A film scholar does some light, friendly analysis of the series in this evocative essay from USA Today magazine.

ANDEAN MUSIC PERFORMED BY MASTER MUSICIANS! The group is Urubamba, the recording was produced by Paul Simon and the sound is hypnotically compelling.

A recorded edition of Extension 720 will play after the 7:05 Cubs game.

Milt's File now enables comments from all visitors. We welcome--indeed, we urge--that you chime in with your commentary whenever one or more of our items stirs some responsive thought or mere spasm of emotion.

ABOUT BUSH AND IRAQ, ZAKARIA IS OF MIXED-MIND. And we are equally double-valued in our judgement of this piece written for Newsweek after he returned from the World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan. Read closely and let's have some reactions here to this important essay in which he forsees a Bush-inspired wave of reform in the Arab world even as that world comes to revile him.

BROOKS IS READY TO GIVE IRAQ A DEMOCRACY...but, as Ben Franklin might ask: Can they keep it? The second house conservative at the New York Times bets on Bush's bet, but he hedges heavily in this rather ambivalent column.

SO IT WAS SARIN! This report on further lab testing of the material from the Iraqi shell confirms that it was packed with sarin. We ask again: Doesn't that invalidate--or at least complicate--the "there were no WMDs" meme. What will replace it?

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HUSSAIN SHAHRITANI? According to this "inside dope" story surfaced by the Washington Post last night, he will get the UN nod for Prime Minister of Iraq. A striking fact: the man spent ten years imprisoned at Abu Ghraib!

THE LOOMING ISLAMIC PRESENCE IN EUROPE...is seen in a thousand particulars ranging from the head scarves issue in France to the debate over whether "Christian heritage" should be mentioned in the new European Union constitution. In Spain the latest symptom (since the railroad murders, that is) concerns the contemplated return of Islamic worship in one of Madrid's oldest churches. The story is from the Christian Science Monitor.

THE HOME PAPER IS OFFENDED BY SENATOR KENNEDY'S "EQUIVALENCE" STATEMENT...or, at least, the Boston Globe's best columnist is. But Jeff Jacoby's interpretation is pushed aside by the Senator's flacks and the media's attention is not engaged. Should it be? Has the senior senator from the Commonwealth given true offense?

THE ULTIMATE COST OF CHINAGATE...is here asserted to have been the communications failure that enabled the 9/11 terrorists to get in "under the intelligence radar." And, according to this j'accuse from Front Page, at the center of the whole self-serving mess was Ms. Gorelick, now of the 9/11 Commission.

A PSYCHIC-FRAUD DETECTIVE EXAMINES THE "ACHIEVEMENTS" OF POLICE PSYCHICS. Joe Nickell happens to be a friend of ours; we have both been long associated with the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Paranormal (CSICOP). In this mini-essay in the organization's journal he clarifies just how they achieve their "results."

SO JUST HOW "LIBERAL" IS THE AMERICAN PRESS? Even more than the recent Pew Poll would suggest say the otherwise anonymous people at a site that seems otherwise to be rather too preoccupied with Dan Rather.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LITERARY CRITICISM...and, for that matter, to reponsible (and readable!) literary history? James Wood takes the task of reviewing the latest volume in the Oxford Literary History series as an opportunity to specify what went wrong and how.

WHAT SPOOKS READ AT THE BEACH. This feature from the CIA's more-or-less public journal provides some enticing reviews of recent books of interest to the espionage professional. This assortment deals with East German intelligence, the Nazi system and its penetration, female spies in the first World War and kindred topics. Actually, you don't have to be a spy to be gripped by this stuff.

WHILE (ALMOST) ALL OUR SWAINS COMMEND HIM...there are a few other things worth remembering and saying about Michael Moore, the bearer of the Palme D'Or. The story told here, for the first time, by Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard is, to say the least, a beaut!

FATS AND THE MAJOR. Two still-much-enjoyed American musicians are tracked in this excellently appreciative biographic article from the current issue of the New Yorker. The author, Gary Giddins, is one of the best historians of American music--and, as we know from our own experience, he makes a great radio guest.

THE PRINCE IGOR SUITE OF BORODIN. The Polovtsian Dances is the best known section--but Margaret Field as the soloist gives a stunningly beautiful performance in the earlier sections.

A recorded edition of Extension 720 will play after the 7:05 Cubs game.

Milt's File is taking the day off, but will return tomorrow.

Tonight on Extension 720, Milt discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Richard Ben Cramer, Ghada Talhami, and Maurice Singer. More information on this and other programs is available at our monthly program guide. You can listen to the show from 9 to 11 p.m. central time here.

Milt's File now enables comments from all visitors. We welcome--indeed, we urge--that you chime in with your commentary whenever one or more of our items stirs some responsive thought or mere spasm of emotion.

WHAT'S THE ARABIC FOR "CHUTZPAH?" Either Ahmed Chalabi has enjoyed a chutzpahdik rise for the last twenty years and is a skilled con man or worse--or the CIA (and White House?) is calumnifying at a high level of disingenuousness. I.E. What's going on here? The lead story in Newsweek today seems to contain most of the information--and rumor and speculation--so far released. The full article is in three parts--all worth your perusal.

APOLOGIA PRO VITA CHALABI. Michael Ledeen, a sometime guest on our program, is strongly pro-Iraq-war but takes a contrarian position on the way we have waged it. In this column from the National Review, he condemns the attack on Chalabi...and offers some "inside dope" (we don't vouch for its accuracy) to explain why Chalabi was in contact with the Iranians.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE SARIN-LOADED MISSILE...opens up a new set of questions about the "missing" WMDs. Bill Kristol, in this piece from the latest issue of the Weekly Standard, digs into the meaning of some of the additional recent findings by the Iraq Survey Group.

THE MEN BEHIND THE BERG DECAPITATION. You have heard a good deal about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi but what do you know about Abu Musab al-Suri, his partner in masterminding the terrorist program in Iraq? This report from National Review introduces another of the "major players."

STILL...UHH..."ECCENTRIC" AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. Our new friend Moammar Gadhafi (You say "Khadaffi? Let's call the whole thing off!) disports himself in puzzling style at the meeting of the Arab League on Saturday in Tunis. This account by the AP (just the facts ma'am) was carried in the Jerusalem Post.

WHEN GEORGE WILL AND RALPH NADER HAD LUNCH...the other day, one of them came through as dour and as more "purer-than-thou" than the other. Read this column by Will and see if you can figure out just what makes Ralphie run.

BRIAN GREENE EXPLAINS THE UNIVERSE...in this well structured interview from The Atlantic. And then there's the interview we did with him a few months ago on our radio program and available for listening right here.

SOME SAY THE WORLD WILL END IN FIRE, SOME SAY IN ICE...and some of the relevant scientists say there is a new ice age coming rather soon but that it won't be too bad unless, perhaps, it is. You want more clarity? It's here in a quite lucid and informative article from Discovery Magazine.

THE MISCHLINGE IN NAZI GERMANY. During the war most Jews still left in Germany were shipped out to the extermination camps. But those with one or two Jewish grandparents were treated more variably. Quite a few served in the military forces. (Our interview with Bryan Mark Rigg, author of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers can be heard here.) Others worked--and many perished--in forced labor battalions. This review of a new book on the subject has recently been posted at H-Net Reviews.

SURPRISE! MOST AMERICAN JOURNALISTS ARE "LIBERALS." Well, it's not exactly stunning news--but it is perhaps rather telling that our news sources have not reported what the Pew Research Center has documented and disclosed about them.

COSBY OFFENDS HIS NAACP HOSTS WITH SOME SOBERING TRUTHS. We borrow this from blogson who has been on the case for a few days. The remarks that violated the standards of political correctness that prevailed at the NAACP meeting are excerpted here.

PARIS AND THE COSTS OF "URBAN BEAUTY." Robert Moses remade some of New York--but he was a piker compared to the transformation (at high human cost) that Haussmann worked on Paris. A good review (despite the Marxism that leaks out) of what appears to be a fine book on the Haussmannization of the eternal city.

G.B.S. AND THE DON. When George Bernard Shaw went to the opera he was--particularly if they were doing Mozart's Don Giovanni--a hard man to please. That he felt this opera to be the key to understanding his own work is a revelation elaborated here in a delightful and surprising essay, originally delivered as a talk before the Limerick Philosophical Society.

SO WHAT ABOUT MICHAEL MOORE. A British reporter (for the left wing, Guardian!) gets up close at Cannes--and doesn't particularly like what he sees in the man or in his films.

GOSPEL IN THE COUNTRY STYLE. This genre could be called Nashville Gospel. Among our favorites are the performances of Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, Red Foley and the Statler Brothers.