Tonight on Extension 720, Milt talks with Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute about her book Are Cops Racist? 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.

OUR OWN LITTLE ILLINOIS SCANDAL. Just in time to demonstrate that our home state is up-to-date in its politics, the "Jack Ryan for Senate" operation folded today. Here's the story as it broke a few hours ago in the Chicago Sun-Times.

THE TIMES CONCEDES...SORT OF...that there were, in fact, early contacts between the Saddam regime and Osama bin Laden. But, they say, the documentary evidence of those contacts doesn't really matter because that was before Osama found his true vocation. This story from today's paper could be on the reading list for a seminar in spinning.

HOW TO RESCUE THE INTELLIGENCE SERVICES FROM MOROBUNDITY. These views on what is now needed from the CIA and related services comes FROM the CIA. In fact, its author is a conceivable candidate for the directorship!

THE THREAT OF THE "CHINA THREAT"...and the looming presence of India must, says the editor of Foreign Affairs, be "factored-in" by the G-7 powers. That means not only changes in attitude and strategy, but also changes in representation on international bodies. A valuable "tour of the eastern horizon" by an old friend who was once the editor/publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times and for some years has been in command at the official journal of the New York Council on Foreign Relations.

IN A WASHINGTON LONG AGO...in the 1990s. Richard Brookhiser, fairly often a guest on our program, ponders how "other worldly" Monica, triangulation, Francis Fukuyama and Newt Gingrich now seem. And how unworldly the recent statements from the 9/11 commission have been.

THE GUY WHO LABELLED HIM "SLICK WILLIE"...is still writng good stuff for the Little Rock Democrat-Gazette. And, since 42's confession has appeared, Paul Goldberg has been getting a lot of calls from other journalists. Today, he muses upon Clinton then and Clinton now...and finds: It's the same guy!

MEXICAN-AMERICANS AND MEXICAN AMERICA. We don't usually borrow from Human Events--but with our recent conversations about the ever-growing Mexican immigration issue, this story seemed...aahhhh...pertinent.

THE MAKING OF THE "FINAL SOLUTION." Christopher Browning, one of the major historians of the Holocaust, has been struggling for years with the question of whether the destruction of the European Jews was or was not foreseen in the original Nazi plan. His new book, reviewed for the UK Guardian by Neal Ascherson, offers a clear--but not simple--answer.

ET TU MISSOURI? We don't get particularly angry anymore about reflexively leftist professors. They are, simply, the garden variety of homo academicus americanensis. But the silly stuff gets serious when they misuse their students and turn their courses into recruiting operations. Consider, for example, what seems now to be rather routine at the main campus of the University of Missouri. The report is from Front Page magazine.

ANOTHER TAKE ON MOORE'S FAHRENHEIT. Less scabrous than Chris Hitchens, but still on the "thumbs down" side of the critical ledger, is this "on-target" review by the American editor of the Times Literary Supplement.

FROM THE "FATHER OF THE SYMPHONY." Haydn's 102nd in a particularly graceful performance recorded at the Haydn Festival of 1999.

Tonight on Extension 720, Milt talks with Tom Mockaitis--professor of history at De Paul University--after the 7:10 p.m. Cubs game. You can listen to the show after the game here.

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

Tonight on Extension 720, Milt talks about Jewish life in Chicago after the 6:05 Cubs game. More information about this and other programs is available at our monthly program guide. You can listen to the show after the game here.

A NEO-CON IRAQ WAR HAWK...Robert Kagan (whose recent discussion with us can be heard here) urges the NATO countries to accept their responsibilities and to get into Iraq right now. This article first appeared in the Washington Post.

WHY DOESN'T THE PRESS GET IT RIGHT...when attempting to summarize the report of the 9/11 Commission? That question is raised and answered here by the deputy Director of the Project for the New American Century. (Full disclosure: that is the "think tank" oprganized by and for some of the leading "neo-cons" who urged the removal of the Saddam Hussein regime.)

KEEGAN ON IRANIAN AMBITIONS. John Keegan is one of the best of the military historians. In this article in today's UK Telegraph, he assesses Iranian ambition and finds reason to worry and warn about their rush toward nuclearization.

THE LOOK AND FEEL OF BAGHDAD NOW...is vividly conveyed in this brief article (and the accompanying photos) from Metropolis magazine. Might be a nice place to visit...once they stop the random killing of those who traverse the streets or work to restore the place.

WHO'S SAYING WHAT ABOUT WHATSISNAME? In the wake of the publication (and massive publicization) of Bill Clinton's new apologia pro vita sua, Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post tunes in on some of the partisan reaction.

LINDBERGH AS PRESIDENT. Philip Roth has completed a counter-factual historical novel in which the aviator-hero defeats Roosevelt in 1940. The consequences for Hitler, the Jews, Henry Ford and everyone else are feverishly examined here in a brilliant (and highly personal) article by Ron Rosenbaum of the New York Observer. Two of his discussions on Extension 720 can be heard here and here.

WHAT BILL COSBY REALLY SAID...and how John McWhorter (listen to him here on our program) judges Cosby's message for African-Americans and the truth-evading tactics of those who attacked him for this speech to the NAACP convention.

THE LAST WORK OF A FINE AMERICAN WRITER. John Gregory Dunne completed this novel in the last year of his life and this review in the New York Review of Books suggests that he was reaching out beyond his former range and that, except for a somewhat too-large cast of characters, he succeeded impressively and left us a fine fictional representation of the dark side of American life and of the violence of our time.

WHO CAN COMPREHEND THE MYSTERY OF THE SEMI-COLON? Henry James did and, after we talked with her recently, we thought that Lynne Truss did as well. But now, this devastating--but funny--review, in the New Yorker, of her recent best-selling book on punctuation seems to have punctured her balloon.

AND THEN THERE'S THE CASE OF SIGMUND F. This review of an important book about psychoanalysis and it pretentions appeared a few years ago, but if you haven't read it--or the book it reviews--you might still be saved from spending $50,000 that might better be invested otherwise.

HITCHENS FINDS MOORE TO BE "FLAT-OUT PHONY"...and that is the least of it in this classically contemptuous review of the latter's new film, Fahrenheit 9/11. This burned the screen a few days ago at Slate--and one wonders if Moore will attempt to contest the more-than-persuasive demonstration that he is veracity-challenged.

GETTING INTO JEOPARDY...the TV program, that is, requires endurance, frustration-tolerance and lots of "useless knowledge." One learns a great deal, in fact, from this New Republic article by a program-embedded journalist.

LISZT AT THE PIANO. He wrote and played a lot of stormy, romantic stuff for piano and orchestra...and here are three such works performed last Friday at the 2004 Argerich Festival in Lugano, Switzerland.

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.

A recorded edition of Extension 720 will air tonight after the 7:10 p.m. Cubs game. You can listen to the show after the game here.

THE WAR ON TERRORISTS...is what it should be called rather than the war on "terror." Either way, how is it really going and is it terminable or interminable? This important discussion was posted a few days ago at Front Page magazine.

RADICAL ISLAM IS WHERE YOU LOOK FOR IT...and can, in fact, be found anyplace and everyplace in the Islamic world. In this scholarly (but quite readable!) paper from Orbis, its provenance in the Maghreb of North Africa is expertly examined and its threat realistically analyzed.

THE MESS AT THE 9/11 COMMISSION. It has all been sounding rather out of control and we suspected that there was a story behind the story. Safire of the New York Times seems to have an inside line and, in yesterday's column, he verifies our worst suspicions.

THE WAY WE FIGHT WARS NOW...includes "information war" as a major "battlefield." How that battle is being presently waged and how war is changing evermore in that direction is examined here in a valuable article from Reason magazine.

ON THE CLINTON MEMOIRS. Everyone has, by now, read Kakutani's first page review in the New York Times. Here's another from a source we usually find wise, straight and earnest (in both the direct and the Hemingway senses): namely, Fred Barnes in the National Review.

RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY AND THE ATHIEST ARTISTS. The struggle over religion is renewed in the successor state to the USSR. But, this time, the government is on the side of the church. And an anti-religious art exhibit is at the center, evoking in our memory "Piss Christ" and other such works. This account is from the Moscow Times.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST MALE VETERANS! Is this a real issue? Apparently the writer and his sponsors at iFeminists think it is and that the issue intersects with the question of women in the military. Too complicated to review here--but read this piece and, if you have a reaction, share it in a comment.

GERMAINE GREER IS HECTORING AGAIN...but this time her corrective instruction is directed at her countrymen (countrywomen? countrypersons?) If only they would all identify with the Aboriginals, it might become a place that she would be willing to return to--for a visit, that is. Unintended comic extremity, thy name is Greer!

THE PLAGUE OF PUBLIC PSYCHLOGY...is, these days, represented by Dr. Phil, Oprah's boy. Yecchh! The harm done by such givers of advice to the multitude is incalculable. But their earnings are not. Here, then, a report on the millions this charlatan is raking in. We remind you that the proprietor has spent a full university career as a psychologist (social, not clinical) and he has seen that of which one cannot speak without tears or rage or both.

A "CONSERVATIVE" FATHER AT THE HARVARD COMMENCEMENT. And Oh, tis true, tis true. Not only at Hahvahhd, but at most of the "great American universities." This wistful/mournful report from yesterday's Wall Street Journal does make one wonder where else he might have sent his daughter for her graduate education. Or--since he probably didn't "send" her, where else she might have chosen to go.

ANYTHING BY CYNTHIA OZICK IS WORTH READING TWICE...and that surely applies to this deep-delving essay, from the New Republic, in which she savors the Cossacks of Tolstoy and of Babel.

A DEFENSE OF GIBSON'S "PASSION OF THE CHRIST." We couldn't disagree more with this article from the current issue of First Things--but it does require response. What's yours?

TOO MANY NOTES, MOZART...said the Emperor Joseph II. As for Don Giovanni, many found it too dark and immoral as, indeed, it was; and that is one reason why it remains so popular to this day says Jan Swafford in this article from the U.K. Guardian.

SPEAKING OF DON GIOVANNI...here are two of the show-stopper arias. In the first Leporello recounts the conquests of the Don. In the second the Don is getting launched on a new seduction.

Tonight on Extension 720, Milt discusses the origin and descent of man with two expert paleoanthropologists. More information on this and other shows 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.

HOW 9/11 WAS CONCEIVED, PLANNED AND EXECUTED. The staff of the 9/11 Commission reported to their employers in public session last Wednesday. Here is the full--and riveting--transcript of their testimony.

LET'S SPEAK TRUTH TO SAUDI POWER...says Stephen Schwartz in this strong op-ed from the New York Post. Written after the beheading of Paul Johnson but before the putative beheaders were killed, this article lays much of the ultimate blame for Wahabbist terrorism upon the Saudis themselves.

THE LOT OF WOMEN IN THE SAUDI KINGDOM. According to this article in the UK Economist it is getting better--sort of. Well, it clearly couldn't get much worse. As the old blues has it, "been down so long it seems like up to me."

A WARNING TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE ORGANIZED FEMINIST MOVEMENT...is here issued by Phyllis Chesler: Speak favorably of Israel and critically of the jihadists at your own risk! Her sad and infuriating encounters with her former Movement Sisters are recounted here in this article from Front Page.

THE TIMES, IT IS A'CHANGING. Somehow we have the suspicion that only after the Howell Raines reign was ended could the paper allow its leading book reviewer to give Clinton's memoir so disgusted a review. Note: we said "disgusted" not "disgusting."

THE TIMES STILL HAS A LONG WAY TO GO...if it wants, once again, to be considered a true "newspaper of record" according to this editorial commentary from the always pertinent Real Clear Politics site. On Saddam and Al Qaida, Zarqawi may well be the crucial link and, according to this account, the CIA never said--as the New York Times says it said--otherwise.

SOME PROSPECTIVE GLIMPSES OF THE PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY OF THE NEAR FUTURE. PC Magazine does this sort of thing wonderfully well. And here's their current go round with various technology-informed speculations about how our lives will continue to be reorganized by our "machines."

THE SINS COMMITTED IN THE NAME OF PSYCHOTHERAPY...are many, and sometimes deadly. In this article from Scientific American, Michael Shermer examines the irresponsiblity verging upon madness of so-called "attachment therapy."

THE "DIVERSITY TRAINING" RACKET AT ITS WORST...may well be the blue eyes-brown eyes caper. A columnist for the Rocky Mountain News zeroes in on how it hurts children. She might have added that it can also hurt those who are urged by the "trainer" to treat the "inferiors" with contempt. A real psychological truth is that, to some extent, WE BECOME WHAT WE DO!

AN ENCONIUM FOR TROTSKY...and a curious one at that. The ideationally and ideologically versatile Christopher Hitchens revives the "old man" and his biographer, Isaac Deutcher, with considerable appreciation of both. But would it be totally inappropriate to remember the hundreds of sailors that Trotsky dispatched to death at Kronstadt?

LO-CARBING, MIAMI BEACH STYLE...is far more a fad than a scientifically-grounded regimen. As most diets go, says this article from the Health and Nutrition Letter, so will this one as it is found, by its practitioners, to be big on promises and small in value.

"A GOOD MARK HAS TO HAVE A WELL DEVELOPED SENSE OF LARCENY." That's a maxim widely employed by con men talking about how to find the next victim (i.e. "mark"). The applicability of that bit of wisdom is well illustrated in this chronicle of the great western scam of 1872.

THE SMOOTH FOLK SINGERS...of the fifties and sixties were, in the main, trained musicians who brought out much of the beauty--even as they diminished the vigor--of the largely anglo-saxon folk tradition. Here are some of the best. Our particular favorites: Richard Dyer Bennett and the Everly Brothers.