Tonight on Extension 720: Recent crises--from the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean to the mudslides in California--have brought natural and environmental issues to the forefront of our minds. Morever, as the Kyoto Protocol comes into effect next month, what impact will it have on the world's people, countries and businesses? These issues will be addressed tonight by BJORN LOMBORG, associate professor of statistics at the University of Aarhus and the director of the Danish Environmental Assessment Institute, whose latest book Global Crises, Global Solutions describes the future of environmentalism.

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 will return on Monday.

Tonight on Extension 720: At noon today, President Bush will be inaugurated as president for the second time. Now that the presidential campaign is over, what is next for the Bush Administration? Tonight we will examine that very question with a panel of political experts. Under consideration: continuing foreign policy challenges in Iraq, Afghanistan, and looming threats in North Korea and Iran and such domestic issues as Social Security and the tax code, which President Bush has pledged to reform. PERI ARNOLD, professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, JOSEPH WIEGAND, executive director of the Family Taxpayers Coalition, and JIM O'SHEA, managing editor of the Chicago Tribune will give their predictions of what the next four years will bring.

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.

WHAT THE SECOND TERM WILL BE ABOUT...is forecast in this major article from the U.K. Economist. Despite their accustomed left-tilt, the Economist reporters are heavy on informative detail and light on snideness. Tonight on Extension 720 we too will be addressing the main problems and opportunities facing Bush and Co. during their second term.

A FIRST REACTION TO THE INAUGURAL SPEECH: We have examined a number of them...and this one by Jonah Goldberg of the National Review comes close to expressing our own reaction.

JOHN KEEGAN ENDORSES THE IRAQ WAR...and argues against a quagmiristic pessimism in this important article from yesterday's U.K. Telegraph. Keegan, widely regarded as the leading military historian of the westren world, has often been a guest on our radio program.

AND, FURTHERMORE, WE ARE "WINNING" IN IRAQ...says this officer serving there and writing from the battle zone about the poor performance of the on-site (and back-home) press. We are indebted to the proprietor of the Blackfive blog for bringing this important essay to our attention.

HAS SY HERSH BROKEN THE LAW...by revealing, in his latest New Yorker article, that we have spies on the ground (and by specifying what they are up to) in Iran? Tony Blankley of the Washington Times thinks so--and makes a pretty fair case in this column from yesterday's paper.

ROSENBAUM TO RATHER: RESIGN! Ron Rosenbaum of the New York Observer is one of our favorite radio guests and qualifies as a veteran Rather-watcher. He has been pondering the case for a while and now offers some clear advice to the beleaguered and embattled anchor.

IF STALIN RETURNS...can oppression be far behind? This all-too-brief item suggests that "Russian democracy" may be a rather fragile plant whose ground is now being dosed (if ever so lightly at first) with acid.

THE TITANIC LANDING...on the "most earthlike" moon of Saturn yielded some great pictures (see them here) until the lens clouded over.

THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GENOCIDAL MONSTER...was recently published and is reviewed here in The Age of Australia. It would be well to remember always that the likes of Pol Pot may rise again.

WILL POPULARITY AND ADVERTISING KILL THE MONA LISA? The world's most popular painting, says Rochelle Gurstein in this essay published a few years ago, is endangered by the modern uses of iconic objects of art...and the mysterious smiling lady is--by virtue of her use by people with something or anything to sell--in mortal danger.

THE NEW FEDERAL DIETARY GUIDELINES...err in the direction of obsession and are pretty close to being either silly or nutty. So says this credentialed nutrition expert writing (with a fine touch of amused contempt) for Tech Central Station.

HOW HAVE WE LOWERED HIGHER EDUCATION? Let us count the ways. Apart from a reduced and politicized curriculum, grade inflation and the general abandonment of standards of excellence, there is the induced change in "student interpersonal relationships." That's what Tom Wolfe's new novel is about and here is an appreciative--but not uncritical--review from the New Criterion.

BOGUS (BUT "LEGAL") ADVANCED DEGREES CAN BE EASILY PURCHASED...but what to do about people like "Dr." Laura Callahan who use such degrees to advance to positions of prominence and responsibility in government bureaucracy? This article from the current issue of Reason magazine is must (but also amusing) reading.

WE COULD NOT RESIST THIS ITEM...even though the marital adventures of Donald Trump have no connection to our usual concerns. What makes us curious is that this story is written in an east-European accent. Note the absence of such articles as "the," "it" and "that." Is going on, what??

SCHUMANN'S MAJESTIC SECOND SYMPHONY...is heard here in two seperate performances. Dohnanyi's reading is the more stately; Norrington's the more agitiated. Both are worth your close listening.

Tonight, Extension 720 travels back in time to the era of Cicero, Virgil, Juvenal and Catullus as we examine the literature of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Joining us will be two experts--ED MENES, professor of classics at Loyola University Chicago, and DAN GARRISON, professor of classics at Northwestern University--who will read from some of the greatest works of the ancient world

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 will return tomorrow.

Tonight on Extension 720: Antiques are more than simply things that are old. Tonight, we will explore the world of antiques with two guests who make their living in that trade: ALAN ROBANDT of Alan Robandt and Co. and SEAN SUSANIN of Susanin Auctioneers. They will share their knowledge of antiques as well as assess the value of our listeners’ finds.

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 will return tomorrow.

Tonight on Extension 720: The scheduled Iraqi elections are less than two weeks away, and the past few months have seen increasing violence and bloodshed. What will January 30th bring? Wiill the new government be able to control the rising insurgency? And how long will the United States remain after the elections? All these questions and more will be answered by our panel of experts: ART CYR, professor of political science at Carthage College, CHARLES LIPSON, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, and JAMES JANEGA, a reporter from the Chicago Tribune who has recently returned from Iraq.

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.

ASHCROFT BEGINS TO REVEAL...some of the plots that were uncovered on his watch. This article from today's Newsweek is probably the first of many such "inside stories."

LOS DESAPARECIDOS...of Argentina were murdered many years ago and are, only now, being "revenged." But that is happening in a court far away from the scene of the genocidal crime. The coverage of this important trial is from the U.K. Guardian.

MORE LIGHT IS SHED ON DARK ENERGY...by the important studies reported in the new edition of Science News. But, still, the disagreement persists as to whether dark energy is really there!

THE LITTLE PEOPLE OF FLORES ISLAND: Are they a newly discovered species of the genus homo? Or are they merely diminutive members of the sapiens species? Everybody is getting into the act, including a diminutive 100 year-old. The story is from the Guardian correspondent in Indonesia.

HEATHER MACDONALD EXPLORES THEODICY...whether with tongue-in-cheek or in simple indignation, wer'e not sure. But, as always, she doesn't fool around in this brief Slate essay asking about God's role in the tsunami.

THE HEALING POWER OF PRAYER...has, like the death of Mark Twain, been somewhat exaggerated. In fact, the famous Columbia University "miracle study" may well have been a cynical fake. This very skeptical account is, properly, from The Skeptical Inquirer.

AND SPEAKING OF PSEUDO-SCIENCE...how about the quantum mechanics approach to consciousness? Michael Shermer, a fairly frequent guest on our radio program, takes on a new instance of "quantum flapdoodle" in this recent article from Scientific American.

THE HAPPY BACHELOR OF KOENIGSBERG...was, of course, Immanuel Kant who died two hundred years ago after clarifying ethics, epistemology and metaphysics without ever visiting anyplace else in the world. Philosophy now wouldn't be what it has become without him says this contributor to Philosophy Now.

WITH THE BRITISH FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN...in 1878! This vivid account of a major chapter in the "Great Game," as played out by Britain and Russia in Afghanistan a long time ago, was recently published at The History Net.

ORWELL APPRECIATED AT AN UNLIKELY LOCATION...and by an unlikely commentator considering Orwell's disposition toward the Catholic Church. The author of this illuminating essay is a lay Catholic intellectual and First Things is, of course, the leading "Catholic intellectual" journal.

FOR A TOUCH OF THE ORWELLIAN STYLE...try this brief essay on the art of book reviewing and the misery of the reviewer.

THE PERILS OF FRANCOPHILIA...are well demonstrated by an abundance of recent books which celebrate the romantic adventures of non-French women in Paris. This anonymous writer for The Australian is not amused.

THE STUDENTS (SOME OF THEM) ARE REVOLTING! That's not a pejorative judgment; it is a reportorial characterization of visible attempts by a fair number of students on a fair number of campuses to counter professorial leftism run riot. So says Brian Anderson in this article from the Wall Street Journal.

IS COLUMBIA'S MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM ANTI-SEMITIC? The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education thinks it is and has taken action with this letter to the President of the university. This case (it will probably go to litigation unless Columbia rectifies the situation) will bear close watching.

THE REPEAL OF RETICENCE...by Rochelle Gurstein was published some eight years ago and, we predict, will be read for a long time for its devastating analysis of how boorishness and vulgarity have replaced civilized comportment. This fine review by Roger Kimball may well lead you to the book itself.

IN TASTEFUL JAZZ WHO'S BETTER THAN BENNY GOODMAN? NO ONE! And here's a generous collection of many of his classic pieces. Don't miss: String of Pearls, Amapola, Ding Dong Daddy and Stompin' at the Savoy.