Milt Rosenberg

So most of the week the media has been focusing on the political implications of the Iranian nuclear agreement and, while we will discuss that pertinent aspect of the deal, we thought we should look into the science behind their capabilities. What do we know? What is speculative?

We brought in Rachel Bronson of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Karim Pakravan, an Iranian who immigrated to the states who teaches finance at DePaul, Jeff Terry, Nuclear Physics expert and professor at IIT, and Lee Smith of the Weekly Standard.

Father Abraham had many sons, and from those sons were born three of the worlds greatest faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While much is made of the differences between and the conflicts that have emerged amidst these groups, the fact that remains that we share common ancestry. So, what are the commonalities of those faiths? What are their differences? So, it goes like this: A Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim walk into a radio studio....  Actually, they did, but its not the beginning of a joke, its the way we began a great conversation, by inviting Rabbi Sam Gordon, Chaplain Omer Mozaffar, and Dr. Michael Graves to the studio to talk about how the sons of father Abraham begat three faiths, and how those faiths view this world and the next.

Interpretations of the long-term consequences of the nuclear agreement between the U.S., Iran and a host of other nations at the negotiating table are a disparate as American and Iranian ideas of freedom. Many herald it, but seemingly more are wondering how we could have given an inch to a nation so preoccupied with chanting death upon America and Israel.

We assembled a panel to discuss the breaking news, namely Chris Robling, Joseph Morris, Fred Kagan and Charles Hoskinson. This is the biggest story in the world at the moment, and we owe it to you to discuss.

Rosenberg. Milt Rosenberg. He always aims to bring you compelling talk. That was the goal with bringing journalist Stephen Grey to the program. Grey has just penned a new book in which he tackles the history and changing nature of spying as we have emerged from the Cold War and are now right in the middle of the War on Terror.

Grey was the journalist who brought the CIAs rendition program to light. Now he fills us in on how the game has changed to combat new threats and new technologies.

The largest empire the world has ever known. A genius general of a Mongol horde that raped, pillaged, and burned its way across China, Central Asia, and all the way to the Atlantic. But most people know precious little about Genghis Khan other than the face that he was a successful warrior, a brutal subjugator of his enemies, and, perhaps, the progenitor of millions of people.

The great historian Frank McLynn has tacked this enigmatic figure of history in his latest book. It is well worth the read. McLynn did his book justice in this recent interview.

Radio aint what it used to be. From its beginning as a vehicle to broadcast weather and farm reports to an agricultural America to broadcasting the sounds of big bands from New York or Chicago to Orson Welless War of the Worlds broadcast, radio was king. That is, of course, until it was dethroned by its picture-producing cousin, television. And even though radio is still the most utilized medium in media, things have changed. Now its a bastion of pop-culture or political talk or Top 40 or country tunes.

But many long for the days of the radio dramatization or comedy and, fortunately for us in Chicago, the SAG-AFTRA Radio Players have kept the golden era of radio alive. They joined Milt ahead of their show this month for a sampling of some of their (and Milts) favorites. This was a fun show!

In 1956, an influential group of leaders published The Fabulous Future: America in 1980, in which they attempted to project how various aspects of life might look in 25 years or so. Some of it they got right, some of it wrong. Its a noble task and an interesting concept for which editors might gather the opinions of leaders in their fields.

Our friend Gary Saul Morson and his colleague (and Northwestern University President) Morton Schapiro have rebooted this concept for their new book, The Fabulous Future? America in 2040. Drawing on prognosticators of religion, technology, politics, medicine and more, this book paints a possible picture of what we may face in the next 25 years. A great effort by two fine minds.

Space. The Origins of the Universe. Black Holes. Dark Matter. Its seemingly impossible to tire of discussing the timeless question of how we got here. Sometimes we tackle this topic from a spiritual viewpoint, or we entertain a metaphysical talk. But more likely we turn to our friends in academia, specifically those who study cosmology.

Two of the leading scientists on cosmology and dark matter, in particular, are Drs. Michael Turner (who coined the term) and Don Lincoln, both affiliated with Fermilab. Turner has long been the head of Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago. Lincoln is a guest professor of high energy physics at Notre Dame in addition to his regular post as a senior physicist at Fermilab and also work on the Large Hadron Collider at Cern, on which hes written another fantastic book.

Charles Murray is no stranger to controversy and, piggybacking on a similar theme from a recent episode of this program, was castigated in the media for his findings in his hugely influential book, The Bell Curve, published back in 1994.

His newest work, By the People, is no less important and incredibly timely in its focus on the American political system.

Highlighting how we can use the leviathan nature of government against itself and, interestingly, by taking the approach of the Church of Scientology of using the courts against those that threaten liberty, Murray outlines a way to take the nation back to its founding principles. Also fascinating is his fresh look at how increases in immigration can also return us to those values of liberty. They appeal to new Americans, even if theyve been lost on those here for generations.

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Watch what you say. Dont offend anyone.Be sensitive to the feelings of others. Censor yourself. These are probably suitable pieces of advice if youre going to Sunday school, but if youre trying to engage in political talk they are impossible to attain. Yet, somehow, our nation finds itself at a crossroads at which free speech often yields to silence in an ever-increasing mania of political correctness.

As conservative media figures, Guy Benson and Mary Katharine Ham finds themselves at the nexus of good manners and heated rhetoric. So theyve combated this insanity with their new book and with a healthy dose of humor. Timely and informative, this is the right conversation at the right time.