By PAUL C. CAMPOS, Scripps Howard News Service

The parody rockumentary "This is Spinal Tap'' features a scene in which a fictional rock band's manager defends a particularly idiotic decision by pointing out that he was merely following the instructions of Nigel Tufnel, the band's profoundly clueless lead guitarist.

In what may end up being a particularly unfortunate example of poor timing, Donald Luskin, economic adviser to John McCain, published an article in Monday's Washington Post, arguing that, as his candidate avowed recently, the U.S. economy is fundamentally sound.

Rick Perlstein's new book "Nixonland" does a masterful job of describing the extent to which shamelessness gives a skillful politician a major advantage over ordinary humans.

In my younger and more vulnerable years I once got into a debate with a fundamentalist Christian about the morality of capital punishment. Her view was that the Bible sanctioned the death penalty, and as far as she was concerned that was the end of the matter.

What struck me most about her attitude toward the subject was her contempt for anyone who might see the question differently.

Among other things, the Olympics showcase the amazing diversity of human bodies that lend themselves to athletic excellence. From the 7-foot-5 basketball player Yao Ming, to 4-6 gymnast Deng Linlin; from the bird-like frames of the long distance runners, to the enormous dynamic bulk of the hammer throwers, the Olympics feature athletes who come in a dizzying array of shapes and sizes.

When he became president of the University of Chicago, Robert Hutchins is supposed to have remarked that a college administrator's job was to provide sex for the students, football for the alumni, and parking for the faculty (he promptly eliminated the school's football program, thereby reducing his workload by one third).

ASPEN, Colo. -- I've come to this sybaritic playpen of the rich and semi-famous for the annual Ideas Festival, put on by the Aspen Institute. The idea I'm having at the moment is that I would like to ride in Mr. and Mrs. Fiji Water's swan boat.

Modern journalism should adopt the acronym NAOS (Not an Onion Story), to identify actual news that can't otherwise be distinguished from outright satire. A perfect candidate is the report that Sens. Larry Craig and David Vitter have co-sponsored the Marriage Protection Amendment.

Exactly a decade ago Washington's social elites went into a pearl-clutching swoon over Bill Clinton lying to the nation -- and, far less forgivably, to them -- about the details of his sex life.

Every month I get a few e-mails from people who want to reveal to me the real truth about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The truth, according to my correspondents, always involves some incredibly elaborate conspiracy theory in which the U.S. government staged the attacks to justify the so-called war on terror and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.