As the debate rages over letting some of the Bush tax cuts expire, Republicans have raised their starve-the-beast theory from its coffin. They insist that government (the "beast") can be shrunk by cutting taxes: The less money government has, the less government there can be.
Time has not been kind to this theory. The beast never did better than when tax-cutting Republicans were in charge.

A half a century ago, I spent the longest 13 weeks of my life at an out-of-the-way place called Parris Island, S.C., then and now the home of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.
We were strangers who arrived there in the middle of the night and were immediately relieved of all our civilian clothing and possessions -- including our hair. Standing there confused, apprehensive and bald, I remember asking myself over and over: What the hell am I doing here?

Forget rain, mosquitoes and mice who get into the marshmallows. The fastest and most effective way to ruin this glorious season is to open up the packet marked "Summer Homework."

The most wrong assumption in the sci-fi movie classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" was that technology would liberate humans from a life of hassle. Made 42 years ago, Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece shows 21st century humankind going about its business in a leisurely fashion as machines do the bull work. A gentle Strauss waltz plays in the background.

You don't need to be a political pollster, much less a worried Democrat, to know that the president's approval ratings have plummeted. "Down to the immediate family," we used to say mockingly, when President Bush was at about the same point. Of course, it's a little bit better than that -- down to the hardcore, the yellow dog Democrats (as in, I'd rather vote for a yellow dog than a Republican), but there's no denying that the bloom is off the rose, and any other cliche you can think of.

It's a savage wilderness, here in my city yard. From a distance, it looks like a Victorian postcard -- a pastoral scene of sweet flowers, sun-kissed vegetables and trilling birds. The reality is considerably rougher. Hang around, and one sees a Darwinian jungle of predators and prey. The Animal Planet's "Untamed & Uncut" program has nothing on my backyard.

Mike Murphy, the successful and shrewd Republican media strategist, is a heretic within his own party. Sensitive to the near-universal reverence Republicans of all ages pay to the legacy and presidency of Ronald Reagan, Murphy bluntly warns his fellow GOPers that -- given the profound, and continuing, demographic changes over the past three decades -- Ronald Reagan would have a tough time beating Jimmy Carter today.