Cliffhanger

I try very hard to never tune in to CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, CSPAN, or really... anything else that tries to tell me what is going on.  I read a LOT. Sometimes too much but I'm sure there are a couple English professors and comic book nerds who would argue that you can never read too much.

I keep hearing some nonsense about a fiscal cliff. Something about tax increases and spending cuts that will come so quickly that they will devastate first quarter spending and hiring and plummet the country into another recession.  I've been paying attention for long enough to remember that every time the democrats want to raise taxes the republicans say it will ruin us, conversely every time the republicans want to cut spending the democrats say the same. You'll have to forgive me for the terrible reference, but when someone tells me that Sylvester Stallone is in another action film stuffed with peril... I must be in for a Cliffhanger.

I loved early Stallone stuff, he always knew how to keep the intensity up and he could throw out a good line.  When I heard that Cliffhanger was coming out I shrugged and shuddered and stayed away from it.  I started hearing pundits preparing their parachutes and decided to shrug and shudder again.  They have to keep up the intensity to sell newspapers and commercials.

The republicans are going to come to the table in the next three weeks and we're going to see something similar to the proposals made three years ago when we started this recession but didn't have the... cliff... to fall from.  Three years ago republicans saw the White House and the Senate within their grasp if they could just hold out and make the democrats look bad.  Unfortunately for the republicans, in a mud fight everyone gets dirty.  Sure, the democrats in congress looked bad for not getting anything done, but so did the republicans.  They didn't win anything and now are trying to save face.  Good for them. I know what it's like to lose and put on a strong show.

We need to lower a lot of taxes, payroll and property chief among them. We need to raise a lot of other taxes (long list that I don't want to make at 5am sorry). We need to cut spending. This means that we need to go through the budget at every level and decide which projects are more important than others. This means that nobody will be happy because everybody is going to lose a little bit. Sorry, if I could make the world a better place I would, but I'm not Superman ;)

We need to stop electing politicians who govern like Thelma and Louise.  The time to test the brakes is on the open road and not pulling up to a cliff. I know it's fun and easy to vote for people who say all the right things but this isn't American Idol... though that would probably increase turnout.

Does anybody remember what happened to Thelma, or even more importantly what happened to Louise? It's kind of important because the voters are a lot like the car. I don't want to spoil the ending for you, so find the movie on Netflix and check how it ends. Sorry for the... cliffhanger?

Syria-sly?

I'm not sure how to start this article with anything witty or funny.  Thousands are dead in Syria.  The Arab Spring has found itself stopped at the edge of the seas of oil.  People are attempting to use non-violent protests against a government that has no problem killing its own citizenry.

So what do we do?

Does the United States invade, like it did in Iraq, to oust a violent dictator propped up by a false democracy?  No.  Does the United States provide weapons for the rebels, like it did in Libya, hoping that the good guys come out on top?  No.  Do we try to convince someone else that it's their turn to do something?  Have fun trying.

The world still has a bad taste in its mouth from our last foray into not-quite-war war.  Generally speaking, sending an army into a country with the sole purpose of killing its leadership and setting up a new government means that you are going to war.  We didn't.  I'm not quite sure how but that's for another article.

Russia and China vetoed a UN resolution that sounded too much like what happened in Libya.  Apparently saying you're trying to stop the violence and then going in with warships and bombs turned a couple of people off.  Last time I checked, overstepping the mandate of UN resolutions and ousting a government was a prime example of war crimes.  I'm still waiting for those indictments to come out of the ICC.

I guess the United States' hands are tied on this one.  I almost forgot to mention that unilateral intervention in another Middle Eastern nation may get on Iran's last nerve and cause them to: 1) close the Strait of Hormuz and cause oil prices to (I'm guessing) double, 2) kick their nuclear weapons project into high gear and have a dirty bomb in (Still guessing) 8 months, and 3) retaliate with strikes on Israel.  I believe that any of these three actions would be seen as an act of war by us and we would cry foul and attack Iran.  Does anybody remember what happened the last time we attacked two middle eastern nations at the same time?  Little thing called World War 1, you guys should read more books.

So who can stop the killing?  Who can step in and make Bashar Al-Assad step down?  I know! Vladimir Putin!  He'll save the day!  He'll make sure that a populace isn't politically quieted.  He'll put his foot down and make sure that racial minorities are represented equally... oh wait... he doesn't even do that in his own country.  He's also facing pressure from protesters who are completely unable to change the status quo.  I could be wrong though, this guy thinks it's a good idea.  I'm not very good at knowing what Putin plans to do though, I've never predicted an international incident of his before.  Though I do, strangely, have Georgia on my mind.

Maybe Mini-Russia can do something.  China has a long history of promoting human rights abroad and supporting democratization efforts... Foiled again!  The country is going through the long process of trying to legitimize the exchange of power from Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping so I don't think they intend to strain the will of the People any more than they have to.  I seem to recall that there is also a small group of people trying to get political recognition from the Chinese, also known as the populations of Tibet, Taiwan, and China.  This guy thinks China is being hypocritical by vetoing a measure that supports the safety of Syrians because it supports the safety of Syrians.  Really?  I've never heard of a politician saying one thing while meaning something completely different.  See: Politics.

Ok, so we have established that the US can't do anything.  Russia and China won't do anything.  Perhaps a neighboring country with similar religious beliefs and historical distrust of outside powers.  Turkey, you say?  They have been trying to get into the EU for a while and this would look REALLY good on their resume.  They seem to be completely disinterested.  Might as well be high school Spanish class...

I hate to be the "blogger of no," so I guess I should say what should happen and what will happen.  Otherwise why would you read this right?

Turkey and Iraq should close their borders to any weapons trafficking and allow only refugees out, nobody in.  Israel will have to be told to stay out of the issue but I don't think that Jordan or Lebanon will want to face the impending sanctions of joining what should be termed an internal struggle.  This is where it gets nasty.  What follows is called a revolution.  Not a coup, an overthrow, or an ousting.  A revolution.  The kind that the Russians and French know about.  The kind where the currently governing don't get to go to another country to keep pecking at the legitimacy of the soon-to-be governing.  The kind where lots and lots of people die.  It's ugly and it's not fair.  It does, however, get to a finish sooner than thousands of people dying unarmed in the streets because they are waiting for the President to step down or the rest of the world to intervene.

What will happen is much less clean.  The problem will continue to be discussed in committees by men and women who are not Syrian.  The Arab League will continue to send in observers who will observe mass killings.  Eventually the people will give up like they did in Iran because oil money is good.  In a few years everyone will forget that any of this happened and thousands will have died in vain.

I, personally, am much more worried about Iran getting a nuke... (I don't know if the sarcasm came through or not so I'll mention that the last statement was satirical.  It destroys the joke but proves the point.)