News cycles bring tiresome phrases. Like "fiscal cliff." That is a big one lately. Whoever came up with that must be getting big royalties, which is not good for him if we go over that cliff because that means he will owe big taxes come January 1.

We all remember Y2K. Ugh did I get tired of hearing about Y2K. I think that was even bigger than the fiscal cliff. Y2K was forecasting total collapse; might be able to survive the fiscal cliff with just some broken bones.

In 1947 Harry Truman was faced with a railroad strike of hundreds of thousands of railroad workers. It crippled the country. He came up with a brilliant, though marginally legal idea. If the striking employees did not go back to work, he told Congress in an address, he was going to draft them all into the army. It worked. The next day they were all back.

Maybe our president should try something like that. Tell those House republicans who scuttled the deal that they have until tomorrow to agree, otherwise they get drafted and shipped to Afghanistan for duty. Give 'em hell.