OK, I’m back: what’s the news on the fiscal cliff?

ahh.  The gasoline has been poured over the piles of old newspaper, plywood, and tar-soaked straw; the piles of flour have been fully dispersed into the air by the jets of pure oxygen; several crates of old nitroglycerin have been stacked precariously upon each other; and now various members of Congress are absently patting themselves down, in order to try to find a match.

Joy.