Despite the manner in which the media is playing up the filibuster showdown, like it’s some WWE cage-match, the process itself is… well, quite boring.

Here is how the brawl will take place:

Probably Tuesday, the Senate will take a “test vote” to show majority support for nominee Priscilla Owen (as probably all Republicans would vote for her). After the test vote, the process leading to the nuclear option will occur.

1. Sen. Frist will raise a “point of order” to the presiding officer — most likely the lovable Dick Cheney. He’ll make the case that Owen’s nomination has been debated long enough and that only a simple majority of 51, rather than a filibuster-proof 60 votes, should be needed to confirm a nominee.

2. Cheney will rule in Frist’s favor.

3. Democrats will appeal Cheney’s ruling.

4. Republicans will ask for a vote to “table” the Democrats’ appeal. This is the vote that would actually change the rules to the so-called nuclear option. Fifty-one votes are needed to kill the appeal; Cheney would, of course, break a tie in Frist’s favor.

5. If Frist has enough votes to kill the Democrats’ appeal, he would then call for a vote on Owen’s confirmation. With the new rule in place, filibusters on judicial nominees would be prohibited; only 51 votes would be required for her confirmation. And with 55 Republican Senators, Bush’s nominees would then most likely be confirmed.

And thus ends checks-and-balances as we know it.

According to Bloomberg’s Janine Zacharia, these are the democrats considering voting for John Bolton, according to aides of each.

Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut
Ben Nelson of Nebraska
Mark Pryor of Arkansas

If you are a democrat and you live in one of those states, get on the phone and bitch those people out. Call their offices and ask them how they could vote for a thug like John Bolton.

This is the John Bolton that was going to make a case that Fidel Castro has WMD. When a staffer said there was no evidence, John Bolton tried to fired him. Yes, friends, Bolton was going to set Castro up as the next Saddam with the same lying and under-handed abuse of the intelligence community that got us into the Iraq war. This is the guy they want to send to the UN.

There are two reasons I don’t read movie reviews until after I’ve seen a movie. One, I generally disagree with the reviewer and two, I don’t want them to color my opinion or dish spoilers without warning. This list falls under the generally disagree category.

It’s been well-documented in film laboratories across the globe that any Greatest Movies List that doesn’t include Shawshank Redemption, The Usual Suspects, and Fight Club is worth less than the trash bins in which half the movies on the actual list now sit. Of course, if you have a time machine or membership in the foreign bondage film society, you might have actually seen some of the films included on this list, which is clearly intended to make the folks at Time look like they appreciate true art and mask their true intent: encourage discussion of their latest list and in turn spike circulation. It’s a truly sad marketing ploy that those who appreciate art would never consent to doing.

By the way, visit spittingllamas tomorrow to see our list of the Ten Best Television Series Ever.