and so the corpulent 16th century aristocrats have made their call...

Senate in long recess as leaders seek to rein in Democrats' filibuster rebellion

By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 22, 2011

Before the week is done, one of the longest single "days" in the history of the Senate is expected to finally come to an end.

Amid a long-running dispute over decades-old filibuster rules, Senate leaders have used a parliamentary trick to leave the chamber in a state of suspended animation - in reality adjourned since Jan. 5 but officially considered in a long recess that's part of the same individual legislative day.

This nearly three-week break has taken place in large part so leadership could hold private negotiations to consider how to deal with a group of Democrats agitating to shake up the foundation of the world's most deliberative body, right down to challenging the filibuster.

To the dismay of a younger crop of Democrats and some outside liberal activists, there is no chance that rules surrounding the filibuster will be challenged, senior aides on both sides of the aisle say, because party leaders want to protect the right of the Senate's minority party to sometimes force a supermajority of 60 votes to approve legislation.

(and so we the people watch as our democracy circles the drain...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/22/AR2011012203920.html

I like to look at it as a slide into the Bowels of Hell

the whole truth. From your link:

"The media don’t know Senate procedure, doesn’t understand Senate procedure, and can’t articulate Senate procedure to readers. As a result, the most skittish Democrats get no cover for changing the rules, read in the media untrue statements about what’s on the table, and then their general lack of spine kicks in."

-Laelth