Mama Mia! It sounds like an Italian version of a Leslie Nelson movie, but it’s true. Last night Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi narrowly lost a vote of confidence and resigned. But the real drama happened before as the senate debated the Prodi vote.

After one senator announced that he would defy his own party and vote for Mr. Prodi, another member of that party stormed into the chamber and yelled insults at the senator. Then another politician spat in the senator’s face. And then the senator fainted and was carried out on a stretcher.

OK. That’s really not funny. But The good news is the fainted senator is OK. The bad news is that Silvio Berlusconi, the former Prime Minister, current richest man in Italy, and life-long fan of hair plugs, facial surgery, AND Benito Mussolini (really) is taking advantage of the mayhem and the political vacuum, calling for immediate elections, which, it looks like, he will win.