The failure of the US Senate to even consider a proposed bipartisan resolution opposing a troop buildup in Iraq (Levin-Warner) reminds me of an old song. That song is “Eve of Destruction”, written by P. Sloan and made famous by Barry McGuire in 1965. The lines that I’m thinking of go like this:

“I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation
A handful of Senators don’t pass legislation”

That old mock-Dylan protest song is more than 40 years old now, and some of the lines are badly out of date (e.g., Red China isn’t so red anymore and isn’t a bastion of hate, any more than any other nation; 18 year olds now have the vote; Selma, Alabama isn’t any worse on racial issues than the rest of the nation; the “nuclear button” that would start a cataclysmic war between Russia and the USA isn’t likely to be pushed anymore; astronauts stay up in the space station for four months now, versus four days; etc.). But the general themes of that song remain current, quite unfortunately. It’s still a scary world, and even though the “eve of destruction” hasn’t turned into the night of anarchy and terror, we’re still not much better off than in the mid-60s.

P.S.: you could easily update the line in that song about China and Selma as follows: “Imagine all the hate there is in Al Qaeda; then take a look around to Laramie, Wyoming” (where Matthew Shepard was beaten to death).