So often the story is that the U.S. Senate has stupid rules that allow one member to block legislation when the legislation being blocked is thought of as a goo

So often the story is that the U.S. Senate has stupid rules that allow one member to block legislation when the legislation being blocked is thought of as a good thing - such as unemployment extension, aid to Haiti, etc. So it cuts both ways. We should be careful about praising this rule too much since often we criticize it when we like the legislation being blocked.