Great songs of The Decade That Shall Remain Nameless: "The Laws Have Changed" by the New Pornographers

Introducing for the first time (which is a lyric from tonight's song!), a new regular feature between now and the end of 2009, to get us through these dark nights when there's no baseball in Philadelphia and no common sense in Washington -- the greatest songs of the our-not-so-great decade, counted down in no special order or rhyme or reason. We kick off with The New Pornographers, the Vancouver-based ersatz supergroup of the greatest genre of them all, power pop. "The Laws Have Changed, off 2003's Electric Version CD, is my favorite from them, partly because of the contribution of chanteuse (and solo star in her own right) Neko Case, and partly because I still foolishly hope that some of America's laws -- regarding healthcare, anyway -- will change one of these days. My only complaint about the New Pornographers is their name -- I'm convinced that's why they won't stock their CDs at my local public library. Also, be warned that the video here is unofficial and a little loopy, in a good way.

Feel free to suggest your own choices for best songs of the decade, and I'll try to feature a reader selection every week. Also, feel free to address one of my pet peeves, which is that we went through the entire decade without, you know, NAMING IT! I blame Bush for that.