21.   Republicans have countered that the legislation is a futile effort to deal with a public health problem by raising taxes and creating new government programs.

22.   Some have filed federal lawsuits in what has so far been a futile effort to force the government to honor what military retirees said is a broken promise.

23.   Suing a bootlegger may be a futile effort since only a few of the top bootleggers would have enough assets to justify taking them to court, Clah said.

24.   The angiosarcoma diagnosis was confirmed and he went into emergency surgery, in what was thought to be a futile effort to save his life.

25.   The handful of members tried to persuade wine drinkers to get behind Charbono, but it was a futile effort.

26.   The pancreas responds by pouring out more insulin in a futile effort to overcome this resistance.

27.   The train, with the last surviving unit pouring its smoky heart out in futile effort, comes to a roaring halt.

28.   Tuesday afternoon, Eric Thompson, an Oklahoma city policeman, told of futile efforts to pull Wade out before he died.

29.   Police blocked off roads leading to Mwembechai Mosque, on the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam, in a futile effort to dissuade Muslims from gathering, it said.

30.   After years of futile efforts to convince federal officials to impose high tariffs and quotas on foreign steel imports, steelmakers have found friends within the new Bush administration.