Today the Senate, in it's infinite wisdom, successfully passed it's "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" bill, by a 62-36 vote, with two Senators abstaining. Below I list the voters by state, source being senate.gov To their party's shame, only four Democratic Senators (Byrd, WV, Dorgan, ND, Nelson, NE and Stabenow MI) voted against this travesty of a bill, with two more Democrats abstaining. And to the shame of their party, 23 Republicans, including Bill Frist and John McCain voted for this legislation. The sole Independant threw his vote in with the Amnestias, Mr Jeffords of Vermont.

This is the bill which originally, according to admittedly conservative estimates by the Heritage Foundation, would have let in 66 Million+ new Legal Immigrants, over the next 20 years, with more realistic estimates being 1-200 Million over 20 years, although this provision has since been altered to cut the number down to a slightly saner 30-60 Million, a drastic and nation-changing number nonetheless.

Senator Arlen Specter of PA has, evidently, tacked on a little number that will also require the US to to consult the government of Mexico before building any walls on the border, this bill also grants amnesty to any Illegal in the country more than five years, grants a path to citizenship for those here 2-5 years, and politely asks those here less than 2 years to show themselves to the door.

It also, as a sop to the right-minded, doubles the size of the Border Patrol over 5 years.

According to Dr. Robert Rector of the heritage Foundation, this bill's provisions and the immigrants that it allows will cost you, the AmericanTax-Payer, approximately $50 Billion a year for the next 20 years, and Professor George Grayson, one of the nation's foremost authorities on Mexico, says this estimate is most likely too conservative.

This cost will be in Welfare, out-of-wedlock birth aid, food-stamps, education and the various bureaucracies this bill creates to monitor the provisions relating to guest workers. The people let in by this bill, the aforementioned experts point out, will be low-income workers, and therefore will not pay much in taxes, so these various programs they utilise will primarily be paid for by the middle class.

The Congressional Budget Office claims instead that it will cost $13 Billion in "Direct" (or Mandatory) spending for the first ten years, and $54 Billion in "Direct" spending for the next ten, with an additional $25 Billion in "Discretionary" spending (spending subject to appropriations) in this second ten-year period. Somehow it predicts that the tax revenue will increase by $66 Million over the second ten years, giving no estimate for the first.

This, despite Mr Kennedy's assertions, is in fact a net loss, even were it accurate, which various authorities and experts, as noted above, dispute. It should be pointed out that one of those authorites, Dr. Rector, was responsible for the new insertion lowering the number of legal immigrants alowed by the bill, as before the Heritage foundation released it's projection (that a minimum of 66 Million, and a maximum of 200 Million, Legal Immigrants would be allowed to enter the US by the provisions of this bill) the Senate had not even bothered to calculate how many immigrants the bill's provisions would allow in to the country.

Thank God for the House! By all reports and opinions the House of Representatives will most certainly not allow this piece of garbage to become law. The House, with elections looming has miraculously decided to listen to the people's opinion, and the majority of americans think the President, the Democratic Senators and the Republican Leadership of the Senate are insane.

So, the House will not pass the Senate's new "Bill", but unfortunately neither will the Senate agree to Sensenbrenner's bill. Most likely, this will not be resolved by July, like so many of the Pro-Amnesty types in the Senate would like. Personally, I think we should all worry whenever the government tries to rush a bill through.

Below is a list of how YOUR Senators voted! Be sure to reward them appropriately next election.

Grouped by Home State:

Alabama:			Sessions (R-AL), Nay	Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska:			Murkowski (R-AK), Yea	Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Arizona:			Kyl (R-AZ), Nay	McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas:			Lincoln (D-AR), Yea	Pryor (D-AR), Yea
California:			Boxer (D-CA), Yea	Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Conneticut:			Allard (R-CO), Nay Dodd (D-CT), Yea	Salazar (D-CO), Not Voting Lieberman (D-CT), Yea
Delaware:			Biden (D-DE), Yea	Carper (D-DE), Yea
Florida:			Martinez (R-FL), Yea	Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Georgia:			Chambliss (R-GA), Nay	Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Hawaii:			Akaka (D-HI), Yea	Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Idaho:			Craig (R-ID), Yea	Crapo (R-ID), Nay
Illinois:			Durbin (D-IL), Yea	Obama (D-IL), Yea
Indiana:			Bayh (D-IN), Yea	Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa:			Grassley (R-IA), Nay	Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Kansas:			Brownback (R-KS), Yea	Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky:			Bunning (R-KY), Nay	McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Louisiana:			Landrieu (D-LA), Yea	Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Maine:			Collins (R-ME), Yea	Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Maryland:			Mikulski (D-MD), Yea	Sarbanes (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts:			Kennedy (D-MA), Yea	Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Michigan:			Levin (D-MI), Yea	Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota:			Coleman (R-MN), Yea	Dayton (D-MN), Yea
Mississippi:			Cochran (R-MS), Nay	Lott (R-MS), Nay
Missouri:			Bond (R-MO), Nay	Talent (R-MO), Nay
Montana:			Baucus (D-MT), Yea	Burns (R-MT), Nay
Nebraska:			Hagel (R-NE), Yea	Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Nevada:			Ensign (R-NV), Nay	Reid (D-NV), Yea
New Hampshire:			Gregg (R-NH), Yea	Sununu (R-NH), Nay
New Jersey:			Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea	Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico:			Bingaman (D-NM), Yea	Domenici (R-NM), Yea
New York:			Clinton (D-NY), Yea	Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina:			Burr (R-NC), Nay	Dole (R-NC), Nay
North Dakota:			Conrad (D-ND), Yea	Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Ohio:			DeWine (R-OH), Yea	Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma:			Coburn (R-OK), Nay	Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Oregon:			Smith (R-OR), Yea	Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Pennsylvania:			Santorum (R-PA), Nay	Specter (R-PA), Yea
Rhode Island:			Chafee (R-RI), Yea	Reed (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina:			DeMint (R-SC), Nay	Graham (R-SC), Yea
South Dakota:			Johnson (D-SD), Yea	Thune (R-SD), Nay
Tennessee:			Alexander (R-TN), Nay	Frist (R-TN), Yea
Texas:			Cornyn (R-TX), Nay	Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Utah:			Bennett (R-UT), Yea	Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Vermont:			Jeffords (I-VT), Yea	Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Virginia:			Allen (R-VA), Nay	Warner (R-VA), Yea
Washington:			Cantwell (D-WA), Yea	Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia:			Byrd (D-WV), Nay	Rockefeller (D-WV), Not Voting
Wisconsin:			Feingold (D-WI), Yea	Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Wyoming:			Enzi (R-WY), Nay	Thomas (R-WY), Nay

There's been controversy this week, over whether or not to deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border. George W. Bush's grand border-security plan appears, now, to be to offer Amnesty to Illegals already here, or "Guest Worker Programs", and to shut down the border by deploying National Guard units.

Granted 6,000 National Guard deployed in a "support" role, and rotating out every couple of weeks will not shut down the border, nevertheless, that's his plan. It has been pointed out that only about 13% of our National Guard are being deployed over-seas, leaving us with, of course, well over 300,000, and that figure leaves a remainder you can write off for Katrina uses, and emergency response in their own states.

This means we've got at least 200-250,000 men on the government pay-roll who could very easily be used to utterly shut off the border. But we're sending 6,ooo. In a "Support" role, meaning they won't patrol, or detain or guard Illegals. Why? Could it be that Mr. Bush is more interested in securing cheap labour within the country, as well as through out-sourcing, for his corporate sponsors, and that this token deployment of National Guard is just a pre-election stunt to dupe the American People? Hmm, why don't you decide, and then show Mr Bush your decision on Election Day.

I am whole-heartedly behind sending at least 50,000 National Guardsmen to the U.S.-Mexico border, Militarizing this border, using the Guard to patrol and fence off the border, and detain and guard illegals, and stopping this problem once and for all. We can pay for it with the $75 billion tax-cut Mr. Bush is about to give out.

Furthermore, steps need to be taken to remove the illegals already in this country, steps to get them on the other side of the unbreakable border we will have constructed. We also need to penalize large Corperations, like Walmart, who hire Illegals, and this means Executives doing prison time. We also need to hold Vicente Fox's government responsible. His administration released pamphlets on how to sneak accross the border, for God's sake! At the least, huge economic sanctions are called for.

Now, let me say this; As a Conservative, I must walk the line between what I call "Right-Mindedness", and embracing measures that lead to Totalitarianism. Thus, I support sealing the Border, and throwing out the Illegals in this country, but I most certainly do not support using U.S. Regulars (Federal Troops) on the border, violating Posse Comitatus, and I most certainly do not support tamper-proof social-security I.D. cards, or computer-chips surgically inserted into the workforce or any of those nonsensical means of combatting this issue.

Both Republicans AND Democrats have been guilty of suggesting I.D. cards or surgical chips as methods of combatting Illegal Immigration. This is as unacceptable as it is unnecessary. It's pretty obvious who's legal or not, and we could make a lot of headway into removing illegals by simply driving up to a Home Depot and deporting anyone who gets into your car, or by deporting the 500,000 marchers in the Pro-Illegal rally in L.A., for instance, and letting the legals back in after the fact.

As for the National Guard, as long as they don't violate Posse Comitatus, I am perfectly happy with a military presence down there. And indeed, when under State Governors' control, they do not violate it. So long as we don't use Federal troops along the border I see nothing wrong with the idea of Militarizing said border.

This movement of 6,000 National Guardsmen, however, is a pathetic PR stunt, and the President should be called on it.

Tuesday, in Lucasville Ohio, the execution of Joseph Lewis Clark, 57, was delayed for nearly 90 minutes as a state team worked to find a suitable vein for the lethal injection, finally succeeding at 11:26 am that day. Said prison spokeswoman Andrea Dean "This has never happened before". This seems an opportune moment to explain my issues with Capital Punishment.

First off, I don't believe a prosecution can establish guilt irrefutably enough to warrant a death-sentance. If you sentance someone to life-imprisonment, he can still be proven innocent. Not so much when he is dead. In the rare instances when it's an open-and-close case, we still shouldn't execute because it's better not to make exceptions to the rule.

Secondly, as illustrated above, Lethal Injection is essentially Cruel and Unusual punishment, and as I will cite below the above example is not an isolated incident, and Electrocution, Gassing and Hanging have a comparable capacity for gruesome failure, while beheading is generally not considered an option.

In my own opinion, the only humane form of execution is death by firing squad. Very little chance for error there.

Below are a list of botched executions:

Electrocutions:

Frank J. Coppola, 1982, Virginia
It took two 55-second jolts to kill Coppola, whose head and leg reputedly caught fire on the second jolt.

John Evans, 1983, Alabama
It took three jolts to kill Evans, and some flames were involved. The execution took 14 minutes, and left Evans' body blackened and smoking.

Alpha Otis Stephens, 1984, Georgia
There was a six-minute delay between the first and second jolt, during which Stephens struggled to breath.

William E. Vandiver, 1985, Indiana
The execution took 17 minutes and five jolts of electricity. Vandiver's attorney, Herbert Shapps, observed smoke and a burning smell, and called the execution "outrageous".

Horace Franklin Dunkins, Jr. 1989, Alabama
It took two jolts, nine minutes apart, to kill Dunkins. After the first jolt failed to kill Dunkins (who was mildly retarded), the captain of the prison-guard announced to the witnesses that "I believe we've got the jacks on wrong". The cables were reconnected, and Dunkins was successfully killed.

Jesse Joseph Tafaro, 1990, Florida
Three jolts were needed, and six-inch flames shot from his head during these jolts due to the use of a synthetic sponge, rather than the standard natural sponge.

Wilbert Lee Evans, 1990, Virginia
Blood burst from the left side of the mask covering Evans' face upon the first jolt, and he continued to moan until a second jolt was administered.

Pedro Medin, 1997, Florida
Foot-high flames shot out of Medin's head during the elctrocution, filling the room with a foul smell that caused officials to cut of the jolt prematurely. Medin continued to move and breath until the flames went out. Investigations revealed the cause was improper use of a synthetic sponge instead of a natural one (intended to conduct electricity).

Alan Lee Davis, 1999, Florida
"Before he was pronounced dead, the blood from his mouth had poured onto the collar of his white shirt" reported the Gainesville Sun "And the blood on his chest had spread to about the size of a dinner plate". Various witnesses called this scene "An act of torture".


Asphyxiation:

Jimmy Lee Gray, 1983, Mississipi
Officials had to clear the room eight minutes after the gas was released when Gray's desperate gasps for air repulsed the witnesses. Said attorney David Bruck "Gray died banging his head against a steel pole in the gas-chamber while the reporters counted his moans (eleven, according to the Associated Press)". Later, it was revealed that the executioner Barry Bruce was drunk at the time.

Donald Eugene Harding, 1992, Arizona
Death was not pronounced until ten and a half minutes after the cyanide tablets were dropped. During the execution Harding thrashed and struggled violently against the restraining straps. Television Journalist Cameron Harper said: "Obviously this man was suffering. This was a violent death... an ugly event. We put animals to death more humanely."

Lethal Injection:

Stephen Peter Morin, 1985, Texas
Waited to die for 45 minutes while medical personal prodded his arms and legs with needles before they found a suitable vein. The difficulty was caused by his history of drug abuse.

Randy Woolls, 1986, Texas
A drug addict, Woolls had to help medical personel find a suitable vein.

Elliot Rod Johnson, 1987, Texas
Because of collapsed veins the execution took an hour to complete.

Raymond Landry, 1988, Texas
Died 40 minutes after being strapped down, and 24 minutes after being injected, two minutes after the injection the syringe came out of Landry's arm, spraying the deadly chemicals towards the witnesses. It was reinserted behind a lowered curtain, and 22 minutes later he died.

Stephen McCoy, 1989, Texas
McCoy had such a violent reaction to the drugs (heaving chest, gasping, choking, back arching of the gurney etc.) that one of the witnesses fainted, knocking over another witness. "The drugs may have been administered in a heavier dose, or more rapidly than usual" admitted the Texas Attorney General.

Charles Walker, 1990, Illionois
A kink in the plastic tubing going into Walker's arm stopped the injection from reaching Walker as quickly as normal. In addition, the needle was inserted pointing at his fingers instead of his heart, prolonging the execution.

Rickey Ray Rector, 1992, Arkansas
It took medical staff more than 50 minutes to find a suitable vein in Rector's arm. Witnesses were kept behind drawn curtain but reported hearing eight loud moans during the process. During the ordeal Rector (who suffered from serious brain-damage) helped the medical personel find a vein.

Robyn Lee Parks, 1992 Oklahoma
Parks violently reacted to the injection, the muscles in his abdomen, jaw and neck spasming wildly for 45 seconds, and continued to gasp and gag for 11 minutes.

Billy Wayne White, 1992, Texas
White was pronouced dead 47 minutes after being strapped down, due to difficulty finding a vein. Eventually White attempted to assist the authorities find a vein.

Justin Lee May, 1992, Texas
May had a violent reaction to the drugs, "Gasping, Coughing and rearing against his restraints" according to Associated Press reporter Michael Graczyk.

John Wayne Gacy, 1994, Illinois
After the injection began, the chemicals unexpectedly solidified, clogging the IV tube. The execution team replaced the clogged tube in ten minutes, and the affair took a total of 18 minutes to complete. Aenesthesiologists blamed it on the inexperiance of prison officials.

Emmit Foster, 1995, Missouri
Seven minutes after injection, the flow of chemicals stopped. The blinds were dropped as, with Foster gasping, the Officials attempted to fix the problem. 20 minutes after the injection, Foster gasping all the while, it was determined that his restraints were too tight, and were cutting off the flow of Chemicals. Foster died 10 minutes after loosening them.

Scott Dawn Carpenter, 1997, Oklahoma
Carpenter was pronounced dead 11 minutes after the injection began, during which he was noted to have been gasping and shaking for eight minutes, followeed by "A gutteral sound and more gasping for air" untill he stopped moving three minutes later.

Joseph Cannon, 1998, Texas
After Cannon made his final statement the injection began. A vein in his arm collapsed and the needle popped out. Officials dropped a curtain to hide the process from the witnesses, reopening the view 15 minutes later, when a weeping Cannon made his second final statement and the process resumed.

Genero Ruiz Comacho, 1998, Texas
The execution was delayed some two hours due to problems finding suitable veins in Comacho's arms.

Roderick Abeyta, 1998, Nevada
It took 25 minutes for officials to find a suitable vein in Abeyta's arms.

Christina Marie Riggs, 2000, Arkansas
The execution was delayed for 18 minutes when officials failed to find suitable veins in Riggs' elbows. Finally Riggs agreed to the officials' requests to have the needles inserted in her wrists.

Bennie Demps, 2000, Florida
It took 33 minutes for techinicians to find suitable veins in Demps. "They butchered me back there," said Demps in his final statement "I was in a lot of pain. They cut me in the groin; They cut me in the leg. I was bleeding profusely. This is not an execution, it is a murder".

Claude Jones, 2000, Texas
Jones' execution was delayed 30 minutes while the execution "Team" struggled to insert an I.V. into a vein. One member of the team commented "They had to stick him about five times. They finally put it in his leg".

Bert Leroy Hunter, 2000, Missouri
Hunter reacted unusually to the drugs, coughing and gasping for air. "He had violent convulsions; His head an chest jerked up off the gurney, then he lay back down. His body convulsed back and forth like this repeatedly... He suffered a violent and agonizing death" said an attorney who witnessed the execution.

Jose High, 2001, Georgia
High died one hour and nine minutes after the execution began. The EMTs under contract to do the execution searched for a vein for 39 minutes, before giving up and inserting an I.V. into High's hand, and a physician was called in to insert another in between his shoulder and neck.

Note: The list of sources for these executions is, obviously, quite exaustive. I found them in the book "Disinformation: Book of Lists" by Russ Kick. He gives his sources, and if anyone wants them, ask in the comments, and maybe I'll make a whole post for the sources.