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.WASHINGTON (AP) — Emergency legislation to avoid an economy-rattling government default sped through the House Monday night, a scant day before the deadline for action — the dramatic vote made all the more memorable by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' first appearance in Congress since suffering a head wound in a shooting six months ago. The vote was 269-161, but all eyes were on Giffords, who drew thunderous applause as she walked into the House chamber and cast her vote in favor of the bill.

Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has returned to Washington and will vote on the debt ceiling bill tonight. It will be her first vote since the Jan. 8 shooting in Tucson. More on this story as it develops.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) has just come to the U.S. House floor to cast her first vote since the shooting, in favor of the debt ceiling "deal", which has just passed. She entered via a wheelchair, but was last seen standing on her own accord after the vote completed. We wish her well. This certainly answers questions about whether she would serve or resign. Let's hope that her post-recovery career is less in line with the disgusting Raul Grijalva and her buddy Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and more in line with the people of Arizona, on SB1070 and illegal immigration.

Lawyers for the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage say prison officials have resumed forcibly medicating their client with a psychotropic drug. Jared Lee Loughner's attorneys in filings Thursday questioned whether the forced medication violates an earlier order by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that forbid them from involuntarily medicating Loughner as the court mulls an appeal on his behalf. The filings say officials at the federal prison facility in Missouri resumed the forced medication on an emergency basis because Loughner had become an immediate threat to himself. Loughner's attorneys say their client has been on 24-hour suicide watch,...

A three-judge federal appeals panel has ruled that Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner can refuse anti-psychotic medication. Tuesday's ruling comes days after the court said it would review an appeal by attorneys for the government who argued the alleged gunman should be forced to take anti-psychotic drugs for his behavior. The federal appeals court last week temporarily halted the forced medication. "Since Loughner has not been convicted of a crime, he is presumptively innocent and is therefore entitled to greater constitutional protections than a convicted inmate," court documents said.

PASADENA, Calif.—A three-judge federal panel pressed a U.S. Justice Department attorney Thursday to justify the government's decision to force psychotropic drugs on Jared Loughner, who is accused of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others in January in Tucson, Ariz. The judges appeared skeptical of the government's argument that Mr. Loughner could be involuntarily medicated without clearance from a court.

Friday marks six months since the Tucson shooting which severely injured Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the White House is now hinting it's prepared to add its own voice to the gun control dialogue that tragedy reignited. "As you know, the President directed the Attorney General to form working groups with key stakeholders to identify common-sense measures that would improve Americans' safety and security while fully respecting Second Amendment rights," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday. "That process is well underway at the Department of Justice with stakeholders on all sides working through these complex issues. And we...

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has temporarily halted the forced medication of Tucson shooting defendant Jared Loughner until a three-judge panel can hear competing arguments from his lawyers and prosecutors by mid-week. Loughner is charged with seriously wounding U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a January rampage that also left six others dead. The brief order from a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals set a tight deadline for lawyers from both sides to file more detailed legal briefs. The federal government has until 5 p.m. PT Wednesday to argue the involuntary medication should continue....

Arizona shooter Jared Lee Loughner was declared unfit to stand trial last month, a ruling that put government prosecutors in a position of having to try to restore Loughner to a mental state that would allow him to defend himself in court. Prison officials is Missouri, where Loughner currently is undergoing a mental evaluation, decided earlier this month to try to medicate Loughner against his will with anti-psychotic drugs. But lawyers representing Loughner have asked a federal judge to block prison officials from forcibly medicating Loughner, WSJ reports. U.S. District Judge Larry Burns is considering the issue at a hearing...

(Reuters) - A federal judge has ordered a hearing on Tucson shooting rampage suspect Jared Loughner's petition to stop prison officials from forcibly medicating him with anti-pyschotic drugs. U.S. District judge Larry Burns set the hearing for 2 p.m. on June 29 at the U.S. District Court in San Diego, California. Loughner, being held at a federal prisoners' hospital in Missouri, is not expected to attend, a spokesman for the prosecution said.

In the months since the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, reports about her condition have been sparse. We have learned of a follow-up surgery to repair her skull and that she was recently released from a rehabilitation hospital. Also released were a set of photos. We still, however, do not know the extent of her injuries. Out of respect for the privacy of the family, the media has not delved too deeply into the more common and troubling aftereffects of a serious trauma to the brain. Should the media and the public be so reluctant to demand more information?...

Attorneys for Jared Loughner, accused shooter of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others, have filed an emergency motion to block federal authorities from forcibly medicating their client with anti-psychotic drugs. The motion, filed Friday in Tucson, Ariz., federal court, argues that the Justice Department is making "an end run" around Mr. Loughner's right to contest such treatment by misusing the rules governing administering such drugs. [BIG snip] According to the Friday court filing, federal officials took this second route by declaring the defendant a danger to others. This claim only came after Mr. Loughner refused to be medicated in an...

(CNN) -- In the months since the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, reports about her condition have been sparse. We have learned of a follow-up surgery to repair her skull and that she was recently released from a rehabilitation hospital... ...Should the media and the public be so reluctant to demand more information? The Arizona Democrat is not just a private citizen; she is a sitting member of Congress. Do Giffords' responsibilities demand a more searching inquiry into her health? No one is asking this question because it seems moot... ...In reality, the congresswoman is not carrying out any...

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. -- Winston ChurchillThere is history -- a chronicle of human events -- and then there is perceived history. So often, the two are wildly at odds. In 1963, a popular Democratic president was assassinated by a Marxist named Oswald, who had actually defected to the Soviet Union and returned to the U.S. with a Soviet wife, was an active member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, and had attempted to assassinate a right-wing general named Edwin Walker earlier in the year. Yet those who write history found...

Senator Mark Kelly? That’s the question in political circles this week. The minute Kelly, 47, announced his retirement from the Navy and NASA Tuesday, the behind-the-scenes speculation that’s been brewing for weeks went public: Will the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords run for office himself? One of Arizona’s Senate seats is open in 2012, thanks to the retirement of Jon Kyl. Giffords has been polling way ahead of any other Democratic candidate, even amid uncertainty about her recovery. Now the name of her Gulf War vet-turned-astronaut husband is in play. “Gabrielle is working hard every day on her mission of...

TUCSON, Ariz. - Federal agents were worried that the gun used to shoot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in the head could have been part of the controversial “Fast and Furious” gun-tracking operation. They learned eventually that it had not, sources said. The “Fast and Furious” operation was a program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that authorized and monitored the sale of weapons to known and suspected straw purchasers for Mexican drug cartels with the stated goal of exposing and dismantling gun trafficking routes. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) held...

Debbie Wassermann has been making an ass of herself for WEEKS in the national press....but Miami "news" outlets haven't been showing her idiocy. FINALLY today, anyone wondering where DWS has gone saw some "coverage" of the chair of the Democrat Party. What news did the Democrat poodle for Obama make? She spoke about wounded congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, of course! She also flip flopped on the Weiner issue.

HOUSTON (AP) -- An aide to wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords says the Arizona congresswoman could be released from her rehabilitation hospital in Houston as early as this month. Chief of Staff Pia Carusone tells The Associated Press that the congresswoman may leave TIRR Memorial Hermann by the end of this month or early July. However, there is no set date for Giffords' release. Her husband astronaut Mark Kelly has said she would continue outpatient therapy in Houston upon her release.

Gabrielle Giffords is nowhere close to returning to Congress. And there remains real doubt about whether she ever will. That appears to be the bottom line of an article Thursday in the Arizona Republic that provides the most complete assessment yet of the wounded congresswoman’s current condition. Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman in Tucson in January. Now, six months later, she still struggles mightily to communicate, although her staff believes her comprehension skills are strong. And it remains unclear just how much damage her brain has suffered. Asked for a blunt description of Giffords’ condition, her...

1- "Guns Save Lives" Censorship Opposed -- in Court The lamestream media told you: The city of Phoenix has censored 50 ads for the educational program of a local gun-safety training association, TrainMeAZ.com. We oppose censorship in all its forms. The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that: Although the "news" media steadfastly censors news about firearms, self-defense cases, new firearm products, the shooting sports and basically anything that confirms that guns are good, save lives, stop crime, and help keep America free -- the media is intolerant of censorship by government, and in this case it's a good thing. On May...