>This is a lead story on cnn.com tonight. She went to vote in favor of the debt ceiling deal. I keep clicking the video link and it seems absolutely swamped. Understandably so. I doubt I am the only one who has wondered whether she will fully recover, even whether she is a vegetable. There probably was brain damage but it's encouraging to see a still photo of her at the Capitol upright and smiling.
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>http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/08/01/debt.talks/index.html?iref=BN1&hpt=hp_t1
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>Also: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/02/us/politics/02scene.html?_r=1&hp
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>It's an old, old rule of the news business that first you have to grab people's interest. A video of Giffords on the House floor tonight? That is human interest through the roof. No wonder the site is swamped.
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>UPDATE: If you missed or didn't care about the Arizona shooting spree in January in which Rep. Giffords was shot in the head, here are some photos of her "before." It's a miracle she is still alive.
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>http://www.google.com/search?q=gabrielle+giffords+photos&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=3XQ&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivnsuo&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=6GM3TozNOunl0QH3pvX3Aw&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1337&bih=586

Raises an interesting point about if she was mentally fit to vote and what the process would be to bar someone from voting due to their mental state (through illness or injury). Is there a proxy process ? Do you have a pairing arrangement in the US ?.

We've has cases in the UK where on a vote which is going to be very close MPs have been brought in on stretchers to vote.