Apparently, Congresswoman Giffords is still a long way from being able to meet her obligations to her consitituents:

Asked for a blunt description of Giffords’ condition, her chief of staff, Pia Carusone, replied: “She’s living. She’s alive. But if she were to plateau today, and this was as far as she gets, it would not be nearly the quality of life she had before.”

As to whether she resembles herself before the shooting, Carusone said, “There’s no comparison. All that we can hope for is that she won’t plateau today and that she’ll keep going, and that when she does plateau, it will be at a place far away from here.”

The news may be sobering, but it’s not necessarily a surprise. The state of Giffords’ health has been closely guarded information as early, hopeful accounts of her rapid physical and motor recovery yielded to more cautious — and less frequent — reports. She remains at a Houston rehabilitation facility while her staff manages her day-to-day congressional business.

Well, her staff can’t vote for her. Her constituents are essentially unrepresented in Congress. If I were one, I’d be demanding her resignation so they can have a special election, and if it didn’t happen, I’d try to recall her. But her staff doesn’t seem to think there’s a problem:

As far as her political career goes, the only deadline her staff is keeping in mind is May 2012, when she would have to file for reelection if that is her plan.

So they plan to have this go on for at least another year, and perhaps the rest of her term. It’s a tragedy, but if she can’t perform the job, she needs to be replaced with someone who can.

[Update a few minutes later]

It looks as though there is an Arizona law that could take care of the situation, but the Republicans seem reluctant to use it.

…of Illinois:

Over the last few years, surveillance video has also exposed a number of police abuses in Chicago, including one episode in which an off-duty cop savagely beat a female bartender who had refused to continue serving him. He was sentenced to probation.

In 2008, the city made national headlines with another major scandal in which officers in the department’s Special Operations Unit — alleged to be made up of the most elite and trusted cops in Chicago — were convicted of a variety of crimes, including physical abuse and intimidation, home robberies, theft and planning a murder.

In a study published the same year, University of Chicago Law Professor Craig B. Futterman found 10,000 complaints filed against Chicago police officers between 2002 and 2004, more than any city in the country. When adjusted for population, that’s still about 40 percent above the national average. Even more troubling, of those 10,000 complaints, just 19 resulted in any significant disciplinary action. In 85 percent of complaints, the police department cleared the accused officer without even bothering to interview him.

Yet Alvarez feels it necessary to devote time and resources to prosecuting Chicagoans who, given the figures and anecdotes above, feel compelled to hit the record button when confronted by a city cop.

This is outrageous.