Senate votes 83-16 for a US-Mexico fence

Well, things are moving so quickly on the immigration front, it's a wonder I get any sleep.

You may see me uploading a few posts every day, time permitting between catching up with work and having a life and going to immigration rallies.

Yesterday I wrote about an immigration victory, today I'm here to talk about defeat. Apparently our millions of voices, immigrants and immigrant supporters alike - failed to make an impression on our US Senators. So what we need to do is to call their offices and tell them exactly what we think.

Today there are more than a few senators that I'm disappointed in for their votes to build a 370 mile fence on the southern border. When 28 Dems vote with 55 Republicans, that's cause for crying and then kicking some ass (Democratic and Republican alike.)

Read 'em and weep (my thoughts in italics):

Alabama

Sessions (R) Yes; Shelby (R) Yes. no surprises here

Alaska

Murkowski (R) Yes; Stevens (R) Yes. What do you expect of Lisa "hand me down your Senate seat, Daddy" Murkowski and "Bridge to Nowhere" Stevens?

Arizona

Kyl (R) Yes; McCain (R) Yes. I thought McCain was supposed to be pro-immigrant. He cosponsored a great bill with Kennedy, right? Oh sorry, that was the OTHER John McCain. The one who's not running for President and who doesn't appear at Jerry Falwell's university?

Arkansas

Lincoln (D) Yes; Pryor (D) Yes. Two turncoat Dems from a conservative state.

California

Boxer (D) Yes; Feinstein (D) Yes. Two turncoat Dems from a state with the highest number of naturalized citizens every single year. From a state with the most militant immigrant rights organizations in the country. We're talking sit-ins and hunger strikes here. Two Democratic women who don't know the meaning of compassion. Call them and tell them you expect, no demand better. They are in the safest of safe seats. Whip them into shape.

Colorado

Allard (R) Yes; Salazar (D) Yes. It's good to be a Latino and to vote against people who look like you. That way you can say that you aren't just playing the race card or pandering to the community. Then you can say you gave your Republican counterpart political cover. Great.

Connecticut

Dodd (D) No; Lieberman (D) No. Call these guys and thank them for their votes. Although I highly doubt that Lieberman would have done this if he wasn't in a competitive primary with a challenger from the left. Dodd is in a safe Dem seat. I guess it's okay if he sells us out on prescription drugs and big Pharma (???)

Delaware

Biden (D) Yes; Carper (D) Yes. Dems in safe seats again who decided to screw over the powerless.

Florida

Martinez (R) Yes; Nelson (D) Yes. I guess that lovey dovey story from the NYTimes about Martinez's personal refugee escape from Cuba isn't enough. Because you know, an ocean is like a wall, except that you can swim through it. Nelson is a disappointing vote but hey, let's see who else sold us down the river...Let's call both and scream bloody murder.

Georgia

Chambliss (R) Yes; Isakson (R) Yes. Unsurprising. Call them and yell at them for the heck of it anyway.

Hawaii

Akaka (D) No; Inouye (D) No. Good, a pair of Dems who are doing the right thing, unlike Salazar. Plus Akaka's got some serious primary competition and he still does the right thing. Show them some LOVE. Plus our community's only representatives in the Senate do the right thing.

Idaho

Craig (R) Yes; Crapo (R) Yes. Need we go there?

Illinois

Durbin (D) No; Obama (D) No. It's immensely important to have a solid immigration organization (ICIRR) in place to hold people accountable.

Indiana

Bayh (D) Yes; Lugar (R) Yes. Scratch Bayh off my presidential primary list.

Iowa

Grassley (R) Yes; Harkin (D) Yes. Harkin, Harkin, Harkin. Usually you're so good on labor and the minimum wage. Who or what convinced you to vote against future constituents? Plus Grassley's a bit disappointing too, he's normally rational enough.

Kansas

Brownback (R) Yes; Roberts (R) Yes. This is Brownback who is supposed to be an immigrant ally. Everyone's just showing their true colors here today. I'm blinded by the ugly!

Kentucky

Bunning (R) Yes; McConnell (R) Yes. Dos idiotas.

Louisiana

Landrieu (D) Yes; Vitter (R) Yes. Conservative state who got hit hard by Katrina. And who helped rebuild? Why undocumented immigrants did. And they worked damn hard too. Here's how you repay that effort?

Maine

Collins (R) Yes; Snowe (R) Yes. The Senate's too most reasonable and progressive Repubs sell us out too. Maine, just because it's too cold there for most immigrants doesn't mean that we don't matter.

Maryland

Mikulski (D) Yes; Sarbanes (D) No. Thank you Senator Sarbanes. Mikulski, you can go jump in the gutter.

Massachusetts

Kennedy (D) No; Kerry (D) Yes. Thank you Ted Kennedy. Kerry, don't think that the immigrant community won't remember this next time around. In fact, I'm going to turn your vote into a talking point and crucify you with it from the left.

Michigan

Levin (D) Yes; Stabenow (D) Yes. Shoot, Stabenow backstabs us twice in 2 days. It's more like Stab-me-now and Stab-me-later. I'm dying here. Plus Levin?!? Call these guys and yell at them!

Minnesota

Coleman (R) Yes; Dayton (D) Yes. Dayton, you're leaving your seat, you don't have to run again or justify your decision. Couldn't you have taken a courageous stance for once in your life?

Mississippi

Cochran (R) Yes; Lott (R) Yes. Ugh, when you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all.\

Missouri

Bond (R) Yes; Talent (R) Yes. I'm getting tired of ranting typing.

Montana

Baucus (D) Yes; Burns (R) Yes. No comment.

Nebraska

Hagel (R) Yes; Nelson (D) Yes. Hagel's another supposedly supportive Repub. I guess it doesn't urt as bad because it was expected.

Nevada

Ensign (R) Yes; Reid (D) Yes. I need to flip out here but don't have the strength. WTF!?!? Harry Reid, that's the end of my dollars to the DSCC.

New Hampshire

Gregg (R) Yes; Sununu (R) Yes. Blah. I'm falling asleep from the predictable ones.

New Jersey

Lautenberg (D) No; Menendez (D) No. Thank god a Latino who remembers his roots. Will post for now and fill in later/.

[Resumes blogging.]

New Mexico

Bingaman (D) No; Domenici (R) Yes. Good for Bingaman. This inspires me to find out more about the man.

New York

Clinton (D) Yes; Schumer (D) Yes. Grrrrrr. Just Grrrrrr. Call them and voice your displeasure.

North Carolina

Burr (R) Yes; Dole (R) Yes. Expected yeses.

North Dakota

Conrad (D) Yes; Dorgan (D) Yes. More turncoat Democrats. One of the reasons I had stopped ranting was because it was getting repetitive. The other was that I nearly fell asleep (long day)!

Ohio

DeWine (R) Yes; Voinovich (R) Yes. I truly hope that Sherrod Brown wins, if only because I believe and hope that he would vote the opposite of DeWine.

Oklahoma

Coburn (R) Yes; Inhofe (R) Yes. This triple-layered fence is like red meat to a conservative dog, and Republicans are playing up the symbolism for all that it's worth.

Oregon

Smith (R) Yes; Wyden (D) Yes. Well, after the previous vote who could be surprised by Wyden's stance this time around? Doesn't change the disapppointment or anger, buddy.

Pennsylvania

Santorum (R) Yes; Specter (R) Yes. Specter is a ghost conservative. That is, he appears when you least want to see him.

Rhode Island

Chafee (R) Yes; Reed (D) No. Bravo Jack Reed, bravo. Call and thank him! And call Chafee and tell him you always knew he was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

South Carolina

DeMint (R) Yes; Graham (R) Yes. It's Jerry Falwell country.

South Dakota

Johnson (D) Yes; Thune (R) Yes. Not a whole lot of surprises here.

Tennessee

Alexander (R) Yes; Frist (R) Yes. Any time Frist can knife you in the heart, he will.

Texas

Cornyn (R) Yes; Hutchison (R) Yes. Both people who need new jobs.

Utah

Bennett (R) Yes; Hatch (R) Yes. Hatch has previously sponsored semi-pro immigrant legislation.

Vermont

Jeffords (I) No; Leahy (D) Yes. Jeffords is a true independent. What does it mean that a former Republican senator turned-independent votes better on this issue than the so-called leading lights in our party? And votes better than his Democratic counterpart?!?

Virginia

Allen (R) Yes; Warner (R) Yes. Virginia is increasingly a purple state and this will help tip the balance in our favor.

Washington

Cantwell (D) No; Murray (D) No. Thank goodness, call these women and give them your love. Same time, don't forget to shame the ladies from California.

West Virginia

Byrd (D) Yes; Rockefeller (D) Not Voting. Byrd's vote doesn's surprise me. Not sure what the not voting by Rockefeller means.

Wisconsin

Feingold (D) No; Kohl (D) Yes. Yes! Yes! Thank you Gov. Feingold. I mean, President Feingold.

Wyoming

Enzi (R) Yes; Thomas (R) Yes. No surprises here from one of the most remote states in the country.