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Genuine Animosity Rules As Booker, Lonegan Hit Homestretch For U.S. Senate (+video)

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Photo Credit: Lincoln Park – Newark NJMudslinging has reached a fever pitch in the race for U.S. Senate in New Jersey.

During Wednesday night’s contentious debate, Democrat Cory Booker accused his opponent of being tea party extremist, while Republican Steve Lonegan said Booker is nothing but a Hollywood stand-in for President Barack Obama.

The Senate showdown will continue until voters go to the polls next week, CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer reported Thursday.

Newark Mayor Booker took time out from his campaign to announce that upscale supermarket Whole Foods will open a branch in his city, a branch, officials said, that will charge “affordable” prices for local residents.

“If you have an impossible dream; if you have an impossible dream, don’t give up,” Booker said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Reid Apologizes for Nasty Tone on Senate Floor

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Photo Credit: J. Scott Applewhite

Photo Credit: J. Scott Applewhite

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delivered a striking mea culpa on the Senate floor Friday as he opened the chamber, saying he and his colleagues have simply gotten too personal and nasty in their floor debates.

A day earlier Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, had scolded Mr. Reid for attacking Sen. Ted Cruz, another Texas Republican, by name as they debated the government shutdown. Mr. Cornyn read directly from the Senate Rules that prohibit members from impugning each other’s motives or conduct.

Mr. Reid on Friday said it was a lesson all senators, including himself, should learn.

“I’ll work harder and I hope my senators will work to their best to maintain these habits of civility and decorum,” he said.

The Nevada Democrat said the chamber has “lost the aura” of Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the long-time lawmaker from West Virginia who was seen as a keeper of the chamber’s traditions.

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Senate Backs Cloture Over Cruz’s Objections – 18 Stand With Cruz (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s latest battle to get the Senate to defund Obamacare came to an abrupt halt Friday afternoon, when a large majority of senators voted in favor of the procedural move that Cruz had been opposing as the last barrier against the health-care law.

Over Cruz’s objections, Senators voted 79-19 in favor of invoking cloture on the House-passed resolution to fund the federal government past Monday, when the current funding resolution expires. Voting on cloture is a procedural vote that allows the Senate to move forward with consideration of the bill.

Cruz was joined by just 18 of his fellow Republicans: Sens. Mike Crapo of Idaho, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Dean Heller of Nevada, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Mike Lee of Utah, Jim Moran of Kansas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rob Portman of Ohio, Jim Risch of Idaho, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and David Vitter of Louisiana.

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$5.25 Million For Senate Hair Care And 21 Other Ways Politicians Are Living The High Life At Your Expense

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picture - Barack-Obama-John-Boehner-Nancy-Pelosi-Harry-Reid-Mitch-McConnell-300x300If you want to live the high life, you don’t have to become a rap star, a professional athlete or a Wall Street banker. All it really takes is winning an election. Right now, more than half of all the members of Congress are millionaires, and most of them leave “public service” far wealthier than when they entered it. Since most of them have so much money, you would think that they would be willing to do a little “belt-tightening” for the sake of the American people. After all, things are supposedly “extremely tight” in Washington D.C. right now. In fact, just the other day Nancy Pelosi insisted that there were “no more cuts to make” to the federal budget. But even as they claim that things are so tough right now, our politicians continue to live the high life at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. The statistics that I am about to share with you are very disturbing. Please share them with everyone that you know. The American people deserve the truth.

According to the Weekly Standard, an absolutely insane amount of money is being spent on the “hair care needs” of U.S. Senators…

Senate Hair Care Services has cost taxpayers about $5.25 million over 15 years. They foot the bill of more than $40,000 for the shoeshine attendant last fiscal year. Six barbers took in more than $40,000 each, including nearly $80,000 for the head barber.

Keep in mind that there are only 100 U.S. Senators, and many of them don’t have much hair left at this point.

But hair care is just the tip of the iceberg. The following are 21 other ways that our politicians are living the high life at your expense…

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Senate Votes to Proceed in Killing First Amendment and Establishing State Run Media

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Photo Credit: free patriot

Photo Credit: free patriot

This week in Washington D.C. in the Senate, the Senate review committee came out of their Shield Law hearing with a vote of 13 to 5 to begin discussing the bill on the Senate floor. The law is intended to shield the journalist from having to reveal sources in light of the Snowden and Manning cases under duress by the Department of Justice. But hold the phone, the vote wasn’t even allowed to proceed until Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) got everyone one to agree what is a “real” reporter. Did we not already have freedom of the press under the First Amendment of the US Constitution? So, is this actually the Senate’s attempt at redefining the First Amendment or their way of providing the establishment of the United States first State Ran Media?

Perhaps you think we are taking this out of context. Perhaps, perhaps not. The Christian Science Monitor puts this in a way that involves the founding fathers, so let us look at two right quick. Benjamin Franklin was a writer, an inventor, and a scholar. Thomas Payne was a seamstress. Both owned a printing press. Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richards Almanac” is still quoted today. Thomas Payne edited a magazine and his pamphlets that were self published called “Common Sense” were some of the most provocative writings that stirred and built a nation. So would we say that this sounds shady enough that they would be saying Benjamin Franklin is protected by the government, but Thomas Payne wouldn’t be?

By today’s definition, you could also associate with his government connections, Benjamin Franklin with the established media sources and Thomas Payne with writing for online media. Without one of them history would never have been the same. Could you honestly say that both of these distinguished gentlemen were not deserving of the title of “Journalist”? But this is in fact what Dianne Feinstein has attempted to do.

The first version of a media shield law that handily made it through the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday defined for the first time what constitutes a “real reporter” deserving of extra protection versus what Sen Feinstein called a “17-year-old blogger” who she said doesn’t deserve a legal shield. One question that could be asked of that is that she covered a teen bullying case for the media, and knowing that the kid that was bullied would get beat up if she tells who it is, isn’t she deserving of the protection in order to keep that kid safe?

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Another Alaska U.S. Senate Race, Another Attack on Free Speech

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Photo Credit: aflcio

Photo Credit: aflcio

For the second U.S. Senate election in a row, the incumbent campaign is threatening Alaska television stations over political ads it doesn’t like.

In 2010 while fighting for her political life after losing the Republican primary to Joe Miller, Sen. Lisa Murkowski had her legal counsel send letters to Alaska television stations warning them that they were putting their Federal Communications Commission licenses at risk by running ads against her that were paid for by the Tea Party Express.

Murkowski’s counsel claimed the ads constituted “false advertising” and the stations could lose their FCC license by continuing to run them. Of course, Murkowski’s lawyers knew (or should know) full well that as a public figure, her chance of proving slander or libel were virtually nil and the stations were in no danger of losing their broadcast licenses.

But that didn’t stop them from trying to put the arm on Alaska media stations — “nice FCC license you have there, be a shame if something happened to it” — and thankfully no one pulled the ads based on the Murkowski campaign threats…

So here we are again almost three years to the day later, and Sen. Mark Begich had his lawyers at Perkins Coie in Washington, D.C., fire off a letter to Alaska TV stations Sept. 5 demanding they “immediately” stop running ads sponsored by the American Energy Alliance accusing Begich of wanting you to believe “a carbon tax is a good idea.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: State Senator who Slammed ‘Government Plantation’ is Back – and You’ll Want to Hear About His New Role

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Photo Credit: YouTube Those who were moved by Louisiana State Senator Elbert Guillory’s powerful YouTube video explaining why he left the “government plantation” in favor of the Republican Party recently may be happy to know that he is back not just with another compelling video — but with an influential new position.

It was recently announced that Guillory will be serving as honorary chairman of the Free at Last PAC, which describes itself as being “formed by several leaders as an effort to support Black Republicans who run for federal office and also to educate Blacks about the values of the Republican Party.”

“Liberalism has nearly destroyed black America, and now it’s time for black America to return the favor,” Guillory says with a smile in his new video.

Throughout the video, the state senator argues that the Republican Party is more in line with the values of the black community than the Democrat Party, asking: “After all, what was God’s plan for our people? Is this why God delivered us from the wilderness of slavery, so that able-bodied men could sit on the porch all day sipping liquor? Was it God’s plan that we would trade one plantation for another?”

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Senators Murkowski, Begich Vote to Confirm Obama’s Radical UN Ambassador Samantha Powers

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Photo Credit: US Mission GenevaThe Senate confirmed President Obama’s nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

On an 87-10 vote Wednesday, the Senate approved the nomination of Samantha Power. Nearly 30 GOP senators voted with Democrats to approve her nomination.

“Having a strong voice in the United Nations is imperative,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said ahead of the vote. “Power possesses the type of character, type of strong background, is a person of intellect and has the right kind of way to communicate to represent us at the United Nations.”

GOP Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Rand Paul (Ky.), David Vitter (La.), Mike Lee (Utah), Ted Cruz (Texas), Tim Scott (S.C.), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Dean Heller (Nev.), Richard Shelby (Ala.) and John Barrasso (Wyo.) voted against Power’s nomination.

Power, who serves on Obama’s National Security Council, came under criticism for remarks she made during her academic career about Israel and “crimes” the United States has committed. She has since recanted those remarks.

Read more from this story HERE.

Senate Overwhelmingly Kills Rand Paul’s Bill to Cut Off Aid to Egypt and, Instead, Rebuild Nation’s Bridges

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Photo Credit: Life NewsThe Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to cut off aid to Egypt.

The Kentucky conservative proposed the measure as a way to override the Obama administration’s refusal to classify the recent political upheaval in Egypt as a “military coup” — a move that by law would’ve frozen aid to the north African country.

The proposal called for redirecting the $1.5 billion in mainly military assistance the U.S. provides Egypt each year to bridge-building projects in the U.S.

The measure, which failed by a vote of 83-13, was attached as an amendment to a transportation and housing spending bill.

Paul, who is mulling a 2016 presidential run, casted his debate in terms of refocusing U.S. government efforts to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.

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Half of Retiring Senators Become Lobbyists, up 1,500% in 40 Years

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Photo Credit: breitbart Christopher Buckley’s review of Mark Leibovich’s “In This Town,” a Thackeray-esque exposé of official Washington, uncovers this buried morel on page 330 of the book. In 1974, just 3% of retiring members of Congress became lobbyists. Today, 50% of retiring Senators and 42% of retiring House members stay in DC and become lobbyists. The more than 1,500% increase goes a long way towards explaining how an entrenched, permanent political class has risen in DC.

Now, I think lobbyists often get a bad rap. Government action, either by legislation or regulation, has a deep impact on the economy. Industry reps and lobbyists provide important information for how a proposed action would effect a company or business sector. Without this information, the unintended consequences from legislation would often be far worse than they already are.

That said, you don’t need a former Senator or Congressman to fill this need. They don’t receive million-dollar pay packages simply to articulate how rewriting a section of the Code will impact a particular business. Their pay is justified because they provide an interest with access, the implication being that it would be less without their services. Their relationships and allies also give them the ability to “fix” certain problems that may arise, with either a bill or a proposed regulation.

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