tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23403245751783018662024-03-13T22:28:28.807-04:00Off K StreetPolitical Commentary and Analysis of Contemporary Issues Affecting REAL PEOPLEBarry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.comBlogger247125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-8838403754668256142013-06-14T11:56:00.000-04:002013-06-14T11:56:40.164-04:00Obama's Africa trip gives Tea Partiers something else to bristle about
Social media is lighting up on the far-right after the announcement of President Obama's planned trip to Africa. Adding to the list of things the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party has developed as evidence this President is the worst ever, the projected cost of the trip to sub-Sahara Africa to be in the rang of $60 - $100 million. According to this Washington Post Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-35736432860282606742012-09-21T09:06:00.001-04:002012-09-21T09:06:40.849-04:00Bravo Michael Gerson! Bravo.
At a secretly recorded, high dollar fundraising event in Boca Raton, Florida back in the spring, way before Mitt Romney secured the GOP Presidential nomination, the truth about how conservatives view the world was articulated with the line, "the 47% who don't pay income taxes in this country,...". To put a finer point on it, Mitt went further by describing these 47% as "victims" and wove Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-7134449535499889192012-07-12T09:56:00.002-04:002012-07-12T09:56:54.156-04:00Republican political priorities - scoring political point or creating jobs?
The GOP controlled House of Representatives has voted for the 33rd time to repeal - the constitutionally upheld - Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). Votes on jobs bills - ZERO.
You'd figure that with Congressional approval ratings fluctuating around the mid-teens, and more people holding Republicans at fault than Democrats (which fare only a little better) for the paralyzing Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-42929202007092059722012-07-03T06:52:00.001-04:002012-07-03T06:55:14.670-04:00Kaiser SCOTUS Health Care Poll: Time to move on folks...
After more than a two month absence from the blogosphere, Off K Street is back. We've been more focused on our Facebook page for stirring the pot and posting articles for discussion. But this will only take the discussion and voice of this blog so far. From this point forward we'll be making every effort to make regular posts, and if possible, to expand beyond by Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-12058088485525804452012-04-26T10:32:00.000-04:002012-04-26T10:32:31.215-04:00Offshore Oil and Gas - can anything stop the drilling?
Since the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore oil and gas exploration is zooming along in Latin America, despite the largest oil spill in history and one of the greatest environmental disasters of all time. With world oil prices remaining high for the last few years, Mexico, Brazil, and even Cuba have made strategic energy policy decisions to take Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-10354675569132125212012-03-05T13:59:00.000-05:002012-03-05T13:59:23.470-05:00Rush Limbaugh: Apology or not, Rush is WRONGLast week's statements made by conservative talk radio personality, Rush Limbaugh, about the testimony of a Georgetown Law student, Sandra Fluke, over her contention that health insureres should cover contraception went well beyond the norms of public discourse. Since then, Limbaugh has apologized but only after an exodus of sponsors have dumped his nationally syndicated radio show.
Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-90648348684414868552012-01-31T13:18:00.000-05:002012-01-31T13:18:16.376-05:00Ragging PopulismClass Warfare! Both political parties are using it and both sides are crying foul. Republicans don't want to be chastised for being successful or portrayed as greedy Robber Barons and Democrats don't want to be portrayed as welfare dependents. There has to be a name for what both parties are doing. It's called POPULISM.
In times like these, who wouldn't at least identify with the general Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-9477990073182347442012-01-11T21:48:00.000-05:002012-01-11T21:48:59.618-05:00GOP Presidential candidates channeling Occupy Wall StreetWhat's that? Did I hear what I think I heard? Could it be a change of heart within the field of GOP Presidential candidate about "class warfare". After months of belittling and bashing the Occupy Wall Street movement for bringing attention to concentrated wealth and income inequity, Newt Gengrich, John Hunstman, Rick Santorum, and Rick Perry are all channeling some form of Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-61240026429080311032011-11-23T14:03:00.000-05:002011-11-23T14:03:10.970-05:00OWS: A ship in search of a rudderA few days ago, someone I went to High School with and haven't spoken to in over 20 years (but none the less is one of my Facebook "Friends") posted a picture on Facebook of some National Guardsmen with a sign that said - Occupy Bagram: Quit your bitchin' and get back to work. This set off a response from me and a little back-and-forth about the OWS movement. Needless to say, I Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-75416341027077441192011-09-24T10:07:00.000-04:002011-09-24T10:07:29.688-04:00Is poverty being mischaracterized?A few weeks ago, the United States Census released their latest report on Poverty in America. It showed that the official number of people who now live in poverty rose to 15.1% in 2010 from 14.3% in 2009. This is the highest level since the Federal Government started tracking it in 1959. This breaks down to a little more than 46 million Americans that are living in poverty.Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-34709487231267550632011-09-21T16:40:00.001-04:002011-09-23T00:24:40.089-04:00Does Bob Goodlatte even get it?Forget the 12% approval rating of Congress, and the 6 out of 10 people polled that are not willing to re-elect their own Congressman. And let's just ignore the fact that back at the end of July and beginning of August, we had a very small group of House members who couldn't find common ground with the President on the Debt Ceiling, even if they fell out of a tree and Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-43722831957358072832011-08-29T11:14:00.000-04:002011-08-29T11:14:16.174-04:00The name of this GOP natural disaster: STUPIDITYHow many different ways can the GOP shoot themselves in the foot? Here are a few examples from just this past week:
In response to the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled Virginia and states up and down the eastern seaboard, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor commented that in order to assist those people affected, “those monies” need to be “offset with appropriate savings or Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-75322216720931689592011-08-15T08:03:00.000-04:002011-08-15T08:03:26.917-04:00Robert Reich on the Economy: KISS (Keepin' It Super Simple)I'm not the biggest fan of MoveOn.org, but this is one of the easiest to understand videos about the current state of the economy I've seen. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich does an excellent job of "Keepin' It Super Simple" explaining the truth about our economy. Take a look:
Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-35742124272882038852011-08-04T15:05:00.000-04:002011-08-04T15:05:07.089-04:00DOW DROPS OVER 400 PTS: GOP & Tea Party cure worse than the diseaseJust when people were catching their collective breath from the drama that was the Debt Ceiling Crisis, the Dow has dropped over 400 points.
This hasn't happened since December 1, 2008. The day's not over yet, and stocks could claw their way back, but this is a bad day on Wall Street.
I sure hope holding the nation hostage over no tax increases for the wealthy and the Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-2193708998001225472011-08-02T06:43:00.001-04:002011-08-02T09:18:40.683-04:00Hold your nose!There's no other way to say it, but this vote stinks! While I'm sure that there are plenty of Republicans that held their noses or had one hand over their eyes, this one didn't sit well with the Democrats either.
There's still the vote in the Senate, and they have to get 60 to cut off debate to even have a vote. But it will likely just be a process matter.
What else Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-91879355428246043942011-07-29T16:49:00.000-04:002011-07-29T16:49:30.166-04:00Goodlatte's fingerprints all over the pulled vote in the HouseFor years, Congressman Bob Goodlatte has been one of the biggest, if not the biggest, champions of the BBA (Balanced Budget Amendment). According to CNN this afternoon, one of the reasons why Speaker Boehner pulled the vote last night was that the bill didn't have the BBA in it.
It pretty clear now that Goodlatte is at the center of this mess, as one of the lead Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-49576094025745434622011-07-29T08:55:00.000-04:002011-07-29T08:55:04.224-04:00Krugman is right!No matter how many ways you slice it, President Obama has bent over backwards to work with the GOP and their Tea Party leadership to address: 1) raising the Debt Ceiling, and 2) making painful cuts to entitlements.
Even when the GOP gets what they want, which is massive, massive cuts in entitlements and other government programs, they are still not willing to concede the other part to theBarry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-84256869102005144432011-06-02T09:48:00.000-04:002011-06-02T09:48:45.859-04:00GOP playing "Chicken" with the Debt CeilingOn Tuesday, May 31st, the GOP controlled House of Representatives voted down a "clean" bill to increase the Federal Government's Debt Limit by $2.4 trillion. By a vote of 97 - 318, the symbolic vote on the "clean" bill went down to defeat as expected. All House Republicans voted against it and were joined by 82 Democrats.
The current debt limit is set at $14.3 trillion Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-55610533324192409452011-04-18T08:44:00.002-04:002011-04-18T08:51:40.454-04:00Is Trump the second coming of Jesse Ventura?Some would liken Donald Trumps second flirtation with a Presidential run to that of Ross Perot. But then again, Trump has taken several steps that indicate he is more serious this time than in the past. There's no question that Donald Trump is a media darling, but the conventional wisdom from the "eye rolling" political establishment is that he's not a serious Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-34771959651166065942011-03-22T09:49:00.001-04:002011-03-22T15:12:34.543-04:00Bloomberg News yankin' the ski mask off of TARP recipientsIt looks like the American Taxpayer will finally get to see which banks got the bailout. The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by the Banking Industry to keep secret the details of who got what from the TARP. Thanks to Bloomberg News filing a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, the Federal Reserve will have to disclose the "names Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-13812287200954301982011-02-16T06:37:00.000-05:002011-02-16T06:37:34.376-05:00Speaker Boehner: "so be it" if Federal workers lose their jobsPresident Obama's proposed budget doesn't cut deep enough for the GOP. If the GOP gets their way with the austerity ax, the jobs of the Federal workforce are on the chopping block. According to CNN, during a news conference today, Speaker of the House John Boehner said that,
"Over the last two years since President Obama has taken office, the federal government has added 200,000 newBarry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-42556119346673209832011-02-14T07:02:00.002-05:002011-05-29T14:05:45.318-04:00God Bless America and no one else?There's no getting around it. Religion is serious business, it matters, and is relevant to everyone (beliver and non-beliver alike). According to the many scholars and people that advanced the concepts of Secularization Theory, the United States and much of the world should have let go of their attachments to spirituality and faith by now, replacing it with&Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-32822183124612099632011-02-13T18:19:00.000-05:002011-02-13T18:19:12.143-05:00Apparently Kaine hasn't actually said NO, (yet)...The Virginian Pilot has issued a correction on former Governor and current DNC Chair, Tim Kaine, regarding his interest in running for Virginia's open U.S. Senate seat.
According to the Virginian Pilot, "Kaine previously said that he wasn't interested in the office if Webb didn't seek re-election."
So, the real question is will Kaine run? The Virginian Pilot does a good job,Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-16961639273219501392011-02-12T08:42:00.001-05:002011-02-12T09:06:00.419-05:00Tim Kaine not interested in open U.S. Senate seatAccording to a story on the Virginian Pilot's website, former Governor and current Democratic National Committee Chairman, Tim Kaine, has indicated that he is not interested in running for the now open U.S. Senate seat in Virginia. Perceived by many on the left to be the strongest candidate to run against either of the declared GOP candidates, Kaine's announcement will keep the Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2340324575178301866.post-46852978770184750332011-01-25T08:33:00.000-05:002011-01-25T08:33:02.589-05:00Banking lobby defeats bipartisan effort to stall foreclosures in VirginiaTimes like these are very few and far between when you have bipartisan legislation in the Virginia General Assembly that takes on the Banks. On the House side you have Bob Marshall (R) Manassas (yes, that Bob Marshall), Betsy Carr (D)-Richmond, and Vivian Watts (D)-Annandale who introduced HB 1506, and on the Senate side, Chap Petersen and Don McEachin are carrying the Barry Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09592682987112614815noreply@blogger.com1