The Stafford Voice

Our little place to talk about and share about life.

Obama

Surge of Opposition to Syrian Airstrikes

by

There is no questioning the fact the the majority of the people are opposed to airstrikes against Syria.

Pew Research recently put out a report detailing this very topic. Take a look at how much opposition increased in just a week:

Most Oppose U.S. Airstrikes against Syria

In just a week those who strongly oppose are almost equal to how many were opposed. And that’s just in the US. Would it not be interesting to take a global poll?

Now, dig a little deeper at those numbers and you will see in increase in opposition across the board. Take a real hard look at the Democrat column:

Democrats Continue to Oppose Airstrikes

For so many people, it isn’t that hard to see what they want done. They want Obama to stay out of Syria. Plain and simple.

Are they saying to just let them handle it themselves? No. They want to see something done, just not military action.

View the report HERE

Russia to aid Syria over possible US strike

by

obama-putin-g20-580.jpeg

As he touched down in St. Petersburg on Thursday morning, President Obama greeted his host Vladimir Putin with a handshake and a smile.

But the cordial greeting belies the tinderbox the two leaders are sitting on, as they posture and deliberate over a potential U.S. strike on Syria — one of Russia’s closest Mideast allies.

Putin escalated concerns about the fallout from any strike when he indicated in an interview published Wednesday that his country could send Syria and its neighbors in the region the components of a missile shield if the U.S. attacks.

U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified this week that the Russians might even replace any military assets the U.S. destroys in a strike.

The warnings raise the possibility of a supposedly “limited” strike on Syria turning into a proxy tit-for-tat between Russia and the U.S.

Rep. George Holding, R-N.C., went further during a hearing on Syria on Wednesday, pressing military officials on what the U.S. would do “if Russia decided to strike at us in that theater.”

“We can certainly say that Russia would have options to strike us in that theater in retaliation for us striking their ally,” he warned.

Dempsey declined to engage in that discussion, saying only that “Russia has capabilities that range from the asymmetric, including cyber, all the way up through strategic nuclear weapons. And again, it wouldn’t be helpful in this setting to speculate about that.”

Read more at Fox News

Limited Military Action in Syria: Presidential Weekly Address

by

In his weekly address, Obama continues to call for limited military action in Syria

He says that he has laid out the case before the world that there needs to be something done to hold the Assad regime accountable for using chemical weapons.

However, the world has begun to lay out their case that he could have all his facts wrong. Russia, among others, has repeatedly said that it was the rebels that carried out the attack. Even the rebels have come out and admitted that they did it.

But that isn’t enough for Obama and his agenda.

Watch the address below:

Obama’s 2014 calculation: Let’s have a war

by

President Obama delivers remarks about the ongoing situation in Syria
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The first rule for President Obama: It’s all about 2014. The second rule for President Obama: See Rule No. 1.

Make no mistake: The president couldn’t care less about the plight of Syrians, the 1,500 gassed to death — including nearly 500 children. It’s all about 2014. Win the House, reign supreme.

Consider this: Mr. Obama made his dramatic Rose Garden statement Saturday — then headed to the golf course. Congress has no plans to cut short its 30-day vacation, and the president did not call lawmakers back. So much for urgency.

Keep in mind: This president knows no way to campaign other than to blame others. He’ll batter Republicans for all of 2014 as obstructionists should they be the reason the effort fails.

But the bloviating politicos are also wrong that the “Republican-controlled House” could reject the plan for partisan reasons. It is Democrats who seem most squeamish — and they were the most vocal in demanding their say before intervention in Syria. Remember, two years ago, as the president prepared to bomb Libya, 70 Democrats joined Republicans in voting against military operations. Mr. Obama bombed anyway.

Whatever happens, this much is clear: We’re no longer talking about the IRS targeting tea party groups, the Justice Department tapping reporters’ phone lines, the NSA’s surveillance programs, Benghazi. The president has smartly changed the subject to the most important decision a commander in chief makes: war.

And the most presidential. That, he knows, will play better in the midterm elections, whichever way Congress votes.

Read more at: Washington Times

Commemorating Labor Day: President Obama Weekly Address

by

Commemorating Labor Day and continuing to help the struggling middle class was the focus of President Obama’s weekly address this week.

In his crafty message, he attacked big business saying that while they continue to bring in record profits the middle class working force struggles. They are struggling. But, it is because of what Obama and his administration have imposed on them.

Obamacare continues each day to surface new problems. More and more people each day learn that the empty promises of Obama will hurt them and the things they have worked so hard for.

It’s funny how people get so caught up in what he says, they forget all the things he has done.

Big business continues to grow and get bigger because everything he does is help make their business bigger, while lower and middle class workers struggle.

Watch his address below:

Somewhere in Russia, Edward Snowden Is Smiling

by

A poster of Edward Snowden is shown. | AP Photo

President Obama couldn’t say it—he denied it repeatedly in fact—but Edward Snowden was very much the reason he felt compelled to stand before the national press on a sun-baked Friday August afternoon and attempt to explain why his administration would pursue reforms of its counterterrorism programs even though—and this is the tricky part—he wouldn’t concede that those programs are flawed in any way.

That brings us back to Snowden, the whistleblower/patriot/traitor squirreled away somewhere in Russia after revealing key operational details of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance programs. The drip-drip of disclosures was slowly eroding the public’s faith in the system, the president said Friday, and he needed to take steps to reassure the world that it wasn’t being abused. He worried aloud that Americans were increasingly viewing the government as an Orwellian “Big Brother.”

“It’s not enough for me as president to have confidence in these programs,” Obama said before reporters in the White House East Room. “The American people need to have confidence in them, as well.”

For the president, the day marked an attempt to wrest some control of a situation that increasingly threatens to disrupt the national security calculus. Late last month, an attempt by liberals and libertarian Republicans in the House to limit the NSA’s authority fell inches short. To that end, the president announced that he would work with Congress to rewrite a key section of the Patriot Act, push for more opposing views before the shadowy Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, move to declassify more national security documents, and appoint an outside panel to examine whether the surveillance programs strike the proper balance between security and civil liberties.

Obama, as well as senior administration officials, did their best to paint the new initiatives as a product of a review process the president commenced when he first assumed office, with Obama repeatedly noting Friday that he had criticized some NSA programs as a senator. But just about no one was buying that. And the president ultimately admitted that Snowden’s actions had forced the administration’s hand.

“The leaks triggered a much more rapid and passionate response than would have been the case if I had simply appointed this review board,” Obama said, while adding, “I actually think we would have gotten to the same place—and we would have done so without putting at risk our national security.”

Still, Obama wasn’t ready to revise his assessment of Snowden, who, he reminded the press, has been charged with multiple felonies. “I don’t think he was a patriot,” Obama said.

via NationalJournal.com

Obama at New Low; 40% Approval Rating

by

President Obama’s approval rating of 40% represents a new low. Mounting issues are plaguing him and his administration. Jobless claims continue to be high. The reported unemployment rating is still in the 9%+ range. Obamacare is still leaving a nasty taste in the mouths of many. And now the debt talks. [Read more…] about Obama at New Low; 40% Approval Rating

Wall Street Favoring Romney

by

Bloomberg

A year after President Barack Obama signed into law the most extensive financial regulations since the Great Depression, Wall Street so far is putting its political money elsewhere.

Employees of Goldman Sachs Group gave Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney $238,250 in the last three months, more than workers at any other company, according to a computer-assisted analysis of Federal Election Commission data. Obama took in $10,113.

Four years ago, employees of New York-based Goldman gave $994,795 to Obama and $234,275 to Romney, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group. For both candidates, it was more than any other company’s employees.

In addition, Romney took in $2.1 million from donors reporting a New York state address, where the financial industry is headquartered, FEC data shows. Obama raised $1.3 million during the same period. For the 2008 election, Obama raised $50.5 million in the state; Romney raised $2.8 million, according to the center.

Romney and Obama were among the candidates offering the first looks at their presidential fundraising. Their FEC reports cover donations through June 30.

Primary Target on Osama bin Laden Hit List: President Obama

by

ABC News

U.S. officials say that Osama Bin Laden wanted to assemble a team to attack America on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and had a hit list that included President Obama, General
David Petraeus and a major U.S. sporting event.

The hit list was discovered in the “treasure trove” of information seized from Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound after the Navy SEAL raid that killed him in May. Officials say he was intent on an attack on the upcoming 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, though the plot was only in the “discussion phase.” He also remained obsessed with using aircraft to kill.

Officials tell ABC News that bin Laden wanted to fly a small plane into a sporting event to cause mass casualties.

“We have so many small airports, you could fly below radar,” said Brad Garrett, former FBI special agent and now an ABC News consultant. “That’s possibly doable.’

The primary target on bin Laden’s hit list was President Obama. Officials tell ABC News that bin Laden was trying to hatch a plan to kill President Obama by shooting down Air Force One or Marine One, the president’s plane and helicopter.