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Kevin Baron commented on the blog post The Worst Administration on FOIA
two years ago the associated press ran a story showing the first year of the Obama administration was worse than the last year of the Bush administration when it came to fulfilling FOIA requests…even though one of Obama’s first actions in taking office was to put forward an executive order to all agencies telling them to err on the side of transparency…apparently the memo is still in the mail…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/obamas-broken-promise-fed_n_500526.html -
Kevin Baron commented on the diary post Why FOIA Is Important by Kevin Baron.
thanks for the information on Moss and the specifics surrounding the passage of the bill…this is an area of interest for me and one that I am currently researching…
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Kevin Baron commented on the diary post Jobs, Jobs, Jobs Can Only Be Achieved With Small Businesses by Lloyd Chapman.
by the way…keep fighting Lloyd, you and the ASBL are the only ones speaking the truth about what is going on in the small business contracting world…as an optimist, I believe that you can make the difference…
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Kevin Baron commented on the diary post Jobs, Jobs, Jobs Can Only Be Achieved With Small Businesses by Lloyd Chapman.
as much as it pains me to say this…it seems like some things never change…perhaps if there was some kind of serious campaign finance reform (HA! after citizen’s united I am sure it will never happen) then our elected officials will no longer be beholden to special interests. I lost hope for President Obama to [...]
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Kevin Baron commented on the diary post Why FOIA Is Important by Kevin Baron.
Thanks Jane and Brian…I am glad to offer any help I can with this. As I have experience with FOIA, it really is a great tool to use and the best part is, the law is on our side with it…unfortunately, not too many agency FOIA officers see it that way, but we can change [...]
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Kevin Baron and
Brian Sonenstein are now friends
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Kevin Baron wrote a new diary post: Why FOIA Is Important
As some of you may know, Jane Hamsher and the wonderful team here at Firedoglake have taken steps recently to promote the use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), especially within the context of the Occupy movement. I applaud all of their efforts in promoting the usage of this law as a means of [...]
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Kevin Baron commented on the diary post Mitt Romney: A nightmare for the economy? by Brian Reeder.
you know…perhaps Marx was right, his timeline was just off a bit. Pew released a new study today showing that income inequality has become the number one issue dividing Americans…
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Kevin Baron and
Brian Reeder are now friends
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Kevin Baron, ASBL commented on the diary post Foreign Owned Corporate Giants Land Billions in Federal Small Business Contracts by ReillyNolanASBL.
oh…I never actually believe they are either serious or sincere. Now there are a few (I can count them all on one hand) but the comment was more of a sarcastic tone based on the fact that we hear nothing but endless rhetoric from our elected officials about how important small businesses are and yet [...]
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Kevin Baron, ASBL commented on the diary post Foreign Owned Corporate Giants Land Billions in Federal Small Business Contracts by ReillyNolanASBL.
Liz…you nailed it. The scam is so obvious and one that everyone in Washington knows about, but seems unwilling to do anything about. It is not just the fact that the federal government’s definition of a small business is all screwed up, it is also the fact that companies who are not even close to [...]
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Kevin Baron, ASBL commented on the blog post Small Business Lending Fund: No Money Spent in Nine Months
I am pretty sure that the big banks and Wall Street firms didn’t wait more than a few days for the trillions of dollars the government pumped to them through the TARP and other bailout measures.
I seriously doubt that any actual small business will get help through this program, especially considering that most of the banks who have applied for money under this program are using the money from the small business lending fund to pay off the money they owe from TARP…the whole thing seems to be a sham.
If we want to really help small businesses, we should focus on contracting programs through the SBA that will actually drive demand, also known as government business, directly to small businesses. The problem is that most small business contracts go to large companies, multinational, and foreign owned firms.
Call your representatives in the House and Senate and demand they support Congressman Hank Johnson’s Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act, then also support your local small business advocate…
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Kevin Baron, ASBL commented on the blog post Small Business Lending Fund: No Money Spent in Nine Months
just to clarify, SCORE is the Service Corps of Retired Executives, it is a free consulting service provided through the SBA that offers free business counseling services to small businesses and start-ups
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Kevin Baron, ASBL and
New Progressive Alliance are now friends
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Kevin Baron, ASBL commented on the diary post Government Shutdown Could Push Small Businesses and U.S. Economy Over the Edge by Kevin Baron, ASBL.
amen to that…well said
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Kevin Baron, ASBL commented on the diary post Government Shutdown Could Push Small Businesses and U.S. Economy Over the Edge by Kevin Baron, ASBL.
I don’t disagree that the GOP has been using the budget issue as more of a political football than the Dems have, however, the issue of the harm that a shutdown will do to our economy does not change regardless of who is to blame for the shutdown…
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Kevin Baron, ASBL wrote a new diary post: Government Shutdown Could Push Small Businesses and U.S. Economy Over the Edge
So it seems that all of Washington, or at least all of the media outlets, are focusing on nothing but the potential government shutdown looming over the nation like a menacing storm cloud. While it seems that Congress and the White House are spending time squabbling over social issues, they are missing the big economic [...]
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Kevin Baron, ASBL commented on the blog post How the “Most Transparent Administration Ever” Worsens Transparency with Transparency Effort
it just keeps getting better and better…last year there was a proposal included in the NDAA that would have allowed two top pentagon officials to blacklist any contractor from working with the government for whatever “national security” reason they chose. Included was the fact that these decisions did not have to be made public and they were exempt from GAO review and protest, FOIA, and from federal court action…This was a complete power grab that would have allowed the Pentagon to benefit their favorite defense contractors at the expense of everyone else, including the taxpayers…
The AP ran a story including a report showing that the overall percentages and numbers of denials of FOIA requests over the past two years of the Obama Administration have increased in comparison to the Bush Administration…meaning the Obama Administration is being more secretive than the Bush Administration, than the BUSH ADMINISTRATION…open government and transparency my ass…this is just a continuation to allow billions in defense contracts to flow to the big contractors while excluding oversight…
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Kevin Baron, ASBL commented on the diary post Liveblog: NAFTA-style deal with Korea hearing in Ways & Means Committee by Todd Tucker.
thanks for the coverage Todd…what I find strangely missing from this discussion, and most trade-deal discussions in general, is the fact that, according to the latest stats, small businesses are responsible for approximately 90 percent of our nations exports. But all these free trade deals end up destroying the American economy and exporting jobs…but if [...]
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Kevin Baron, ASBL commented on the diary post Liveblog: NAFTA-style deal with Korea hearing in Ways & Means Committee by Todd Tucker.
the sad part now is that this is just standard practice…congressional committees no longer actually want to have testimony that can illuminate debate on an issue, they want talking heads that they can refer to as so-called experts to add validity to their position. Unfortunately this practice completely negates the entire purpose of congressional hearings…
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