Kerry Demands Investigation into Fraud; Small Business Groups Cheers

[kerrygoddess]

As a small business owner, I have always admired John Kerry’s work in Senate as Ranking Member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Small Business is the cornerstone of the American economy, yet we hear so little about the tireless work from John Kerry to protect the interests of Small Business and to help Small Businesses receive funding from programs like the Micro-Loan program.

Although George W. Bush likes to portray himself as a friend to Small Business, in reality he is a friend to BIG BUSINESS. Small Business owners who went along for the ride and voted for Bush are in for a rude awakening, if they have not already figured out that, they have been duped.

On their website, the American Small Business League asks the question, “Is a worldwide company with 26,000 employees really a small business? Thanks to policies that have been established by the SBA the answer is yes.”

There are more than 23 million small businesses in the United States. Almost all of them – 98 percent – have fewer than 100 employees. Yet the basic standard for many industries is 500 employees.

John Kerry introduced new legislation earlier in the week geared towards further protection of true Small Businesses:

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=295

[hangemhigh]

1. How 'bout election fraud, John? nt

[in_cog_ni_to]

2. no shit. Good question. n/t

[Tigress DEM]

30. Bush the chimp AIN'T MY PRESIDENT! Kerry is.

[New Earth]

3. i wish i could buy you a star

so you could come into the Kerry group forum. how long have you been at DU? you should know by now it's completely pointless to post anything about Kerry in here. :spank:

[FrenchieCat]

5. You can buy her a star....

Clarkies have done that for many other Clarkies. Think you just have to write them an email.

In reference to Kerry, the title is misleading. I was thinking it was about election fraud...which really is the biggest fraud needing investigating!

On edit...Is it too late to edit the title of the thread?...cause it can only lead to a thread bashing Kerry about the lack of Election Fraud action on his part.

[New Earth]

9. i just bought someone a star

and now i'm broke :( can't buy another one for a long time

[kerrygoddess]

17. My mistake

I thought folks would understand what kind of fraud with the "Small Business" mention.

Too late to edit it here, but I edited it on the Blog. Thanks for the heads up.

[kerrygoddess]

15. I don't worry much about people flaming

Fact is Kerry is doing a lot of good stuff. They can read it and bitch about it or read and appreciate it.

And thank you, I'll get there one day... to the Kerry group.

[rodeodance]

21. thanks for your memo-I agree.

[FreedomAngel82]

4. I'm so happy about this

I think it's great. It's so sad and pathetic that Mr. Kerry is acting more like a President then the real President. *sigh*

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[kerrygoddess]

18. Yes he is!

He's the Shadow President.

[fugrepugs84]

22. I'm sighing too...

Man, the things we could only hope for :(

[Tigress DEM]

31. I object - the chimp AIN'T the REAL president! But I agree ....

Kerry is moving slowly into the waters. I guess if he could count on any support from us... it must be hard to know anything he does is going to get turned around and used against him.

It may take the swelling of support by the DU to make it possible to get the war criminals out of the White House and Kerry in where he belongs.

We voted against Bush and that means we voted for Kerry. Even if you only count Ohio, their vote fraud was so wide spread that Kerry did win.

[pamela]

6. Thanks for this information.

I really like Light Up The Darkness.

[kerrygoddess]

13. Thanks Pamela!

I like your name!

[pocoloco]

7. LOL

Small business fraud?? BFD! What the fuck is wrong withn that asshole.

[LittleClarkie]

10. I know. Concerned about the little guy. What an ass

One of the committees Kerry is on has to do with small businesses, and he is the ranking member. This is part of his job. Why is this a bad thing. I really just don't get why he is an asshole for doing this.

Perhaps if you owned a small business you'd see why it is a bfd. Way to be miopic there.

He's dealing with a plethora of issues like children's health care, the war in Iraq, and local Mass. issues like an investigation into a recent ship sinking they had there.

Considering he's working on the issues he brought up during the campaign and promised to do something about, and one of the things he also promised to work on was election reform, he will be getting there. Can't say when. One thing at a time.

I like how busy he's been. He even found time during the holidays to blast the Bank of England for not helping the BCCI creditors enough.

Not to mention that he stuck his head out with the other 12 Senators on the Condi vote. Watch, more of them will vote against Gonzalez, I know it.

Can we cut the man some slack. A little slack, just a smidge?

[kerrygoddess]

16. Kerry is saying that only BIG Businesses are getting GVMT contracts!

Kerry is saying that only BIG Businesses are getting GVMT contracts!

Hmmm... think of those BIG Businesses in Bush's pocket that everyone would like investigated for their government contracts... any names come to mind?

[Tigress DEM]

33. Can't investigate GVMT contracts, Bush privatized the list....

I know it was a Molly Ivins column I clipped, but I can't find it now. It was after things blew up about Haliburton gouging US troops $2 a gallon for gas in Iraq, where it was .79 a gallon and supplying soldiers with rotten meat. Soon after they privatized the list of contractors to keep them OUT of the public view and NOT SUBJECT to the Freedom of Information Act.

Here is a reference to the issue in general, but the list of people the government is hiring with our Tax Dollars is not something we can view and those people are creating their own budgets. Can anyone say, "Conflict of Interest"?

Molly Ivins, AUGUST 12, 2004

<snip>
Here are a few more little items: The Department of Defense is now outsourcing the job of preparing the national defense budget to ... private defense contractors. Isn’t that special? The Center for Public Integrity has found at least three private-sector contracting firms advertising jobs for analysts to work on the development of the president’s defense budget.

[Maat]

8. I appreciate John Kerry's dedication to small business issues...

small businesses are what keep this country strong, and what has made this country strong.

As the owner of a small business, I know that this needs attention too. He can work on both issues.

He acts more presidential, and more like a great leader, than the current individual in that office.

[w4rma]

12. Good! Of course this should have been started 4 years ago, but better

late than never. This is *extremely* important.

Heck starting this 24 years ago, when Reagan came to power, would have been nice.

[kerrygoddess]

14. Kerry's been working on the Small Business issues for a long time

The press doesn't make a big deal about, it only gets exposure when people who have small businesses speak up about it!

[w4rma]

19. I know he's been working on buisness issues for a while, but if what you

say is the case, he should have made a *much* bigger deal about this during the recent elections. Democratic politicians need to advertise their tangible support for small buisnesses at every possible opportunity.

[marions ghost]

25. yes, Dems need to make their support for small business more clear

Just about everyone has a friend or family member who is connected to a small business and has some idea of what they are up against.
There are many inequities in the system. Small businesses get the scraps after the fat cats are satisfied. Unfortunately Republican tax cuts sold well to penny-pinching small businesses, while hiding the bigger issues. Big corporations are not paying their fair share of taxes to begin with.

Before the election I was dismayed to see so many small business owners who apparently believe that the Repubs have their best interests at heart. I have come to think that is largely an illusion. The Dems did not get their message out well enough on this, despite their attempt to stress economic issues. They lost a sizeable chunk of small business-owner voters who needed a clear sign of Democratic support.

If there are any small business owners out there, what would be the best way for Dems to do something for you? What are the biggest issues you are facing? I'd like to know more about how others see this, so we can lobby more effectively for help for small businesses.
I will try putting out the question here as a forum topic.

[kerrygoddess]

27. I agree we could have

talked about this more. I voiced that frequently throughout the campaign.

Kerry did talk about this and weave it into economy talk frequently however I feel a lot of people don't fully understand the complexities if small business.

There is an action alert for small business owners to use on my blog post. One thing I feel is vital is that we start taking back to the business associations like the Chamber of Commerce. We have to take the actions to get involved ourselves.

[Joy Anne]

20. on "small" small businesses

I've also observed companies with government contracts as small businesses reconstitute themselves--declare a division an independent company, for example--to stay under that 500-employee cap and keep stuffing themselves with no-competition government business.

I'm glad to see Kerry's pursuing this. With a little help, a lot of people can microbusiness their way into self-sufficiency, and changing the definition of "small" to something an ordinary person would recognize is a good start.

[tsuki]

23. Investigating the SBA. Now that is an area that he excels in.

His work investigating the BCCI was awesome, and he did it without the support of congress.

[sendero]

24. While I've been none..

.... too reluctant to criticise Kerry for some things he did/didn't do, I'm happy to praise him for the good things he does.

Small business is and always has been the backbone of our economy. As a small businessman, I appreciate Kerry's support.

I'm dissapointed Kerry is not the president, but he can do a lot of good in the Senate. We should all wish him well in that.

[Just Me]

26. In spite of his many critics, he just won't go away.

I admire his persistence!!!

[kerrygoddess]

28. It is who he is!

[Red State Rebel]

29. Good for him!

As a small business owner I will vouch - we need all the help we can get!

[Tigress DEM]

32. Can anyone say "Sick of Kerry Bashing"

Watch out people, that is Our Elected President even if the chimp got those counting the votes to deliver the incorrect verdict.

Our best strategy is to get Bush et al tried as war criminals and put Kerry in where he belongs. Then in 2008 if we want someone else in, then we do that, but as Democrats we still need to support the President WE elected.

The DU sounds like a bunch of Viking fans, all excited if they get to the Super Bowl and bitch about them the rest of the time.