Big Journalism: AP accuses Conservatives of Blocking Business

I wrote the following post at Big Journalism on Wednesday taking on a very biased article by the AP which blamed conservatives for being roadblocks to business:

On Monday afternoon, as President Obama announced his support for a tax increase that would affect nearly 900,000 small businesses, the Associated Press tweeted the following tweet and story to implicate Republicans as “roadblocks” to business:

The Associated Press

• ✔

@AP

Republicans often tout themselves as 'pro-business.' Yet conservatives have often put up roadblocks for business:apne.ws/NVlnJ3 -PP

9 Jul 12

• Reply
• Retweet
• Favorite

The story begins: "Conservative Republicans have roughed up the business community this year - and it's not over yet."

Really? Apparently, the Associated Press has ignored that Democrats' opposition to the job-creating Keystone Pipeline or the Supreme Court upholding the $500 billion Obamatax law will destroy jobs, among other examples. However, those oversights are only part of the media’s bias on display in this piece. 

The article then goes on to assert that conservative Republicans' supposed opposition to recent transportation bills, antipathy towards the Law of the Sea Convention, and resistance to re-authorization of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank are to blame for putting “roadblocks” to business.

The author, Donna Cassata, notes some conservatives preferred that the transportation projects be funded at a state level, going on to state, ”[n]ine short-term extensions later - and almost three years after the last transportation bill expired - businesses finally prevailed last month.” Cassata fails to mention that in 2009 and 2010, both Houses of Congress were controlled by Democrats, and during the last year, President Obama threatened to veto any transportation bill that included approval of the job-creating Keystone Pipeline. Democrats had ample opportunity to approve a transportation bill for two years but failed, and President Obama’s anti-energy development agenda prevented the bill from passing quickly since Republicans took over the House following the 2010 elections.

You can read the remainder of the post here.

Chicago Area Conservatives on the SCOTUS Decision

As the SCOTUS decision handed down today declared Chicago's ban on guns unconstitutional, and as the state of Illinois has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country, let's take a look athow some of the conservative Congressional candidates have responded to the victory for Americans and our Constitution:

Chicago Congressional candidate, Isaac Hayes, who is running against Jesse Jackson Jr, for the 2nd District seat had the following to say about the SCOTUS decision:

Today’s Supreme Court decision will allow residents being held hostage by urban terrorists the opportunity to defend themselves, their families and property. With 26 people being shot in Chicago this past weekend and 50 the week before, it is quite apparent the Chicago gun ban is not working.

Gangs don’t honor gun bans so infringing on the law abiding citizens only leaves them defenseless against violent offenders. In communities across Chicago urban terrorists must now think twice before entering private property.

Republican candidate for the 5th District seat, David Ratowitz, had this to say regarding the decision:

Nearly three decades of historical data have shown conclusively what common sense tells us immediately: unconstitutional gun bans only limit law abiding citizens, they do nothing to keep guns out of the hands of criminals nor do they reduce crime. In nearly three decades Chicago’s gun ban produced no positive results whatsoever

Joe Walsh, Republican candidate for the state's 8th district released the following statement:

The Supreme Court’s decision today in McDonald v. Chicago makes clear what law-abiding Americans instinctively knew already: we have a fundamental right as written in the Second Amendment to provide for our protection and the protection of our families. When we preemptively curtail the Constitutional rights of a law-abiding citizen, as Chicago has done with the handgun ownership ban, we in effect make no distinction between the criminal and the law-abiding. The Court recognized this contradiction in properly defining the Second Amendment as the individual right that it is. This is a historic day for individual freedom as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our nation.

Cross posted here.

Blog Posts for the Week of June 13th-Updated

So I've been a bit lax about cross posting my original blog posts. I've decided to at the very least provide links to what I've written on a weekly basis. Here are this week's post:

Central Illinois 912 Project blog:

Flag Day: Recognizing the Adoption of the Stars and Stripes

From the Central Illinois 912 Project Prayer Committee: Faith, Social Justice, and the EPA


The Palination blog (crossposted at the Palintwibe)

The Meeting of Two Iron Ladies?

Governor Palin: the Principled Pragmatist

Governor Palin's Response to President Obama's Oil Spill Address


The LOTUS (Laptop of the United States):

Does Chavez "Drill, Baby, Drill"?

Two Iron Ladies to Meet?

Sarah Shows her Bear Bias ;)


Conservatives4Congress:

IL-11: What Would Adam Kinzinger Do in Congress regarding the Oil Spill?



I welcome constructive criticism! :)