President Obama recently gave the GOP an opportunity to begin putting a wedge into the Democrats and their relationship with the Building Trades by vetoing the Keystone pipeline. These workers are the skilled labor that build our cities and infrastructure, the Democrat party is totally against all the policies they need to be successful, industry, progress and innovation. It’s time Republicans reach out and explain to these people that their interests lie in the policies of the GOP; Showing them there is an alternative and stopping millions of dollars from going into Democrat coffers.

President Obama showed who the Democrats will ultimately side with, and it’s not working families! What Obama did by vetoing the Keystone pipeline is to say to thousands of out of work construction workers and tradesmen, “up yours!” This is why I have been writing for years that the Trades need to break away from non-skilled labor and look out for their members and their families.

But the GOP is decidedly anti-union aren’t they? They are now. The SEIU, teachers unions and the ACLU have brought the Trades into their war with the GOP. I understand the Building Trades are in support of “workers rights” but do they have to put someone else’s interests ahead of their own? When the Mayor of Chicago and the IL Governor tried to force the trade unions to change their contracts or be replaced by other unions at McCormick place; I didn’t see the teachers and firemen out in the streets to show their solidarity. This has happened not once, but twice in the last 10 years. But ask some teachers to pay something for their healthcare and everything hits the fan? Every Trade has had to adjust their health care rules and pay more or put in a co-pay.

Why would an Ironworker or Heavy Machine operator join with groups that want to stop businesses or industries that put their members to work? The SEIU and the United Auto Workers have sided with the President and against tens of thousands of jobs that go with the pipeline. They want to force industries into “New energy” whatever that is. The environmental groups that are also supporting the veto of the pipeline say that the opening of the pipeline would stop the United States from moving on to other energy, but they don’t say what that energy might be.

There is no alternative to oil yet, to pretend otherwise is to put America ’s future at risk. Working families are dependent on energy not only to expand our economy but for their personal use as well. The cost of gas has doubled since President Obama has taken office. It was reported in the Washington Times that the coast of electric has risen over $300 dollars a year to $1420.00 for the average family, that same family spent over $4100 last year for gasoline! That’s a tremendous amount of their yearly income, the highest level ever. These things are a product of the policies of the Democrat party, because we refuse to explore and produce our own energy supplies here at home. President Obama said himself that his plan for cap and trade would make electricity rates skyrocket! The Democrats are forcing working families to struggle needlessly because far left wing groups in their coalition want to force the American people to change their lifestyles? Who do they think they are?

How is it good for working families to have fewer payroll jobs than there were 12 years ago? The real unemployment rate is hovering around 11% if the same number of people were looking for work today as in 2007. 48% of Americans today are considered by the Census Bureau as low income or living in poverty over 50% of Americas children live in these homes. The numbers are horrible and yet the President vetoes a project that all sides say would bring tens of thousands of good jobs to our country?

We all want to eliminate our dependency on forigen oil but not by taking the country backwards. There are estimates that the price of a gallon of gas will rise to $4.50 to $5.00 this summer that will kill working families and small businesses. We have to demand that the Federal Government open up more areas for oil exploration and production. We have to announce to the world we are going to produce our own energy and watch the prices come back to normal levels. We have to show working families and members of the building trades it is the GOP that has their best interest at heart. The GOP has to point out the Democrat party will allow thir lifestyles to continue to decline and add more pressure on to already uncertain economy. This is the America we grew up in? This is what we want to leave to our children? That’s the message the GOP has to get out to skilled labor and working families but it has to be a concentrated effort, they have to show them there is a party that still believes in the American dream.

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Jim Leahy is a GOP Activist and Labor Union Member.

But Rick Santorum did great in Iowa you say, he only lost by 8 votes; Newt was fourth how does that give him a victory? Because Santorum is the only Conservative who has not been targeted for attack by the media so he was left standing. What Iowa shows is the conservative candidate will beat Romney and that candidate, I think, will be Newt.

What? Newt came in fourth; how can anyone think he has a chance? Because Seventy Million Dollars was spent in Iowa and according to media reports over 45% of that was anti Gingrich. Yes Santorum got more votes than Newt but Romney was held to a smaller percentage and maybe less overall votes than he had last time; Romney is now wounded and it’s almost critical. Ron Paul doesn’t count, Perry is finished so is Bachman. I see both waiting to see who rises to the top Newt or Santorum; then their endorsement will mean more. That will stop Santorum from getting the needed boost right now that could help him continue his new found status as the Anti Romney.

But why will it be Newt and not Senator Santorum? Because Santorum is in the same position as Governor Huckabee was in 2008. Huckabee came out of nowhere to win Iowa but couldn’t compete nationally. The primaries are 50 different elections Santorum put everything in Iowa he has nothing left; it’s too late to get his name recognition up and get a presence in all 50 states. Newt has that just by being Newt. The Elite Republican media will do all it can to try to help Santorum but that won’t help. Romney will also start the attacks on Santorum; can Santorum withstand that? No. Newt was hit with everything but the kitchen sink and he is still standing and most importantly conservative trust Newt.

New Hampshire is next but nobody cares! Romney is supposed to win there, all that can happen is Romney does worse than people expected and then there’s more blood in the water. Romney is a dead man walking; he will never convince conservatives he is the guy.

Newt has to stand on the side line for a day or two and allow Santorum to bask in the limelight. Starting tomorrow the Romney Million Dollar PAC will start its attacks on Santorum they have to. Santorum can’t fight a two front war right now he will be overwhelmed, leaving Gingrich as the alterative
Newt then moves into the conservative position he becomes the anti Romney and starts running a positive campaign while all of the elite pro Romney media attack him. It will only last until Newt wins South Carolina. Then people will see it is inevitable.

It will be one Hell of a General Election, a campaign of issues and substance. Can you say President Gingrich?

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Jim Leahy is a political analyst for the Chicago Daily Observer

image Newt Gingrich in 1970

I was reading a story today about Jimmy Hoffa Jr. in it he calls business anti-American; he goes on to state “President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let’s take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong,”
I thought back to when I was a kid in the 60’s and my dad and a thousand other Tradesman were fighting the anti war liberals in Daley Plaza. We had an “America love it or leave it” bumper sticker on our car and one that said “Need help? Call a hippy” Now the leaders of the labor movement have allied themselves with the people who used to be the anti-American crowd. This is not my father’s Jimmy Hoffa or AFL-CIO;

When George Meany was elected the first head of the AFL-CIO in the mid 50’s he was known as an American Patriot; he also didn’t believe in public sector unions! In an interview in the New York Times magazine he said

“Certain business leaders may consider “big government” or socialism more of an immediate threat to their interests than communism. Are they allowing themselves to be deluded by their own propaganda to the effect that organized labor in this country is in favor of big government or the nationalization of industry?

Nothing could be further from the truth. The main function of American trade unions is collective bargaining. It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government. Unions, as well as employers, would vastly prefer to have even Government regulation of labor-management relations reduced to a minimum consistent with the protection of the public welfare…”

After Meany left in 1979 his number two man Lane Kirkland was elected in his place. Kirkland in the early 80’s even sided with Ronald Reagan on the PATCO strike (Air Traffic controllers). Kirkland wouldn’t allow the AFL-CIO rank and file to observe PATCO picket lines (because PATCO called a strike without consulting him). Kirkland understood that the labor movement needed both parties to exist not to mention 40% of the rank and file voted Republican; unions had to be and were pro American.
Then in 1995 came John Sweeney from the radical SEIU with his far left views and his even farther left anti American background. He began appointing veterans of the black power, feminist and anti war movements as field reps and department heads for the AFL-CIO in Washington DC. The AFL-CIO was no longer in the hands of people who believed in the greatness of America it had fallen into the hands of zealots who spent decades trying to show how unfair America was.

When the Republicans took the Congress for the first time in 40 years in 1994 the AFL-CIO had not gone to the far left yet but they used the GOP victory as a rallying point. In leftist union politics Kirkland didn’t do enough to help the Democrats keep control of congress; that’s why the “New Voice”, as Sweeney’s coalition was called. started their insurrection to take control of the AFL-CIO.

The fact that the unions had not changed leadership until a year after the GOP took control and then thewar on terror stopped the GOP from passing anti-union legislation when they had full control of the government. It took a few years for the new AFL-CIO to place their people in position and begin putting all of its muscle openly behind the Democrat party but by 2004 the Unions were all in for the Democrats..

There’s an old saying “If you strike at a king you must kill him” Well Labor made it’s strike and didn’t kill the King, the Republicans are back in control of the House and maybe next year the whole government now it will have to deal with the consequences and it will not be pretty! Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and New Jersey are just the beginning of their problems.

The regular working person no longer has any connection or sympathy for union workers. Unions jobs are now only for the select few. Those jobs go to people who can’t be fired and get paid whether they work or not. They have big pensions and huge benefit packages no matter what the economy does; union/ Government jobs don’t have the same rules as everyone else. I know it’s a huge generalization but it’s the perception. People see Unions and their Democrat friends in the Whitehouse trying to stop companies from building new plants in right to work states! The American people are no longer pro union in fact they are becoming the opposite.

Being a member of and knowing many members of the Building Trades I am angry that the leaders of the AFL-CIO would put their political views ahead of the well being of the rank and file. Mr.Trumka, Mr. Hoffa and other leaders of organized labor have left the GOP no other recourse than to eliminate or try to defund unions.

The AFL-CIO leadership has put their members jobs and families at risk of losing everything. I only hope the Trades and skilled Labor are smart enough to break away or form guilds to keep their trades alive when it hits the fan, because it’s coming. Happy Labor Day?

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Jim Leahy is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer and Illinois Labor Activist.

image George Meany with Lyndon Johnson

Am I saying that Mitt Romney is another John McCain? Yes, just younger. I know the polls say Romney can beat Obama, but I have to tell you, this election will be about President Obama and the job he’s done, almost anyone the GOP puts up will win, except Ron Paul. (There I said it) But this election is not just about beating President Obama; it is about changing the course this country is on.

It’s not that Romney or Huntsman can’t win, but what will happen to the GOP and America if they do. America will be hurt if the GOP can’t win the Senate and keep the House, losing either stops them from overturning far left policies like Obama care; Government will continue to expand into our lives and grow at an unrecoverable rate. Ronald Reagan once said “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!” The Republican candidate for President has to be the leader of a movement and that movement has to include the GOP’s grassroots and independents.

The countries independents will not unite with the GOP if the conservative grassroots and moderates are not united. The best way to unite the Republican Party is to have a strong message and messenger. Governor Perry seems to be the one who can rekindle that pro American feeling that Ronald Reagan brought back in the 1980’s. They have to be unabashedly conservative and show it was the policies of conservatives that fueled the boom that started in 1982 and ended just before Obama was elected.

The next GOP Presidential candidate will have to convince the American people that they know where they are going to lead, and how to get us there. Governor Perry gave a rousing speech to the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans that was everything a Republican voter could have wanted. He attacked the Obama administration and the left for leading America on a “Downward spiral”. He refused to apologize for being pro life and conservative. He stood up for states rights, private property and downsizing government. He went on to say “I stand before you today as a disciplined, conservative Texan, a committed Republican and a proud American, united with you in the desire to restore our nation and revive the American dream,” A strong clear message the only problem is there was no conclusion like “So I am committing my life, my family and my sacred honor to run for the Presidency of the United States of America”

So here is an appeal to Governor Perry. Governor show you know where you want to take this country and that you are ready to do it. Don’t put off this announcement any longer! A long drawn out primary only helps President Obama and hurts the Republicans. If you wait I still think you can win but it will allow others to gather strength, the GOP has to unite behind its Presidential candidate and start putting out its agenda and force President Obama and Democrat candidates to do the same. Let the American people see that the Democrats have no idea how to bring the country back; The GOP candidates for all offices can all unite behind your message. It will show the American people and the world that the Republican party still believes in American exceptionalism and not be ashamed to say it; and that America is still the “Shining city on a hill” and a beacon of liberty to the world. America is ready to follow that person/party; Governor a real leader wouldn’t wait he would get in now.

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Jim Leahy is a political analyst for the Chicago Daily Observer
image MLB Brothers Gaylord and Jim Perry

So what the heck is this remapping process all about? In a secret room in Springfield all of the changes the voters demanded have been reversed? The people of Illinois have been in the front row of one of the biggest magic acts in history. And the big trick, Mike Madigan just made a whole election of 2010 disappear. Madigan is playing chicken and he’s betting that with the help of a docile media, the voters will just roll over, and continue to allow the Democrat party to stack elections in their favor.

The election of 2010 was a shot across the bow from voters who were sick and tired of Government not listening to them. It was a revolution of a sort with people joining Tea Parties to get politicians to understand, that the government was getting too big, spending too much and getting too corrupt. How did the Democrat leadership respond? Prove that the voters of 2010 were right! This is not only an Illinois issue it is a national issue as well. The head of the Democrat congressional committee has come out and said that the path to making Nancy Pelosi Speaker again goes through the Illinois remapping process.

Madigan has shown the American people what Illinois politics is all about, power, pure and simple. Madigan and his minions have ignored the wishes of the voters and showed them the fix is in. How dare the people vote out four of his Democrats and put in Republicans! How dare the people of Illinois make him look silly by going against his year 2000 map and put Republicans in office, don’t they realize that he’s a political genius?

What we have now all seen is that old time ward politics are still alive and well in Illinois. How much more do the voters have to do to say enough is enough? What is about to happen should help the Illinois Republican party, not because it is deserves it, but because it is the only option now. The GOP is in the now lucky position of being the only competition to the Democrats and their tyrannical power grab. Can they take advantage of this Democrat over reach?

The fuse has been lit, will the voters show that 2010 was a new world or will the voters allow themselves to be played like suckers?

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Jim Leahy is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer
image Foie gras – gavage force feeding tool

Mr. Roeser plucked me from utter obscurity and advanced me to at least the level of relative obscurity when he requested my presence on his WLS radio show after being bombarded by my continual calls in support of one conservative proposition or another. He saw something in me that I didn’t see myself and before long I was a regular contributor to the various radio airwaves forums in which he was a party to on several AM and FM radio stations throughout Chicago for quite Roeser number of years. Allied with us in this collaborative effort were at the formidable argumentative talents of the chairman of the Republican Assembly of Illinois, Jim Leahy, like me just another prole in whom Tom Roeser saw great promise. Together the three of us would engage the political social and cultural left and many of its more significant leaders in intellectual combat and debate and more often than not prevail over them.

I was privileged to receive from Mr. Roeser the best possible education as to what true conservatism meant because Tom understood and explained conservatism by analyzing the most profound and fundamental philosophical, intellectual, and historical antecedents of this belief system. Tom was absolutely brilliant at taking some current event and weaving it into a matrix which explained the reasonings of long dead but immortal minds associated with the best of Western philosophical tradition, Burke, Locke, Hume, Aquinas, Montesquieu, the founding fathers and a whole host of other names I had never even heard of before I met Tom Roeser. The Western canon was largely unknown to me before Tom Roeser had me scurrying to catch up on the gaps in my knowledge by endless hours spent studying the works of these greats.

To those of you who have not done so I really think you should treat yourself and read some of Tom’s columns and essays on issues great and small at http://blog.tomroeser.com/ You will discover what a truly great writer he was. He would write with a singular ability to employ sarcasm, erudition, and piercing wit and combine it with his prodigious knowledge of Chicago and Illinois history to produce the most entertaining and informative commentary in the news business.

He was an utter professional and accomplished in every way imaginable in the journalism business, a real pro’s pro. His insight and analysis of the political process was fearless and peerless. What I really loved about Tom was that he would never compromise his core principles to accommodate Illinois’s political establishment which often led him to being at odds with it. Practically all of Tom’s outlook was informed by his Catholic perspective and his reverence for the philosophies of the great fathers of the church. It is safe to say that time believed in the magisterium and that he rejected much of Vatican II, but he certainly believed in the great and abiding transcendent moral principles that are enshrined in the declaration of independence and the canon of the holy mother Church. Tom was a patriot of the highest order who believed what he believed because he thought that keeping America the greatest country in the history of mankind was to conserve the very best of its founding philosophies and traditions. He loved this nation in the best sense and for the best reasons and decried anything that would serve to weaken and unmoor it from those uniquely special underpinnings.

Despite Tom’s steely conservative insight he was really just a big old soft bear at heart. I used to get a real kick out of his devoted wife of decades little Lillian Roeser leading Tom to and fro as though he were some big old St. Bernard on a leash. To me those two appear to be the very epitome of long-term wedded bliss and cooperation. Tom was a family man par excellence.

Jim Leahy and I would often tease Tom about how he was becoming a mushy moderate in his old age and that he really needed us to buck him up and call him back to true conservative principles. It was all just in jest Tom, just in case you ever thought we were serious. To paraphrase that old James Bond movie tune, “nobody did it better.” Here’s to you sir, until we meet again at another great kaffeeklatsch and exchange ideas.

Frank Penn

P.S. For ever your devoted acolyte and friend I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you taught me and that I am continuing to share with others

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image Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tom Roeser’s oft comparison to Frank Penn

So now when the tax increase comes out as a paltry 40% or so every one of these Democrats in the next election can use the footage of them demanding that the “Needed increase” be reduced and spending caps be put into place. How much better can things get for a Democrat? They get more money to pay for their huge spending over the last decade with huge tax increases and still will be able to claim fiscal conservatism! Wow! And the media is doing it’s job by providing the camera time for the members from red areas. Providing cover for past spending with questions like “is this something like a trigger being put into place that if you over spend the tax increase is nullified?” Or “Does this mean you can stomach a tax increase if they put a hold on spending?”

My own Representative Karen May (D-58) has been every where in the media going so far as to put out an email with the following paragraph:

“.Thanks for the encouragement many of you gave to me for the media coverage of my leadership in the House for fiscal sanity as we contemplate revenues to return to us to strong financial health. I will fight down to the final minutes of the 96th General Assembly on Wednesday.” She went on to claim “I also want you to know that on Thursday, the House passed HB 5420, which I co-sponsored, which will implement significant reforms to our Medicaid system, in order to both rein in costs and improve care. The bill will tighten eligibility standards for the Medicaid program, increase the use of managed care, provide payment for performance and increase the use of electronic records. The bill will also increase penalties for Medicaid fraud, and provide for greater responsibility in the payment of claims. The bill is estimated to save the state $774 million over five years, money which can help us pay down our deficit.”

Imagine that, a member of the party that has been in control for over 8 years, and has spent the state into oblivion with huge expansions of government, can say with a straight face she is providing leadership for fiscal sanity! By the time this is over, these Democratic legislators will get awards from tax payer groups for being so fiscally conservative. They saved us from a 75% increase and a increase in the corporate tax rate that would make it the highest in the industrialized world.

The Republican leadership had better get in front of this now by reminding the voters how we got into this mess. Remind voters that the Democrats “significant reforms” were requiring people to prove they lived in Illinois!. My God how fiscally conservative can you get? Maybe next, Republicans and these newly conservative Democrats could demand a list of people enrolled in All Kids or even to get a list of all of the services the state provides? No that’s asking to much don’t you think? One step at a time.

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Jim Leahy is a political analyst for the Chicago Daily Observer

image Br’er Rabbit the Madigan-like trickster rabbit from Song of the South

I asked her who she would choose between Kirk and Ginnoulias. Her answer seems to be what allot of conservatives are thinking; there are two maybe three candidates running as independents she said, that in a year like this could win. To prove her point she referred to a poll that said a majority of voters want neither candidate. I asked if she really believed that the next United States Senator from Illinois would be an Independent? Her answer was “That’s why I said God was using this as a test and I believe that God can create miracles”. I had to say “Not in Illinois politics he can’t”.

How things have changed in this Senate race and how well the media and yes even the Kirk, campaign itself has done to separate Kirk from the GOP base. It looked like Alexi was on the ropes with all of his Broadway banking troubles; then Ed Marshall the producer at WBBM TV, publicly let Alexi off by telling Kirk “We’re really not going to cover the Senate race if it is consistently, only in your terms, is about Broadway Bank. Alexi’s been pilloried!”

Marshall made it clear Congressman Kirk had to find something else to talk about. Can you believe that? Giannoulias, in his campaign for Treasurer, used the fact that he was the executive director of a growing neighborhood bank as his bona fides. Kirk shouldn’t talk about a twenty something banker, who gave questionable loans to mobsters, and in 2006 while he was in charge, allowed Tony Rezko to kite $450,000 in bad checks?

The fact that the bank failed, cost the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and Alexi and his family absconded with millions of dollars after his father died isn’t worth mentioning anymore? I wonder if Mr. Marshall will call for the same ceasefire for Mark Kirk now? I mean Ginnoulias is harping on Kirks misstatements about his real life military career. Will Marshall say “What is your campaign going forward Alexi? What are the issues you are going to tell the voters why should they vote for you?” quoting his admonishment of Kirk.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Democrats and their allies in the media chose to attack someone’s military record. Of course they’re against the wars and don’t support the people in the military who are risking their lives, or their mission. For over two weeks now in the middle of two wars, Ginnoulias and his protectors in the media, have the nerve to attack someone who is actually serving in the military. The fact that his commanding officer said the honor was directed at Kirk, and was because of the work Kirk did, didn’t change the tone of the attacks. Now even Dick Durbin the hysterical whiner who when describing what a few Americans had done to prisoners in Iraq, said “you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others” Had the nerve to attack Kirk.

You would think that Durbin would have learned his lesson from his comparison that had him on the floor of the US Senate in tears asking for forgiveness. Now we know they were crocodile tears. He and his Democrat cohorts have used their antimilitary stands to take control of the country; this attack on Kirk is just a continuation of that same strategy.

I read a poll where only 17% now believe Kirk is telling the truth; about what? To allow anti-military knuckleheads like Durbin and Alexi to smear anyone who has served or still is serving during war time is criminal. I wouldn’t care if it was just a private who was kicked out after boot camp at least they tried to serve their country. Instead of allowing them to get away with this, people should be asking what they have done for the country, they should be embarrassed for their behavior.

My Republican friends where was the conservative running against Dick Durbin? I went to many meetings to find a candidate, none came forward. Dr. Sauerberg ended up as the candidate and Durbin with all of his baggage got over 68% of the vote. Where were all of you bloggers then? All of you saying you couldn’t vote for Kirk apparently didn’t vote for Sauerberg either. I would rather have Dr. Sauerberg than Dick Durbin and I don’t even have to think twice about that. Yes there were good candidates in the last primary but none had the money, charisma or the foresight to get out early and build a statewide organization Mark Kirk won. So now we should ask for Kirk to step aside? Why? Because some snot nosed millionaire is attacking him for his service?

Alexi Ginnoulias is as far left as Obama, he will vote 100% for the Obama Socialist agenda and what’s more important, to make either Dick Durbin or Chucky Schumer the next Majority leader in the Senate.  (I take for granted Harry Reid will lose). The one vote that we can count on Mark Kirk making is for Majority leader, if the GOP does not win Obama’s old seat we can’t take back the Senate it is just that simple. The GOP needs every seat to get to nine. Even if Harry Reid and Barbra Boxer lose and even with the huge victory of winning the Kennedy seat the Democrats will still run the Senate if Kirk loses. One more vote on the Supreme court and the 2nd amendment is a goner and any hope of reversing Roe for another generation is gone as well we need to take back the Senate.

To Mark Kirk and his campaign; you had better wake up and do some grassroots outreach. You need to find some common ground with the GOP base and apologize for being so arrogant. It should have been your campaign that put this forward, and the reasons to vote for your candidate, not someone like me from the outside. You need to do a few mea culpas and ask for help. You might be surprised with the answer. If you do it now.

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Jim Leahy is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer and a US Marine.

I don’t know if they believe their own press releases or if they have a death wish but the majority of Americans both Democrat and Republican are against any move to legalize any of the 12 million illegals in the country.

With unemployment hovering around 10% and over 20% in the construction industry bringing this issue up will be a death knell for any politician of either party. No matter what the MSM says, it’s not only Republicans who are against amnesty; the African American community is just as opposed.

African American unemployment is at 16%, double that in some inner cities. Any sane person should understand that now is not the time to legalize millions of people who will take jobs from Americans. If people were against this legislation when unemployment was at 4 and 5% it’s just common sense that even more people would be against it when it’s double that.

Even Senator McCain whose stand on the immigration issue arguably cost him the Presidency, is now in favor of arresting and deporting illegals. It took a war on his states border and his reelection for him to see the light but he now agrees with a majority of Americans. It’s a little too late for Robert Krentz, the Rancher who’s murder has brought a new sense of urgency and anger to the immigration issue. Things are getting dicey on the border with more and more violence against Americans and the illegal’s as well. It’s time something is done about it.

Arizona just passed the toughest illegal alien law in the country. What is it? They are going to demand people pulled over to produce their proof of citizenship. Boy is that tough? I think most Americans would agree if the police pull someone over and they are in the country illegally that they should be arrested and deported as long as they are not criminals. If they are criminals they should do their time and be taken right to the border when they finish their sentences.

I know states say it is a federal issue but for 200 years in this country the local police would detain people who were not citizens. There was a time when someone showed up at a school to register their children they would be asked for proof of citizenship. I don’t mean just Hispanics it was anyone who couldn’t speak English or had an accent, Irish, German, Polish it didn’t matter if you didn’t have a green card you couldn’t enroll your kid in school.

How many people would choose to live someplace where if you ran a stop sign you could be deported? How many people would choose to live where you couldn’t send their kid to school? These are easy enforcement tools and they work. It’s time for all of the other states to follow Arizona’s lead and use common sense laws to shrink the size of the illegal population without rounding people up and having mass deportations. People will voluntarily head back to their countries and not risk the break up of their families if they think there would be any chance of being caught. There is nothing racist about looking out for citizens and enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, its common sense.

If President Obama thinks people are angry about the way he passed his health care bill, let him try to pass comprehensive immigration reform in this congress. If the Democrats try to pass any reform before the next election, what we have seen so far with the tea parties will be nothing. People will take to the streets and this time nobody will be able to say its just old white guys. It will accomplish one thing Obama said he wanted to do and that’s bringing Americans together, but it will be in protest.

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Jim Leahy is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer

The reporter then asked “You’re supporting the 10% across the board cuts?” “No” Edgar said “that’s naïve.” Mr. Edgar, in his moderate Republican mode was giving the Democrats a talking point to use against Senator Brady’s campaign. First Edgar says everything should be on the table, but across the board cuts are naïve? So everything is not on the table? Why would Edgar go out of his way to take a shot at Senators Brady’s plan? This is what bothers conservatives about Edgar and his ilk, we not only have to worry about Democrat attacks but moderate Republicans too.

As if to prove my point, Governor Quinn in his budget speech referring to the Brady plan, called it both “heartless and naïve.” Thanks Mr. Edgar! Not 24 hours after your interview, your words were used to attack the Republican candidate’s economic plan.
Some might say Edgar was just being honest and he didn’t mean to attack Brady. That could very well be, but in the same interview, he continued saying that he will not help Senator Brady, he will go back to being a professor and sit on the side lines. I started writing this article then about Edgar being a sore loser, but since Edgar said he was going to sit on the sidelines and teach I figured why continue the Republican civil war?

So now we come to Thursday and Governor Edgars speech, “I give Governor Quinn credit for having the courage to call for a tax increase in an election year.” Edgar said. I have one question for the former Governor. Why are you doing this? Is it because Brady is leading and has been for a month now? Is it because a conservative could win and prove you and the moderate Republicans who have been running the party wrong?

If you think it doesn’t matter look at the media’s response. The media is full of stories about Edgar and his opposition to Brady’s plan. Liberal columnists are complaining that Quinn has not started to campaign, that he’s not defining Senator Brady as a far right conservative. Why should he? Jim Edgar will do it for him! Thursdays attack was covered by all of the Chicago land media, it was a earned media extravaganza for Quinn.

Do you think the former Governor has done enough? NO! He went from that speech and gave another to a pro amnesty business group endorsing amnesty for illegal aliens. What happened to the guy crying on TV saying his days of running for office were over? What about sitting on the side lines and teaching?

With what the Illinois Republican Party has done for him, Jim Edgar should do anything he can to help them win this election, including shutting up. Edgar makes over $300 grand from the state, he is a millionaire even though he has been on the public payroll since he was 31. Edgar owes everything he has to the Republican Party, and he seems to want to do everything he can to help its opposition. Mr. Edgar go back to your chalet in Colorado and leave us alone.

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Jim Leahy is a political correspondent for the Chicago Daily Observer