Today is, or course, St. Patrick’s Day, where everyone gets to play an Irishman (or Irishwoman), kiss the Blarney Stone, drink green beer, see the normally-polluted Chicago River dyed a very bright green, blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda. At least I don’t have to play Irish, as I already have Irish blood in me!
Anyway, I thought I might share the lyrics to a recently-written Gaelic song which appears on this album. A good drinking song, nevertheless. It’s called “Wander My Friends.”

(in Gaelic)
  Siulaigi a chairde, siulaidh liom
  Mar cheo an tsleibhe uaine ag
  imeacht go deo
  D’ainneoin ar dtuirse leanfam an tsli
  Thar chnoic is thar ghleannta
  go deireadh na scrib’

  Seo libh a chairde is canaidh liom
  Lionaigi’n oiche le greann is le sport
  Seo slainte na gcarad ata imithe uainn
  Mar cheo an tsleibhe uaine,
  iad imithe go deo

  (English translation)
  Wander my friends, wander with me
  Like the mist on the green mountain, moving eternally
  Despite our weariness, we’ll follow the road
  Over hills and valleys, to the end of the journey

  Come on my friends and sing with me
  Fill the night with joy and sport
  Here’s a health to the friends who have gone from us
  Like the mist of the green mountain, gone forever

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY EVERYONE!

Perhaps this needed to happen to the USA: a failure to win at the National Pastime:

ANAHEIM (Reuters) - Mexico shocked the U.S. 2-1 in the final pool game of the World Baseball Classic on Thursday, ending American title hopes at the 16-nation event while handing Japan a ticket to the last four.
The loss is also likely to send pitching legend Roger Clemens into retirement on a losing note.
Defeat was a massive blow to the nation who invented the game, produces most of the world’s top players and considers the sport their national pastime.
The semi-finals, scheduled for Saturday in San Diego, will feature Asian and Caribbean nations that have embraced the sport with Cuba taking on the Dominican Republic and South Korea facing Japan.
“This is for Mexico,” said Jorge Cantu, who drove in a pair of runs. “So everyone in our country can know what we are doing here, so we can leave with our heads held high.

Like it or not, baseball, like basketball, has becone an international sport where talent arises from countries other than our own. On the flip side, we are becoming more productive in soccer and can compete at the world level, so there is some balance here.
Maybe this loss can light a fire under the collective a**es of Major League Baseball to field a team in 2009 that will take care of business. You’ve got three years….

Let’s open this one up for discussion. Which photo looks more natural?
BTW, the photo of Bill Clinton hugging the other child took place here.

And while we’re at it, we might as well compare Bush to Hitler and discuss!