Sequester threatens St. Patrick’s Day activities across the U.S. and Ireland

Mea culpa! (Actually I like the tin whistle.)

Easy on Eiriamach I play the tin whistle.

"They all play on penny whistles/ You can hear them blow/ If you lean your head out far enough/ From Desolation Row." Bobby knew they'd be back again.

SeanO - Thanks for the poem but I will continue to stick to the the facts and the truth.

oh a false clock tries to tick out my time./to disgrace,distract and bother me./and the dirt of gossip blows in my face./and the dust of rumours cover me.Maybe smyrnian will stop spreading rumour and innuendo and stick to facts.

Anglophile - For once we definitely agree :)

Obama is killing the US economy.

this is a shame. America should continue to spend itself into Chinese slavery to maintain frivolous celebrations that could be carried on more authentically by private sector. Damn authenticity; up with more government funded parties and circuses! btw, who called Mr. Obama our Entertainer in Chief, anyway?

If the gov't is forced to make the pay cuts, maybe they'll realize THEY CAN get by on less government. As far as getting rid of the air traffic controllers, why don't we get rid of the TSA idiots they have standing around. Truly, you give some one a badge, and they BELIEVE they are the new sheriff in town...

I'm reminded of the later years of the Vietnam War when military units we NOT invited to some very important parade, but they were always well received in the NYC parades of Mrch 17. Then in 1983 and 1985 the Reagan administration REFUSED to permit the military to participate in this event because the Grand Marshals, Mike Flannery in '83 and Peter King in '85, were outspoken opponents of the British occupation of the Six-Countie.

Golly Seano, then what can anyone do about it? "Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’ But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’ And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall."

Gee Eiriamach !! Maybe the answer is blowing in the wind.

Eiriamach you are right! Tired of hearing Pres Obama complain about Repub not allowing tax increases--when the House Repubs did (increase in top rate from the "fiscal cliff" compromise to say nothing of the new taxes phasing in from Obamacare). Tired of hearing Pres Obama complain about the "1%ers" not paying their fair share while never specifying what their "fair share" should be, perhaps he has just been too tired from all those vacations. As "annew" pointed out, in the private sector--both non-profit and for-profit--cuts had been made, pain endured so that the mission could go on.

Wow! Reader, don't bother reading further. There's almost no one but complainers posting below! If life gives back what you put into it, they must be truly miserable people. Maya Angelou has something to say to people like them: “There were people who went to sleep last night,/ poor and rich and white and black,/ but they will never wake again./ And those dead folks would give anything at all/ for just five minutes of this weather/ or ten minutes of plowing./ So you watch yourself about complaining./ What you're supposed to do/ when you don't like a thing is change it./ If you can't change it,/ change the way you think about it.” Complaints never changed anything.

Irish Central = Obama Central