Kelly's Corner
by Kelly FinchamRSS 
Recent Posts
- So-called 'experts' need to pay for their mistakes on Irish economy
- So-called 'experts' need to pay for their mistakes on Irish economy
- Bargain apartments for sale in Ireland as banks start sell-offs
- Obama marks Cinco de Mayo with immigration reform remarks at White House
- Immigation reform (or lack of) set to dominate mid-term elections
Archives
Want to come to the U.S. from Ireland soon? That'll be an extra $10 please.
A new bill on its way to President Obama's desk will create a national tourism agency partially funded by the $10 fee which will only be levied on visitors from countries in the visa waiver program.
Which includes Ireland.
ESPN has done the right thing by putting Tony Kornheiser off the air for two weeks after his ugly remarks about colleague Hannah Storm.
However, they might think about sending him off on some passive-aggression training course before letting him back on again.
Pigs are big in Ireland. So big in fact that applications to keep pigs have risen by 360 percent over the past two years.
That's a lot of pigs; 687 in fact. All being kept in back gardens across the country.
And what Sharry is reading adds up to a big flashing red danger sign for the beleagured Democrats.
Sharry says the Dems are in danger of losing seats in 11 key states because of the lack of progress on comprehensive immigration reform.
The sidewalks outside our office are crowded with Catholics leaving the nearby St Francis Church bearing the Ash Wednesday ashes on their forehead.
They've been dispensing ashes from St Francis on 31st street since 7.30 this morning and will be doing so continuously until 7 p.m.
St Francis is my favorite church in New York not surprisingly really when St Francis was my favorite saint for so many years. (At least he was until I realized my hopeless causes needed St Jude's intervention!)
A firestorm of criticism has broken out over anti-Irish "jokes" on a Daily Telegraph blog in Britain.
More than 70 so-called jokes have been posted on a blog by Douglas Murray (who runs an organization called "The Center for Social Cohesion,") after he wrote a piece lambasting a recent compensation payout.
The comment was fair game. Turns out that a union rep successfully sued a Conservative councilor for discrimination after said Tory told a so-called Irish joke.
It seems to me as if Pope Benedict has squandered an opportunity to inspire Irish Catholics.
The pope today described the decades of child sex abuse in the Irish church as a "heinous crime," but failed to take action on calls for top bishops to resign.
Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope "shares the outrage" over the abuse and said Benedict pope had "already expressed profound regret."
If you pay careful attention to the stories coming out of the Vatican you can just about make out a sound in the background.
It's the sound of ancient shutters being forced open. It's the sound of secrets being pushed out of dark rooms where they've been hidden for decades.
Finally, the Vatican might just admit that the entire foundations of the Irish church need to be dug out and started again.
The Vatican has been exceedingly slow to act on the Irish child sex abuse scandal.
Did you hear the one about the two Northern Irish police officers who failed to notice a dead body?
Not once, but twice!
Immigration minister Chris Evans says the country has too many hairdressers and cooks and not enough doctors and engineers.
"We were taking hairdressers from overseas in front of doctors and nurses - it didn't make any sense," Evans said.
Rare footage of the Irish leader Michael Collins has been unearthed by Pathe News.
The footage, which was shot in 1922, shows Collins campaigning up and down the country and shows the sheer size of the throngs who turned out to hear him.
It won't be any time soon for the "Traditional Unionist Voice," which dismissed the devolution deal Friday with a petulant hissy fit.
The TUV opposes any coalition with Sinn Fein (which makes any grown-up negotiations kinda difficult don't ya think boys?) and says the DUP has sold out.
Good news for those of us who are paid in dollars and keep getting fleeced by the euro exchange rate.
Bank of Ireland is forecasting another dip in the exchange rate - down to $1.35 from $1.40 through the end of March.
The exchange rate is currently around $1.39.
Apparently the 61-year-old woman was haring down the HOV lane when she was pulled over by a keen-eyed cop.
The police officer thought it was just a tad suspicious that the "passenger" was wearing glasses and had the visor down even though the day was cloudy and grey.
Immigration reform advocates are stuck on the sidelines as Congress continues to do nothing about much.
In the interim, the University of Denver has weighed into the fray with a thoughtful and constructive report which would grant "provisional legal status" to current so-called illegal immigrants.
The university gathered some 20 citizens on to a panel which spent 2009 hearing from pro and anti-reform advocates.
The 60-year-old reporter says he has failed to make a single friend during his time here.
"Whatever that says about me, I've decided really that I'm a home bird rather than a Washington person...I won't be here this time next Christmas," he said in the second part of "Charlie Bird's American Year," which was broadcast on RTE in Ireland Monday night
