Finnegan's Awake

Archbishop Timothy Dolan takes another swing at the New York Times

Archbishop Timothy Dolan is taking another swing at the is not a perfect institution, and should be called out when it presents biased coverage. This, I'm afraid, is not one of those times.

Irish car bombs offend the easily offended

Apparently the Irish are sensitive.

Irish Central writer James O’Brien reports that the Irish Car Bomb drink is more popular than ever in the United States, while it continues to receive vitriol from IRA victims’ groups and self-righteous people everywhere. The inventor of the tasty concoction, a bar owner in Connecticut, has even apologized for his insensitive christening and wishes he could take it back.

In quotations in the article and comments from readers, the Irish Car Bomb is compared to a hypothetically invented European cocktail like the “Al-Qaeda car bomb” or the “Twin Towers cocktail.”

A wedding planner's nightmare - an Irish, English, German and Italian affair

A person like me, a sixth generation American on my father’s Irish side and second generation on my mother’s English side (in other words, white), can go about her business without thinking seriously about heritage all the time.

That’s not to say it doesn’t matter or that it doesn’t come up. People comment on my last name constantly (“Finnegan! You’re not Irish, are you?”) and I think about my grandparents whenever I make tea or hear an English accent. But nothing, not even St. Patrick’s Day, has made me consider my cultural heritage more than planning a wedding.

Wedding magazines, books, websites and television shows are all in the business of telling you to have a unique wedding while selling you the same stuff they’re peddling to every single woman who tunes in. Advertising makes the world go round, and there are many thoughtful bloggers curate their sponsors carefully, as there are editors and producers and writers who genuinely care about presenting useful, fun, pertinent information. But it’s tough to escape the message: “You [meaning everyone] must be unique! Your wedding should say something about you as a couple!”

Ill-Conceived Ice Cream Ads

While this news is a few weeks old, it just came to my attention and roused up so many conflicting emotions in a matter of seconds that I had to share it.

My friend forwarded me