Well, just as we thought that the immigration reform effort was gone for its tea there was that meeting in Washington, D.C. last week between Obama administration officials and representatives of Irish American organizations, including the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform and the AOH.
Suffice it to say, the plight of those undocumented Irish who are still hanging on in America in the hope of some relief from Congress has only worsened since the last time there was discernable activity on Capitol Hill.
In the meantime, individual states are filling the void by passing laws which, in some cases, make even the toughest federal mandates seem tame by comparison.
Down the line, the likely expansion of the e-verify checking system from purely federal jobs into private industry is going to make life even more difficult for those living in the shadows.
While all sides agree that greater immigration control has to be brought to bear at the nation's borders, and inside them, the sense of injustice that the undocumented Irish feel is made all the more palpable by the fact that legal migration to the U.S. is virtually impossible anyway for the great bulk of Irish who might consider such a move.
Meanwhile, Irish eyes have been turning elsewhere to the likes of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Hard not to think that their gain is America's loss.
QUINN'S PROSPECTS
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly might be the current opinion poll favorite for the city's 2013 mayoral race but he isn't a runner, at least not at the moment. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn isn't officially in the ring either, but it would seem only a matter of time.
Certainly, the New York Times appears to think that Quinn's a candidate as the paper had a front page report this week that pointed squarely at Quinn as an arguable front runner.
The Times wrote that political fortune had smiled on Quinn of late, not least as a result of expected mayoral rival, Rep. Anthony Weiner's, political implosion.
"Now, many voters are reassessing Ms. Quinn, who emerged onto the public scene as a left-leaning Chelsea activist but is now courting a broader electorate. With increasing support from a once-skittish business community, Ms. Quinn has raised more money than all the other likely contenders and has the apparent blessing of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg," the Times report stated.
NOT OURS MATE!
The riots in English cities were no joke but a wry smile is warranted at the way in which early descriptions of looting in Britain and/or the UK raised hackles in Scotland and Wales where cities remained unaffected.
So, in short order, the likes of the BBC got its ducks in a row and confined its description of street anarchy to England and English cities. In the middle of it all, Northern Ireland was quiet as a church mouse which might have led to a newspaper headline of "North Quiet, England Burns."
But no, editors in the wee North showed commendable restraint. Guess one doesn't want to tempt fate.
