Are the Irish To Blame For Lobbyists, Too?

On this day when all Americans have "a case of the Blarney," it is important to remember that the actual Irish were literally the Mexicans of their day, when they came to America. Why? Nobody remembers now, but apparently the Irish took all the shit jobs the white people didn't want, and because of this the hard-working immigrants were characterized as degenerate trolls. (See illustration at right.)

Today, of course, everybody loves the Irish and we can't even remember why we hated them so much. (And then we see Bono and it all comes back, ha ha, Bono.) Anyway this article in the congressional webzineRoll Callraises the interesting possibility that the Irish invented lobbying in DC. What did we say about "taking the shit jobs nobody wanted," right? Anyway, happy Irish Christmas! [ Roll Call ]