Those inappropriate, derogatory St. Patrick's Day tees

The Erin Express wheels its way through the city starting tomorrow, and what better way to celebrate the drunken debacle of a holy holiday like St. Patrick's Day than in an all-American, inappropriate and mildly offensive fashion, participants may speculate.

There is no occasion that's directly correlated with drunkenness more than St. Patty's Day, besides Fat Tuesday, and okay, Thanksgiving Eve. However, we've noticed a rising number of offensive, stereotypical tees- some funny and others, extremely inappropriate and lewd.

So offensive are some of these products that the Congressional Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs sent a letter to the newly-inducted CEO of Urban Outfitters earlier this month, to request a halt on the sale and distribution of some of the company's St. Patty's Day-related graphic tees and products (see below). The letter stated that the offending items were, "fueling stereotypes that many Irish-Americans, as well as the people of Ireland, work so hard to dispel."

Soon thereafter, the largest Irish-American organization in the country, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, wrote an angry letter to Ted Marlow stating, "There are those few who use this day as an excuse to over celebrate but that does not give you or anyone else the right to defame and debase a whole race of people by selling the garbage that you display in your stores."

Talk about passionate discussion! We're curious- What are your thoughts?