But for me I thought you made a record you got on a bus went out and played your shows and made a lot of money. That was the way it was supposed to go down. But there's a lot more to it than that. There are a lot of early mornings late nights a lot of traveling a lot of being away from home being away from your family.

My family although they're very large on both my parents' sides they don't know much about their family tree. Occasionally they try to dig but they can't get very far and it's baffling. In Dublin it seems that so many public records were wiped out it's proven to be very difficult so I know very little.

For all of higher civilization's recorded history becoming a man was defined overwhelmingly as taking responsibility for a family.

Visible Faith is an expression of my Christian faith which must be visible to be real! I gave the name to the collection of musicians who worked with me on the record.

So many of my friends are still trying to get record deals and I've had one for 10 years now where my only goal is to make the best music I can make. I've been very lucky. I have great faith that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be and whatever happens is going to be absolutely right for me.

For the record I believe elected officials should talk about faith. Our founders believed the moral principles of faith were indispensable to our nation's survival. The Declaration of Independence mentions God four times.

Ever since the Crusades when Christians from western Europe were fighting holy wars against Muslims in the near east western people have often perceived Islam as a violent and intolerant faith - even though when this prejudice took root Islam had a better record of tolerance than Christianity.

Our managers hadn't had that kind of success - the record company hadn't we hadn't - and the feeling was that the next record had to be even bigger and if it wasn't it would be some kind of failure.

It has now been over 7 years since Congress last raised the minimum wage to its current level of $5.15 per hour. Since that last increase Congress's failure to adjust the wage for inflation has reduced the purchasing power of the minimum wage to record low levels.

Even in a gleefully negative comic there is optimism although it's slightly hidden: It comes out through a comic character's sheer tenacity. He keeps going and trying to find some sort of fulfillment regardless of his perpetual failure record. That's a form of hope a form of optimism. Really hokey I know but it's true.