I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.

These days with 'American Idol' and all the other reality shows young people become famous overnight and that can be very difficult to handle the way photographers follow you around and study your every move.

The poster boy for our superabled future is Oscar Pistorius an increasingly famous South African sprinter who happens to have had both of his legs amputated below the knee. Using upside down question mark-shaped carbon fiber sprinting prosthetics called Cheetah blades Mr. Pistorius can challenge the fastest sprinters in the world.

Maya Angelou the famous African American poet historian and civil rights activist who is hailed be many as one of the great voices of contemporary literature believes a struggle only makes a person stronger.

I definitely wanted to be an actor. I didn't want to be on TV I didn't want to be famous I didn't want to be anyone in particular I just wanted to do it. I see young people now who look at magazines or American Idol and their goal is to have that lifestyle - to have good handbags or go out with cute guys from shows or whatever. But I definitely wanted to be an actor.

It's never been my purpose to become an American icon or more famous or richer.

The whole 'American Idol' way of looking at things is the antithesis of what I grew up with. There are a whole lot of kids wanting to be famous now whereas if I'd even mentioned that word to one of my teachers I would have got into a whole load of trouble.

While Free Choice Vouchers didn't fulfill my vision of a health care system in which every American would be empowered to hire and fire their insurance company they were a foothold for choice and competition and a safety valve for Americans whose employers are already forcing them to bear more and more of their family's health insurance costs.

My family was all born in Sicily and I'm Italian-American. They're the real thing. They're authentic Italians and honestly they're the most open-minded nicest people in the world and nothing can really offend them. That's the way I think true Sicilians are.

The American people know what's necessary to get this economy moving again. It's fiscal discipline in Washington D.C. and across-the-board tax relief for working families small businesses and family farms.