Madeline Peyroux

I ran into this cd in Barnes and Noble over the weekend. What a sweet sound. Somtimes its hard to tell if I'm listening to Madeline Peyroux or if a Billie Holiday song slipped into my playlist.

Madeline's voice is the smoothest of any jazz singer for decades. Much like Norah Jones but more jazz, less blues. With some covers of Bob Dylan and old jazz standards, Careless Love is already an award winner in my book. A must own for anyone who enjoys jazz singers or just some sweet music.

good times, McSorley's

God's Politics

This is a wonderful idea for a book which really applies to today's political dilemma. While the number of 'Evangelicals' grows in the U.S., the Democratic party is losing hold on its identification with moral values. Wallis argues that being a Christian doesn't mean your default political party is Republican. Many biblical ideals are represented by Democrats rather than Republicans, i.e. poverty, war, capital punishment.

Unfortunately, Wallis is slow to the point and never offers a solution to the problem he has discovered. I felt that instead of asking for a balanced representation, he is instead begging Christians to be Democrats, like himself.

If you're into the topic, you might pick this up and check out a few choice chapters but don't expect to breeze through this mucky read. You should be able to find it used already because I'm not the only reader that finished prematurely.

Steve Fossett, International Hero?

CNN) -- Flying from horizon to horizon, Steve Fossett completed the first nonstop, flight round-the-world without refueling on Thursday afternoon, landing gracefully in Kansas at 2:49 pm ET.

A cheering crowd gathered to usher the GlobalFlyer and its 60-year-old pilot into the record books, something that has become almost routine for Fossett in recent years. The aviator now holds three record-breaking circumnavigations of the globe, the two others by balloon and sailboat.

***

Steve Fossett today achieved something no man in history has ever done, a non-stop solo flight around the world! Why doesn't anyone care? Where will Fossett's name be in the record books?

In 1521, Magellan was the first human to circumnavigate the globe. Since then, second graders have known who Magellan is. In 1927, Charles Lindberg flew the first flight across the Atlantic. Today, across continents, Lindberg is an aviation hero.

Ameilia Earhart, Chuck Yeager, the list goes on. But where will Steve Fossett be in the record books? Not next to Magellan. Try the line under Evel Kinevel.