From my wife’s blog:

Friday Oct. 16 is The Piedmont Land Conservancy? Land Jam at the Carolina Theatre (in Greensboro, NC) with Steep Canyon Rangers and Polecat Creek.

Your $20 ticket will be working to ensure that the Piedmont has clean air, clean drinking water and strong soil for vegetable and plant production for years to come.

Since 1990, the PLC has been working to permanently protect more than 138 of the Piedmont’s special places encompassing nearly 16,000 acres. Through the protection of these lands, the PLC helps ensure the people who live and visit this region have clean drinking water, access to locally grown food, outdoor recreational opportunities, and scenic views.

And Friday night, we’re singing and playing to literally save the places we all love.

Tonight, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m., I’ll be talking about immigration and My Cousin the Saint at the Barnes & Noble in Greensboro, NC.

A Democratic National Committee spokesman “reacted furiously” to RNC chairman Michael Steele’s statement regarding President Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize:

“The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists — the Taliban and Hamas this morning — in criticizing the president for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse said. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the president of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize – an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride — unless of course you are the Republican Party.

“The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It’s no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore — it’s an embarrassing label to claim.”

The president speaks for himself here.

For those in the Mooresville, Lake Norman area, I will be speaking at St. Therese Catholic Church on Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. The church is located at 217 Brawley School Road. This coming Saturday, at 7 p.m., I will be speaking at the Barnes & Noble at Friendly Center.

Looking to next month, I have book talks set for St. Thomas More in Chapel Hill on Nov. 1, at the High Point Friends of the Library on Nov. 4 and St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro on Nov. 12. These are all evening events, around 7 p.m.

Book signings will follow each talk. Come on out!

A brilliant, insightful and factual opinion piece from a conservative New York Times commentator about the true impotence of the right-wing talk jocks and their supposed power and influence — here.

Excerpt: “So the myth returns. Just months after the election and the humiliation, everyone is again convinced that Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and the rest possess real power. And the saddest thing is that even Republican politicians come to believe it. They mistake media for reality. They pre-emptively surrender to armies that don’t exist.”