FREE Obama-Biden car magnet — $15 donation, plus FREE full-length LESBIAN novel!

So as promised, this post I’m going to share about some of the things I’ve been asked to hock and books I’ve been asked to review on my book blog. I’ve also thrown in an e-mail I received via a Facebook group to which I belong.

Sisters of Misery Giveaway Contest:

I received this very personal e-mail from a blogger who addressed me personally:

“Hello Fellow Book Blogger! I have been following your blog and really love your approach to covering the world of books. I have actually linked to you a few times! [Then follows a pitch for a contest she is running on her site for signed copies of the book and asking for me to mention the contest with a link AND I'll be included in the drawing also.] I am hoping to build a strong group of book friends! :) I look forward to hearing from you!”

Not only does the personal touch matter, but the emoticon and the four exclamation marks!!!! mean I definitely will be filing this– in a special file I like to call “Recycle Bin”.

Jumble Pie-Women’s Fiction:

Hello! We thought you and your readers might like to receive a free full-length novel, Jumble Pie, a heartwarming story about two women, friendship, and a pie. The author has two published novels and is providing this as a thank-you to readers! [Then a link is provided to request a copy.]

Hello! I don’t know how you learned that I love women’s fiction!! But I do. Not only is this a novel, but a FULL-LENGTH novel. I’m so glad I’m not receiving those half-finished novels that I usually receive to read (“WTF? I want to know did they eat the pie or not?”). And if I’m reading between the lines correctly: “A heartwarming story about two women, friendship and a pie,” this means LESBIAN story. The only thing I need to know is are they photos included? And if you combine this novel with the previous novel, Sisters of Misery, and make it like a campy S&M parody flick, Sisters of Misery Toss Jumble Pie In Your Face!.

First EditionObama-Biden Car Magnet:

Yes, A FIRST EDITION Obama-Biden car magnet for only $15. Like we won’t be able to get this for a nickel at the upcoming community yard sale or flea market this Spring?

Now for this last one, let me admit, I belong to a certain political persuasion, which because of where I live (READ: MAYBERRY, PA.) shall go unnamed and I am friends with a certain political candidate on Facebook, so I was sort of asking for this one.

I guess I also was asking for the daily updates on the convention I received:

Monday night: Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle speaking to convention. Remember The Blues Brothers? His part was played by Steven Spielberg. At the time, he was just just an assessor’s clerk. He also thought it was odd that they chose a non-Latino to play the part, but what could he do it was the start of the 1980s (Chico and the Man’s run ended in 1978 and it was a new time, you know, esse?).

Tuesday night: Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards — Chicken barbecue for group to follow.

Wednesday night: Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) along with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. I was thinking of skipping that part of the convention myself, because Wexler, well, I never really heard of him, but then you resurrect Richard Daley, I’m soooo there. I thought he might talk about his days as Boss Daley and how he got JFK in the White House. Maybe he is working on something for Obama. I knew I had to definitely tune in to that part. (Oh, wait, I’ve since learned that this was Richard M. Daley, the son of the late Richard J. Daley…I could have skipped it.)

Thursday: All Day: Latino Day! Among speakers are Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Democratic National Committee Vice-Chair Linda Chavez-Thompson,  Colorado Congressman John (or should we say Juan?) Salazar, Coloroda Obama State Director Ray Rivera and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (originally Ricardo’s son? was he ashamed of his Hispanic heritage?). We’ve come along way, bebe, since the days of Miguel del Valle and Freddy Prinze.

To cast your vote for yet another Caucasian, but one who likes Latino TV, and Latino comedy troupes like Culture Clash, click on Humor-Blogs.com, where you’ll find other Caucasian Watinos or Wispanics (like wiggas) playing the roles of George Lopez and Carlos Mencia. This message has been approved by Unfinished Rambler, who is proud to be an American where at least he knows he’s free!

Chicken barbecue for Planned Parenthood?

In a roundabout way I was talking about chicken last time, as I was on my way to Weis for my Wednesday Southwestern Chicken Salad, when I needed to get windshield wiper blades installed at the windshield-wiper-blade-place. So now it’s back to chicken.

Whenever I go to one of the chicken barbecues or BBQs or barbie-Qs or bar-b-Qs, however, you want to pronounce it or spell it, which usually are held down the street at the local Agway, I always ask whom they are going to benefit. Most likely, I’m going to get the chicken anyway, but I like to know to where my hard-earned $5 to $8, depending on what’s included, is going.

It got me thinking what would I do, say, if the money were going to Planned Parenthood, which as a good Catholic I shouldn’t be supporting? Would I turn it down? Would I say, “Oh, I’m sorry, but I can’t support you, even though the chicken smells pretty good and all. I can’t support your giving out condoms and supporting abortion and all.” My wife joked (I know, totally inappropriately, as the good — well, not-so-good, now that I’ve written this post– Catholics that we are) that it could be called “Chickens For Choice.”

In our area, though, it would more likely to be a fund-raiser for the National Rifle Association, or “Chickens For The Trigger-Happy,” as I imagine it would be called. I actually went to one barbecue and asked what it was for and they told me it was for a trapping club. I didn’t argue and just took the chicken, although I did wonder if it actually was chicken I was getting or some other animals the club had trapped. As with most mystery meats, hey, it tasted like chicken….

which doesn’t everything “taste like chicken”?

Which reminds me….

…about five or so years ago, as a newspaper reporter, I attended a frog legs dinner that the local Italian club in the town where we lived at the time held every year for the last 40 or so years, and when I asked people what frog legs tasted like, they all said, “It tastes like chicken.”

Of course, it didn’t. It had a less “gamey” taste, whatever the heck that means, and tasted like…well, not chicken…it actually might have tasted more like fish to me, if anything. In the end, I think it didn’t really taste like anything. It wasn’t good. It wasn’t bad. It was just there.

Oh, and where did the money go for the frog leg dinner? It went to the local Italian club that hosted it, and right back into buying more frog legs the next year that the club had imported from Thailand — and kegs of beer to wash down the frog legs. After all, who would eat frog legs sober? Oh, and did I mention that this Italian club was a Catholic group (of course), so I didn’t have to worry about the money going to Planned Parenthood. Thank God (as I cross myself…).