Huffington Post owes Allen West an apology

When Allen West spoke out in support of the marines who peed on corpses, and are now in a whole lotta trouble, he knew he would be misquoted, ridiculed, lied about, etc.  At least I guess he had to know this, but he has a strong ethical core. I’m not really a Republican, but I know a genuine statement when I see it. I would need to research Allen West further to support him in any type of candidacy, because I’m not big on following the crowd. I like to know what I am getting into. But I DO KNOW THIS.

We all know about the marines who urinated on the corpses. We’ve seen the video. We are all appalled, and dammit, we wish someone had taught them better.

But wait. Maybe we did. THIS IS WAR, people. This isn’t your nice little senate seat, in your nice little oval office, with your nice, cute, young little administrative assistant. This is not high school. Acne and beastly children who bully are NOT the worst these marines will endure. Most of these kids probably had great parents, who taught them right from wrong. Some of them may have come from broken families, with no real strong, positive male role model. Some of them might have come from unfortunate circumstances, and joined the military as a way to pay for college, because there was no other way to do it. Some of them were hopelessly indoctrinated from boot camp.

We don’t know.

What we do know is this: they fucked up. Big time. Ever made a mistake? Aren’t you glad you weren’t videotaped doing it?

There are people shooting at these guys almost every day. They WATCH their buddies be blown to bits. They are pumped full of “the cause” they are fighting for, and we forget that they are HUMAN. That “the cause” is not even our cause; the war not our war. Not everybody is a politician, and remembers to ensure the videotape and the camera is turned off when we make mistakes.

The people they went there to “free” do not like them. That’s always a warm and fuzzy feeling, isn’t it? They KNOW what Osama Bin Laden did. They know what the Taliban did and still does.

They never KNOW what is going to blow up, literally, in their faces tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. Did you sit around your warm fire this year, and celebrate Christmas. They didn’t. They were AT WAR. A war that does not belong to us. But we have convinced them it does, and so they fight for “us.” They willingly put their lives on the line every day, and they are JUST KIDS, most of them.

You know, as well as I do, that young boys mature later. Did they make a HUGE mistake.? Damn straight. Is it appalling? Why yes it is. Should they be punished? Absolutely. But let the punishment fit the crime. Who is their leader, and where was he/she? (I know it’s a he. Just had to throw that in there.)

As for Allen West, he put it into perspective for all of us, as a former member of the armed services. And HUFF POST? You owe him a HUGE apology. You took his entire email out of context, and did not publish the most important parts of it. I have never boycotted a news zine in my life, but I might start now.

Please, protect your journalistic integrity. Get rid of this “unsigned” piece that is far from unbiased.

Rectify this situation.

Here is what Rep. Allen West, R-Fl, did say:

“I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses.   I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu.   Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

“All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill.  Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?

“The Marines were wrong.   Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped, and conclude by singing the full U.S. Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.

“As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.”

Tags: allen west, huffington post, marine incident, marines, punishment, shooting, shrapnel, urinating on corpses

Words of Advice for Self-Publishing Writers….

So I keep hearing from self published writers that “they” told them to do this. Or that. Or to market this way. Or that. No clue who “THEY” is, but “they” is spouting out some pretty damned bad advice. So, here are a few words of advice for those considering self-publishing their work. It is possible to climb into a boiling pit of lava, but it is not necessarily a good idea.

Not useful?

Okay, here’s some real advice.

SHOULD YOU SELF PUBLISH?

Well, maybe. It depends on why you are doing it, and what you are willing to do with that self-published book.

1. Do you understand the mechanics of writing a novel? Do the terms “info dump, character development, show vs. tell, etc.,” mean anything at all to you?

(If you answered no, you should not self publish. If you answered yes, read on.)

2. Are you aware that even editors need editors, and that even if your sister told you that you wrote a really good story, this does not mean you wrote a really good story, fit for eyes other than your biased family members?

(If you answered no, please do not self publish. If you answered yes, read on.)

3. Are you willing to pay an editor, or trade an editor, or at the very least, join a crit group and make sure you submit it chapter by chapter so you find errors and inconsistencies?

(If you answered no, please do not self publish. If you answered yes, read on.)

4. Are you working with a graphic designer?

(If you answered no, please continue to read below.)

5. Do you have at least a base knowledge of graphic design, so you can have a professional, well designed and attractive cover that works for the e-industry? If you are not working with a graphic designer, because you think you can do it yourself, do you understand pixels; know what PPI means; understand the difference between 72 and 300 PPI; have basic knowledge of Photoshop, Gimp, or some other advanced photo design program?

(If you answered no, do not self-publish. If you said yes, read on.)

6. Do you understand book sizes, book trim, fonts, formatting, layout, how to properly format a book for all the different e-publishing formats? (This is for your interior book, not the cover.)

(If you answered no, do not self-publish.)

7. Are you aware of how much disdain is now being heaped upon “self-published authors” because SOME self published authors don’t give a rat’s ass whether or not they are putting out a quality product?

(If you answered yes, and don’t care, PLEASE DO NOT SELF PUBLISH!)

In short, should you self publish? If you have a quality project, well-written, edited and formatted, with a simple but tasteful or advanced attractive book cover, yes. Why not? The world is your oyster. What a great time it is to be an author.

But if you just want to toss your crap out there, there are other places for that. They are called garbage cans or recycle bins.

If you would like to address any of these questions further, please feel free to put your questions in comments.

Other things to consider:

One of the things “they” apparently are advising authors to do, in terms of marketing, is to go onto Facebook, befriend hundreds and thousands of other authors, and when they accept your friendship, post a link on their wall. PEOPLE, this is bad form. Would you come in to my house and slap a poster on the wall without my permission? You would? Please do not come to my house.  Or friend request me on Facebook.

Marketing a self-published book is hard. Nevertheless, just bombarding people with your crap is NOT one of the ways to do this. Basic rules of etiquette still exist. Here is a list of things you should NOT do.

1. Do not befriend people on FB and then immediately spam their wall. Yes, a link to your book or Website IS spam. If they want to recommend your book on their wall, please let them do it. So how do you get them to notice your book? Well, AFTER you have become their friend, you are welcome to post a few status updates about your book. Then they could come to your wall and see if they are interested.

2. Do not use one of those sites that put your picture on a billboard, in Times Square, etc., etc., and put pictures of your book in every possible situation, and pretend your book really DID appear in all those places, and on Oprah, to boot. Get real. Be honest.

3. BE REAL. Post funny links. Blog regularly. Give people a reason to come to you. Blitz marketing is not going to work. It’s been tried. If you can find a way for things to go viral, that’s awesome. But bugging people does not work.

4. Don’t ask everyone you meet if they will review your book. And if you are going to request a review, PLEASE make sure you can write a properly constructed sentence, and query letter, let alone a book.

IN FACT, LET ME MAKE THIS PERFECTLY CLEAR. If you cannot write a sentence, what on earth makes you think you can write a book?

Just some self-publishing food for thought.

Tags: basic knowledge, cover design, editing, self publishing, should you self publish, who should self publish

Happy New Year!

I have decided that my New Year’s resolutions should all be reasons I DON’T want to be president of the United States. As always, I pick achievable resolutions. You should try it. It makes life so much more pleasant.

1. I will not ever be president of our country because the skeletons in my closet include YEARS of stealing pens. Banks, stores, people’s houses… You name it, if you put a pen out, you can almost guarantee I will steal it. And the saddest thing is, it is ENTIRELY unintentional. I have plenty of pens. Probably hordes of them. I just can’t let one go. It’s like a magnet to my hand. Dear Barnes Bank, I am sorry about all the stolen pens. But since you closed down after some pretty shady dealings, I guess I don’t feel too bad. Kinda.

2. I’ve never been fired from a job, but there was this one time when this total a$$hole was working for me, and he got pissed because I told the boss of the store that his feelings for the total a$$hole’s girlfriend were inappropriate. So I quit, because the store manager supported my employee who said I shouldn’t get involved. Maybe so. I’ll never know, but it could have gone so many ways. Even out the door. Oh wait, it did. (P.S., the a$$hole and the girlfriend broke up, and the store manager quit.)

3. One time, when I was working for The Trib, the lead copy editor caught me behind the coffee machine and kissed me. ICK. I was 19 and he was 60+. So I told my boss, they reprimanded him, and he retired. Not like nowadays, but could someone turn that into a cigar and a closet? I sure hope not. ICK.

4. I think all politicians are unethical, power-hungry, and basically morons. I think that’s an automatic disqualify.

5.  I worked for the Trib when they wanted a “copy clerk,” and would call out “buuuuuuooooooooouuuuuuuyyy.” Usually, when there was two of us girls working, we would ignore them as long as possible. After all, why would we answer to boy? I suppose that could be called insubordination.

6. I was born in Logan, Utah, which is pretty close to the moon, according to my late friend Ed McBain. I was so honored to get to know him so well, and have to agree. One might argue whether or not Utah is “in the country.” Birth certificate or not, I might get questioned.

7. There’s never been a woman president, and based on the complete SHIT that the first African American president is getting, I don’t want to play. It doesn’t mean that much to me. Plus I don’t know how to fix this HUGE mess our country is in. And I don’t want to try.

8. I’m good at spelling and grammar. Recession and depression and success all involve MATH. Math is of the devil. It’s why all politicians are evil. They have to do math. It warps their brain.

 

That’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure I’ll come up with more. Happy New Year!!

 

Tags: happy new year, Natalie R. Collins, New years, president, resolutions

A compliment

Just had someone tell me they bought three books for holiday reading: The Hunger Games, Girl with the Dragon Tattooand Wives and Sisters. 

Now THAT’S a compliment.

Tags: authors, compliment, holiday reading, the girl with the dragon tattoo, the hunger games, wives and sisters

Christmas Past becomes Christmas Passed….

When I was a kid, we didn’t have a lot of money. My dad was a schoolteacher, and there were five of us, so extras were hard to come by back then. Still, Christmas ALWAYS managed to be magical. We always had something there from Santa Claus.

My Aunt Maxine always gave us chocolate advent calendars, and it seemed like a year from December 1st until Christmas Eve. We would take each chocolate out and savor it, because we knew it would be FOREVER until we could have another one. Twenty-four hours might as well have been a lifetime.

One of my favorite childhood memories made its way into WIVES AND SISTERS. We had a cat that we used to wrap up and use as the baby Jesus in our annual reenactment of the birth of our Savior. That cat did not like swaddling. He escaped more than he spent time in the cradle. He was NOT very appreciative of his starring role, let me tell you. One would think he would be appreciative of not having to wear a towel on his head and a bathrobe, but no. He just wanted to lay by the fire and hide. I think we scarred him for life. One look at a blanket and he took off at high speed and couldn’t be found for days.

I remember a year when my dad made us an air hockey table, and we went to pick it up on Christmas Eve, and it was snowing. BIG HUGE FLAKES just coming down, and you could almost see every single design on them, and back then you could stick your tongue out and catch them and not worry about getting acid and pollution on your tongue. There was no doubt, none, that it was Christmas snow. There just for us, to make Christmas special.

I have lots of memories like these. Then I grew up, and went away to college, and lived on my own, and there were a few years when I didn’t love Christmas as much as I did as a child. But then I had my own children, and ONCE AGAIN, Christmas was magical.

And then it wasn’t. It just passed.

Because Christmas is not, nor has it ever been about me. It has always been about the joy I see on other faces. The excitement of my children as they counted down to Christmas Eve. The gifts wrapped around the tree just waiting to be opened. For about the past four years, I have wrapped all Dancing Daughter’s presents in one wrapping paper, and all Chatter Child’s presents in another, and then I REFUSED to tell them which was which. This gave me great joy. I caught them more than once snooping around the tree, shaking boxes, looking for clues. Drove them nuts.

They would guess which wrap belonged to which child, and try to get an answer out of me, and I would never tell.

But then things changed. Chatter Child moved away and Dancing Daughter is ready to launch, filled with senioritis, signing with the top acting agency in our state, and preparing for life as an adult. And I found myself with nothing much to be excited about. Birdman and I relocated, so even the grandkids weren’t close. He doesn’t care much for Christmas, so I am alone in my decorating  joy.

This year, nobody around me was excited about Christmas. Nobody couldn’t wait to decorate the tree, or shake the presents, or even BUY the presents. In our new abode, there isn’t a lot of room for a Christmas tree, and it was in the way of the television, and pretty much freaked the great dane out, because she had nowhere to lay.

So today we took it all down.

This year, Christmas just passed.

And I know why. Because it’s not about me. It’s about others, and the joy they feel. And I believe that another Christmas will come, and it will be a Christmas Past. Because there is still a lot to look forward to. And things don’t ever stay the same. And I will wish for grandchildren and more happy memories and MORE Christmas Past.

Because Christmas passed just ain’t that great.

I wish for all of you a plethora of Christmas’s Past, and not Passed. And a happy new year.

 

 

 

Tags: advent, children, christmas, christmas passed, christmas past, joy, tree

It is official….

THE TIES THAT BIND will be published in August 2012 by St. Martin’s Press. Can’t wait to see the cover art. Now, on to the next project.

Tags: fiction, romantic suspense, thriller, ties that bind

No. More. Bullies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCi8fe0KtZ0&feature=related

 

 

Tags: bully, bullying, gay, jonah, jonah mowry, mowry

Sister Wives (AKA no, I am not MIA…)

…Although I WAS a MIA Maid in the Mormon Church about a zillion year ago. I had to look that up because I had NO idea what it meant. Or couldn’t remember. Maybe I blocked it out after I got the chewing gum lesson from our teacher. You know, the lesson where they give someone a piece of gum, have them chew it then spit it out and offer it to someone else. It’s a lesson on purity. All I got out of it was chewing gum is BAD. I think I even had braces at the time. Incidentally, MIA stands for Mutual Improvement Association. We were mutually improving our dislike for slutty girls and chewing gum. As a group.

At ANY rate, I haven’t blogged for a month because I’ve been busy doing other kinds of writing, moving to a warmer climate, and helping my youngest Dancing Daughter apply for colleges and scholarships. Life is busy. I’m sure it is the same for everyone.

But Birdman has been tracking my Kindle book sales, and he noted that SISTER WIFE has been in the top 100 on Kindle, on books in Mormonism, for SIX MONTHS NOW. We aren’t sure why it is selling so briskly, unless it is because of the show Sister Wives, but that’s a different title. I don’t know.

But I DID get a chance to watch the show, and it really made me uneasy. That guy reminds me of a sleazy con man, and I’m not sure why. And they come off as The Brady Bunch on crack. That, my friends, is NOT polygamy. I mean, it is his polygamy, but it doesn’t seem to be abusive, and it’s possibly because there is no one else fighting for Kody Brown’s wives, or marrying off their 12-year-old daughters, or throwing out the boys because they are competition.

I worry that people will get the wrong idea about polygamy. That they will watch Mike Brady Brown and think “well, who is he hurting?” Because no one in that family seems unhappy, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is hurting anyone else. But that is NOT what happens in most cases.

The real polygamy, the non-Brady kind, is full of abuse–sexual, physical, and mental–and is about control and patriarchy. Women are chattel. The real reason they do not cut their hair is so that they can WASH THEIR HUSBAND’S FEET with it after the second coming. How wonderful. I see the pligs everyday, at the doctor’s offices, at the store. Usually there are several sister wives together. Sometimes I see the men and boys, and they are just as easy to pick out as the women. And none of them look happy.

But of course, now we know what really goes on inside those polygamous homes, and not the kind of Brady Bunch shit you see on the reality show. This is the down and dirty stuff. The marrying off of young girls to men old enough to be their father or grandfather.

So I don’t like Sister Wives, the reality show. It’s painting a pretty picture on a very, very ugly practice.

Should they group up with other pligs, you will see the abuses come.

I don’t think Kody Brown and his wives should be prosecuted for their lifestyle, as long as he doesn’t start marrying teenagers. But I’m curious about his “religious” reasons for his lifestyle choice.

So, I shall dig deeper. And in the meantime, go read Sister Wife. You’ll find out what the real polygamy is like.

Tags: abuse, kody brown, marriage, Mormon, polygamy, reality show, Sister Wife, sister wives, sisterwife, sisterwives

Nitwit of the Week Award (Nice-ified from the Stick up the Ass Award)

In the spirit of my new niceness, I won’t call nominate this guy for a “stick-up-the-ass.” But something HAS to be done, so I have nominated him for the Nitwit of the Week Award.

Mormons. Halloween is a PAGAN holiday. Do you know what PAGAN means? Yes, I imagine you are envisioning 666 and the devil, and poor murdered little kitties. Just to make things perfectly clear, this is what PAGAN means, according to Merriam Webster. 

1

: heathen 1; especially: a follower of a polytheistic religion (as in ancient Rome)

2

: one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods : an irreligious or hedonistic person

Despite this, the Mormons I know have embraced Halloween in all it’s ghoulish, ghastly glory, and I guess that’s okay, but you don’t get to abscond with someone else’s holiday, and then think you get to make the RULES. You don’t.

As is the case throughout Utah, when Mormons throw their Trunk or Treat bashes (trick or treating out of the trunks of cars, which to me is a lot more sleazy than ringing someone’s doorbell. Picture this. “Hey kid, want some CAN-dy? Come over to my trunk….” Yeah.), they put fliers on everyone’s doorstep. Mormon or not. In the spirit of Christianity. Even if it’s a pagan holiday. Yeah, I don’t get it either.

But in THIS particular instance, the Mormon ward decided that girls and boys better dress as the sex they are, or all hell (ha ha ha) would break loose. Well, a non-Mormon living in the neighborhood took offense to the ban on cross-gender dressing. My niece Fluffy, who will NOT WEAR ANYTHING girlie, would probably punch the bishop in the eye for telling her she can’t wear a boy costume. She doesn’t LIKE the girl costumes. Sorry, it’s who she is.

But this particular bishop is particularly stupid, and so he defended his ward’s position this way:

LDS Bishop Dennis Toone — leader of the Crescent 16th Ward, which hosted the party — did not write the flier, but he defended the prohibition against cross-gender costumes, saying “it’s church policy.”

Actually, it’s not.

The church’s handbook does discourage the wearing of masks, due to “security and safety reasons.” It says nothing about costumes.

Still, Toone insisted, “we thought it was a church policy,” adding, “I’ll defend the church and anybody who doesn’t like it doesn’t have to come.”

Well, there you go. If you don’t like it, get the heck out of here. That same old tired song. Except, the reality is, the majority of people do not AGREE with you. Idiot. You aren’t defending the church, you are defending the self-righteous bigots in your ward who believe that cross-gender dressing, even for Halloween, is NOT PROPER. Please, by all means, come as Jason, the serial killer, or Michael Myers, another famous movie killer, or even Jack the Ripper, but DO NOT DRESS UP AS SPIDERMAN if you are a girl. That would be just too, too HEATHEN.

Defending his position on this one is going to be difficult. I feel a little sorry for him, but not completely. He’s still a nitwit to defend the position. When I was in sixth grade I went as a FOOTBALL PLAYER and a bunch of our boys went as cheerleaders. In fact, that’s pretty common. Even among Mormons. And it means NOTHING. And even if meant the person WAS TRANSGENDER, YOUR EFFING CHURCH HAS SAID THAT IS NOT A SIN. Acting on it sexually is a sin.

Actually, I’m not sure the Mormons know how to wrap their minds around transgender, because you don’t hear a lot about it. But that’s neither here nor there. Bishop Toone’s stance is NOT LDS Church policy, and thus, he is behaving as a Nitwit.

Enjoy the award, Bishop Toone. And reach behind you and pull that…. Uh, never mind.

Tags: bias, bigotr, bishop toone, crossdressing, gay rights, halloween, mormons, nitwit, pagan, transgender

DirecTV–Go DIRECTLY to hell….

If, by some chance, you are a DirecTV customer, you are probably aware they are having a fight with Fox over money. And channels. And how much to pay for those channels. They will try to tell you that Fox is being unfair, and Fox will tell you that DirecTV is being unfair, but what it all boils down to is that DirecTV customers will mostly likely be losing access to a whole slew of Fox channels, which is going to happen on November 1. Now, I know you can add, and even I can do the math, and this is a few days away.

The entire REASON we got DirecTV in the first place was so Birdman could watch the basketball games on Fox Sports. He also is addicted to all those reptile/killerfish/bigfoot shows on Nat Geo, and his newest love is the Rocket City Rednecks. In short, there won’t be much of a reason to watch TV come November 1.

Now, I understand that they might iron this out, but it most likely isn’t going to happen in the next few days.

And because we are on a budget, and our Internet service is NOT working like it should, we decided the first thing to go would be DirectTV.

Easy enough? Not so fast.

Apparently, signing a contract with DirectTV works a lot like selling your soul to the devil. In short, it may seem really cool at first, but when you decide you’ve had enough and want your soul back, well, they turn a little scary and try bribery and all sorts of other nefarious things until they resort to threats.

First, they try to offer you additional benefits to stay with them. They also PRY into your reasons for leaving, and ask if you are going to another provider, which is NONE OF THEIR DAMNED BUSINESS. The nice young man I fought with for about two hours asked me no less than four times who I was changing our service to, even though I told him it was none of his business.

They have a script they read, those minions, and so they don’t care how many times you tell them no. They will just continue to read the script, because there is a man standing behind them with a whip, and if they DEVIATE from the freaking script, the whip will go flying. Or it sure seemed that way. Not only that , but we went over and over, and over the same thing. Because it’s in the script.

The “supervisor” I got to talk to, when I finally got to talk to someone, admitted it was a script. And frankly, I’m not entirely sure he was the supervisor. He’s probably just the guy that sits next to the guy I was talking to, and my minion pretended it took 45 minutes to find a SUPERVISOR.

In between all this, they offer you free HBO, ten dollars a month off your bill, their firstborn child and various and other sundries to get you to STAY WITH DIRECTV. Despite the fact that DirecTV will no longer have the CHANNELS they promised you when you signed up. You don’t need those silly old Fox channels. Oh no. Instead, they will give you FREE HBO.  And my little minion kept emphasizing that the contract said they were not required to give us THOSE channels. Any old channel will do, as long as they are giving you a channel. Huh? Then what is the POINT of the premium packages? Or choosing your channels?

Have you BEEN to their Website? They make a pretty big deal out of how you can have everything you want if you just buy DirecTV, but just like with the devil, there is a CATCH. And not only that, but right on the site it says they are giving new customers THREE MONTHS of free HBO. They weren’t even giving me, their longtime customer, a good deal. Just THREE MORE MONTHS than a new customer. I understand this, of course. Cell phone companies have employed this tactic for years. But it doesn’t mean I have to take it, and it DOESN’T MEAN I HAVE TO PAY THEM $100 a month for channels I don’t want.

If, in reality, DirecTV can give me the 24-hour Polka Channel and call it good, why the hell are they pretending otherwise? This means they care not one iota about the customer, and that THIS IS ABOUT MONEY. The same thing they are claiming that FOX is trying to do to them.

I pointed this out to the minion, and it appeared to stun him for a second. Must not have been in the script. But truly, if they are trying to keep me, and tying me to a contract, over what I pay them, how are they different from Fox? They will DO ANYTHING, short of setting me free, to keep me as their customer. Sorta like the devil, as I pointed out before.

P.S. I do not want anyone’s firstborn child. I have enough children, thankyouverymuch. I also do not WANT free HBO. I want DirecTV out of my house, because I am paying $80 for the Polka Channel. (Okay, not really, but you get the idea.)

So, I had a two-hour fight with the minion, and about a 20-minute fight with the “supervisor” of the minion, and they cancelled my DirecTV but told me I was going to get billed the “cancellation cost” of $20 a month. In short, I will get a bill for $220 for the months I don’t have DirecTV, the company that cares SO MUCH ABOUT THE CUSTOMER that they are fighting with Fox to keep them from raising their costs, those money grubbing bastards.

Great customer service, DirecTV! Offer me free HBO for six months, and ten dollars off a month, and add that up, and put it on my bill as a credit, and we’ll be GOOD. Yes, I did suggest that, and YES, the idiot tried to tell me it was not the same thing. I think it is.

And if the DirecTV people try to get you to come over to the dark side, pray, or run like, uh, hell.

Tags: cable, devil, DirecTV, Fox, money grubbing, scamming people