The stories like this that get into the news are only the tip of the iceberg of child abuse that goes on in the world. We currently have trends of sending abused children back to live with their birth parents regardless of the abuse they have suffered at the hands of the birth parents. The reasoning is that the birth parents ‘deserve’ a chance to redeem themselves. I think the children deserve a chance to have a halfway decent childhood without being the punching bags of sick, disturbed or just plain evil parents.

The real reason children are sent back to their birth parents has nothing to do with who has what rights. It has to do with money. Its ALWAYS about money. Putting children back in abusive homes and turning a blind eye to the abuse is much cheaper for the state. If a child is put in a foster home or a quality group home the state pays a per diem for their care. If the state can put kids back with biological parents or other relatives then the state doesn’t have to pay for their care.

I pay a LOT in taxes. There are a lot of things that my taxes go to pay for that I deeply resent. However, I don’t have a problem with my tax dollars going to take care of a child that is being abused. Surely, our government can find other ways to cut expenses than by standing on the necks of abused and neglected children. Maybe some of our representatives could … I don’t know … quit lining their own pockets for a minute to save a child. Just a suggestion.

If you run an online business you know how hard it is to get the traffic necessary to make your business profitable. It seems like every self-described expert has a different idea on what you should or shouldn’t do to have success doing business online. It is helpful to look at Internet Marketing Companies that make it their business to to help online businesses market the products they are offering.

One such website is evisibility.com. They are a Search Engine Optimization Company and Internet Marketing Company that offers all the services you need to market your website or blog. Some of the services available are search engine optimization, pay per click management and online media buying. These three things are essential to have success in your online business. You can have the best product ever and have a passion for whatever you are offering, but if nobody comes to your blog or website it just won’t sell.

Just think of all the people that surf the internet every day. To be successful in e-commerce you have to attract only a small portion of the millions on the internet. Of course, the more the better. You can only do that with proper marketing. Part of that process is branding your company (website/blog) to make your product recognizable. Evisibility.com helps you through the entire process from the beginning. You will see a significant improvement in your visibility and therefore your revenue. They make sure that people surfing the net have the opportunity to find your site.

Evisibility.com will help you move up the Google, Yahoo and MSN lists so people searching for what you have to offer will find you when they do a search, your blog or website will be first or second on the list. With all the hullabaloo over page rankings lately, its good to have experts helping to sort through the maze. Evisibility.com is not just some little start-up that may or may not be able to live up to their promises. They were chosen to lead the online launch of the Angus Third Ponders of McDonalds. They spearheaded all the search engine marketing and worked with the advertising agency, Davis Elen, to develop the strategic online media campaign. They also handle all aspects of the online marketing and development capaign for LEI Financial and are one of Southern California’s largest mortgage brokers.

If you are working on an online business you should take a look at what evisibility.com has to offer. How you market your company makes all the difference between success and failure.

Well, its Friday. I’ve been sick most of the week and have barely left the house. Why is it when you’re sick the house gets to be a mess? I think we do more picking up than we realize during the week and when we are feeling lousy and aren’t doing that picking up it gets to be nasty. I stayed up late tonight and at least got my kitchen clean (a little!) and a couple of loads of laundry done. Maybe I’ll be caught up by the end of the weekend!

Time is running out before our trip to Germany for the wedding and Christmas so losing this week to sitting around feeling awful was not helpful! So now its down to the wire and I’ve got to get some shopping done and preparations ready for the wedding and the big trip. Soldier Son and his fiance called this afternoon all excited because they had gone to the castle where the wedding will be and taste tested all the food my almost-daughter-in-law had chosen for the reception (or whatever they call it there). My dear son thought it was wonderful and told me excitedly about everything and how wonderful the castle is. He hadn’t seen it before because, well, he has been otherwise occupied the last year and a half. I could hear her in the background chastising him for telling me. ‘Let it be a surprise’, she said.

They had also gotten his suit and she told me in her Bavarian accent, ‘He looks so sexy!!!’. Okay, that’s not how a mother thinks of her son - but I’m glad she feels that way!

They also told me that the Christmas Markets are popping up everywhere and they are looking forward to us walking around in the evening and showing us all the markets and everything there is to see. I’m just so excited about the trip myself. I can’t wait! I’m mostly excited that they sound so happy together.

Well, I’m just chattering away. Here’s some more relevant links from my blogroll ….

Newsbusters - CNN Defends Debate Says Vetting was Focused on Questions

The Pirate’s Cove - Good News: Illegals Using Welfare Even More!

PC Free Zone - Walk With A Hero Sherman Jones

Conservative Thoughts - Is Christmas Facing a death sentence?

Jules Crittenden - Basement Dwelling Mushrooms and Higher Order Plant Life

Yeah, Right, Whatever - The Headlines

Captain’s Quarters - Mr. Murtha Goes To Okinawa

Hooah Wife and Friends - Wreaths Across America

Hot Air - Video: Hillary plant insists he’s not a Hillary plant

Michelle Malkin - Surprise: Muslim YouTube questioner was former CAIR Intern

Wizbang - Kasparov arrested, released again in Russia

Perri Nelson - Ignorance of the law is no excuse… but inadequate warning in the law is?

My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy - Rant: The Idiocracy Debate (again)

More at Memeorandum

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Disclaimer: trackbacks to this post do not necessarily represent the opinions or standards of the Blue Star Chronicles.

More great posts trackbacked below …

WHAT is going on with this season’s Survivor!!??!!?? First we have Jaime Dugan trying to play an immunity idol that wasn’t really an immunity idol. Now we have James with two immunity idols and he doesn’t play either one of them!

JAMES!!! What were you thinking? You had two (TWO!!!) immunity idols. I don’t think anyone has had two immunity idols before in the history of the show and you STILL got voted off! Why didn’t you play one of the idols!

He explained at the end that he just held on too long. Yes, I would say you did. You were one of the best, most common-sensical players this year and you had TWO immunity idols! They did blindside you, no doubt about that, but you knew you couldn’t trust them. I think you just got too sure of yourself. I think having two immunity idols left you feeling invincible. And really, why didn’t you share them? That would have won you a lot of good will! Especially considering you wouldn’t have had the immunity idols if Todd hadn’t told you where they were. Big mistake, in my opinion.

I thought right up to the end that you would pull out the idol and save yourself. But you didn’t and now you are gone. The show will be less interesting because you were a very likable player. Of course, you won everything which is why they got rid of you. They knew they couldn’t win against you if they ended up in the last show with you. THAT is why you should have been watching your back better.

Well, he showed a lot of class in his leaving comments. He kept his dignity and he never took a bite of the apple. He knew better than to let himself be tempted. Unfortunately, his teammates not only took a bite of the apple, but as Amanda said, baked an apple pie.

Good luck, James. I have a feeling this isn’t the last we see of you.

Its uncomfortable for some people to talk about, but colon cleansing is a serious issue for some people and its good to have information on anything that impacts your health. There is a natural dietary supplement that can help with relieving discomfort associated with constipation. OxyPowder uses the power of oxygen to clean out your body. It helps to remove toxins that can cause a host of associated ailments. For instance, some of the symptoms of an unhealthy digestive system might be; Body Odor, Poor Appetite, Weight problems, Foul Breath, Backaches, Lack of energy, Bloating, Mood swings, Occasional Constipation and/or Weak immune system.

The OxyPowder website states that use of their product can help to restore and maintain regularity, cleanse, refresh and detoxify, help with elimination of waste, promote renewed vitality, give your immune system a boost and maximize the absorption of vital nutrients.

I am not qualified to give medical advice. You should treat this product as you would any dietary supplement. If you are having serious impaction problems you should see your doctor and be sure there is not a more serious problem that should be dealt with medically.

Osama bin Laden is trying to flex his frail sickly muscles again. Al Qaeda is publicizing what is purported to be the fifth audio tape by him this year.

(CNN) — An audio recording attributed to Osama bin Laden called on Europeans to abandon Afghanistan and accused NATO troops of killing women and children there.

This message is obviously not intended for Western intake. We know that its not true. He, or whoever is doing these tapes, obviously wants the uneducated of the Middle East, Hollywood and other useful idiots to believe that the monster Westerners are over there feeding on their young.

He actually claims that Westerners don’t respect the rules of war as proved by us killing women and children. This coming from the man primarily responsible for killing thousands of women and children and who continues to use women and children to carry out his attacks while he cowers in a cave in Pakistan/Afghanistan. But again, that’s not intended for us. Its intended to incite those who hate us, like the hollywood pretty boys and Congressmen who would see us defeated.

In Thursday’s message, the speaker claims sole responsibility for the September 11, 2001, attacks and accuses America’s NATO allies of killing civilians in Afghanistan, where the country’s Taliban rulers allowed al Qaeda to operate prior to 9/11.

Ut-oh. Is he feeling irrelevant? It sounds like he’s feeling like someone else is trying to take credit for his murderous work! He’s having to remind us that he’s relevant. He’s having to remind us that it was he, the mighty bin Laden who murdered American women and children completely at random on September 11, 2001. Yes, I think he’s feeling a tad irrelevant. He’s just not important anymore.

The previous message from bin Laden included no dated references, making it impossible to determine when it was taped based on its contents. In the message, bin Laden called on his followers to be loyal to the Islamic nation, not to individual leaders, groups, tribes or countries.

The tape marked the first time bin Laden spoke directly to the militants.

“Beware of your enemies, especially those who infiltrate your ranks,” he said in Arabic.

“I advise myself and the Islamic nation not to follow individuals and countries,” he said. “Everything should be seen in the light of Islam.”

Addressing the mujahedeen in Iraq as “my brothers,” he said, “You have done well to perform your duty.”

And this is the basis of the problem. They are not one nation or even a group of nations. This is a war with an ideology that has no boundaries and their loyalty is to their ideology, not to their neighbors. friends and country.

In September, an audio message purportedly from bin Laden urged “jihad” against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. That message — titled “Come to Jihad: A Speech to the People of Pakistan” — was recorded over a montage of old video, and began with bin Laden reciting prayers and citations from the Quran in Arabic. The audio then faded, and a narrator translated bin Laden’s message into Pashto. The tape was subtitled in English, and an Arabic transcript was released.

And President Musharraf has had his hands full since that tape was released. Obviously, the mujahedeen in Pakistan listened and have been attempting to create chaos and lawlessness in Pakistan. That is a dire situation that is much too complicated to be solved with platitudes and armchair philosophizing.

It doesn’t matter where you are or what you are doing, there is no excuse for not calling home for the holidays. International phone cards make it cheap and easy. You can get international phone cards at PhoneCardsAvenue. They’ve been handling them for a long time and make it very easy to get them without even having to leave home. Right now there is a 3% cash back rebate program through which you will get a rebate on every calling card or phone card purchase that you make through PhoneCards Avenue.

If you have loved ones in another country it can get really expensive to talk with them over the phone. Phone cards are definitely the way to go to keep in touch with those you love who are overseas. So what are you waiting for? You don’t have any excuses not to call home!

It has really been great having my Soldier Son back in Germany. I haven’t seen him, but I’ve talked with him quite a few times and he sounds wonderful. He’s so happy to be back. I can tell he’s changed some, but not necessarily in a bad way. He’s older, if that makes any sense. He’s grown into a man.

It kind of reminds me of a summer he spent with his father. We were living in Michigan at the time and so both the kids went to Georgia to spend the summer with their father. His voice changed one night. Literally. I talked with him one day and he sounded like himself. The next day he sounded grown. That’s kind of what this feels like. My frat boy son went to Germany three years ago. At some point he became a man. Then he went to Baghdad and 15 months later he came back in charge of things, confident and self-assured.

The thing is that I didn’t have his new phone number. I had his girlfriend’s phone numbers, but not his. I thought maybe he still had the same number. I knew he probably didn’t, but I needed to tell him something and thought I’d dial the number. A man answered the phone, ‘Hallo’. Okay, it sounded KINDA like Josh, but not quite - and sometimes he does answer in German so I thought MAYBE it was him.

‘Hey Josh’, I said with a question in my voice, I wasn’t sure it was him at all.

The man on the other end of the line said, ‘Vlsdknfj oelejoei aoiej cvlkn e oeijfa cne voe rijfa[’ew jfcaocnv oe.’

That wasn’t Josh. Now I was sure of it. I didn’t know what to say but I was raised to use telephone manners, so I couldn’t just hang up. That would go against all my raising. ‘I’m sorry, I dialed the wrong number.’ I said. I then waited for a reply as if that was a reasonable thing to expect.

The man then replied, ‘Wekndkdnfowe lkjsoeih hiohopies neoweihf eoifho veojff’olsn.’

He spoke in full sentences as though we were carrying on a conversation, which made no more sense than me speaking to him in full sentences. But again, it was against everything I was ever taught to just hang up. If he’d been a salesman who had called me it would have been different. But I had called him and had an irresistible need to explain that I was sorry I had disturbed him. I again apologized, ‘I’m sorry, I’ve dialed the wrong number’.

This bizarre and ridiculous tete-a-tete went on back and forth two or three times. I finally apologized and just hung up the phone and laughed to myself. I just called Germany and carried on a conversation with some stranger in a different language that neither of us understood for a couple of minutes. That’s just strange.

I never did get ahold of my son that evening.

Well, it was funnier in person.

This may not be the most creative Thursday Thirteen I’ve ever done - but, hey - its the best I can do tonight!

1. Denise’s Den - 13 things about Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria. She has a lot of interesting historical information on her blog.
2. The Library Lady Rants - 13 things she’s fixin’ for Hanukah. Whens dinner?
3. Echos of Grace - Thirteen Christmas memories. Helping get us in the spirit!
4. Writer’s Cramps - Thirteen Quotes about family. She’s also decorated for Christmas! I’m really getting in the spirit!
5. Thoughts from Miller Manor - Thirteen things you should NEVER name your child!
6. Comedy Plus - Tacky Christmas gifts!
7. Just for Fun - Thirteen problems with the flyer left on our car window.
8. While Sleepwalking - Thirteen Customs of Slava.
9. Yellow Roses - Random thoughts on the holidays.
10. Cozy Reader - Odds and ends and fun.
11. One Old Green Bus - hilarious stuff you can buy from the shelf.

Bill O’Reilly has been on a mission lately to find out why more hollywood celebrities haven’t been participating in USO shows in the war zones we currently have men and women in harms way. I’m glad to see O’Reilly taking this cause on. I’ve wondered the same thing.

My son had told me of a USO show or two when he was stationed in Germany, but he never mentioned any while he was in Iraq. Well, doing a show in Germany is hardly a sacrifice. I’m sure the guys appreciated and enjoyed the shows, but its not like they were stuck in the hell that is (or was) Baghdad. Even in Baghdad, many of the visitors never got to the bases that were in the most need of a little break from the dire circumstances in which the guys lived.

My beloved curmudgeon has told me of USO shows he saw, or almost saw, in Vietnam. As we all know, Bob Hope would take groups of high profile celebrities and lots of beautiful women. The one show I remember beloved curmudgeon telling me about barely got started before bombing started, ending the show. He never got to see the show, but at least Bob Hope and the celebrities had tried to get to the guys who needed to have a little bit of relief from that nasty jungle war, if only for an hour or so.

I had figured that I had just not heard of the USO shows. Surely they had them. I knew that some celebrities had gone over there on their own. I’ve blogged about a few of them, like Gary Sinise and Charlie Daniels.

After Bill O’Reilly got back from his recent trip to Afghanistan and talking to the Troops there he has really been on a roll about the USO visiting there. That made me think that maybe my perception of their absence was correct. O’Reilly had the Executive Director of the USO on and questioned him aggressively. The Executive Director was less than impressive and gave me the impression that he was making excuses more than giving explanations. He certainly gave the impression he was not being proactive in booking celebs for that sort of trip. I guess there hasn’t been another Bob Hope to step up to the plate and make it their cause and motivate others to follow through.

Sadly, I couldn’t find any pictures of current celebrities entertaining the troops with the USO. Maybe they are afraid to go into Iraq or Afghanistan. I know it had to be dangerous to go into those areas of Vietnam to entertain troops. They took some chances going to entertain troops in World War II. Maybe the USO just doesn’t have the nerve they used to have. Or maybe the celebs don’t have the guts to go there. Our troops might be the only Americans left with any courage.

For the third year in a row the ‘alienated youth’ of France have tried to burn the country down. ‘Alienated youth’ is code for muslim youth. Each year it starts with a ‘youth’ suffering consequences for illegal behavior. This time the ‘youth’ were killed in an automobile accident while running from police. Since they ran into traffic and got themselves killed, the muslim population of France naturally blame the government for their deaths. That’s basically the same scenario that happened when these same groups of ‘youths’ tried to burn Paris before.

France has one thing going for them this time that they didn’t have in the previous riots that have plagued the country over the last several years. That is Sarkozy. He’s not having it.

President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Wednesday to bring those who shot at police officers to justice as a wave of rioting by angry youths in the suburbs north of Paris showed signs of ebbing.

“What has happened is absolutely unacceptable,” Sarkozy said after he was whisked to a bedside meeting with a wounded police captain upon his return from a three-day state visit to China. Firing weapons at the police, he said, “has a name: attempted murder.”

“We will put in the necessary resources to find those responsible,” Sarkozy said. “It is not something that we can tolerate, regardless of the drama of the deaths of these two youths on a motorcycle.”

The problem is that this year the rioters are using shotguns and hunting riffles. Something like 80 police officers have been injured. It has descended into “urban guerilla warfare”. The youths boast of their increased boldness and take absolutely no responsibility for their actions. In fact, they say they deserve two dead policemen in payment for the two dead youth. The fact that the youth determined their own fates doesn’t seem to occur to them.

The Pirate’s Cove

I am totally panicking! Its just suddenly hitting me that Christmas is getting really close. More than that, my son’s wedding is even closer and we are leaving for Germany really soon!!! It just all of the sudden is getting here. To top things off, I’ve been sick the last couple of days and haven’t done the shopping I should have gotten done. Yikes!

Fortunately, it just gets easier and easier to shop online. I just found an online shop that guides you to a broad range of items. At ShoppingAddicted.com you are bound to find what you are looking for whether its electronics or lingerie. I know I’m going to be doing almost all my shopping online. Its so helpful to have one starting place to find the stores you where you want to shop!