Fun with Traffic Exchanges - The dawning of a new era?

As a newbie I am still making my way around the free traffic exchanges, joining this one, deleting that one, and trying to win surfing competitions. Some exchanges are manual only and others offer manual surf, auto surf as well as pay to click. The pay to click can be the offer of cash or it can be in the form of cash and credits. Since the beginning of January there have been several new traffic exchanges, and I have been jumping aboard most of them. I have even had some success gaining new referrals.

The purpose of a traffic exchange is to help drive traffic to your website. If you are a blogger, then it helps to give your blog a high profile and almost guarantees a readership (until the TEs start taking over all your waking hours). If, on the other hand you want to establish a business and make money online, then the Traffic Exchange helps to give you ideas about what is available to someone who does not have a lot of capital in the first place.

Using a traffic exchange requires some working in surfing daily pages in order to keep up the credits to your site. Most exchanges offer a credit ratio such as 3:1 or 2:1 for free members and as high as 1:2 for upgraded members. Another aspect of the Traffic Exchange is the promotion effort to bring in referrals. Usually you join more than 1 exchange so that you can promote the others according to the number of websites and banners allowed.

This month has seen what is supposed to be the dawning of a new era in traffic exchanges with the launch of the new exchange that will be one of the top traffic exchanges. This new exchange has been rolling out its launch, taking on members, and then bringing them together in groups and teams. What is so very different about Traffic Era is the concept of surfing in actual teams in order to win credits. There are several levels of membership, silver is for free members, or one can upgrade to Gold and Platinum. Upgrading is a monthly commitment and is not to be taken lightly if there is a lack of funds to cover this kind of upgrade.

Rudd sends home illegal immigrants from Indonesia

Rudd sends home 16 asylum seekers - National - the age.com.au
In a very clear cut case the Rudd government has acted properly in my view by sending home the asylum seeker to Indonesia. For the very first time this is a clear cut case of economic refugees, since they have stated that they had to flee their homes because they could not earn a living after they had been caught illegally fishing in Australian territorial waters.
The issue here is border security, and for this reason these Indonesians should be sent home. They are not in fear of their lives because of war, and they are not fleeing a one child policy. Neither are they facing persecution as Christians, Buddhists or Hindus as a result of Muslim intolerance.
There have been times when I have been clearly on the other side in this particular debate. I do believe that it was wrong to send the Chinese woman who was pregnant with her second child back to China. She was forced to undergo a late term abortion and then faced further punishment. Australia had a duty to protect her and her family from this kind of behaviour by the Chinese government because it was genuine persecution. I am only citing one case where I have believed that the refugees should have been allowed to stay and that the application of “economic refugee” has been incorrectly applied in the past. However, this is clearly not the case with these individuals.
It is for this reason that I stand against David Manne of the Refugee and Immigration Centre because he is talking about these illegals as not having the opportunity to put there case. Sorry, but where there is no war there is no case, and where there is clearly an economic motivation there is no case. These illegal immigrants were already guilty of entering Australian waters to fish illegally, why should they be allowed to remain in Australia as illegal immigrants. We need to take a tough stance, otherwise our borders will remain porous.

Germaine Greer totally sets aside her Catholic past

I have long been the critic of the feminist movement and this latest piece is one of the reasons that I continue to be critical of certain feminists, and in particular Germaine Greer.

The thing about Germaine Greer is that she was educated by the Presentation Sisters at the Star of the Sea convent in Elsternwick, Victoria. What is amusing to me is the fact that two of my teachers also taught Greer at least 10 years prior to my entering into high school level. Both of the nuns were quite exasperated because of the manner in which Greer expressed herself, but to give the good sisters their proper credit, they did not stifle her creativity.

The reason that I point to the Catholic background of Greer, is that I believe that the comments that she has expressed regarding rape in Darfur is probable evidence that Greer has totally forgotten her Christian roots. I find some of the comments to be very bothersome:

 

I then asked why it was that Western feminists seemed so reluctant to speak out against things such as honour killings.

Greer: “It’s very tricky. I am constantly being asked to go to Darfur to interview rape victims. I can talk to rape victims here. Why should I go to Darfur to talk to rape victims?”

Questioner (me): “Because it’s so much worse there.”

Greer: “Who says it is?”

Questioner: “I do, because I’ve been there.”

Greer: “Well, it is just very tricky to try to change another culture. We let down the victims of rape here. We haven’t got it right in our own courts. What good would it do for me to go over there and try to tell them what to do? I am just part of decadent Western culture and they think we’re all going to hell fast and maybe we are all going to hell fast.”

Too “tricky” to speak out against honor killings, and you can’t teach an old feminist new tricks.

What is so very bothersome is the fact that Greer says “it’s very tricky…. why should I go to Darfur to talk to rape victim?”

I do not think that the women of Darfur need Germaine Greer to come across and talk to them. What they need is women in the western world to be willing to speak up on their behalf and to show how the actions of the men of Darfur are contrary to the civil rights of women, and especially the rights of a rape victim.

One means that I have adopted in attempting to speak up for those who are so helpless because they do not have a voice on the world stage is to use the medium of blogging. In this way, I can scan media releases and the like that deal with the many serious issues that are continuing to emerge from countries that practice Sharia rule. In those countries a woman who has been raped can end up being stoned to death, imprisoned or being given at least 100 lashes.

The situation in the western world is entirely different from the situation in Islamic countries where women continue to be treated as though they are chattels, and continue to face punishment if they even show a little bit of ankle. Our justice system is not perfect but in recent times we have seen males being punished for gang rapes because the victims have been willing to confront their attackers in a court of law, and despite the ordeal they have managed to ensure that the attackers cannot make false allegations.

As a Christian I do feel concern for the women in Islamic countries and the way in which they are treated as second class citizens. At the same time I also feel disgust that a woman who was educated by the Presentation sisters in Melbourne can forget her own Christian roots to the point that she is not willing to speak up against the cruel practices against women that are found in Darfur as well as in other Islamic countries. There is nothing tricky about it, unless one is a coward, and a dhimmi at the same time.

More on my experiences with traffic exchanges

Over the past month or so I have been having a lot of fun with the traffic exchanges. Whilst I have cooled towards Royal Surf (mostly so that I can study the strategy necessary to always win against the “enemy” at the other end of the map), I have been finding more and more exchanges. My latest finds have included a very new exchange called Traffic Strike. As a member of another exchange and upon signing up, I was given a pro upgrade but on top of the upgrade was the challenge to enter 50 site URL’s 30 banners and 30 text ads, and be awarded a very generous number of credits. The text ads are a challenge but I rose to the whole challenge and fulfilled the request within 2 days of this exchange starting.

I am delighted with the fact that at Surfin Wild I now have 7 direct referrals, Abundant Hits there are 2 direct referrals, and I have some other direct referrals. The big one is at Big Ben Hits where I have been getting a variety of random referrals and these are now going down to the next level. For once I can see how there is benefit in having these referrals. I really do hope that someone will pay for an upgrade soon. I am hoping that I will end up with sufficient cash earnings to pay for my own upgrade on this particular exchange.

Now I was encouraged to join something like Clix Sense, even though I had resisted joining that particular exchange. I made the decision because it said I could be a free member. However, there is a very nasty catch with Clix Sense and it is one that I personally do not appreciate. What I discovered is that there is no way that free members are likely to earn large amounts of money at Clix Sense. In fact the free member is restricted to two views at a time, worth $0.01 each. There is the carrot that the upgraded members get to view over 500 ads waiting for them. However, with no money to use for such an endeavour and I must admit that my own sense of “is this a scam?” also comes into play here, I made the decision that this was a very bad deal. On top of that, someone else on another exchange has sent out a warning that the people who run Clix Sense are the same people behind Storm Pay. I am not familiar with the controversy, but it seems that Storm Pay does not pay its users, and so there is the real possibility that there is a scam going on. What is worse, Clix Sense does not include a means of deleting the account. Most other exchanges give me the option of deleting the account, but not Clix Sense. So I wrote them an email and yes, my account was deleted as requested.

There are alternatives to Clix Sense and they are better paying alternatives for the free member like myself. I found one called Commercial earnings, and the first most pleasant thing I discovered upon joining is the fact that the free member has access to more views than the 1 or 2 at Clix Sense. This is very encouraging. I am hoping to accumulate some cash into a PayPal account so that I can start paying for other things on the Internet, and drawn down the balance of any earnings. However, this might take a while….

I guess they failed the bomb making course given at this madrassa

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Fatal blast at Pakistan madrassa

The bomb at an Islamic madrassa has killed at least 6 people, whilst several others were injured in the blast at Qila Saifullah in the Balochistan province near the Afghan border. All of the casualties were students attending the madrassa.

Since no one admitted carrying out an attack it might be fair to question whether or not this is a case of the students failing their bomb making course (or perhaps even passing the course with flying colours).

However, the officials in the area report that the bomb was concealed in clothing that had been left by an Afghan refugee who had spent the night at the Imdadul Uloom madrassa. The Afghan spent only one night on the premises, so this begs the question, did he leave his hosts a little present, or was he supposed to pick up this little present and take it with him?

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Mrs Gibbons is pardoned and sent home in Mohammed the Teddy Bear case

Gillian Gibbons is now safely back in the U.K. after her ordeal of being arrested and then sentenced to jail for allowing her class to name a teddy bear Mohammed, which is a common name for boys within Islam. She was charged with “insulting Islam”.

Teacher speaks of Sudan ‘ordeal’

Gillian Gibbons was met by her son and daughter at the airport News briefing A British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her class name a teddy bear Muhammad has spoken of her “ordeal”, after returning to the UK. Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, had spent eight days in custody for insulting Islam before eventually being pardoned by President Omar al-Bashir. Mrs Gibbons said she was in “total shock” but was “well treated in prison and everyone was very kind to me”. After speaking at Heathrow, she was taken by police to an unnamed location. The teacher and her family were expected to return to Mrs Gibbons’ son’s home in Wavertree, Liverpool, but reporters from around the world have been left waiting there for hours. Mrs Gibbons’ son, John, and, daughter, Jessica met her at Heathrow Airport, and the BBC’s Matt Prodger said a homecoming party would be held in Liverpool later. ‘Fabulous time’ Mrs Gibbons, a mother-of-two, was arrested on 25 November and later given a 15-day sentence after allowing her pupils to hold a vote and choose the name Muhammad, the same name as the Islamic Prophet, for a teddy bear. She arrived back to London accompanied by British Muslim peers Baroness Warsi and Lord Ahmed, who had mediated for her release. After a meeting with Baroness Warsi and Lord Ahmed, the press office of President al-Bashir announced that Mrs Gibbons had been pardoned and released after “mediation”. On her arrival at Heathrow, Mrs Gibbons looked tired but relieved as she was whisked to a private room to speak to reporters for the first time since her ordeal began, our correspondent said. He understands that when Mrs Gibbons was first arrested, she asked a British consular official not to tell her family for fear it might worry them. Only then was she told that her case had become an international media story. Mrs Gibbons said the incident had “all come as a huge shock to me” and that going to prison was “terrifying” although she never actually spent any time in the Omdurman women’s jail. She said: “I was very upset to think that I may have caused offence to people - very, very upset about it. “I’m just an ordinary middle-aged primary school teacher. I went out there to have an adventure and got a lot more adventure than what I was looking for. I never imagined this would happen.” Mrs Gibbons added that she was “very sorry” to leave Sudan, where she had had a “fabulous time”. I wouldn’t like to put anyone off going to Sudan Gillian Gibbons She said: “It is a beautiful place and I had a chance to see some of the countryside. “The Sudanese people I found to be extremely kind and generous and until this happened I only had a good experience.” “I wouldn’t like to put anyone off going to Sudan. “I would like to thank Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi and I would like to thank all the people who have worked so hard to secure my release and make my time more bearable.” Mrs Gibbons said she was treated the same as other Sudanese prisoners and that the Ministry of Interior sent her a bed, which was “the best present”. ‘Quite tense’ When asked if she was going to continue as a teacher, Mrs Gibbons said: “I’m looking for a job - I am jobless.” Lady Warsi, who helped negotiate a pardon for Mrs Gibbons, told BBC News 24 that some of the meetings she and Lord Ahmed had with Sudanese officials were “very, very difficult”. She said: “On Sunday we spent most of that day having very difficult meetings, some of them quite tense, some of them were very, very difficult. “And then at the end of Sunday we were presented with some hope that we may be able to see the president on Monday and we may be able to reach a resolution. “We had that meeting on Monday morning… and thankfully we secured a release.” The teacher’s local MP, Louise Ellman, has welcomed Mrs Gibbons’ return but said the jail sentence “should never have happened”. Gillian Gibbons did not want to worry her family over her arrest “The original incident was something very innocent and then what should have been seen as a minor error - and certainly a very innocent one - suddenly became blown up into something extremely important and the whole thing has been very, very worrying and quite horrendous.” Downing Street said Prime Minister Gordon Brown had spoken to Mrs Gibbons upon her arrival in the UK. He is said to be pleased that she had returned, wished her well and had also made clear to her that the government stood ready to provide whatever further assistance she may require. Khalid al Mubarak, media counsellor at the Sudanese embassy in London, said he was very pleased the situation had been resolved. ‘Red faced’ He also suggested that orientation classes for westerners coming to work in Sudan should be reintroduced. They had been standard procedure during the colonial era, he said. He said a short course ending in an exam, perhaps run at local colleges in Sudan, would be “very useful” to help new-comers avoid basic mistakes such as using the left hand to offer something to somebody - the left hand is considered unclean. Mrs Gibbons’ son earlier said his family had been “under a lot of pressure” but added that he was “very pleased” his mother was returning home. Meanwhile, Jonah Fisher, former BBC Khartoum correspondent, said that the arrest of Mrs Gibbons must have seemed like an easy opportunity to give Sudan’s former colonial masters a bloody nose. But in actuality, it appears to be Sudan’s President al-Bashir who has been left with a red face, he added.

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At Least the British Press are taking a stand on this case

Sudan protesters: Execute teacher - CNN.com

Whilst the foolish follow the hate speech of their imams and took to the streets demanding that Gillian Gibbons be killed because a 7 year old child named a teddy bear Mohammed, not after the false prophet, but after himself, the British government continues its efforts to get her release. What is more encouraging though, is that the British press have not followed the example of N.O.W. but have been willing to criticize the Sudanese government over the stupidity of this case.

It is so totally absurd to claim that Gillian Gibbons was in any way insulting religion. The name Mohammed is extremely common. However, it seems that where there is Sharia law there is also a total lack of common sense, just foolishness from people who do not know that there is another way to live one’s live, without the anger and the fear.

We must remain vigilant with regards to these situations so that people begin to realize that within Islam there is no tolerance towards the ones that they refer to as “Infidels”

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Feminists ignore plight of Teddy Bear teacher - PC gone mad

Feminist group won’t take position on Teddy-Bear-Mohammed-Gate » Infidels Are Cool

The feminist group N.O.W. is proving once again why it is a morally bankrupt and spent political force due to  its failure to stand up and take a position in support of the British teacher who has been charged in Khartoum because the 7 year old children in her class named a teddy bear Mohammed.

By failing to support this teacher, the spokeswomen for N.O.W. have shown how political correctness has been allowed to go beserk. In this case the PC attitude has been bred from the fear of “offending Muslims”. If feminists were to show real courage then they would be standing up and speaking out against the way in which women are treated in Islamist countries and they would not be afraid of speaking up about the absurdity of Teddy-Bear-Mohammed Gate.

The boy who named the bear has the name Mohammed and none of the children in the classroom objected to the use of the name. Neither the teacher nor the children intended to denigrate the false prophet Mohammed with this action. It is, as another commenator stated, that the Sudanese have shown the insensibllity of this heightened sensitivity regarding Islam.

Just as N.O.W. has refused to speak out on behalf of the teacher, CAIR has also remained silent, whilst a truly moderate Muslim grroup in the USA has had the courage to speak up and has demanded the release of the woman in question.

If the woman is not released and the charge withdrawn, then she faces the pssibility of being found guilty of offending religion, and being sentenced to a whipping for what should be described as an imaginary offence.

As women, we should not be afraid to speak up against this form of oppression that is being faced by men and women in these Islamist countries. It is bad enough that in Saudi Arabia a rape victim can end up being sentenced to 200 lashes, over a false charge of adultery, but it is extreme when a teddy bear cannot be given what is an ordinary name in the M.E.  - Mohammed. The offence itself is imaginary, and not real, and it is for this reason that women everywhere should be standing up and protesting the actions of the Sudanese Islamist government.

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French cold cases about to be solved?

BBC NEWS | Europe | France holds man over 18 murders

The French police have arrested and are holding for questioning a 68 year old man in relation to 18 unsolved murders, of mostly homosexual men between 1980 and 2002. The suspect, Nicolas Panard is alleged to have killed 11 people in the Alsace region, four others in neighbouring Franche-Comte and three near Paris. His alleged accomplice Slim Fezzani is currently serving a 20 year prison sentence for a separate murder.

The pair are being held for questioning in the Franche-Comte town of Montbeliard, where the deputy state prosecutor has told the AFP newsagency that the two men denied the allegations and that there is “no formal proof” linking them to the crimes.

According to a local L’Alsace newspaper, the arrests were the result of a 2 year investigation by a police officer based in Montbeliard who had originally only been investigating a murder in 1991 in Sochaux. By using the police crime database, the officer found mentions of Mr. Panard’s name in the case files of several unsolved murders. The officer also discovered several common features in the murders, including the following:

• the victims had been killed by blows to the head;
• the victims had multiple knife wounds;
• the victims were found partly naked but with their faces covered.

Mr. Panard has a criminal record for burglary, and is said to have frequented the homosexual scene where he worked as a female impersonator.

During the 1980s there was a spate of unsolved murders of homosexuals across the border from Mulhouse in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

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More on the Israeli strike on Syria

I have reported on this issue a few times and here is some further information from the Counterterrorism blog on why Israel felt that it was necessary to strike the nuclear facility inside the Syrian border:

Interestingly, while North Korea has been mentioned many times, the role of Iran has not been scrutinized.
I just wrote a piece for the Middle East Times on that topic.
Here is an excerpt:
Israel has been providing intelligence and satellite images to the U.S. about a secret Syrian nuclear program for several months, according to media reports. Discussions between Israel and the United States took place last summer regarding a possible strike. But when Israel found the matter so pressing that when they realized the U.S. was not ready to act, on September 6 they attacked a Syrian nuclear site. Hence the question: what is Syria really up to or more to the point what is Iran up to?

First, let’s start with an underreported explosion that occurred in a Syrian military base outside Aleppo on July 26. Jane’s Defense Weekly reported, citing Syrian defense sources, as saying the explosion took place during a test to fit a “Scud C” missile with a mustard-gas warhead. It quoted the sources as saying the explosion occurred when fuel caught fire in the missile production laboratory.

But there might be another explanation. Kuwait’s Al Seyassah newspaper recently reported that a Shiite Lebanese religious cleric claimed the Iranians were allegedly supervising a chemical weapons manufacturing program and that tens of Iranian experts and engineers died as a result of that explosion. He also said Israelis attacked the base. He added that Western officials told him they received proof from Israel on the Syrian chemical weapons program. Even if Israel’s involvement is not proven, what remains sure is that it must be very happy that a chemical weapons facility in Syria has been partly destroyed.

You can read the story here