Pikie's Blog

Can anyone out there please tell me if a person can go to college for free if one parent has died and the other is disabled.  My stepson just graduated high school and was told that he can go to college for free by a friend who works at Lake Erie College because his mother is dead and his father is on disability.  His grades are only so-so (C average).   He hasn't as of yet applied for any loans, etc. & he thinks he's going to OSU.

Any info on this would be appreciated.

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I blogged or even signed on Fox8.  My beloved mother-in-law has been battling lung cancer since last August and the cancer finally won and took her life on May 12th.  She has been going downhill since December when they found a blockage in her intestines and had to remove that (the cancer had spread).  She finally got out of the nursing home & was home only a week when she fell and broke her pelvis.  Then while recouping from that she got pneumonia.  She got better for a week and then took a turn for the worst.  She was a smoker, who before she got lung cancer had emphysema & asthma.  It was terrible watching her struggle for breath, especially in the last 5 months. 

While it's true that something is going to kill you eventually, gasping for breath is not the way to go.  It was bad for her, but her children and grandchildren and all who loved her will carry these images of her for the rest of our lives.

If you are a smoker, please, please try to quit.  If you're not a smoker, don't start.  I don't want anyone else to suffer as she did and I don't want you to have to watch someone die like I did.

SOME OF YOU ARE NOT OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER THAT NEARLY EVERY FAMILY IN AMERICA WAS GROSSLY AFFECTED BY WW II .  MOST OF YOU DON'T REMEMBER THE RATIONING OF MEAT, SHOES, GASOLINE, AND SUGAR. NO TIRES FOR OUR AUTOMOBILES, AND A SPEED LIMIT OF 35 MILES AN HOUR ON THE ROAD, NOT TO MENTION, NO NEW AUTOMOBILES.  READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT HOW WE WOULD REACT TO BEING TAKEN OVER BY FOREIGN POWERS IN 2008.

Historical Significance for today's world:

Sixty-three years ago, Nazi Germany had overrun almost all of Europe and hammered England to the verge of bankruptcy and defeat. The Nazis had sunk more than 400 British ships in their convoys between England and America taking food and war materials .

At that time the US was in an isolationist, pacifist mood, and most Americans wanted nothing to do with the European or the Asian war .

Then along came Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 , and in outrage Congress unanimously declared war on Japan , and the following day on Germany , who had not yet attacked us . It was a dicey thing . We had few allies .

France was not an ally, as the Vichy government of France quickly aligned itself with its German occupiers . Germany was certainly not an ally, as Hitler was intent on setting up a Thousand Year Reich in Europe.  Japan was not an ally, as it was well on its way to owning and controlling all of Asia.

Together, Japan and Germany had long-range plans of invading Canada and Mexico , as launching pads to get into the United States over our northern and southern borders, after they finished gaining control of Asia and Europe.

America 's only allies then were England , Ireland , Scotland , Canada , Australia, and Russia . That was about it All of Europe, from Norway to Italy (except Russia in the East) was already under the Nazi heel .

The US was certainly not prepared for war.  The US had drastically downgraded most of its military forces after WW I because of the depression, so that at the outbreak of WW II, Army units were training with broomsticks because they didn't have guns, and cars with "tank" painted on the doors because they didn't have real tanks A huge chunk of our Navy had just been sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor.

Britain had already gone bankrupt, saved only by the donation of $600 million in gold bullion in the Bank of England (that was actually the property of Belgium ) given by Belgium to England to carry on the war when Belgium was overrun by Hitler (a little known fact).

Actually, Belgium surrendered on one day, because it was unable to oppose the German invasion, and the Germans bombed Brussels into rubble the next day just to prove they could .

Britain had already been holding out for two years in the face of staggering losses and the near decimation of its Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain, and was saved from being overrun by Germany only because Hitler made the mistake of thinking the Brits were a relatively minor threat that could be dealt with later.  Hitler, first turned his attention to Russia, in the late summer of 1940 at a time when England was on the verge of collapse.

Ironically, Russia saved America 's butt by putting up a desperate fight for two years, until the US got geared up to begin hammering away at Germany .

Russia lost something like 24,000,000 people in the sieges of Stalingrad and Moscow alone . . . 90% of them from co ld and starvation, mostly civilians, but also more than a 1,000,000 soldiers

Had Russia surrendered, Hitler would have been able to focus his entire war effort against the Brits, then America.  If that had happened, the Nazis could possibly have won the war .

All of this has been brought out to illustrate that turning points in history are often dicey things.  Now, we find ourselves at another one of those key moments in history.

There is a very dangerous minority in Islam that either has, or wants, and may soon have, the ability to deliver small nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, almost anywhere in the world .

The Jihadis, the militant Muslims, are basically Nazis in Kaffiyahs -- they believe that Islam, a radically conservative form of Wahhabi Islam, should own and control the Middle East first, then Europe, then the world.  To them, all who do not bow to their will of thinking should be killed, enslaved, or subjugated . They want to finish the Holocaust, destroy Israel , and purge the world of Jews . This is their mantra . (goal)

There is also a civil war raging in the Middle East -- for the most part not a hot war, but a war of ideas.  Islam is having its Inquisition and its Reformation, but it is not yet known which side will win -- the Inquisitors, or the Reformationists.

If the Inquisition wins, then the Wahhabis, the Jihadis, will control the Middle East, the OPEC oil, and the US , European, and Asian economies.

The techno-industrial economies will be at the mercy of OPEC -- not an OPEC dominated by the educated, rational Saudis of today, but an OPEC dominated by the Jihadis.  Do you want gas in your car?  Do you want heating oil next winter?  Do you want the dollar to be worth anything?  You had better hope the Jihad, the Muslim Inquisition, loses, and the Islamic Reformation wins.

If the Reformation movement wins, that is, the moderate Muslims who believe that Islam can respect and tolerate other religions, live in peace with the rest of the world, and move out of the 10th century into the 21st, then the troubles in the Middle East will eventually fade away.  A moderate and prosperous Middle East will emerge.

We have to help the Reformation win, and to do that we have to fight the Inquisition, i.e., the Wahhabi movement, the Jihad, Al Qaeda and the Islamic terrorist movements.  We have to do it somewhere.  We can't do it everywhere at once.  We have created a focal point for the battle at a time and place of our choosing . . . . . . . . in Iraq .  Not in New York , not in London , or Paris or Berlin , but in Iraq, where we are doing two important things.

(1) We deposed Saddam Hussein.  Whether Saddam Hussein was directly involved in the 9/11 terrorist attack or not, it is undisputed that Saddam has been actively supporting the terrorist movement for decades  Saddam is a terrorist!   Saddam is, or was, a weapon of mass destruction, responsible for the deaths of probably more than a 1,000,000 Iraqis and 2,000,000 Iranians .

(2) We created a battle, a confrontation, a flash point, with Islamic terrorism in Iraq.   We have focused the battle.  We are killing bad people, and the ones we get there we won't have to get here.  We also have a good shot at creating a democratic, peaceful Iraq, which will be a catalyst for democratic change in the rest of the Middle East, and an outpost for a stabilizing American military presence in the Middle East for as long as it is needed .

WW II, the war with the Japanese and German Nazis, really began with a "whimper" in 1928.  It did not begin with Pearl Harbor.  It began with the Japanese invasion of China.  It was a war for fourteen years before the US joined it.  It officially ended in 1945 -- a 17 year war -- and was followed by another decade of US occupation in Germany and Japan to get those countries reconstructed and running on their own a gain . . . a 27 year war.

WW II cost the United States an amount equal to approximately a full year's GDP -- adjusted for inflation, equal to about $12 trillion dollars.  WW II cost America more than 400,000 soldiers killed in action, and nearly 100,000 still missing in action.

The Iraq war has, so far, cost the United States about $160,000,000,000, which is roughly what the 9/11 terrorist attack cost New York.  It has also cost about 3,000 American lives, which is roughly equivilant to lives that the Jihad killed (within the United States) in the 9/11 terrorist attack .

The cost of not fighting and winning WW II would have been unimaginably greater -- a world dominated by Japanese Imperialism and German Nazism .

This is not a 60-Minutes TV show, or a 2-hour movie in which everything comes out okay .  The real world is not like that.  It is messy, un certain, and sometimes bloody and ugly.  It always has been, and probably always will be .

The bottom line is that we will have to deal with Islamic terrorism until we defeat it, whenever that is.  It will not go away if we ignore it .

If the US can create a reasonably democratic and stable Iraq, then we have an ally, like England , in the Middle East, a platform, from which we can work to help modernize and moderate the Middle East.  The history of the world is the clash between the forces of relative civility and civilization, and the barbarians clamoring at the gates to conquer the world.

The Iraq War is merely another battle in this ancient and never ending war.  Now, for the first time ever, the barbarians are about to get nuclear weapons.  Unless some body prevents them from getting them.

We have four options:

1 . We can defeat the Jihad now, before it gets nuclear weapons.

2 . We can fight the Jihad later, after it gets nuclear weapons (which may be as early as next year, if Iran 's progress on nuclear weapons is what Iran claims it is).

3 . We can surrender to the Jihad and accept its dominance in the Middle East now; in Europe in the next few years or decades, and ultimately in America.

OR

4 . We can stand down now, and pick up the fight later when the Jihad is more widespread and better armed, perhaps after the Jihad has dominated France and Germany and possibly most of the rest of Europe.  It will, of course, be more dangerous, more expensive, and much bloodier.

If you oppose this war, I hope you like the idea that your children, or grandchildren, may live in an Islamic America under the Mullahs and the Sharia, an America that resembles Iran today.

The history of the world is the history of civilization clashes, cultural clashes.  All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society and civilization should be like, and the most determi ned always win.

Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win . The pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill them .

Remember, perspective is every thing, and America 's schools teach too little history for perspective to be clear, especially in the young American mind.

The Cold War lasted from about 1947 at least until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989; forty-two years!

Europe spent the first half of the 19th century fighting Napoleon, and from 1870 to 1945 fighting Germany !

World War II began in 1928, lasted 17 years, plus a ten year occupation, and the US still has troops in Germany and Japan .  World War II resulted in the death of more than 50,000,000 people, maybe more than 100,000,000 people, depending on which estimates you accept.

The US has taken more than 3,000 killed in action in Iraq..  The US took more than 4,000 killed in action on the morning of June 6, 1944 , the first day of the Normand y Invasion to rid Europe of Nazi Imperialism.

In WW II the US averaged 2,000 KIA a week -- for four years.  Most of the individual battles of WW II lost more Americans than the entire Iraq war has done so far .

The stakes are at least as high . . A world dominated by representative governments with civil rights, human rights, and personal freedoms . . or a world dominated by a radical Islamic Wahhabi movement, by the Jihad, under the Mullahs and the Sharia (Islamic law) .

It's difficult to understand why the average American does not grasp this.  They favor human rights, civil rights, liberty and freedom, but evidently not for Iraqis.

"Peace Activists" always seem to demonstrate here in America , where it's safe.

Why don't we see Peace Activist demonstrating in Iran , Syria , Iraq , Sudan , North Korea , in the places that really need peace activism the most?  I'll tell you why! They would be killed!

The liberal mentality is supposed to favor human rights, civil rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc . , but if the Jihad wins, wherever the Jihad wins, it is the end of civil rights, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc.

Americans who oppose the liberation of Iraq are coming down on the side of their own worst enemy! 

We are prime targets for misinformation campaigns beamed at enlisting us in liberal causes and beliefs that are special interest agenda driven. I am not advocating war, just wanting to understand the greater picture and preserving our country's independence. 

Was Imus remarks intentionally racist or just plain stupid?  Is there a difference?  

I guess my point is that when you're on TV or radio (and employed by a large corporation) you need to be careful of what you say and how you say it.  Advertisers will pull millions of dollars with just a slip of the tongue.  We have free speech, but in some cases it's best not to exercise that right while you're on the job.

And all the apologizing in the world won't help once it's out.

    With all the things happening in schools today, from teachers being accused of misconduct to teens bringing weapons to school it's interesting to see how these acts would have been treated in 1957.  So, to those of us old enough to remember and to those wha are too young to know how it was back then---read on.........    

   See What 50 Years Will Do

  Scenario: Jack pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack.

  1957 - Vice Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack's  rifle, goes to
  his car and gets his rifle to show Jack .

  2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled  off to jail,
  and never sees his truck or gun again.
  Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

 1957  - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up
 best friends. Nobody goes to jail, nobody arrested, nobody expelled.

 2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark.
 Charges them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.

 1957 -  Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by Principal.
 Jeffrey THEN sits still in class.

 2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie.
 School gets  extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 Scenario: Billy breaks a  window in his father's car
 and his Dad gives him  a whipping.

 1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal,
 goes to college,  and becomes a successful  businessman.

 2007 - Billy's Dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster
 care and joins a gang. Billy's sister is told by state psychologist that
 she remembers being abused herself and their Dad goes to prison. Billy's
 mom has affair with psychologist.

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 Scenario: Mark gets a headache'
 and takes some headache medicine to school.

 1957 - Mark shares headache medicine with Principal out on the smoking
 dock.

 2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations.
 Car searched for drugs and weapons.

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.

 1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.

 2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state political parties. Newspaper
 articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a
 requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit
 against state school system and Pedro's English teacher.
 English banned from core curriculum.
 Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns
 for a living because he can't speak English.

  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the 4th of July,
 puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
 
1957 - Ants die.

 2007 - BATF, Homeland Security and FBI are called. Johnny charged with
 domestic  terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from
 home, computers  confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list
 and is never allowed  to fly again.

  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 Scenario: Johnny falls while  running during recess and scrapes his
 knee.  He is found crying by his teacher, Miss Mary.
 Miss Mary then hugs Johnny to comfort him.

 1957 -  In a short time Johnny feels better and goes on  playing.

 2007 - Miss Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her
 job. She faces 3 years in State Prison.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

                         Is something wrong here?

 

 

 

 

U.S. Senate passed a tobacco tax increase.  It passed 59-40 to raise the tax from 39 cents to $1.00 a pack.  The 20 billion plus in revenue over 5 years is going for a federal entitlement program that funds health insurance for poor children.  It amazes me that this vote wasn't publicized.  This is the first I've heard of it.  It was in the News Herald this morning under the Thomas voting reports. 

I'm not a smoker, but enough is enough.  I didn't think it was fair to tax the smokers for the sports stadiums, either.  What is the government going to do when everyone quits?  They need to find other ways to raise money.

 

The following news was just released:

Mrs. Edwards, 57, was first diagnosed with cancer in the final weeks of the 2004 campaign. The day after Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and Edwards, his running mate, conceded the election to George W. Bush, Edwards announced that his wife had invasive ductal cancer, the most common type of breast cancer, and would undergo treatment.

Mrs. Edwards underwent several months of radiation and chemotherapy for the lump in her breast. Her husband's campaign has said she had recovered from the illness.

John Edwards said a biopsy of her rib had showed that the cancer had returned.

The bone is one of the most common places where breast cancer spreads, and once it does so it is not considered curable.

But how long women survive depends on how widespread the cancer is in the bone, and many can survive for years. The longer it takes for cancer to spread after the initial tumor, the better the prognosis. She was diagnosed in 2004.

No matter how you feel about John Edwards running for president, you have to admire Mrs. Edwards strength and determination.  She will be in my thoughts and prayers as she fights this battle for her life.

I have been to several restaurants and 2 bars since the smoking ban started.  A few of the restaurants were chains and 3 of them were local.  I've been out on weeknights and weekends.  The places all were crowded, even the 2 bars.  People were going outside to smoke, even in the freezing weather. 

I didn't see any of the doom and gloom predicted.  Granted, the bars I went to weren't tiny, little neighbohood bars--they were sports bars that were larger.  But still they were doing a brisk business.  On one occasion I was with my girlfriend, a smoker, who had bought some of that gum and because it was so cold outside, she chewed some of that.  Don't know if you are supposed to use that quitting gum as a substitute for a cigarette when you're not really quitting--but that's what she did. 

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else had any imput on this.  Do you know of any places that have closed because of the smoking ban?  Any places more profitable?  And smokers--how are you adjusting?

Anna Nicole's death is a tragedy and the media is turning it into a circus.  Society drills into young girls heads that they need to be beautiful, sexy, dumb blondes.  She spent her life trying to live up to what people wanted and expected,  and now a 5 month old baby is left motherless.

Yes, she had problems with drugs and alcohol and was the first to admit it.  Her son died right in front of her.  Then the lawsuit from the photographer wanting DNA testing.  Lawsuits about TrimSpa.  Lawsuits about her right to inherit money from her dead husband.  It was all too much.  How many of us can say we could handle all the stress she's been going through?

Let her rest in peace.  The entire situation is tragic and the media needs to stop speculating and turning this event into a 3 ring circus.

I try my best not to be too critical of people. The way I figure it, is that what other people do is really none of my business. Ask for my opinion, and I'll give it.

I've got to take a stand on some of these post-menopausal women having babies. Women have approximately 32 natural child-bearing years (18-50) and it's my belief that if you want a natural born child you need to utilize those years.

The technology available today was intended for women in the child-bearing age group who are having trouble conceiving.

Most people are upset when they read about situations where children are being mistreated and abused or when they hear of a baby being abandoned or killed by a teen mother. But does anyone think about all these abused, neglected, unloved kids in foster care or orphanages waiting for a good home?

Why would a 60, 65 or 67 year old single woman want to have artificial insemination? I question her motives, her mental status and her ability to raise babies. Why didn't she look into foster care or adoption of a 5-10 year old child? Would the courts tell her she's too old to be considered? If so, then why is it o.k. to "naturally" have a child at that age?

With all of our freedoms come responsibility. It's irresponsible for a woman to have a baby after menopause.

2 questions I'd like answered. Does anyone know:

Why is it that our children can't read a Bible in school, but they can in prison?

Why do I have to swear on the Bible in court when the Ten Commandments cannot be displayed outside?

I'd love to hear from you.

This is something to think about...............


THE LAW IS THE LAW

So if the US government determines that it is against the law for the words ! "under God" to be on our money, then, so be it.

And if that same government decides that the "Ten Commandments" are not to be used in or on a government installation, then, so be it.

I say, "so be it," because I would like to be a law abiding US citizen.

I say, "so be it," because I would like to think that smarter people than I are in positions to make good decisions.

I would like to think that those people have the American public's best interests at heart.

BUT, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE I'D LIKE?

Since we can't pray to God, can't Trust in God and cannot post His Commandments in Government buildings, I don't believe the Government and its employees should participate in the Easter and Christmas celebrations which honor the God that our government is eliminating from many facets of American life.

I'd like my mail delivered on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving & Easter. After all, it's just another day.

I'd like the" US Supreme Court to be in session on Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving & Easter as well as Sundays." After all, it's just another day.

I'd like the Senate and the House of Representatives to not have to worry about getting home for the "Christmas Break." After all it's just another day.

I'm thinking that a lot of my taxpayer dollars could be saved, if all government offices & services would work on Christmas, Good Friday & Easter. It shouldn't cost any overtime, since those would be just like any other day of the week to a government that is trying to be"politically correct"
In fact....

I think that our government should work on Sundays(initially set aside for worshipping God...) because, after all, our government says that it should be just another day....
What do you all think????

If this idea gets to enough people, maybe our elected officials will stop giving in to the "minority opinions" and begin, once again, to represent the "majority" of ALL of the American people.
SO BE IT..........

Please Dear Lord,
Give us the help needed to keep you in our country!
'Amen' and 'Amen'
Touche!

These are definitely things I never thought about but from now on, I will be sure to question those in government who support these changes.

Everyone now needs a passport to get back inside the US. This includes Canada, Mexico & the Bahamas. A passport is now $96.

Who cares????? If you have to travel for business, I think the company should cover the cost. If they don't, I'm sure there's a loophole where you can deduct it as a business expense.

As for those who want to travel on vacation, I say spend your money here. There are some great destinations that are on American soil. Instead of that trip to Aruba--how about a trip to Hawaii? Want sunshine? Forida and California can provide that. A ski trip? Instead of Switzerland how about Colorado? Want nature? Go to Alaska, instead of Canada. Gambling? Instead of those day trips to Niagra-Canada, try Seneca Niagra-NY, or Moutaineer in W.VA.

Our economy could use the additional money spent on vacations right here in the USA. So don't whine about the $96 passport fee.

I admit I'm a fan of a certain soap on TV. I've been watching General Hospital since 1971. For the many years I had to work until 5pm, I got the scoop from my sister, who would call me and tell me everything that happened daily. Then the VCR was invented and I taped it. When I retired from SBC in 2000, I made sure I got a job that was condusive to me watching "my show". I could probably go on "Millionaire" as a contestant and as long as the questions all involved GH, Id be walking out with that elusive $1,000,000 check in my hands.

Recently, as I was pondering my life, I realized I have been living a soap opera. I'm on my 3rd marriage (that alone spells SOAP)& some of things that happened with the last 2 husbands were definetly soap-like. Some of my friends have been caught up in some real life dramas, and made sure I was caught up in them, too.

Got me wondering, is real life that different from a soap opera?

There is no law in the state of Ohio that says a child cannot be left alone until they reach a certain age.

How old is too young to be left alone?

It would seem to me that an 8 or 9 year old child is to young and irresponsible to be left at home alone for 8+ hours a day, 5 days a week. There is no law against it. What happens if that child is hurt? Hurts someone else? Or worse, gets kidnapped or killed? Who's responsible?

As parents we all want to believe our children are smart. Does this include being smart enough to handle a situation like a fire?

No one likes additional laws being made that will effect our pocketbooks. In this case a law saying a child must be 12 to be left alone would mean that 8 or 9 year old would need to go to a daycare center or a babysitter would need to be procured.

I think the money spent would be a wise investment.

A law needs to be written.