Police march to the monument honouring constables Brock Myrol, Peter Schiemann, Leo Johnston and Anthony Gordon prior to the unveiling of the Fallen Four Memorial Park, in Mayerthorpe, Alberta on Friday July 4, 2008. The officers were ambushed on March 3, 2005 by James Roszko on a farm near Mayerthorpe, Alberta, Canada.
MAYERTHORPE, Alberta, Canada - Family and friends of four murdered Mounties wept and watched silently in awe as the people of a small rural Alberta farm town unveiled life-sized bronze statues of their loved ones Friday.
Gleaming under a bright prairie sun, the statues stand in a circle back to back, each constable in full dress uniform, facing out proudly toward those who have mourned their loss every single day since March 3, 2005. In the centre is a bronze-capped obelisk surrounded by doves.
Const. Peter Schiemann is snapping a salute. Const. Anthony Gordon stands proudly at ease. Const. Leo Johnston is at attention. Const. Brock Myrol is standing easy.
Brock's parents, Colleen and Keith Myrol, peered at the likeness of their son in wonder.
"I cried because I thought he is still standing on guard for Canada," Colleen Myrol said.
"It is very good positive energy from the town of Mayerthorpe. Today we will celebrate what good Canadians have done. We have seen the best of the best here today."
Don Schiemann, Peter's father, was speechless as his son's statue was unveiled. Surrounded by a crowd of relatives who were in Alberta for a family wedding, the Schiemanns just stared up at the 400-kilogram statue as a crowd of more than 1,000 townspeople, police and dignitaries applauded.
"I hadn't seen the statue before so I didn't know what to expect. The way that they have him saluting - it was perfect," Schiemann said later.
"Some people might look at it as if it is a memorial to death. I hope it is a memorial to service and to sacrifice."
The young officers were ambushed by James Roszko on his property during an investigation into a stolen parts and marijuana grow operation. Roszko later shot himself.
Juergen Preugschas, the leader of a community group that worked for three years on the $1.8-million memorial park, said the violent crime put Mayerthorpe on the world map for all the wrong reasons.
But he said people in the small town northwest of Edmonton refused to be defined by such a tragedy and quickly got to work.
Once word of the plan to honour the officers became public, donations began coming in from across Canada. There was money from governments and school children, private businesses and 4-H clubs, police officers and concerned citizens.
The statues have helped people channel their grief and transformed something ugly into something beautiful.
"This national memorial, created out of love and respect, does not stand in a national centre, but in the tiny but proud and determined rural little town of Mayerthorpe, Alta.," Preugschas said.
"This park belongs to every person who has a beloved peace officer lay down their life for the citizens of this country. It belongs to every grieving individual who needs to know that the rest of the country does care."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the murder of the four Mounties a "monstrous insult to all that is good and decent."
Harper said such violence is especially out of place in a peaceful, close-knit rural community that exemplifies Canadian values the way Mayerthorpe does.
The prime minister praised the spirit of the community.
"Other people in other places might have exploded in rage, or sunk into despair. But not Mayerthorpe," Harper said.
"Everyone associated with this terrible event has conducted themselves with grace, dignity and purpose. Your courage and resiliency have been an inspiration to all Canadians."
Margaret Thibault, one of the driving forces behind the Mayerthorpe Fallen Four Memorial Society, choked up with emotion when she named each of the four dead officers as the statues were unveiled.
A resident of the town for 31 years, Thibault, who once worked at the town RCMP detachment, knew some of the fallen Mounties personally.
The dedication of the memorial park should help people move on from their grief, she said.
"It is not enough just to survive. Today we show it is possible to prevail," she said.
"It is possible to feel that pain, but then build something that helps celebrate the good memories of Peter, Leo, Anthony, Brock and their brothers and sisters that stand shoulder to shoulder with them."
In turning tragedy into 'goodness,' the tiny community of Mayerthorpe, Alta., unveiled four life-sized bronze statues in a new memorial park dedicated to the Mounties gunned down in 2005.
Creating the statues has been a labour of love for sculptors Don and Shirley Begg and their staff at Studio West in Cochrane, Alta. They toiled under tight security to ensure the public didn't see their work until the unveiling.
The Beggs consulted closely with each Mountie's family to ensure his statue is as lifelike and accurate as possible, right down to the inscriptions on the uniform buttons.
Working from photographs, the sculptors slowly built frames for each statue, then fleshed them out in clay, nimbly using their fingers to capture the likeness and character of each man. The mothers were consulted to ensure they got it right before the final moulds were made and the bronze poured.
Kelly Johnston, Leo's widow, trembled with emotion as she spoke of her loss after his statue was unveiled.
Johnston has been locked in a bitter legal battle with her in-laws over her husband's remains - she wants them moved to RCMP headquarters in Regina, but they say moving the remains from his grave in their home community of Lac La Biche would go against his wishes and beliefs as a Metis.
The parents, Grace and Ron Johnston, were at the ceremony, but declined to speak to reporters.
Kelly Johnston said words such as disaster, tragedy, horrific and horrendous cannot even begin to describe the pain she has felt since her soulmate died on that cold March day.
"My world went black. Colour is slowly, slowly, slowly filtering in. Something like this is a nice start. It is a beginning," she said.
"The community came together and supported all of us that day. And it's nice to see the community coming together again today and saying 'Look, we are starting again anew, and this is what we are doing for you."'
It is unbelievable that there are non-Mohammedans in the West that justify Islamism and revise history to delude the public via the trusted moniker of “Academics.”
You have got to read how this moron John Esposito is the Goebbels propagandist for the moneyed Mohammedan Middle East influenced by Wahhabism.
JRH 7/4/08
How long do you take in the shower?
Submitted by Strive2Be.
When I'm in a hurry, less than 10 minutes. But when I gotta shave my pits, legs, and groom the cooch, you're looking at least 20 minutes!
Scott Peterson
Scott Peterson was photographed by the California Department of Corrections in June 2007. Housed on death row at San Quentin State Prison, Peterson was found guilty in 2005 of killing his wife, Laci and their unborn son, Conner. Notice "CONDEMNED" on his placard.
Today is Independence Day. Independence Day in America has become a time of outdoor and/or family get-togethers and enjoying fireworks displays.
This is all good because it is a rare time that most Americans put aside political differences for a day of fun and entertainment.
Unfortunately I suspect it is a day that most Americans do not comprehend the blood, sweat and personal sacrifice that American Revolutionaries experienced in gaining the freedom of self-governance from a then one of the most powerful nations in the world – Great Britain.
The Brits certainly looked upon the upstart Revolutionaries as political gnats daring to with stand British sovereignty and a threat to the colonial system of economics that benefited the British Empire.
Ergo the Brits of the day decided to squash the pipsqueak American colonials by any means necessary to preserve British honor and economics (certainly an overstated simplification on my part but you get the idea).
What the Brits did not understand is that American colonialism developed under two premises: Individuals and groups seeking a better economic life unattainable in the Mother England AND religious refugees that honored God but not necessarily accepted by the State Church of England.
The first marked the embracement of individualism the later laid the foundation for Christian morality in colonial America.
Secular Humanism and its spawn such as homosexual activist are attempting to negate the Christian heritage that America was founded upon.
And now Secular Humanist offshoot activists like the homosexual rights groups are doing everything in their power to convince Americans and the rule of law that homosexuality is a normal lifestyle that deserves validated equal protection under the American rule of law. In doing this agenda homosexuals have also done everything in their power to discredit Biblical Christianity as an archaic group of bigots who are prejudiced against their gender-bending deviancy.
That is the key by the way: Biblically homosexuality is deviant behavior that should be abhorred in the same category as pornography, pedophilia, prostitution and other sexual deviancy that has manipulated the First Amendment beyond its intent with concurrence of a Leftist Judiciary and NOT the American voters.
With this in mind I compelled to support (and ask others to support) the American Family Associations (AFA) war of exposing billion dollar corporations who actually pump money into the coffers of deviant homosexual activist organizations who goal is to transform American perceptions of right and wrong or what is moral or immoral based on Secular Humanisms concept of moral relativity.
The unabashed support of the Homosexual Agenda by the McDonalds Corporation is the latest task of the AFA. Read about it HERE.
JRH 7/4/08
Today I encountered a relic of India's stereotypes.
I only got two pics, 'cause when he noticed I was taking them, he packed up and ran away.
He had a baby monkey who had to handle the snake as well. Wasn't able to get the monkey in the shot.
He's called a sapera, also the name of his caste. For centuries his ancestors would have entertained people in market squares and at fairs. Or they would have been called to extricate snakes from people's houses. They were revered as the men who had power over the serpent.
Not so much now. Snake charming and charmers are illegal in India. This guy is probably the last in his family to take up this profession.
There are many problems with this picture. For one, the element of animal cruelty that caused the act to be outlawed in the first place. The snakes barely last two weeks.They're defanged and denied food to keep them in a state akin to a drunken stupor. Which is why the monkey could play with it so easily. Then there's the monkey...
Two, when the law came in, the sapera community didn't really have other options of employment.This was all they knew. And while some managed to find alternatives and others were lucky enough to be recruited by snake protection and rehabilitation programmes, some like this old man still cling to an unsustainable way of life.
Three, people see his dilapidated state, feel the normal human feeling of pity and offer him money. And the problem continues. He always lives from meal to meal.
Circle of life and all that. Cruel, but perpetuated by pity. But is it really pity if he continues to live like this?
How long do you take in the shower?
Submitted by Strive2Be.
Gosh, I'm rather embarrassed now. I'm the person who posted this question, and I did so because my friend was SHOCKED at how long I took. Lol. He wanted to know *exactly* what I could possibly be doing in the shower....take him step by step. I thought he was being silly, but after reading the answers to this question.....wow, I must transform into a turtle or some such slow critter when the water hits me. I spend about an hour....yes, you heard me world....one whole hour....sixty minutes.....in the rectangle of spraying water. That includes wash/rinse hair, wash/rinse body (lol), and shaving BOTH my legs (don't forget that there are TWO of them), plus maybe a touch-up shave between................shhhhhhhhhh. AND....this doesn't even include getting into the song, "Good, good, good...good vibrations!" Lol. You really don't want to know how long I'm in the shower if I get that song into my head!! So......I'm a turtle......or a slug......or some primordial sludge. And then don't even get me into what I do AFTER the shower...lotion on the legs and (shhhhhhh area) so the skin doesn't dry out, clip the nails (and remember, we have finger AND toe nails! Lol), dry myself, pat my hair dry and then let it dry on its own after I've combed it, and get dressed. I also, at some point during all this time, am cleaning out the shower and drying it. And guess what, guess what?? I'm one of those people who doesn't use all those creams and lotions and make-up and gobbly gook. Can you imagine how long I'd be in the bathroom???? Just bodywash, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, and lotion for the shaved areas. How come I feel like I'm on the witness stand, defending myself desperately so as not to received the death penalty?? *smile* I'll have to go into hyperactive speed next time and let you know the results. Probably shampoo in the eye, legs with hair still visible in areas, a nick in a sensitive spot, and a major slip getting out of the shower as my feet are still slimy with bodywash. Well...at least I can yell to the world...I'M UNIQUE!!!!! WooHoo!!!! Not so sure if I like this uniqueness, though. It's more like "Super freak, she's a super freak!" Lol.
June 20, 2008
By Ginny Smith
philly.com
Broomall gardener Carol Lim used to be known for her cyclamen, but these days it's Clematis viorna. She pronounces it CLEM-a-tis, but lots of folks, especially in this country, say cle-MAT-is.
(Theoretically, both are acceptable, but if you want to impress your friends, the former rules.)
Viornas are easy. Unlike big hybrid clematis, they don't have tricky pruning schedules. They die back in winter.
"You just have to remember where you planted them," says Edith Malek, president of the 320-member American Clematis Society, who grows about 200 clematis of all kinds in her garden in Irvine, Calif.
"First, you fall in love with the big saucer shapes. That's how the love affair with clematis starts," she explains. "Then, when you start finding out about the viornas, you realize they bloom more and you get more out of them. That's pretty nifty."
Malek recommends crispa for its beauty - "looks like a little marshmallow, so darling," she says - and pitcherii for vines that shoot 20 feet a season. These and other native viornas are naturally tough, suffering none of the wilt that plagues hybrids.
"They're so cool," Malek says.
Finding them is difficult, though. Lim's Web site (http://www.clematisviorna.info/) lists a handful of plant sources, including Brushwood Nursery in Unionville. For seeds, she uses seed exchanges through organizations like the North American Rock Garden Society (http://www.nargs.org/).
Plants should go in the ground in sun or part shade, with three inches of stem covered. Lim says this will result in more buds.
She puts compost in the hole and keeps it mulched, not so much to cool the roots as to retain moisture. She also applies a slow-release fertilizer and aged horse manure maybe once a year.
If you want your clematis to mingle, run thin wires up into a tree to guide the vine. You can also attach screw eyes into stone or place a grid against a building.
"You don't want to see mesh wire. You want it to be invisible," Lim says.
After all that, be mindful of chipmunks and deer - both like clematis. But viorna that's eaten or weed-whacked to the ground has been known to bounce back.
Where can you go to see these "American bells"? They're in only four public gardens in the United States, three of which are in our area:
Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope, http://www.bhwp.org/ or 215-862-2924.
Chanticleer in Wayne, http://www.chanticleergarden.org/ or 610-687-4163.
Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College: http://www.scottarboretum.org/ or 610-328-8025.
You can also see them at Mount Cuba Center outside Wilmington; information at http://www.mtcubacenter.org/ or 302-239-4244. Admission by reservation only.
- Virginia A. Smith
Here is an American Congress for Truth (ACT) e-newsletter sent out June 30, 2008. It gives further credence to a fifth column movement in North America similar to what the old Soviet Communists got away with from the 30’s through the 60’s.
JRH 7/3/08
****************************
ACT introduction of Ottawa Citizen News Article:
The Ottawa Citizen story below highlights the grave threat of infiltration of our defense and intelligence communities by Islamists working in league with terrorists abroad.
The article references the Muslim Brotherhood Project, the long-term plan created by the Muslim Brotherhood to subvert the West from within.
Brigitte Gabriel’s new book, They Must Be Stopped, scheduled for release around the first of September, devotes an entire chapter to this threat.
There is not one mention of Barack Hussein Obama’s wife Michelle in this news article; nonetheless that is what came to mind when I read that a Black jazz artist Renee Marie sang the “Black National Anthem” (“Lift Every Voice and Sing”) in a “switcheroonie” rather than the American “National Anthem” (“The Star-Spangled Banner”) because she “doesn’t feel American.”
Actually the reason Marie gave for singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is the tragedy. She singlehandedly turned an awesome Christian worship song into a racially divisive song repudiating American patriotism.
JRH 7/3/08
Renee Marie - BLACK NATIONAL ANTHEM
Whitney Houston - American National Anthem
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