Photo from Holland Sentinel dot com Dennis R.J. Geppert/The Holland Sentinel XE Owner and Holland native, Erik Prince, center, along with former State Representative Bill Huizenga, right, his mother Elsa Prince, far left, and Robert A. Sirico, president of Grand Rapids based Acton Institute, watches the Volksparade from atop the Clock Tower Building on 8th street in downtown Holland Wednesday afternoon.
This episode needs some great Op-eds...let me know if you see any? So here are just a few items of interest about this "much waited for" event...funny that some of the local citizens were asking for No Controversy for Tulip Time 2011 the question comes up, does this mean no more Erik Prince showings (one of the most controversial figures on earth today) or no more rallies for peace or both? I can't find a good link to the Erik Prince speech...does anyone have it?
Here's the jist:
"Erik Prince told a sold-out Tulip Time lunch crowd that the worth of a warrior is not best defined by his deeds, but by his enemies. The founder of Blackwater and Holland native described his own enemies as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and “noisy leftists.” find in one of the major letters to The Sentinel.
And this is from a letter to The Sentinel:
"I went around the route and counted 114 protesters at 1050. They came from Chicago, Zoo, GR, Traverse City and locals according to leaders I talked with.
'Best sign ERIC IS MAKING A KILLING!
'2nd Best ERIC's VALUES DO NOT EQUAL HOLLAND'S VALUES!
'The protesters were orderly and did not respond to shouts and insults from the cars going into the parking lots. I was only there 15 minutes talking to the protesters. Middle fingers from persons in a huge Hummer and two guys shouting insults and get out of America to the protesters in a Lexus happen in the one area for 5 min I was there at that spot. There were police completely around the field house. I have never seen so many high end vehicles in one place in my life! If this had been a terrorist target they would have gotten most of the big bucks in West Michigan! Thank goodness it did not happen."
For brief background as to why I put this mini saga on this site, NO More Crusades Find the article from August of 2009 "Erik Prince and the Last Crusade" (for oil & control? Certainly not for taking back what is our to take? How is all this killing for spiritual well-being and cooperation in such a world as ours today?) Some sites of this article have replaced them so your own simple search may be better than my link over time...
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ONLY if you want to go a little further...some of the Comments to these items are more interesting than the preceding in many cases...
The following were all from a google search and are NOT my writing...Find LOTS of comments in these links:
LETTER — Erik Prince lumps liberals in with al-Qaida, Taliban
Let me get this straight, we “noisy leftists” are lumped with al-Qaida and the Taliban and as a group, we are the enemies of Erik Prince? And we should disregard and ignore “deeds” (including allegations of murder, bribing government officials and illegal transport of automatic weapons among others) and judge his worth based on his enemies? FIND this item here
Mon May 10 2010 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
LETTER — Erik Prince drew the wrong lessons from history -Erik Prince of Blackwater/Xe, in his Tulip Time speech decried Washington’s “excessive government spending.” In so doing, he was biting the hand that feeds him. His corporation has been the beneficiary of government contracts worth more than $1 billion, many awarded without competitive bidding. GO here
Mon May 10 2010 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
LETTER — No, deeds, not enemies, are what matters: Thursday’s Sentinel reported on Erik Prince’s statement that a warrior’s worth is not best defined by his deeds but by who his enemies are. I would suggest otherwise. It is indeed by our actions that we are all ultimately defined and will ultimately be judged, whether as individuals or a nation as a whole. SEE the item here
Sun May 09 2010 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) LETTER — Dizzy from the spinning on Erik Prince...It sure would have been nice to see a picture in The Sentinel Thursday of all those Erik Prince protesters (because there weren’t many) but it sure was nice to single out that one bad sign and a person who thought it was Halloween. SEE the item here
Thu May 06 2010 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Critic Scahill discusses dark side of Blackwater : Erik Prince will only tell part of the Blackwater story in front of a public audience like the Tulip Time luncheon, said journalist Jeremy Scahill, author of “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.” here
Fri May 07 2010 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
# Journalist Scahill writes about Prince, Holland - Jeremy Scahill, the journalist who wrote “Blackwater: The rise of the world’s most powerful mercenary army,” wrote a piece for The Nation Monday exposing the content of an Erik Prince speech. here
Wed May 05 2010 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
About 60 protesters march in rain as Erik Prince speaks at Tulip Time Luncheon -
As Erik Prince prepared to give his speech in DeVos Fieldhouse, Sebastiano Picciuca stood in the rain outside with about 60 other protesters. here
Wed May 05 2010 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) Erik Prince gets standing Holland ovation from Tulip Time crowd here
Wed May 05 2010 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) Erik Prince here
Thu May 06 2010 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) Tulip Time will allow news coverage at Prince talk - Members of the news media will now be allowed to attend and report on Erik Prince’s sold out Tulip Time talk Wednesday at Hope College. But audio and video recording devices aren’t permitted, according to a press release distributed Monday by Tulip Time. GO here
Some of you may also want to go to Jeremy Scahill on Democracy Now! and on facebook and join the interesting discussion about related current issues. And plz add your comments for peace, truth and understanding here and after some of the letters above. Thanx for tuning in!
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