led ticker draft: Taking Stock, or Brand New Ticker
If you would like to contribute a quote to this project, please leave a comment on this page, or email samsoncamper(at)gmail(dot)com
Between one and two sentences is ideal. Longer submissions may be edited for length. Attribution can be your name or initials. I will update the ticker at least every other day as submissions come in. I intend to include all submissions from any viewpoint, provided that the language is not abusive.
A sample of submissions to date:
“Radically open” is good for business. – JG Mikulay
Democracy requires more than free elections. – JG Mikulay
The american idol-ization of the artworld – Chele Isaac
coaster drafts: Focus on the Family
NOTE: annotation on this coaster is still in progress. I’ll be finishing is shortly.
Richard DeVos
AIDS Demo Graphics, Douglas Crimp and Adam Ralston, Bay Press (WA), 1990.
Grand Rapids Press 5.19.09
[…Richard DeVos:]
I have been hung in effigy by the gay community for a long time, from when I was on President Reagan’s first AIDS commission.
[..]
Elsa Prince-Broekhuizen
Grand Rapids Press 10.27.09
[…]
Holland resident Elsa Prince Broekhuizen has pumped $450,000 into a Nov. 4 California ballot issue to ban gay marriage. It is one of the largest private donations to that cause.
[…]
In 2004, Broekhuizen was the top West Michigan contributor to Michigan’s anti-gay marriage amendment, adding $75,000 to the cause.
Focus on the Family board member affilliation
Dick DeVos
Erik Prince
Time Magazine 3.15.07
[…]
Erik Prince, 37, Blackwater’s ambitious founder and sole owner
[…]
Since June 2004, Blackwater has been paid more than $320 million out of a $1 billion, five-year State Department budget for the Worldwide Personal Protective Service, which protects U.S. officials and some foreign officials in conflict zones.
National Public Radio 9.28.07
[…]
Blackwater landed a $73 million contact to protect FEMA staff helping with the Katrina recovery operation.
[…]
Christian Science Monitor 10.13.07
The Blackwater security forces that opened fire on a public square in Baghdad last month, leaving 17 dead
[…]
Rick DeVos
ArtPrize funding
The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation has made a multi-year commitment to provide the prize money.
[…]
coaster drafts: Favors
[…]
Q: How does that tie in with the gay marriage issue?
A: From that point on, that’s when they were hanging me in effigy because I wasn’t sympathetic to all of their requests for special treatment. Because at that time it was always somebody else’s fault. And I said, “You are responsible for your actions, too, you know. Conduct yourself properly,” which is a pretty solid Christian principle. You’ve got to take responsibility for your actions. It went from there to a series of requests for special treatment.
I would say, “I understand who you are. I accept who you are. Live your life. I will respect you. But don’t keep asking for favors.” Don’t ask for a concession on the marriage issue, which is not vital to them, in my opinion. They’ve made it a vital issue because they want to.
Q: Is there a solution? A compromise you would support?
A: Call it something else. Call it anything you want to. But marriage is a sacred document, OK? A sacred sacrament in the church and in the world. Don’t mess with it.
Go do something else. I deal with a lot of wonderful gay people. I hire a lot of them. I use a lot of them. I respect them. They’re terrific. I am good friends with them. But you live your life the way you want to live and I’ll live mine and I won’t stick my nose in yours. But don’t keep trying to change things. That’s all.
[…]
[…]
In 2000, controversy erupted at Grand Valley State University when then-president Arend Lubbers called for benefits for same-sex partners of faculty members. As The Press reported: “He then retreated, following objections from Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, a major donor to the college. President Mark Murray reaffirmed that decision in 2001.”
[…]
[…]
The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation has made a multi-year commitment to provide the prize money.
[…]
coaster drafts: Chipping In
Grand Rapids Press 5.20.09
[…]
Last year, DeVos gave $100,000 to a group called Florida4Marriage (now Yes2Marriage) in support of a Florida state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
[…]
• In 2006, the Richard and Helen DeVos foundation reported a $540,000 donation to Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based organization that stridently opposes gay marriage. The organization donated $400,000 to support Proposition 8 last year, which was successful in banning gay marriage in California.
• Holland resident Elsa Prince Broekhuizen contributed $450,000 to the same cause. Broekhuizen is the mother of former state GOP chair Betsy DeVos, whose husband, Dick (son of Richard), lost in a bid to unseat Gov. Jennifer Granholm in 2006.
[…]
[…]
In 2004, the DeVos and Prince family contributed a combined total of $125,000 to the effort to ban marriage equality in the Michigan Constitution, known as Proposal 2.
[…]
[…]
The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation has made a multi-year commitment to provide the prize money.
[…]
DeVos Prize 
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