Re: President Byker

[NeverSummer]

This is uncalled for. There is no reason to assume that the President
"allowed" Bush to visit solely based on an oil connection. President
Byker has recognized the importance of having a world leader give a
commencement speech. He has also recognized the importance of protest,
dissent, and even support of Bush when he visits.

Bush can come, but I'm sure even President Byker would admit that Bush
does not represent the Christian Reformed Church in his policies and
practices.

There is no reason to attack the president of your college. He is
charged with protecting the rights of all involved--those who disagree,
and those who agree with Bush's visit.

Pray for him to have strength to make good decisions with minimal
impact on the importance of this graduation event for 900 students of
Calvin College.

God Bless

[Seth]

I agree with NeverSummer - this sort of attack is not called for and
does not belong in this discussion.

[Dee]

[jvandiver]

To presume that Byker has a neutral political agenda here would be
naive at best, don't you think? And what real choice does he have but
to try to appear even-handed after the fact....

He's appropriately under a microscope. And only the most committed
relativist could analyze without finding fault.

[jvandiver]

Sometimes footnotes are helpful.

http://www.interoil.com/officers.asp

[Seth]

Sure it is an interesting coincidence but what does it have to do with
the Calvin community protesting Bush's presence at our graduation?
Attacking Byker and pointing out his possible and probable connections
to Bush really doesn't make any kind of difference does it?

[Laura B.]

Dee wrote:
> I think the fact that President Byker is Director of an offshore oil
> company that is actually organized in Texas assures that he and
> President Bush have a lot in common. InterOil Corp (Interoil.com)
was
> even in partnership at one time with Enron. What a coincidence! It
may
> be unseemly that a christian college president is involved with an
> offshore oil company, but I can see where that would give him an in
> with Pres. Bush.


Thank you Dee! I find your post enlightening and informative. Though
the info you've provided would certainly cause uneasiness among the
folks with guilt in their conscience.

Rich and powerful Christians (at least they call themselves Christians)
are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites who cowardly hide under the cover
of "the good" to carryout their dark and evil endeavors. It's not
surprising to me that Byker is a crooked administrator. One has got to
be a crook to befriend with the world biggest crooks of this century:
Bush and Cheney. What's really more disappointing is the deluded
group of ordinary people rendering themselves to the scheme of
manipulation and deception masterminded and directed by their neo-con
masters like Carl Rove. Byker is obviously a part of the gang that
would make the Nazi party looks like a Boy Scout club.

Bush, who called himself a Christian, has invited a porn star and her
pimp to dine with him in the White House. This is not a joke! Check it
out for yourself. The bottom with the so called "conservatives" is
MONEY! Even Cheney has even made comments like what good would
principles be if you loose! So it is natural for the rich and the
powerful to weasel themselves into high offices using their usual evil
tactics and maneuvers. Cheney has looted billions of dollars from the
hard working Americans and responded with obscenity when asked about
his involvement with Halliburton (a good role model huh?). To a
majority of the conservatives, wealth and power are what the worship
and thrive for - not humanity or any of the craps they preach. What
more interesting is how the conservatives think: Despite all the evil
things they do with their freaking lives, showing to church services
would save them and hence, advancing them to the Kingdom of Haven!

Hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and hypocrisy are the Christians' most visible
trait - at least the Christians that are subscribe to the doctrine of
world domination (they call it evangelism).

It would be interesting to find out the truth on how well evangelism is
doing in the world (spreading the Gospels) after Bush gets the top
office in America. Bush has tarnished the image of America, but yet,
the blindness suffered by a large majority of the Christians has pushed
the fate of America's liberty and democracy closer to the brink of
extinction.

If I were a graduate in this coming commencement, I would either come
with a serious protest message or simply stay away. Because listening
to the liars flapping their dirty mouth in a hours that are suppose to
be my honorable and memorable moment would be a big waste of my energy
and time!

[Dee]

Of course it makes a difference. If your college president had no
Texas oil connections and had not contributed thousands and thousands
of dollars to Bush's re-election campaign, then I'd say this protest is
strictly about Bush and whether or not he is simply a poor choice as
speaker. Obviously part of the Calvin community is disgusted by Bush
and his dealings, both past and present. As we discovered during the
Clinton years, character in one's personal life does matter to many of
us -- whether it be the President of a country, a college, or a
company. Someone made a choice here to have Bush speak, and I, for
one, am interested to know where that person was coming from.

[tcm3...@gmail.com]

I don't think we need to call Pres. Byker crooked, but the facts do
stand that he has Big Oil in his background, has contributed more than
$10,000 to the GOP plus more to Bush's campaign and the DeVos and
Prince families are heavily tied to the GOP (um, what did I miss?).
These are not inconseqential. They all add to a portrait of Calvin that
probably made Karl Rove decide it was a perfect place for Bush to rally
his "Christian soldiers."

The point of the protests is not to bash Bush, conservatives, liberals
or anyone. It is simply to point out that Bush is using his
commencement visit as political leverage, and many Christians have a
real problem with our school being manipulated for his gain.