mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2024-12-29 09:16:21 -05:00
54 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
54 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
THE BOHEMIAN CLUB</p>
|
||
|
||
<p> For two and a half weeks every July, two thousand of the top
|
||
movers and shakers in business and government attend the Bohemian
|
||
Club's summer encampment. Although highly selective, the club has
|
||
a national membership and is among the most prestigious of
|
||
affiliations in neoconservative circles. Its membership is known
|
||
to include Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Gerald Ford, William F.
|
||
Buckley, Jr., Frank Borman, Justin Dart, William Randolph Hearst,
|
||
Jr., Caspar Weinberger, Charles Percy, George Schultz, Edward
|
||
Teller, Merv Griffin, and a large proportion of the directors and
|
||
chief executive officers of the Fortune 1000. Daniel Ludwig, the
|
||
richest private citizen on earth, is a Bohemian. Conspiracy nuts
|
||
think the Bohemian Club meets each summer to plot to take over the
|
||
world. These guys ALREADY run the world.
|
||
The club's name harkens back to its founding in 1872 by
|
||
artists and journalists in the Bay Area; the club proper is at 624
|
||
Taylor Street in San Francisco. The annual summer camp is held at
|
||
"Bohemian Grove," an isolated site in Sonoma County, California,
|
||
near the town of Monte Rio. To get there, you cross the bridge
|
||
over the Russian River and take the second left.
|
||
Signs warn off trespassers, and the Grove is guarded during
|
||
the encampment. Visitors must have invitations and sign in and
|
||
out; cooks and other workers have to wear ID badges. The club (and
|
||
hired staff) is all male. There are no black Bohemians and just
|
||
one Asian; the former Philippine president Carlos Romulo.
|
||
The club does a good job of avoiding publicity, although in
|
||
1980 Rick Clogher, a writer for MOTHER JONES magazine, managed to
|
||
slip in to the encampment for four days with the help of an
|
||
unidentified insider. Brooding over the Grove is a giant rock that
|
||
looks like an owl. Clogher discovered that the rock is concrete,
|
||
covered with moss to look natural. The Cremation of Care ritual
|
||
takes place in front of the owl when, on the first night of camp,
|
||
robed members burn a doll representing Dull Care.
|
||
Bohemian Grove includes 122 distinct camps in its 2,700
|
||
acres. The camps have whimsical names such as Whiskey Flat,
|
||
Toyland, Owl's Nest, Hill Billies, and Cave Man's, and each one
|
||
has its own kitchen-bar building -- there is a lot of drinking --
|
||
and sleeping quarters. The members of some camps sleep in tents;
|
||
other camps have redwood cabins. Daily "Lakeside Talks" on
|
||
geopolitical topics are given by prominent speakers, both members
|
||
and non-members. It is claimed that Richard Nixon and Ronald
|
||
Reagan conferred during the 1967 encampment, Reagan agreeing not
|
||
to challenge Nixon for the presidential nomination.
|
||
The highlight of camp is the Grove play, which is written
|
||
exclusively for the club. All the female roles are played by men
|
||
in drag. The 1980 play was an adaptation of the Greek myth of
|
||
Cronus and Zeus supplemented with fireworks, smoke bombs, and a
|
||
light show. (One can only wonder if Reagan ever starred in a Grove
|
||
play. He certainly has more acting experience than most club
|
||
members.) The polished productions cost the Bohemians as much as
|
||
$25,000 -- for one performance.</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>xperience than most |