The Global Elite begin their Yearly Retreat at Bohemian Grove
MONTE RIO - Hundreds of protesters gathered outside an exclusive California retreat for government and business leaders Saturday to challenge the right of a ''ruling elite'' to make policy decisions without public scrutiny.
The men who attend the Bohemian Grove retreat spend two weeks performing plays, eating gourmet camp grub, listening to speakers and power-bonding at the 2,700-acre compound near the Russian River in Sonoma County.
The retreat is organized by the exclusive San Francisco-based Bohemian Club. The club and event are shrouded in mystery, much like Yale University's most-famous secret society, Skull and Bones, whose members include President George W. Bush and his presidential rival Sen. John Kerry.
A Nevada man who called himself ''the Phantom Patriot'' was found guilty of five felonies in recent years after he broke into the grove to stop what he thought were human sacrifices and child abuse.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/state/15104427.htm?source=rss&channel=montereyherald_state
A steady line of Gulfstream, Cessna and Falcon corporate jets landed Thursday at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport, signaling the opening of the annual Bohemian Grove encampment.
Among the attendees will be former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is scheduled to speak, according to the Bohemian Grove Action Network, which has been protesting at the encampment since 1980. Grove officials would not confirm the speech schedule.Meanwhile, rumors circulated among airport workers Thursday that actors John Travolta and George Clooney also were expected to fly in.The annual gathering has its detractors, who contend the participants - from government leaders to corporate executives - meet outside public view and discuss such issues as the war in Iraq and terrorism."I wouldn't say 'sinister' is the word at all, but the people who are involved there are doing some politically very inappropriate things to the world," said Peter Phillips, a Sonoma State University sociology professor who wrote his doctoral thesis on the club.
The encampment officially begins Saturday with the "Cremation of Care," a ceremony that includes a large bonfire, and runs for two weeks, with the middle weekend drawing the largest and usually the most prestigious crowd.Thomas Reed of Healdsburg, a former secretary of the Air Force and an inactive member, is scheduled to talk on his Cold War experiences.Reed said the club comprises a broad base of people who are just as likely to be discussing school vouchers as some pressing world issue."It is an area where friends get together," Reed said. "To say it is a place where nefarious schemes are hatched, I have not seen that. You get a lot of people together and people will talk about things, but where the protesters describe it as a cabal, it doesn't work that way."On Thursday, corporate jets arrived at the airport with men in blue blazers and business-casual attire who stepped onto small red carpets and were whisked by awaiting rental cars.Among the luggage of three arrivals were four cases of expensive French wine.Federal Aviation Administration controllers said there will be 50 planes landing Thursday and today carrying Bohemian Grove participants.Apex's Gallagher said the company probably will sell 20,000 gallons of jet fuel over the weekend.
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060714/NEWS/607140325
The men who attend the Bohemian Grove retreat spend two weeks performing plays, eating gourmet camp grub, listening to speakers and power-bonding at the 2,700-acre compound near the Russian River in Sonoma County.
The retreat is organized by the exclusive San Francisco-based Bohemian Club. The club and event are shrouded in mystery, much like Yale University's most-famous secret society, Skull and Bones, whose members include President George W. Bush and his presidential rival Sen. John Kerry.
A Nevada man who called himself ''the Phantom Patriot'' was found guilty of five felonies in recent years after he broke into the grove to stop what he thought were human sacrifices and child abuse.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/state/15104427.htm?source=rss&channel=montereyherald_state
A steady line of Gulfstream, Cessna and Falcon corporate jets landed Thursday at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport, signaling the opening of the annual Bohemian Grove encampment.
Among the attendees will be former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is scheduled to speak, according to the Bohemian Grove Action Network, which has been protesting at the encampment since 1980. Grove officials would not confirm the speech schedule.Meanwhile, rumors circulated among airport workers Thursday that actors John Travolta and George Clooney also were expected to fly in.The annual gathering has its detractors, who contend the participants - from government leaders to corporate executives - meet outside public view and discuss such issues as the war in Iraq and terrorism."I wouldn't say 'sinister' is the word at all, but the people who are involved there are doing some politically very inappropriate things to the world," said Peter Phillips, a Sonoma State University sociology professor who wrote his doctoral thesis on the club.
The encampment officially begins Saturday with the "Cremation of Care," a ceremony that includes a large bonfire, and runs for two weeks, with the middle weekend drawing the largest and usually the most prestigious crowd.Thomas Reed of Healdsburg, a former secretary of the Air Force and an inactive member, is scheduled to talk on his Cold War experiences.Reed said the club comprises a broad base of people who are just as likely to be discussing school vouchers as some pressing world issue."It is an area where friends get together," Reed said. "To say it is a place where nefarious schemes are hatched, I have not seen that. You get a lot of people together and people will talk about things, but where the protesters describe it as a cabal, it doesn't work that way."On Thursday, corporate jets arrived at the airport with men in blue blazers and business-casual attire who stepped onto small red carpets and were whisked by awaiting rental cars.Among the luggage of three arrivals were four cases of expensive French wine.Federal Aviation Administration controllers said there will be 50 planes landing Thursday and today carrying Bohemian Grove participants.Apex's Gallagher said the company probably will sell 20,000 gallons of jet fuel over the weekend.
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060714/NEWS/607140325
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