Spinal Fire Scientia Est Potentia

Reader Weekly
Issue 328, July 21, 2005

What would a fascist summer camp be without the politicians? Accordingly the Bohemian Grove, nestled under the ancient redwoods of Sonoma County, California, is an annual sylvan retreat long cherished by very powerful politicians. Past Republican presidents such as Hoover, Eisenhower, Nixon, Bush, Ford, Reagan, and of course, Bush Jr., have all found the Grove a welcome escape from ruling the world, as have failed presidential aspirants such as Dewey, Taft, Rockefeller, and Goldwater. Even our recent Democratic presidents, Carter and Clinton, have been honored guests during the retreat. Just as the businessmen found the atmosphere at the grove a fecund soil for seed so have the politicians.

One early example of this insider networking takes place in 1927, when Herbert Hoover was sitting by his tent at Cave Man Camp just as president Calvin Coolidge (also a Bohemian) made his announcement that he did not plan to run again in the 1928 election. At that moment, Hoover’s bid for the presidency began in earnest. “Within an hour,” wrote Hoover in his memoirs, “a hundred men-publishers, editors, public officials, and others from all over the country who were at the Grove – came to my camp demanding that I announce my candidacy.” (Hanson 2004, p.123)

In 1950 Dwight Eisenhower was made a member the same year he made his maiden political speech, starting a series of events which would lead him to the White House. It was also under the canopy of redwoods that Nixon and Reagan made a gentleman’s agreement in 1967 wherein Reagan would run for the presidency only if Nixon appeared to be losing ground.

Most presidents continued visiting the Grove during their presidency until Nixon received bad press for attending. Reagan then wisely refrained from attending for eight years, while sending his top aids in his stead until he had passed the mantle of power onto Bush. The Bush dynasty with their intelligence milieu however opted for secrecy in their attendance of the grove rather than abstaining. Despite their discretion it was leaked by CNN that George W. Bush had chosen Dick Cheney as his presidential running mate while they were at the Bohemian Grove. Subsequently it came as no surprise to fellow Grover’s when Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy and was elected as California’s Governor in 2003. The Bohemians have been backing Arnold, with their political clout and deep pockets. If history is any judge then Arnold is certainly a man being groomed for the presidency, the little fact of his constitutional ineligibility being the only hurdle in his way.

This path is occluded for female Politicians, which leaves them a step behind their male counterparts. As Dr. Phillips recounts in his 1994 sociology thesis on the Grove:

“While I was at the Grove, a former candidate for Congress frankly admitted to me that politicians frequently work the Grove, “going from camp to camp to meet people. Female politicians cannot do this, so they often send their male campaign managers (Interview F 6-3-94).” He said both Republicans and Democrats will network the Grove camps during campaign years and that this gives the members a chance to meet the candidates. ”(Phillips 1994, p. 100)

While at the summer retreat these male businessmen and politicians are treated to what are termed “lakeside chats” twice a day. These so called “chats” are given by financial, political, and military heavy hitters who would charge anywhere from $20,000- $200,000 for these “chats” on the public speaking circuit. For instance:

· July 26, 1980: Edward Teller the father of the Hydrogen bomb gave a speech entitled “Nuclear Energy.”

· July 17, 1981: Casper Weinberger Reagan’s Secretary of Defense gave a speech on “Rearming America.”

· July 19, 1986 then Director of the FBI William H. Webster Gave a speech which sounds like it was given twenty years too early entitled “Spies and Terrorists: Confronting the Enemies Within”.

· July 20, 1991 Helmut Schmidt Former Chancellor of Germany posed “”The Enormous Problems of the 21st, Century” to the eager elite.

· July 26, 1991 then Bush Sr. Secretary of Defense and future Bush Jr. Vice President Dick Cheney who was working with Wolfowitz on creating the Neoconservative niche gave a summation of his efforts in his chat on the topic “Major Defense Problems of the 21st Century.”

· July 29, 1995 George Bush Sr. gave his “Reflections: Past Present and Future”

· July 25,1997 Antonin Scalia a sitting Justice of the Supreme Court who does not give public speeches gave one to the club members on the topic of “Church, State & the Constitution”

· August 1,1998 James Baker III Former secretary of State in the Reagan administration decried “The Imperative of American Leadership”

· July 23,1999 Iraq negotiator Richard Butler talked about “Saddam and Me”.

· July 22, 2000 John Major who was British Prime Minister before Tony Blair gave the Bohemians his “World View”

· July 29, 2000 the notorious Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s Secretary of State (more recently a member of Donald Rumsfeld’s Defense Policy Board) asked the Grove attendees, “Do We Need a Foreign Policy?”

· July 19, 2001 Richard Muller a Professor of Physics at Berkeley filled the audience in on “Military Secrets of the Ocean, Atmosphere & UFO’s” (Moore 2005)

Our Fortunate Son and his Poppy Practicing His Oration Skills at a Grove Lakeside Chat

This is just a small sample of the Lakeside Chats available only to members and select guests of the Bohemian Club. By perusing the subjects one gets an idea why we now have the government we do. Though the topics seem a bit innocuous in the post 9-11 world, the Bohemian Grove was the trial run of many of these speeches and policy stances. By testing the waters with an audience of corporate bigwigs and political stars, more often then not a lakeside speaker would know whether the concept would sink or swim. For example; In 1991 Dick Cheney’s speech “Major Defense Problems of the 21st Century” was more than likely a contributor to the Genesis of the Project for a New American Century, the rightwing think tank which is responsible by and large for the second Bush administrations policies. Another Lakeside chat that has contemporary significance is Antonin Scalia’s 1997 “chat”. With President Bush set to appoint at least one nominee for the Supreme Court, and the “cultural wars” precipitation to the boiling point, perhaps the public would like a transcript of Scalia’s thoughts on “Church, State & the Constitution”. I wonder if the Christian Conservatives will think ill of their favorite judge for attending a campout where the attendees worship an idol?

The Grove also bore witness to the birth pangs of the UN, as the Bohemians hosted receptions for delegates during the United Nations Conference of International Organization. This was the first conference where the details of the United Nations were hammered out between an elite cadre of international delegates. At the end of the conference the Grove threw a gala cocktail party/luncheon complete with an air show staged by the army air force. The United Nations unquestionably is a stepping-stone to a global world government, and here we find the delegates weaving global webs and endearing themselves to the enchanting redwoods.

Mary Moore, the founder of the Bohemian Grove Action Network, has been organizing protests of the grove for over 20 years while subsequently cataloguing the goings on within the campout (Lakeside Chat Subjects Courtesy of Mary Moore.) Moore’s greatest concern about the Grove is why speakers like Supreme Court Justice Scalia are discussing their feelings about “Church, State & the Constitution” in private when they refuse to opine on the matter to the people it effects while they are ostensibly public servants.

“Important Issues and Facts are omitted from discussion in the Press, or slanted to suit their goals, but they are discussed frankly at the Grove. Is there true democracy when so much power is concentrated in so few hands? Is there any real difference between the public and private sectors when cabinet members come from boardrooms of large corporations? Is the spending of $billions on weapons, which are by consensus no longer needed, really the will of the people? Or is it the will of General Electric, General Dynamics, and the other weapons contractors represented at the Grove?” (Moore, 1992)

In September of 1942 Physicist Ernest Lawrence used the Grove to hold a secret meeting, which conceived none other than the Manhattan Project. In attendance were top military representatives, The president of Harvard, a director of Standard Oil, consultants to General Electric and the worlds top physicists and the University of California physics/radiation cognoscenti including Robert Oppenheimer. As we have seen by the membership/guest lists this mélange of intellectuals, businessmen, and military brass is nothing new to the redwoods of the Grove. It was because of lobbying by three Bohemian scientists that the Hydrogen bomb was built.

Herbert York, an ex-director of Lawrence Livermore Labs, now regrets: “The views of those politicians favoring the H-bomb…were based in large part on the lobbying being done by three nuclear scientists: Teller, Lawrence, and Alvarez [all Bohemians].” (Moore 1983) Lawrence and Alvarez influenced the decision to establish a second weapons laboratory at Livermore California near Berkley, which quickly fell under the control of Teller. This second lab doubled the progress towards the bomb. This Bohemian influence continues to this day at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, which has today become synonymous with advanced military research. As we have seen the “Lakeside Chats” push this bellicose warmongering mindset to the elite of the country. From Teller himself to Henry Kissinger and Dick Cheney, the Bohemians not only have a vested interest in the military industrial complex, but are full-fledged members. Paradoxically the president, who warned us about the encroaching power of this complex in his farewell address, was himself an avid Grover: Dwight D. Eisenhower.

As we have seen the Bohemian Grove summer encampment is a playground for of America’s corporate directors which represent 24-30% of elite US companies (last week’s article.) We have also seen that the Grove is a favorite of political heavy weights, most notably Republicans. Is it just a coincidence that many of the men who carry the water for political campaigns sleep out under the redwoods with their investments? Is this just good clean fun or campaign fundraising and fishing for no bid government contracts.

For two weeks out of the year the Military Industrial Complex camps out with many of our governments most powerful politicians. This unholy alliance has resulted in a summer camp for America’s Neo Fascists, where they are free to network and weave their webs of intrigue away from public scrutiny. That grown men go to summer camp like boy scouts is not a problem. The “strong personal ties among its members, much like a primitive secret society” that the Bohemian Club fosters is an issue of deep concern. This primitive bond is strengthened through the speeches they give on issues giving the Grove an air of those “in the know”. These issues affect us all though the vast majority of Americans are not privy to this information, thus Bohemians are given a leg up in the business world over the less affluent, women, and minorities. How can we expect the glass ceiling to be shattered when the good old boys summer camp still has a no girls allowed policy?

Are we supposed to believe that these leaders of industry and the nation put their companies and institutions on autopilot while they idle away the days under a canopy of redwoods rejoicing in the boon of their rich white brothers? Are we to be gulled into thinking this is an innocent little summer camp were “coincidentally” the Hydrogen bomb and the United Nations were conceived? Does it not bother anyone that the Bohemian Grove, for all intents and purpose is nothing more than an Ayn Rand type summer camp for our contemporary robber barons? Does this “Christian” nation not ponder as to why it’s presidents’ camp with idolaters who sacrifice effigies to a Canaanite god Moloch while “Cremating Care”? Is their no hypocrisy when “Born Again Christians” perform elaborate occult rituals to kill any empathy they may have so that they may cold-bloodedly and calculatingly spill our nation’s blood in the sand for the last drops of black gold from dying wells? Is their any hope for this “New Age” as our leaders piss on our future like they piss on their own sacred trees?

Works Cited:

Hanson, Mike. (2004). Bohemian Grove: Cult of Conspiracy (Lincoln, NE. iUniverse, Inc. 2004)

Moore, Mary. (2005) Bohemian Grove Information Packet (Direct Mailing 2005) http://www.sonomacountyfreepress.com.

Phillips, Peter Martin. (1994) A Relative Advantage: Sociology of the San Francisco Bohemian Club (Davis, CA. Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy, University of California, Davis 1994)

Van Der Zee, John. (1974). The Greatest Men’s Party on Earth: Inside the Bohemian Grove (U.S. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 1974).