WWW,
2006 (Archived) BABYLON OBSERVER COMMENTS:
They're gathering again for the
"Cremation of Care" Ritual in
which they will throw what they call a mock
sacrifice in an "eternal fire" for
a giant owl idol. The so called Christian
Leaders. But Babylon Will Fall!
Activists prepare for counter-Bohemian
Grove ritual
July 11, 2003
By JEREMY HAY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Activists are gearing up to protest the
annual summer retreat of San Francisco's
Bohemian Club, saying what happens in secret
amid the 2,700 acres of privately owned
redwoods in Monte Rio influences policies
that shape people's lives around the world.
The first campers are expected to arrive
today and the first protests are set for
Saturday.
The protests are intended to draw attention
to the "ways in which the members of
the Bohemian Grove use their power to
negatively affect the lives of people
locally and globally," said Susan
Lamont, one of the organizers.
Bohemian Club members have long maintained
that the three-week encampment is a chance
for men from varied social, economic and
cultural backgrounds to simply relax and
enjoy a schedule of thought-provoking
lectures, theater and musical performances.
Activists call that a naive assessment of
what goes on in the Bohemian Grove, where
club members and summer guests have included
presidents and cabinet secretaries, senators
and corporate chieftains, as well as
journalists, academics and musicians.
Combine that roster of heavyweights with the
topics raised in the twice-daily Lakeside
Talks, and, in effect, said longtime
activist Mary Moore, the encampment is a
"way to float public policy ideas
without public discussion."
Furnishing a partial list of Lakeside Talks
dating to 1980 -- speakers have included
former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger,
former CIA Director James Woolsey and U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia --
Moore notes a July 17, 1981, speech by
then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger
titled "Rearming America."
"If you look at your history," she
said, "that's exactly what happened in
the following years."
Moore is stepping aside from organizing the
protests -- "Fresh blood needs to come
in," she said -- but will speak on the
history of the anti-Bohemian Grove movement
at a community forum Saturday.
The 2 p.m. event at the Monte Rio Union
Elementary School also will include
discussions on globalization and corporate
misconduct. Hours of protest theater and a
march to the grove's entrance are set for
July 19 to coincide with the retreat's
highest attendance.
Organizers also have asked people who oppose
the protests to speak, hoping to alleviate
the concerns, especially of local business
owners, that the activism disrupts the small
resort town when it is ever more dependent
on visitor good will and dollars.
"The grove supports this community
wholeheartedly, and they employ about 800
people who then spend their money in this
town," said Greg Haas, owner of the
Pink Elephant, a Monte Rio saloon.
"What we get recognized for is these
protests," he said. "What we
should get recognized as is 'Monte Rio,
Vacation Wonderland.'"
Haas said he will deliver that message at
the Saturday forum -- "I was very
pleased, very taken aback to be asked,"
he said -- and will urge the protesters to
take their fight instead to the Bohemian
Club's imposing San Francisco headquarters.
"They could get a whole lot more
attention there for their cause, if that's
what they want," he said.
Lamont said she hopes that Haas will instead
find himself swayed by activists' arguments
that policies advanced by the Bush
administration -- members of whom have
attended the summer retreat -- are, in fact,
the cause of some of Sonoma County's
economic woes.
"We're trying to explain that those
policies are taking more away from the
county than they could ever get back from
the grove," she said.
You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at
521-5212 or jhay@pressemocrat.com.
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