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BOHEMIAN GROVE -- LAKESIDE TALKS & OTHER MISCHIEF 7/16 TO 8/1/1999
By Mary Moore
August 5, 1999
This years encampment began with strong rumors that George Bush Sr. along with sons George Jr., candidate for president of the United States and current governor of Texas and Jeb, current governor of Florida were coming at some time during the two week festivities. This rumor came from several anonymous callers as well as my usual sources and was backed up by PRESS DEMOCRAT reporter Bleys Rose using his own sources. When the P.D. finally did a very small article on the gathering. Rose prefaced his words with "reports abound" before he informed his readers of the impending visit of the Bushes, Sr. & Jr.. This turned out to be a wise move on his part.
Suzanne Bohan from the SACRAMENTO BEE did not use such precautionary language, reporting it as fact which promptly got her in trouble with the Bush Jr. campaign. Almost immediately after her August 2 story appeared in the Metro section of the BEE she received a call from a campaign manager denying his presence at this years gathering and demanding a retraction. She then contacted us as well as the P.D. looking for an eye witness to a Bush - any Bush-sighting. This is when all the sources started back peddling and in the end no one would come foreword to confirm the rumor. The BEE did promise that they would not use names, but the fear of workers losing their job may have been the reason OR the rumor could have been untrue from the start OR the Bushes may have heard the talk and decided not to come.
I also got a couple of calls from Bob Mulholland of the state Democratic Party who was interested in whether Bush Jr. was there. Apparently Bush had turned down an offer from LA RAZA of Texas to speak at their convention telling them that he was going to be on retreat in Maine (during the exact time of the Bohemian Grove gathering!!) and when they heard he was reported to be coming to the Grove at that time they wanted an explanation. We'll probably never know for sure what happened but to me it is very strange indeed that suddenly a trip to the Grove is something that a presidential candidate needs to dodge and disclaim. This is the place after all that Reagan and Nixon had their famous meeting to decide who would run for president first. Is this progress or much ado about nothing???
Here at the BOHEMIAN GROVE ACTION NETWORK we have heard many rumors over the years. The only ones we can confirm are the ones that are printed in their actual schedule of the Lakeside Talks which we still get smuggled out every year. That doesn't mean that the rumors aren't true--but confirming them is very difficult without eye witnesses willing to take a risk. Certainly the management at the Grove has learned no to advertise presidents or presidential candidates who speak up there knowing that we monitor all printed lakeside talks. Sitting presidents usually don't come but candidates have not hesitated before this.
And now for the list we CAN confirm since it comes right out of their own booklet - MIDSUMMER ENCAMPMENT 1999-PROGRAM OF EVENTS.
|
Speaker |
Topic |
| Friday, July 16 - - David Broder, Author and syndicated columnist | "Direct Democracy--Curse or Blessing" |
| Saturday, July 17 - - Jean A. Francois-Poncet, Former Foreign Minister of France | "The New Europe" |
| Sunday, July 18 - - Charles Murray, Bradley Fellow, American Enterprise Inst. | "Unraveling the Mystery of Human Accomplishment" |
| Monday, July 19 - - Amb. Edward P. Djerejian, director of the James Baker III Institute for Public Policy--Rice University | "The Middle East Peace Process: Changes and Prospects" |
| Tuesday, July 20 - - John Spencer | "Africa--Are we wasting our Time" |
| Wednesday, July 21 - - Frank Popoff, Chairman of the Board of DOW Chemical Corp. |
"Environmental Journey"
(ed. Note: !!!!!?????) |
| Friday, July 23 - - Richard Butler, Executive Chairman, United Nations Special Commission and main Iraq negotiator | "Saddam and Me" |
| Saturday, July 24 - - Lionel Tiger, anthropologist | "Male Bonding" |
| Saturday, July 24 - - General Colin L. Powell, USA (retired) | "America's Promise--Leading Armies and Leading Kids" (ed. Note: major shudder!!!!!!!!) |
| Sunday, July 25 - - Kenneth Rendell (?) | "Psychological Warfare in WW II" |
| Monday, July 26 - - Walter Hussman (?) | "Lying, Cheating, Stealing in the Media" |
| Tuesday, July 27 - - Thomas Pigford (?) | "Management of Radioactive Waste" (ed. Note: contradiction in terms!!) |
| Tuesday, July 27 - - Erich Anton Helfert, author | "Man's inhumanity to Man--Will ever learn? Reflections at the Turn of the Millennium" (ed. Note: Is he kidding?) |
| Wednesday, July 28 - - Mark Smith M.D., President & CEO, California Health Care Foundation | "Is the Healthcare System Headed for a Meltdown?" |
| Thursday, July 29 - - Peter Levine, Lord Mayor of London | "We Reinvented Government Before You Did" |
| Friday, July 30 - - James Q. Wilson, Collins Professor of Management and Public Policy, Emeritus, UCLA | "What Makes Some Nations Democratic?" |
| Saturday, July 31 - - Walter Cronkite, Journalist | "Reflections" |
| Saturday, July 31 - - Jay Levy (?) | "Global Threat to Nations & Economies" |