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Weaving
Spiders Come Not Here!!
by Mary
Moore, Bohemian Grove 1992
On Saturday, July l8, the day scheduled for the annual protest at Bohemian Grove, about l5 of us arrived early for a monitors meeting.What a scene!! There was a large Sheriff's bus that had just dropped off 24 deputies parked in downtown Monte Rio and a noisy Sheriff's helicopter overhead. The tennis courts had been cordoned off in anticipation of the need for a holding pen for arrestees. There were nine highway patrol cars cruising the area, five sheriff cars near the gates to the Grove and two canine units. An arbitrary line had been drawn on a public road several hundred feet down from the gate, over which no protester was allowed to venture. Across the line were eight sheriff's deputies in full riot gear.
This excessive show of force happened in spite of an advance meeting with Sheriff Mark Ihde, where we were told that there would be the usual low profile by the Sheriff's Department unless circumstances showed the necessity for a higher profile. After 13 years of protesting they know us pretty well and they have never overreacted like this before, so I was very surprised by their tactics and their blatant waste of taxpayers' dollars. It goes without saying that no matter how you play with the concept of "low profile," it does not include an occupation of the protest site before the protest has even begun!
So what was this posturing all about? We tried to determine the answer to that question when about ten of us met afterward with Mr. Ihde and his undersheriff Dale Moore. They had no answers except that their "sources" told them we were expecting upwards to 600 people. What a fantasy!! Although they strongly denied this as their motivation, it was revealing to us when we learned that Reagan was up there that Saturday for the ll3th annual Cremation of Care, and that Nixon was the "Lakeside Speaker" that day. Our attorney has questioned the opinion by Sonoma County counsel telling the Sheriff's office that they had a right to block off the public road that is our usual protest site. Stay tuned!
Some of the guests this year included Ed Rollins (fresh from the Perot campaign); William Sessions, F.B.I.; and Jack Kemp who was doing some heavy lobbying against Bush. Through our "man inside" we learned that there was a lot of Bush/Quayle bashing going on this year and the overriding theme of many of the Lakeside Talks was the importance of making alliances with the New Russia. New markets to exploit!! The big play this year was (surprise!) about Columbus, and our man was able not only to tape it but liberated a script! The whole play was a glorification of Columbus, where the parts of Native Americans were played by old white guys in body paint. This is not at all surprising when you consider that all the womens parts are played by old white guys in drag! One of the most telling lines was at the end of the opening monologue: "The Middle Ages are at an end and the Age of Imperial Conquest has begun". They got that right, and aren't particularly shy about admitting it!
The other play they performed (besides their usual Cremation of Care on the first weekend) was called "The Ballad of Lonesome Gulch," where women were portrayed as excessivly bosomy with pig or witch noses. This group of rich old white boys would be laughable if they weren't so dangerous. Needless to say, we are not amused.
Besides Nixon, other speakers at the "Lakeside Talks" included Gerald Ford, General Vernon Walters (C.I.A. during the Chile coup in `73, U.S. Ambassador to Germany and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.) talking about the "Integration of the European Community" and Admiral Charles Larson, whose topic was "Looking Westward: America's Pacific Interest in a New Age". Reports from inside indicated that a lot of military brass was present for these talks. Also on the agenda was Prince Bandar Bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia, whose talk on the Middle East Peace Process was never given because he had to meet with James Baker elsewhere. One of the most well-attended speeches was that of Miguel De La Madrid, ex-president of Mexico, whose subject was "The Mexican Free Trade Agreement" Space prevents me from including the entire list of speakers but other subjects were "Can God Survive in America?", "l994-What Orwell Missed", "Where Goes U.S. Technology?", "P.O.W. Communication", and "Observations on the Soviet Union".
To tell you who was up there last year and why People magazine got kicked out would take too long, but you can write for more information to B.G.A.N. P.O. Bx 296, Occidental, Calif. 95465.
Gee! Aren't we glad they
don't talk business up there? What a way to run a country! No weaving spiders
here!
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