Feel free to give some information of this wierd society. What do you think, is it false information, or does it truley exist? Here's something I found...
Yale's secret Skull and Bones binds Bush, Kerry
By Robin Abcarian
Los Angeles Times
" Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press," one of TV's toughest interviewers, has struck out with two of his biggest subjects.
In August, he asked Sen. John Kerry: "You both were members of Skull and Bones, a secret society at Yale. What does that tell us?"
Kerry: "Not much, because it's a secret."
In February, he asked President Bush, "You were both in Skull and Bones, the secret society?"
Bush: "It's so secret we can't talk about it."
For the first time, two Bonesmen appear likely to face off for the presidency. That has sparked a resurgence in rumors about the secretive society, including plans for world domination.
Journalist and author Ron Rosenbaum (Yale '68), who wrote the seminal article on Skull and Bones for Esquire in 1977, said the Bush-Kerry coincidence should be treated thoughtfully. "Obviously, it's part of what shaped the character of the two presidential candidates, and yet there's a lot of overblown conspiracy theory that has outweighed the seriousness."
Indeed, a serious political discussion might examine the meaning of both candidates maintaining an inherently undemocratic affiliation and refusing to address an important aspect of their university lives. Instead, discussions on the Internet, talk radio and cable TV generally turn on suspicions that Skull and Bones has attempted to mastermind a "new world order" in which a few wealthy, old-line families control the planet.
"Is this a satanic cult? No. Is this a group that operates as a shadow government? No. Is this a group that has an institutionalized superiority complex? Yes," said Alexandra Robbins, 27, a journalist and Yale alumna whose book "Secrets of the Tomb" explores the 172-year-old club based on interviews with 100 anonymous Bonesmen. Bones, she said, has "a power agenda" that "prioritizes its own elitism and its own members above other concerns."
Rosenbaum disputes that a specific "power agenda" is at work. "I would say the best way of describing it is by analogy to the old boys' network in England, where graduates of Eton and Oxford and Cambridge form a network of influence and power and share a mind-set," he said. "They know each other, they trust each other and they bonded at an early age."
If nothing else, Skull and Bones has produced odd bedfellows.
"I am a liberal Democratic criminal defense attorney who voted for George Bush, and I will vote for him again," said Bush's fellow Bonesman Donald Etra, an Orthodox Jew who lives in Los Angeles and was appointed by Bush to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Etra, who called himself "a strong Zionist," said one of his closest Bones friends is a Jordanian-born Muslim. "Most of us," he said, "put friendship first and politics a far, far second."
Next month, an eclectic group of 15 juniors will be tapped for Skull and Bones by this year's seniors. There never have been specific criteria for membership, although women were not admitted until 1991, after a rancorous 20-year battle.
At its inception, said Dr. Alan Cross, one of Kerry's classmates and a third-generation Bonesman, the club was "basically a debating society, where members of the senior class would ... discuss important topics of the day."
In later generations, conversations became not just confessional but confrontational in the manner of group therapy, according to some reports. There always was security in the knowledge that "what goes on inside, what people reveal about themselves ... would stay inside the building," said Cross, a professor of social medicine and pediatrics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Bonesmen often have occupied positions of power and prestige as adults. Three have become president: both Bushes and William Howard Taft. A partial roster of the famous includes diplomat Averill Harriman, poet Archibald MacLeish, financier Dean Witter Jr., Time magazine founder Henry Luce, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, national security adviser McGeorge Bundy, writers William F. Buckley and Christopher Buckley, former Sen. David Boren and FedEx founder Frederick Smith.
Bush's early forays into business were helped along by older Bonesmen. Bush has appointed several of his clubmates to government positions, including William Donaldson, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Although the presidential race has kindled interest in Skull and Bones, many believe the club has been in a long decline.
"The institution is somewhat laughable at this point," said Jacob Weisberg, 39, who declined membership in 1986 and now is editor of the online magazine Slate. "That we're having a presidential race with two alumni of this club tells you something, but it tells you more about what's changed, because it's inconceivable that in 20 years we'll have an election where two candidates are from Skull and Bones.
"This is the last time this could plausibly happen. I think it's sort of the last gasp."
Yale's secret Skull and Bones binds Bush, Kerry
By Robin Abcarian
Los Angeles Times
" Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press," one of TV's toughest interviewers, has struck out with two of his biggest subjects.
In August, he asked Sen. John Kerry: "You both were members of Skull and Bones, a secret society at Yale. What does that tell us?"
Kerry: "Not much, because it's a secret."
In February, he asked President Bush, "You were both in Skull and Bones, the secret society?"
Bush: "It's so secret we can't talk about it."
For the first time, two Bonesmen appear likely to face off for the presidency. That has sparked a resurgence in rumors about the secretive society, including plans for world domination.
Journalist and author Ron Rosenbaum (Yale '68), who wrote the seminal article on Skull and Bones for Esquire in 1977, said the Bush-Kerry coincidence should be treated thoughtfully. "Obviously, it's part of what shaped the character of the two presidential candidates, and yet there's a lot of overblown conspiracy theory that has outweighed the seriousness."
Indeed, a serious political discussion might examine the meaning of both candidates maintaining an inherently undemocratic affiliation and refusing to address an important aspect of their university lives. Instead, discussions on the Internet, talk radio and cable TV generally turn on suspicions that Skull and Bones has attempted to mastermind a "new world order" in which a few wealthy, old-line families control the planet.
"Is this a satanic cult? No. Is this a group that operates as a shadow government? No. Is this a group that has an institutionalized superiority complex? Yes," said Alexandra Robbins, 27, a journalist and Yale alumna whose book "Secrets of the Tomb" explores the 172-year-old club based on interviews with 100 anonymous Bonesmen. Bones, she said, has "a power agenda" that "prioritizes its own elitism and its own members above other concerns."
Rosenbaum disputes that a specific "power agenda" is at work. "I would say the best way of describing it is by analogy to the old boys' network in England, where graduates of Eton and Oxford and Cambridge form a network of influence and power and share a mind-set," he said. "They know each other, they trust each other and they bonded at an early age."
If nothing else, Skull and Bones has produced odd bedfellows.
"I am a liberal Democratic criminal defense attorney who voted for George Bush, and I will vote for him again," said Bush's fellow Bonesman Donald Etra, an Orthodox Jew who lives in Los Angeles and was appointed by Bush to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Etra, who called himself "a strong Zionist," said one of his closest Bones friends is a Jordanian-born Muslim. "Most of us," he said, "put friendship first and politics a far, far second."
Next month, an eclectic group of 15 juniors will be tapped for Skull and Bones by this year's seniors. There never have been specific criteria for membership, although women were not admitted until 1991, after a rancorous 20-year battle.
At its inception, said Dr. Alan Cross, one of Kerry's classmates and a third-generation Bonesman, the club was "basically a debating society, where members of the senior class would ... discuss important topics of the day."
In later generations, conversations became not just confessional but confrontational in the manner of group therapy, according to some reports. There always was security in the knowledge that "what goes on inside, what people reveal about themselves ... would stay inside the building," said Cross, a professor of social medicine and pediatrics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Bonesmen often have occupied positions of power and prestige as adults. Three have become president: both Bushes and William Howard Taft. A partial roster of the famous includes diplomat Averill Harriman, poet Archibald MacLeish, financier Dean Witter Jr., Time magazine founder Henry Luce, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, national security adviser McGeorge Bundy, writers William F. Buckley and Christopher Buckley, former Sen. David Boren and FedEx founder Frederick Smith.
Bush's early forays into business were helped along by older Bonesmen. Bush has appointed several of his clubmates to government positions, including William Donaldson, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Although the presidential race has kindled interest in Skull and Bones, many believe the club has been in a long decline.
"The institution is somewhat laughable at this point," said Jacob Weisberg, 39, who declined membership in 1986 and now is editor of the online magazine Slate. "That we're having a presidential race with two alumni of this club tells you something, but it tells you more about what's changed, because it's inconceivable that in 20 years we'll have an election where two candidates are from Skull and Bones.
"This is the last time this could plausibly happen. I think it's sort of the last gasp."
