The tribe rejected this fraudulent and disgusting offer. (No one has yet explained the ghoulish behavior of the president’s brother, Jonathan Bush, in getting a small dead child’s skull or how he got to be so stupid and condescending enough to think he could pass it off as the one in the Tomb.)
Sadly, the Times quoted an alleged expert named Alexandra Robbins giving credence to the notion this was actually the skull of Geronimo and displaying a credulousness you can see on display in this story fe– which recounts how she was compelled to make a change in her book on Bones because she believed the embarrassed Bones attempt to cover up the exposure of their ritual. At the time, I left her name out of the story, feeling sorry for a naive inexperienced reporter being taken in by the lying Bonesmen, but since she has never been willing to concede her mistake and apologize, it’s time I make the connection. That’s Alexandra Robbins’ book in the story.
In fact the ultimate irony is this. There is — or at least was — a skull in the Tomb of Skull and Bones labeled “Geronimo” and probably brought there by Prescott Bush and his buddies. But local anthropologists cast doubt on whether Geronimo was buried anywhere near where the befuddled Bonesmen were scammed, or whether his grave would have been marked “Here Lies Geronimo” anyway.
Every time this comes up (most recently I was interviewed by a Russian television documentary crew on it), I try to explain that my theory is more likely: the blundering Eastern preppies were sold a bill of goods, by shrewd locals who scammed them by saying, “Hey dudes wanna find the skull of Geronimo? We’ll show you where it is for a fee of course.”
And the Skull and Bones suckers fell for it. (You can make an analogy between their belief they found “Geronimo’s skull” and Saddam’s WMD if you’re so inclined). Still, stupid and credulous as they were, the Bonesmen were not naifs, they were essentially graverobbers who treated the Native peoples their kind plundered with criminal contempt. Even if this new lawsuit doesn’t get back the actual skull of Geronimo, one hopes it will be a headache for the skeevy elitists who thought it was, and they at least will become the laughingstocks they deserve to be. And — who knows? — maybe every last bit of their juvenile secrecy will be stripped away. Maybe future stories will focus — as I’ve repeatedly argued they should — not on their silly undergraduate rituals, but on the mentality of clandestinity, elitism, entitlement, and the old boy network of cozy connections they still use to exercise undue influence, which is exemplified by blunders of historic scale like the Bay of Pigs (four Bonesmen involved at the very top of that fiasco) and the George Bush presidency. It’s only karma.
As nutty and skeevy as they are, they still can’t surpass Ramsey Clark
If you think this is bad,you should look into “The Carlyle Group and Bain Capital LLC. I don’t know how much of a journalist you are,(But you you will read things that would make any Man want to throw” UP”.
Sometimes ‘camp’ with the right and agreeable people works about as well as the insufferable brightness of Rosenbaum which not be available.
Michael, huh?
Somebody should sneak in there and set a video camera up to record their rituals.
Animal House or Bonesmen, we can only hope they all grow up.
This is absurd. We should have dull lifeless rituals, devoid of legend and myth for our elites. The world will be better for it.
I happened to visit Geronimo’s grave on Fort Sill on a Memorial Day. It was well decorated. I assume his family knows more about it than Yale.
Wow, this guy really dislikes the Bushes.
Yes, they sold the chumps at Yale a bill of goods. Revenge for Manhattan, I guess. Personally, I could care less. I’m directly descended from Geronimo, but I wouldn’t care if they had the actual skull. That said, I’m sure they don’t, or someone else who did care would have literally lifted a scalp or two by now.
You can’t write about this without taking a swipe at a Bush? Okay. Your Bush Derangement Syndrome persists. I suppose there are clingers of all manner and BDS is like a binkie for certain people. I’m waiting expectantly, Ron, for your assessment of Mr. Obama’s presidency. It’s going along so well so far, isn’t it?
Barb, what I think Ron is missing is that for the people that got into/ ran ‘Skull and Bones’ the ‘Geronimo skull’ thing was a ‘camp’ way to be together, not seriously believed in though you draw analogies to other ceremonies. Odd in a way, because Ron alluded to the campness of it also in looking out at you holding a skull in front of a neo-Gtohic building in the cover to ‘The Secret Parts of Fortune.’ Lately though, Ron has played the Jewish scold which, you know, might be more fun than camp but probably didn’t suit the occasion. Anyway now the Apaches want to play too; so they get the skull back.
Petty much?
Man, being the token liberal at Pajamas must get a bit boring. The skull of Geronimo? I surprised they didn’t get one made out of plaster or clay. It’s a fraternity. The stuff doesn’t make sense anymore than crossing the line rituals at sea do.
Come on, Ron, didn’t you, circulate if not come up with this crazy rumor, give it validation; let if crossfertilize with the truther movement, and all other strangeness. Right about now, a government composed mostly
of Bonesman doesn’t seem so bad, there all exceptions William Donaldson, almost a caricature from a McCarry novel endorsed the one.
Helen Thomas looks like Geronimo!
Ron, your’re right, another example is the huge number of Jesse James Smith/Wesson Schofield revolvers for which the gullible paid a fortune. James mama likely sold more Jessie guns than S&W sold of civilian versions, and she probably made more money from the gullible than Jessie actually stole. In addition to the gullible rich kids, there really is an Animal House fraternity party prop aspect, especially as to seducing gullible rich sorority sisters. You see evil in these kids where I see an auful lot of John Beluchis.
I will be impressed with Mr. Rosenbaums zeal when he directs it at a large liberal idiot. Till then he’s just another blind man living in a cave.
“Fair play for you, and the world is so blue, and the architecture I’m taking in with my mind, so fine…and there’s only one better way to go, and you say ‘Geronimo’” Van Morrison “Fair Play” from “Veedon Fleece”
Nice to have one of the Jonas Brothers contribute to this blog
Thank you Mr. Finch , my brother lives on the other side of town but he doesn’t post political comment.
Are you providing cover for Mr. Rosenbaum?
courage needs no cover
Ron, I saw this covered in the NYT and immediately thought of you. Google led me here and I must say, very happy to have found you. Am now about to comb the archives in search of references to Chimes at Midnight, Orson Welles, and Bill Murray. It’s been ages! Hope this finds you well! chris
The world needs more lovers of Chimes at Midnight.