Gawd, I hope that's not true. Any chance they pick Ron Paul?

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Conspiracy or not don't you think it strange how little press it gets.

Castrated U.S. Media Remains Obediently Silent On Bilderberg

The mainstream American corporate press has once again proven itself to be no better than the state controlled media in places like Communist China or Zimbabwe, by steadfastly refusing to print even a mention of over a hundred global power brokers meeting in secret to discuss the future of the planet.

...David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, the secretary general of NATO, CEO’s of the world’s biggest corporations, U.S. politicians and European royalty were all there in Chantilly, but the U.S. media failed to show and did not even mention that the meeting was taking place, despite Bilderberg themselves issuing a press release!

A press release about a missing dog would make a few local newspapers, but a press release about over a hundred of the most powerful people in the world meeting in secret was completely ignored

Note: I'm not a big fan of Alex Jones - he believes Peak Oil was invented by BP and the global elite.

The clame made by conspiracy theory wingnuts is that the Bilderberg Group rules the world.

Which is not at all like the reality that the group has many members that are in the 'leadership/ruling class'. Right?

Now, why is it that Alex Jones is loudest media voice reporting on the event?

But if you don't want to answer my question(s) - how about George Ure's questions?

Rumors that Obama and Clinton were both in attendance are somewhat speculative (or are they?) but you'd think that if we had a real working/functional press corp that someone would have the balls to point out that with reported attendees like Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Secretary of State Condi Rice that something more than carefully massaged (sterile) press releases should be issued. Whatever happened to daylight democracy?

Darwinian -

While the Bilderberg Group may not rule the world, I don't think you can deny that the collection of people who attend their little annual backyard barbecue pretty much do, or at least heavily influence what does or does not happen.

So, I guess you think the whole purpose is just so the likes of Henry Kissinger, Dick Chaney, oil company CEOs, et al, can eat some hot dogs together, down a few cool ones, and talk about this year's NASCAR season.

i hear ya

the level of paranoia about these groups is crazy ... Bildeberg, Tri-lateral Commission, Bohemian Grove, etc.

people into train spotting get together every so often... people who collect Beanie Babies get together from time to time

so do rich powerful people - they have shared interests... they probably do deals... but mostly the sit around and chin wag and see what everyone else is hearing and thinking

do the attendees collectively have more influence on world affairs than you and i and our facebook friends list? of course... but that's not the same as secretly controlling the world

if you want to secretly control the world you don't need to do it at a public gathering...

I don't think that's true at all.
First of all there are Esso gas stations in Japan.
http://www.self-express.jp/

Second of all wikipedia gives a completely different explanation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon

Exxon formally replaced the Esso, Enco, and Humble brands on January 1, 1973, in the USA. The name Esso, pronounced S-O, was a trademark of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and attracted protests from other Standard Oil spinoffs because of its similarity to the name of the parent company, Standard Oil. As a result, the company was restricted from using Esso in the USA except in those states awarded to it in the 1911 Standard Oil antitrust settlement. In states where the Esso brand was blackballed, the company marketed its gasoline under the Humble or Enco brands. The Humble brand was used at Texas stations for decades as those operations were under the direction of Jersey Standard affiliate, Humble Oil, and in the mid-to-late 1950s expanded to other Southwestern states including New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma.

In 1960, Jersey Standard gained full control of Humble Oil and Refining Company and, through a reorganization of the company and the death of Janrick K. Ragnar, restructured Humble into Jersey's domestic marketing and refining division to sell and market gasoline nationwide under the Esso, Enco, and Humble brands. The Enco brand was introduced by Humble in 1960 at stations in Ohio but was soon blackballed after Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio) protested that Enco (Humble's acronym for "ENergy COmpany") sounded and looked too much like Esso: an oval logo with blue border and red letters, with the two middle letters the only difference. At that point, the stations in Ohio would be rebranded Humble until the name change to Exxon in 1972.

Third of all, Esso doesn't mean clunker in Japanese.