It's weird, then, to see so much discussion about last weekend's meeting of the Bilderberg Group in Spain in some seriously mainstream places.

Wonkette:

The group met in Spain over the weekend at Sitges resort near Barcelona, and once again just about every mainstream media outlet besides The Guardian totally ignored it. (The Telegraph bravely made fun of the conspiracy.) Why cover a meeting of global leaders who were surely discussing/planning coordinated responses to the oil spill, the problems created by Iran and Pakistan and North Korea and Israel, the latest chapter of the global economic collapse, climate change, the Mexican drug war, China buying up all the natural resources in Africa, fresh water shortages, treaties with the space monsters, etc.?

The Guardian:

Although quite why attending Bilderberg has to remain such a mystery remains a mystery. The blackened windows of the limousines, the desperate camera-dodging of the delegates.

Tony Blair attended in 1993, but lied about it in parliament. Why lie? Why hide? If it's a long weekend of ping-pong, why the secrecy? If it's a long weekend of global strategising, why not simply behave like adults and talk to the press about it?

The, um, Winnipeg Free Press (via Bookninja):

Several Canadians, including B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and Indigo Books (TSX:IDG) CEO Heather Reisman, were among the delegates invited to the Bilderberg 2010 conference in Spain last weekend...Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger and Richard Holbrooke, U.S. President Barack Obama's special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, were also at this year's conference.

(Side note: It's good to see that a CEO of a chain of bookstores still can get into an exclusive meeting of the super-elites.) Naturally, all this increased coverage is driving the conspiracy sites absolutely wild. And you know what? As much as I disagree with the conspiracy sites (I don't think that global warming is a myth created by the Bilderberg Group to allow the government to grab as many resources as possible, for instance) they have a fucking great point on this one: The age of secrecy is over, and it's time for the Bilderberg Group to hire a press office and talk about what's going on. Stop treating the public like children.