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TIME: You joined the Freemasons in 2001. What made you want to get involved? Kinney: I had been interested since the '70s, when I saw a few books about Masonry and had a lot of confusion about it. Around 2000, I said, Why not try it myself...
...gave me a blindfold. The "obligation," or oath, is done at the altar in the middle of the lodge room. It's basically just a waist-high piece of furniture that has a Bible or whatever sacred text the individual has for their particular religion. Then you're walked around the lodge room, introduced to each of the main officers. You see the assembled brethren and the master of the lodge before you in his top hat. It's very traditional, early-1800s garb. And after the ritual - and this is true of all the Masonic degrees - the master recites...
...lodges are learning how to get by with fewer members and fewer resources. There was a certain cachet in ages past. But the overall membership has really been aging. There's a real attrition rate now. If it's going to survive at all, it has to turn that around...
...money-market fund revealed that it owned a lot of suddenly worthless Lehman debt. London-based hedge funds that relied on Lehman for day-to-day financing found themselves unable to do business because their accounts with Lehman's U.K. subsidiary were frozen. Similar dislocations played out around the world. Before long, financial institutions were paralyzed by fear. They simply didn't trust each other anymore, and didn't want to lend to each other. The financial system proved too fragile to handle the stress. (See 25 people to blame for the financial crisis...
...appetites and ego. They are what have helped make him the most influential Italian of his generation. But his often uncontrollable desire to persuade and seduce - rather than the petty calculations of his foes - is the one thing that could bring everything crashing down around...