August 19, 2002 (ref NYT 7-16-2002)
(The following information reflect the opinions of Stilldigging.com and the characters are fictional)


[Jeff is walking the aisles, sees Beamer, does an about face,]
[and ducks into a side aisle, quickly shoots to the end, exits to the stairwell,]
[shoots up 6 flights of stairs to the coffee lounge, and quietly takes a seat.]

Beamer 'Pssst, Jeff'

[Jeff immediately turns to see Beamer sitting right behind him, and stares at Beamer]
[as if in a state of shock]
Beamer 'relax dude, you look like you just seen a ghost'
[Jeff finally realizing he must of seen a Beamer look alike earlier, quickly regains his senses ]
[and responds]

Jeff 'Beamer, what a shock, I mean surprise, I mean what's up'
Beamer 'I think you been working too hard dude'
'I got some righteous news, I mean more news that is'
Jeff 'what?'

[Beamer motions impatiently] 'well get over here, what'ya want me to yell it out'
[Jeff shuffles over to Beamers table with a look of hesitation, since he was set on avoiding Beamer]
[and his sometimes disconcerting revelations ]

[Beamer recognizing the hesitation tries to allay his fears]
Beamer 'relax dude, I'm onto another conspiracy'
[Jeff stares back thinking (I knew it, I knew he would say that)]
[Beamer chuckles] 'just kidding, this won't take long at all'
Jeff 'that's what my wife said'

Beamer 'shut up, now listen'
'you heard about all the corporate scandals, and the pervasive attitude, "take the money and run"
Jeff 'what money?'
Beamer 'all those CEO's, cashing in all those stock options right before their company takes a dive'
Jeff 'I knew that, just testing you'

Beamer 'well guess who did the same thing in in'
Jeff 'you mean 1990 don't you?'
Beamer 'no no, that was nothing. So he dumped a few shares and made a million.'
'that is nothing, compared to the 14 million he made, by stealing from the people'
[Jeff immediately backs his seat out as if ready to leave and has this reprimanding look]
[of surprise]
Beamer 'ok, so stealing might not be the right word, how about hoodwinking'
[Jeff stares back unamused]
Beamer 'come on dude, you know me, I speculate, theorize, calculate'

[pause]

Beamer 'ok so sometimes I run amuck, but this is a healthy exercise in verbal digestion'
Jeff 'shut up and get to the point'
Beamer 'look, there's no way you could call this a legitimate discussion if you don't '
'lighten up. I'm a concerned citizen just like everybody else.'
'American investor's are losing their life savings across the country, companies have laid off millions '
'over the last 2 years, or 1.5 years, farmers, machinists, auto-workers across the land are afraid Nafta's '
'gonna take their jobs away.

[Beamer and Jeff both stare at each other]

Beamer 'So lighten up will ya, this is important, if it's true.
'Here, I'll read directly from the Times, just to allay your fears.

'What am I saying, if my interpretation is correct, we should all be afraid.'

[Beamer starts to read aloud]
Beamer 'here's where landowners actually sued the guy'

"a group of wealthy and influential people, threatened and traded their way, into an"
"unprecedented take over of government power and private property, "
"in an awesome display of greed and avarice."

Beamer 'here's a quote from a another suit, describing the deal.'

"[it] can only be described as astounding, unprecedented, and blatantly illegal"

Beamer 'note the anger, the intensity, from these 2 quotes, the words that
'were used, "take over of government power" "astounding" "awesome display of greed",
I'm not a lawyer, but the adjectives seem unique, like these people were blatantly furious'

Jeff 'why was he being sued?'
Beamer 'land grabbing, using the powers of government to grab land and make a profit.'

Jeff 'under the guise of that baseball team'
Beamer 'exactly, and the assertion is they were arrogant about it, like'
'oh, there's a nice chunk of property, let's grab that, oh, oh, there's some more let's grab that'
Jeff 'under whose authority?'

Beamer 'that was part of the deal with the city, to build a stadium, but they apparently '
'took this privilege to the next level, and the city apparently went along with it'
Jeff 'So the guy made 14 million on this, thus funding his political campaign.
'Obviously the lawsuit didn't pan out, or there would've been headlines'
Beamer 'I'm more concerned about the attitude toward the common citizen, like
'oh, let's take that property', as if there was no concern on what that piece of land meant to '
that particular citizen. You see where I'm going with this. The same attitude seems to pervade
these corporate swindlers making the news these days.

Jeff 'But if they won the case, then he was deemed innocent from all these accusations '
Beamer 'Actually there were several, in one case for example, they were ordered to pay 700%
over the original low sum of $1.50 per square foot. But the case lasted 7 years. This citizen knew
he was being swindled but it took 7 long years to win compensation.
Are you seeing a predatory attitude here?'
Do you see this same attitude today, with all these corporate collapses, and common citizens, losing '
watching their financial future slip away.

[pause]

Beamer 'and then the terms they used, in the memo's, sent chills up my spine'
Jeff 'like what?'
Beamer 'like, oh, here's a condemnation candidate'
Jeff 'why?'