While the American Banking Association held their "Roaring Twenties" party to kick off their annual meeting, people from 20 different states, as far away as California, came together to kick off "Showdown Chicago" protesting the loss of jobs and the harsh and speculative practices put in place by banks and W$ since 2000. Friday's events were spent teaching the group the various chants and acquainting them with how to conduct a peaceful protest.

The meeting was broken up into an introduction of instructions to protest and then a meeting listening to a panel of speakiers including Senator Durbin of Illinois who has been leading the effort to pass the Consumer Finance Protection Act in the Senate. Having been rejected twice, he promised to continue his efforts in getting the CFPA passed. Including Senator Durbin, many of the same Senators backing the CFPA also voted "yea" for the Financial Services Modernization Act in 1999/2000 and the restriction on governing the derivaives market. They now find themselves voting for bills that will protect consumers which will still fail to fix the fundamental problem with W$ and banking.

The meeting broke up ay 6:30PM and the group formed outside to march to the ABA's "Roaring Twenties" party. Like myself, others found it ironic the ABA would use this as a theme for their party and annual meeting in Chicago. The ABA did donate "a" rehab home. One has to wonder if it was foreclosed?

Some clips from the Showdown Chicago Site:

<link> Wells Fargo Protest

<link> One Foreclose

<link> Goldman Sachs Protest

<link> Swondown in Chicago Pictures

Good work!!!

I think MSNBC gave this about six seconds.

How come with all the serial-killer-shows on TV, they never make the news?

Silly!! It's a chimera - half swan, half macaroon. Big white bird covered with shredded coconut.

Sov:

It was early and I have the flu. I was typing because I couldn't sleep

I was risen early too -- by the pishertze -- a new malady caused by eating soporifcs and falling asleep with a belly full of osso bucco, which I found at $8/pound. My regular butcher just raised it to $14, which I won't pay.

I was just kidding around; I was kind of pissed that the media gave you guys only 6 seconds -- while Michael Jackson was on all day again.

Flu or cold can get to you.

Speedy recovery!

I'm getting pissed (Goody!) today by the creep Lieberman.

LIke many, I like to get real mad.

"I like to get real mad"

You also like to tell us, not how much you earn but how much you spend. It's all about revealing your identity without revealing your identity.

Sov:

You will like this one: <link> "Lieberman Says He Will Support Filibuster"

A familar character there.

Just reading the letters to the editor of my local newspapers will do that for me.

My all-time favorite one was written by an enlightened member of the Loveland, Colorado community, who was objecting to two front-page articles the local paper had run a few days earlier, one dealing with the issue of global warming, and the other detailing a significant proto-human fossil discovery in Africa. The letter-writer complained about devoting so much column space to such 'noncents' and wondered if 'those smarty-pants scientist fellers could explain why we have seasons, or why we have night and day'.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

You have night and day in Colorado too??