Next week, the members of the American Bankers Association (ABA) are congregating at the Sheraton in downtown Chicago for their annual conference, with appearances by conservative Republican commentators Newt Gingrich and George Will. During the three-day conference, SEIU, Action Now, National People's Action, and dozens of other activist organizations will hold a series of events highlighting the growing discontent with big banks and their over-reliance on greed and profits at taxpayers' expense.

On the Huffington Post, SEIU's Anna Burger discusses why progressives won't be letting the banksters party in peace this Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in Chicago:

The financial section of the newspaper is starting to read like the script for a far-fetched crime movie. A group of villains hatch a plot to steal trillions of dollars from unsuspecting Americans. They drive the country into economic chaos, funnel money from families and small businesses into their own pockets, then leave all of us to clean up their mess. And not only do they get away with it, they pay themselves billion dollar bonuses and throw lavish parties to celebrate their conquest.

But this isn't a movie, it's really happening. Wall Street bankers have taken $17.8 trillion of our tax dollars through bailouts and turned them into massive pay and bonuses for themselves. Goldman Sachs alone is expected to pay more than $23 billion just in bonuses this year; that's more than $43,000 a minute, every minute.

So, my question to you is: if you could get all the architects of this scam together in one place, what would you say to them?

Hurry up and decide, because they're all getting together in Chicago this weekend -- and we're headed there to meet them.

The big bank execs are gathering in the Windy City for the American Bankers Association conference. It's a four day celebration of wealth and opulence; some of the items on the agenda include a roaring 1920s swing dancing party, a luxurious riverboat cruise, and celebrity appearances from Newt Gingrich and George Will. And it's all funded with our tax dollars.

Read the rest of Anna's piece on Huffington Post here.

Full report on ABA's actions to lobby against financial reform here. Check out the schedule of the three days of actions in Chicago here, as well as after the break.

Did you know you're throwing a party this weekend? Well, you're paying for it but you're not invited.

It's the American Bankers Association (ABA) conference in Chicago. The ABA is the lobbying group that gets millions of our tax dollars from America's bailed out banks.

Here are some of the highlights for their meeting:

• a luxurious riverboat cruise
• a historical mansion tour
• a roaring 1920s big band gala
• celebrity appearances by Newt Gingrich & George Will

Gathering outside the ABA conference will be more than 5,000 taxpayers from all over the US. All we're asking for is a meeting with the banks. We want to tell them to stop using our money to lobby against financial reform. Before we go, though, we're delivering to the ABA signatures from taxpayers across the country, asking them to meet with us.

Add your name here: http://action.seiu.org/bankparty

This is going to be the largest protest against bank greed since the financial meltdown began. Even if you can't be in Chicago, will you make yourself a part of it? http://action.seiu.org/bankparty

So far hundreds of you have watched this video and used Twitter to call out the people trying to pass off the Lewin Group as "independent:"

Will you keep the pressure on them to quit citing the Lewin Group as a respected source of information? Join SEIU's campaign to tweet the truth about the Lewin Group.

So it turns out that there's someone on Twitter who's been enthusiastically twittering nonstop about Employee Free Choice, advocating for the legislation and spreading the good word. Lately the person has taken to trying to convert followers of Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis to sign a pro-Employee Free Choice petition.

From @EFCANOW's Twitter feed:

Brush it off as an overzealous Twitterer and move on, right? Nope. Not if you're Newt and Saul. Newt and Saul are threatening to sue because of this person's pro-Employee Free Choice tweets.

From The Hill:

Attorneys for Gingrich and Anuzis wrote Twitter on Wednesday, asking it to disable a posting by the anonymously owned "EFCANOW" handle, which asked followers to sign a petition supporting the labor legislation. The posting included Gingrich's and Anuzis's Twitter handles, which function as their screen names.

[...] The attorneys allege that the posting, of which the authorship is unknown, violates the pair's trademark and publicity rights and contravenes trespassing and wire fraud laws, and maybe even so-called RICO laws, which are traditionally used to target organized crime groups.

Newt and Saul allege @EFCANOW has committed Twitter fraud, and are complaining to Twitter about the users on the site and demanding a response--or else.

But even Kanye West doesn't threaten legal action about being impersonated on Twitter, instead choosing to express his rage to the world with an all-caps rant on his blog (the all-caps lets readers know that Kanye means business). Exactly why is Kanye SO ANGRY about this twitterjacking? Because he feels the constant Tweets appearing to come from him via @kanyewest lower his 'coolness quotient' and make it seem like he has nothing better to do all day than...Tweet:

I'M TOO BUSY ACTUALLY BUSY BEING CREATIVE MOST OF THE TIME AND IF I'M NOT AND I'M JUST LAYING ON A BEACH I WOULDN'T TELL THE WORLD. EVERYTHING THAT TWITTER OFFERS I NEED LESS OF.

For some reason, however, Newt and Saul can't seem to shake this one off--they're even more pissed than Kanye. Who would've thought two politicians could become so enraged over the use of an "@" sign...This may end up redefining what we classify as a "frivolous lawsuit."

"How dare someone imply that Newt Gingrich has been spending his time fighting for justice in the workplace, rather than his true passion: starting frivolous lawsuits," Service Employees' International Union (SEIU) spokeswoman Christy Setzer shot back Thursday afternoon. "We stand with Twitterers everywhere when we say, thank you Newt, for sparing us a Kanye West-like all-caps rant on first contract arbitration."

In a new round of attacks against the Employee Free Choice Act, corporate lobbyists and executives are showing their true, greedy selves.

In recent weeks, corporate lobbyist groups such as the Center for Union Facts, the Chamber of Commerce, and conservatives like Newt Gingrich, have waged war to prevent workers from enjoying what CEOs take for granted: a contract.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed today, and in a Politico op-ed from Newt Gingrich last month, anti-worker groups have attacked the "first contract arbitration" portion of the Employee Free Choice Act. That provision seeks to stop employers from using endless foot-dragging against workers who have voted for a union, but have yet to secure a contract. The legislation says that if employers and workers can't reach an agreement in a reasonable amount of time - 120 days - either side can bring in a neutral, private-sector arbitrator to settle the dispute.

Besides the foot-dragging, this assault on first contract arbitration is particularly disturbing for another reason: Corporations use arbitration all the time, because they say it's a fast, inexpensive way to settle disputes.

Here are just some of the quotes that opponents of Employee Free Choice have said about arbitration in the past:

"For more than 80 years, arbitration has helped Americans settle disputes fairly, quickly and inexpensively, without having to file a lawsuit or navigate the court system." - Lisa Rickard, president of the US Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform (4/2/08)

"Arbitration is mutually beneficial, which is what we have always thought." - Arne Wagner, assistant general counsel for Bank of America [ABA Journal, December 1994]

"[F]ederal policy... favors the use of arbitration as an efficient, effective, and less expensive means of resolving disputes...Arbitration, has served as an essential valve for the nation's overburdened civil justice system." - Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee signed by US Chamber of Commerce, Retail Industry Leaders Association, National Retail Federation, National Association of Manufacturers, Jackson Lewis, et al (2/7/08)

There's one position that CEOs have been fairly consistent on, however: if it allows them to hold on to their corporate power against working families, then they're all for it. Even if it means being a little "flexible" in their public stances.