Headline DS Edition #56 - Spam for All

"Court Will Not Revive Spam Law" is from the March 31, 2009 edition of the Express. The VA Supreme Court overturned a law banning unsolicited bulk email, known to us as spam. Spamming days are here again! However, all it not lost. VA's attorney general is working on a new anti-spam law and the most prolific spammer to be convicted, Jeremy Jaynes, is serving time for securities fraud. So until someone takes over as Spam King, we'll be safe for now. Kinda.

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Headline DS Edition #55 - New Tobacco Tax Packs a Punch

"New Tobacco Tax Packs a Punch" is from the March 30, 2009 edition of the Express. I'm not a smoker and I'm kind of thankful that smoking is now banned in most of the restaurants and clubs in the D.C. area. At the same time, it feels a bit wrong to legislate lifestyles. The new law would raise the cigarette tax from 39 cents to $1.01.

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Headline DS Edition #54 - Obama's Event Nothing But Net

"Obama's Event Nothing But Net" is from the March 27, 2009 edition of the Express. Unlike our previous administration that seemed to be allergic to technology, the Obama administration fully embraces the information age hosting the first ever online townhall meeting from the White House. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see a White House app in the iPhone store sometime soon.

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Headline DS on No Commercial Value

No Commercial Value is an online art project that features six new artists each week. For the week of March 25, NCV is showcasing my series of AIG cartoons. I really love how they edited the cartoons together.

Thanks to Amir Husak and Prem Sooriyakumar for including Headline DS in their gallery.

Headline DS Edition #53 - Stimulus Called 'Road to Hell'

"Stimulus Called 'Road to Hell'" is from the March 26, 2009 edition of the Express. The President of the EU said that the Obama administration's plan to spend $2T dollars to stimulate our economy is the "road to Hell." Cue some AC/DC music!

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Headline DS Edition #52 - EPA Eyes Action on Warming

"EPA Eyes Action on Warming" is from the March 24, 2009 edition of the Express. There's only so much financial news one cartoonist can take. The EPA released a report that declares global warming a public health and safety risk. Sure, it sounds like a "well duh" moment, but such a formal declaration will have an impact on Obama administration policies regarding global warming, hopefully for the better.

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Headline DS Edition #51 - Bank Rescue May Cost $1T

"Bank Rescue May Cost $1T" is from the March 23, 2009 edition of the Express. The Obama administration wants to create a new government agency, the Public-Private Investment Program, that would be tasked with buying up toxic assets. The price tag could total up to $1 trillion. That's a lot of zeros. I've never understood how the government can spend money when it owes so much in the first place. I'm a bit uncomfortable with using tax payer money to buy up bad loans, but I honestly don't know what would work at this point.

Headline DS Edition #50 - Bonus Tax

AIG week ends here at Headline DS with "Big Bonus Tax Ok'd by House" from the March 20, 2009 edition of the Express. The House passed a bill yesterday that would levy a 90% tax on bonuses paid out to workers who earn more than $250,000 in annual income and who work in companies that received more than $5 billion in bail out money. A similar bill goes up for vote in the Senate.

This sounds a bit crazy. Certainly the measure reflects public outrage against AIG. But this sets up a dangerous precedent for singling out companies just because we don't like them. Congress should be a little more cautious than to respond directly to mob outrage. Setting up an additional tax structure like this could create more future problems than it solves. At this point, it'd probably be easier to let AIG fail.

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Headline DS Edition #49 - AIG Gives Back

AIG week continues here at Headline DS with "AIG CEO: Bonuses Returned," a headline from the March 19, 2009 edition of the Express. AIG CEO Edward Liddy requested that any AIG employee who received $100,000 or more in bonuses to return at least half that money. According to Liddy, who came out of retirement to help clean up AIG's mess receiving $1 annually in compensation, many have given back their entire bonus. I have to say, I'm surprised and impressed. Shouldn't have happened in the first place, but I'm impressed they're giving the money back. I guess they're not all evil on purpose.

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Headline DS Edition #48 - Give Back Bonuses

I figured it was going to be an AIG week and the headlines do not disappoint. "Dems Say Give Back Bonuses" is from the March 18, 2009 edition of the Express. Congress is asking AIG execs to voluntarily give back the $165M in bonuses they paid out last Friday. According to the NY attorney general, 73% of AIG employees received at least 1 million dollars in bonus checks last Friday. Congressional Democrats are threatening to tax the crap out of them if they don't give up the bonuses themselves. Gee, who'd have thunk that AIG would act irresponsibly with billions of dollars of bail out money. Oh, how about anyone with a freaking brain! No good could have come with handing these idiots a sack of free cash! Distributed by

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Headline DS Edition #47 - Obama Slams AIG

"Obama Slams AIG 'Outrage'" is from the March 17, 2009 Editon of the Express. Obama has ordered Treasury Secretary Geitner to figure out a legal means to prevent AIG from handing out $165M in bonuses giving me a chance to draw Obama dropping the "People's Elbow" on AIG fat cats. This is what I don't understand. If the federal government now owns a 80% stake in the company, why can't it just tell AIG to stop screwing around? Ah well. I have a feeling it's going to be an AIG week here at Headline DS.

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Headline DS Edition #46 - AIG Fat Cat Bonus

"AIG to Pay $165M in Bonuses" is from the the March 16, 2009 edition of the Express. It's upsetting to say the least to know that tax payer money is going to pay the bonuses of these execs who are responsible for getting us into this mess in the first place. Shouldn't they be fired rather than rewarded? I guess I don't understand the intricacies of the banking world, but it seems backwards to get bonuses for utterly failing.

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Headline DS Edition #45 - Shoe-Thrower Convicted

"Iraqi Court Convicts Shoe-Thrower" is from the March 13, 2009 edition of the Express. I just couldn't resist the Rorschach quote. It's little surprise that an Iraqi court convicted the reporter who threw his shoes at President Bush (and totally missed!). He gets the minimum sentence of 3 years in jail which should probably be the easiest time he'll ever serve in light of the fact that most of the inmates probably consider him something of a national hero.

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Headline DS is on BOXEE!

Thanks to Aaron over at Blip.tv, Headline DS is now a part of Blip's channel on Boxee! All you have to do is grab Boxee for what ever OS you're running and you'll get Headline DS streamed directly to your brain meats!

Thanks again, Aaron, for the hookup. And check us out on Boxee!

Headline DS Edition #44 - Earmarks

"Spending Earmarks Approved" is from the Express for March 12, 2009. Oh man, poor Obama. He spent a lot of time on the campaign talking about changing Washington and specifically doing away with wasteful earmarks. And yet he has to pass a spending bill that's all earmarked to the gills. He says this bill marks the last of business as usual so I'm hoping for the best.

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Headline DS Edition #43 - Madoff to Admit Guilt

http://www.headlineds.com -- "Madoff to Admit Guilt" is from the Express for March 11, 2009. The puntastically named Bernie Madoff, who made off with a bajillion dollars, is pleading guilty tomorrow. I think if we've learned anything from this guy and this whole financial crisis in general is that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And we'll probably make the same damn mistake ten years from now because memories are getting shorter by the the decade. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Headline DS Edition #42 - Clone the Governator

http://www.headlineds.com -- "Stem Cell Policy Overturned" is from the March 10, 2009 edition of the Express. Stem cell research won't necessarily lead to human cloning, but it's always fun to draw Arnold Schwarzenegger yelling at himself. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Bonus - Smurf the Watchmen

http://www.headlineds.com -- Okay, so the Chun-Li movie was probably a bad recommendation last week. But Watchmen is pretty fun! I saw it on Monday. It's really fun and entertaining if you can get over the fact that it's nearly impossible to live up to the comic. Certainly, the comic will stand the test of time. This movie interpretation may not, but it's great to watch on the big screen. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Headline DS Edition #41 - Asteroid Missed Earth

http://www.headlineds.com -- "Asteroid Barely Misses Hitting Earth" is from the Express for March 5, 2009. Sometimes, you just want to draw a big planet with a goofy face. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Headline DS Edition #40 - Obama Five

http://www.headlineds.com -- "Obama Five Show White House Double Standard on Taxes" is from the DC Examiner for March 4, 2009. The article refers to five of Obama's cabinet nominees that all have problems with unpaid taxes. What is wrong with these people! Obama's team really needs to do a better job of vetting their nominees. I'm sure someone in D.C. has paid their taxes at least once. Oh, I also wanted to do a Watchmen tribute. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Headline DS Edition #39 - Burn the Evidence

http://www.headlineds.com -- "92 Detainee Tapes Burned" is from the March 3, 2009 edition of the Express. The Justice Department released documents indicating that under the previous administration, the CIA burned 92 interrogation tapes of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Headline DS Edition #38 - Green Youth

http://www.headlineds.com -- "'Green' Youth Flock to D.C." is from the March 2, 2009 edition of the Express. Power Shift 09 is in town with students from all over the nation here in D.C. to lobby lawmakers for stronger environmental protections. The conference culminates in a rally today at the capitol. I saw these kids all huddled in the Metro on the way in to work this morning. The timing sucks for them as today brought five inches of snow! We don't do snow so well in D.C. Distributed by Tubemogul.