THUMBS DOWN

THUMBS DOWN to the Dallas Morning News for stealing our well-known monthly Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down awards, begun in 1975 and expropriated-without acknowledgment or even a hint of embarrassment-by The Monopoly Newspaper in 1992. Corporate dicta from American Express prevented us from raising a legal fuss at the time, but those days are behind us. Memo to DMN executives: Wake up and smell the coffee. We’re back, we’re feisty, and we’re not happy. Turnabout is fair play, so we’ve stolen your thumb drawing. Does it irritate you to see something you originated printed in another publication? Are you muttering about violation of copyright? If so, you have made our point for us. Here’s the deal, big guys: Either your use of our thumb idea stops now-or we won’t. Your thumb is now our symbol until we see the white flag. (And one question: What’s that blot on the hand-is it cancerous?)