ANNOUNCEMENT: I don’t know whether Chris Muir, author of Day by Day, has gotten a dead-tree syndication deal yet. But I’ve been using his work for free for years now, and I’ve decided that needs to change.

Henceforth, I will pay Chris $5.00 a month for the right to use Day by Day on my site. I know, five bucks isn’t much, and the amount is easily covered by my advertiser income. However, in an interview I will publish soon, Chris says that over 1000 sites use Day by Day. If they all kicked in five bucks, Chris would at least be getting plumber’s wages for the best daily political cartoon in the Blogosphere.

And who knows? Advertising may pick up, and I might raise the kickback to ten whole dollars.

Come on, you users. Freebie time is over. Pony up that five bucks. You can hit Chris’ PayPal button here .