The bailout has failed to pass. The stock market is tumbling into the trash. I'm speechless.

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Agencies who have retail chains as customers should go ahead and pre-order a customized mouth guard for all the teeth grinding your sure to suffer in the upcoming months. This is a monumental holiday shopping season coming up and those brands that fall short may, at least, be looking for a new agency and at worst, claiming bankruptcy.

Steve & Barry's and The Sharper Image are just two retailers who bit the dust this year due to the economic turmoil. That's double the volume of bankruptcies over last year according to the International Council of Shopping Center. In hindsight, that econ-strain was just a pothole. With the ever evolving mortgage crisis and the fall-out of the investments banks, well shiiit. It's downright dangerous out there!

According to The Times, Chains to watch out for include: Bon-Ton, Gottschalks, Stein Mat, Sears Holdings, Dillard's , Pacific Sunwear and Coldwater Creek (whatever the hell that is).

Forget Santa. Think Scrooge. Holiday sales overall are being estimated for a rise of just 2.2%, which will be the smallest since 2002, which was 1.3%. It's gonna be bleak, boys. Unless of course you're client is a warehouse or deep discount store. Then, it'll be a very merry holiday, indeed.

More: Post Death Knell: The First Of The Financial Advertising Ads

D&AD has named Garrick Hamm its new president replacing Simon Waterfall of Poke.

Hamm, creative partner at Williams Murray Hamm, was the deputy president for the past year. Paul Brazier, CD at AMV BBDO, will now fill that role. They've also selected some new bodies to the executive roster: All of Us partner, Simon Sankarayya, Hat Trick Design director, Jim Sutherland and ECD at McCann-Erickson London, Simon Learman.

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More: Hot Ad (Wo)Man Of The Day: Simon Waterfall

Update: The Power 150 is now ranking the right link and all is well in the world. Thanks to Mr. Moran.

So, it seems the Power 150, AdAge's attempt to, y'know, get with the blogging times, is no longer updated. We were psyched about the 150 when it came out. Yet, like all corporations dabbling in social media tools, it seems they've forgotten all about their little chart.

Tribble (whose rant about the 150 is here) pointed out that blogs that no longer exist are still at the same ranking on this list and engages in some tricky math. Plus, our own blog is not being tracked. We switched from Wordpress to the Mediabistro site six months ago. Hello? Anyone there at the 150?

The tag line for the 150 should be - "Todd Andrlik ranks the top media and marketing blogs... sometimes."

More: The Agency Spy Party Cometh

Employees and clients alike are asking for diversity in the ad agencies that they work for/with and nothing. According to DiversityInc, The 2008 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list shows that the big players are commited to creating an environment where the workplace reflects the communities that these brands serve. Why aren't the agencies that help to build these brands getting on board quickly?

The New York City's Commission on Human Rights started a probe into the complaints about the lack of senior minorites in advertising in early 2005. At that time, they found that less than 3% of the top earners at the top agencies were black. The numbers on other minorities were fuzzy. So after that, there was much to do about diversifying agencies. Every agency was making bold statements about their commitment to changing the face of their agency. Agencies set their own goals on hiring more minorities (some of those goals were really low). Arnold had the highest goal. NYC (along with Shomex) even starting hosting Diversity in Advertising/PR Career Days. There is one July 1st in LA.

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I hope you all remembered to send your dads a coupon for one free lawn mowing. I believe I owe my parents breakfast in bed, but I think at this point that is out of the question on both ends. My old man doesn't want me serving him breakfast until absolutely necessary.

I don't blame him.

So this video is a bit odd, but I thought considering the general lameness of Father's Day (Love you Dad!), it was only fitting.

More on the interview with the dudes that make it all happen, Olde English Sketch Comedy, after the jump.

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Our friends at Gawker apparently saw yesterday's post about about their media meshing night out at Sweet and Vicious here in NYC. Well, fresh from the camera of Gawker's own Nick McGlynn, here's a taste of what and who you missed while you watched Step It Up and Dance.

Check out more photos here. I had planned to go, but last minute had to cancel because an appointment changed. Tonight I make up for lost G&Ts in midtown. Ah, I love summer in New York, when everyone leaves, tourists arrive and I mistakenly go to dinner near Times Square, forgetting it will be hell.

As if it wasn't hard enough for creatives in this industry, here comes the Orphan Works bill. The Orphan Works Bill proposes that any visual works that are not immediately identifiable to the author to be considered under the law as if they have no authors, and are not subject to protection from infringement in accordance with copyright laws. Right now, if you make something, it is automatically copyrighted. Now, you have to register the work and pay cash to own it. Get it? This includes you. The fifteen year old kid with hand drawn comics on his MySpace page and grandparents creating retirement center photography magazines, too.

The bill seeks to limit the potential liability of users of orphan works depending on whether they qualify as good faith users. The criteria for this would be a search through these new databased to find the potential copyright holder. Can't find her/him or the image in question? It's yours!

The associated bill has already passed through the House Subcommittee.

The Illustrators' Partnership of America (creators of the video above), oppose the legislation, saying it shifts the onus from the user to the copyright holder. They also call BS on that whole search thing considering that artists may not be registered in specific Copyright Office–certified databases. The Advertising Photographers of America (APA) and the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), and others are also calling "foul." Meanwhile, The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) say that while they don't like the bill, it's best to just go with the flow, as other fights are coming up and energy, as well as political capital should be conserved.

Didn't these guys ever hear that if you give an inch, they'll take a mile? Damnnit. Where's Ron "minuscule government" Paul when ya' need 'im? Find out what you can do about this bill HERE.