"Craven, Lickspittle [FL] State Legislature " or "When Billboards Kill Trees"

["The very craven, lickspittle state Legislature has deemed it appropriate to give the billboard companies the ability to cut down trees on public property to enhance their ability to make money on private property," he said. "In many states, this type of legislation wouldn't have a prayer of passing. But in Florida … we have the most billboard-friendly statutes in the United States."]

So much outrage; so little time.

On some days--with murders, oil spills, and starving children in the news--it gets hard to blog.

Political outrages du jour?  Atrios does it better.

Scouring news feeds and posting progressive points?  Suburban Guerilla rules.

Shining a klieg light on how race and racism still inform and infirm American society?  Read the Field Negro.

Why do my 3 fave bloggers write from Phiilly?  I don't know.  Why do I root for the Cubs?  Unfathomable.  How can a Jamaican born, US educated, Philly lawyer write better 'bout race than a literate southerner?  Beats the Faulkner out of me.

Some days, stories just fall into into my lapbook as with this item from Ft Lauderdale Sun Sentinel--the former some area south of Orlando but north of Miami, the latter owned by Zell Miller's Tribune Corp.--which dettails how my state legislature gives favors to monied interests through sweetheart laws.

[Hoping to beautify a stretch of State Road 84, a group of boating businesses planted rows of sabal palms along the swales and median, brightening their gritty industrial corridor with patches of green.

Clear Channel Communications Inc. was not pleased. The national radio and advertising company owns two billboards on the street, now partially blocked by the trees. The company filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Transportation, which notified the Marina Mile 84 Association it would have to move 18 of the trees or see them destroyed.

It is an increasingly common occurrence in South Florida, as Clear Channel aggressively invokes a 2006 state law that requires unobstructed viewing areas of 350 to 500 feet for billboards. Companies can win compensation in court for lost profits if the state fails to arrange the removal of trees on public rights of way...

Bill Brinton, a Jacksonville lawyer and board member of Scenic America, which fights what it considers visual blight, said the 2006 law was one of several favors the Legislature has done for the industry.

"The very craven, lickspittle state Legislature has deemed it appropriate to give the billboard companies the ability to cut down trees on public property to enhance their ability to make money on private property," he said. "In many states, this type of legislation wouldn't have a prayer of passing. But in Florida … we have the most billboard-friendly statutes in the United States..."

Margaret Croxton, executive director of the Marina Mile 84 Association, said they may be able to reach a compromise that will allow the trees to remain on the street and Clear Channel to make money from its billboards.

"I don't mind billboards — they're ugly, but I don't mind them," she said. "But when billboards kill trees, it's ridiculous."] emphasis added and found link at http://www.flapolitics.com/main.htm

Lickspittle: "1.A fawning toady; a base sycophant."

Craven:  "1.Unwilling to fight; lacking even the rudiments of courage; extremely cowardly."