Clear Channel's at it again. Yesterday's New York Times had the story:

The image planned for the anti-Wal-Mart billboard was unusual - a fire-breathing Godzilla standing next to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge - and the language was strong: "The Wal-Monster will destroy Staten Island businesses and devastate our quality of life."

But New Yorkers may never see the billboard, which was supposed to go up on the island, because Clear Channel, the giant radio network that also runs an outdoor advertising company, has rejected it, saying its image and language are too inflammatory....

Paul J. Meyer, the chief executive of Clear Channel Outdoor, said that because billboards are a type of advertising that people cannot avoid, his company felt an obligation to restrict a message that might offend.

Really? Gee, that's something that didn't seem to worry Clear Channel last year when it agreed to let the Christian Coalition post a billboard promoting the conversion of homosexuals to heterosexuality -- in New Paltz, New York, where the mayor had performed gay marriages.

Clear Channel's rationale for rejecting the Wal-Mart billboard is just preposterous:

"Are we perhaps oversensitive on this?" he asked. "Maybe. When it comes to images of violence in New York City after 9/11, we feel we have to be very careful."

Excuse me? IT'S GODZILLA! IT'S A HUGE CARTOON REPTILE! WE CAN TAKE IT!

(Sorry I'm not posting the ad -- it was in the print paper, but it's not in the online story, and I can't find it anywhere else, either.)