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The Huckabees provided earlier occasions to discuss the Baptist belief that women should "graciously submit" to their husbands. But I don't think either Mike or Janet went to far as to say pushy wives were asking for spouse abuse.

Get a load of this Baptist theologian. What does he think it means to be a Bible-believing Baptist woman?

"It means that a woman will demonstrate that she is in fact a Christian, that she has submitted to God's ways by affirming and embracing her God-designed identity as--for the most part, generally this is true--as wife and mother, rather than chafing against it, rather than bucking against it, rather than wanting to be a man, wanting to be in a man's position, wanting to teach and exercise authority over men."

Woman exercise authority over a man? Terrible idea. Don't you agree, sweetie?

The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals today gave the Mulberry cops free rein to arrest and search speeders on Interstate 40, even though Arkansas State Police had been unwilling to give the local cops power to patrol highways outside town. The court's theory is that the U.S. Supreme Court has given any cop power outside his jurisdiction for "probable cause" arrests. Here, the Mulberry cop said a motorist was speeding and used that as a pretext to stop, search and detain him.

No foul, the court said.

Presumably, this gives cover to any jerkwater outpost along a freeway that would like to set up shop on the four-lane to look for "probable cause."

Little Rock Zoo unloads 3000-pound black rhino from Little Rock Zoo on Vimeo.

The Litttle Rock Zoo's latest movie -- the arrival of a new black rhino.

She'll be a companion for the zoo's male. If you read our Observer, you'll know he's built a reputation as "one horny rhino."

The latest Zogby polling (it hasn't been so hot this year, but .... ) has Obama ahead of McCain in Arkansas, 41-39 and 4 for Bob Barr. It's a statistical tie, but still .... Writes Zogby:

Will minority turnout and Bob Barr make this a nail-biter? Will Bill Clinton make any homecoming trips on behalf of Obama?

Electoral Votes: 6, Too close to call

If Obama challenges McCain in Arkansas, that means he really has a 50-state strategy and, if the primary is a guide, he also has the money to carry the fight to the old man.

The people going after the bloodsucking cash advance/payday lending industry want to know what Sen. Blanche Lincoln is up to.

Legislation she's introduced -- here and here -- would override the state Constitution's limit on interest as it pertains to cash advances on checks. Yes, the language says the interest cap would remain 17 percent. But lawyers believe other state consumer protection laws would be overridden in the process, laws that are now being used to make recoveries for victims of the loan sharks. And with the Constitution overridden, the lawyers wonder if the special interest-owned legislature could step in and impose whatever limits it wanted, if any, for the payday outfits.

Lincoln's legislation would apply only to Arkansas. In one lawyer's opinion, it would also breathe new life into the title pawn business, a loan sharking activity stomped out by Attorney General Winston Bryant more than a decade ago. People victimized by excessive interest by such lenders would only have recourse in federal court, based on recent court decisions.

"It's outrageous," says Todd Turner, the Arkadelphia lawyer who's been pursuing the bloodsuckers for nine years. "I can't believe that my U.S. senator is working to override the state Constitution without a vote of the people."

I have a call in to Sen. Lincoln.

Mucking about in the aftermath of yesterday's Little Rock City Board agenda meeting, I heard these whispers:

1) Despite strong lobbying that began this week, the movement to preserve a seat for Jane Dickey on the Central Arkansas Water Commission mustered, at best, four votes among the 11 board members. We now know that she withdrew her request for reappointment in the face of majority board opposition. Some of those in support were soft in the face of certain defeat. I'm surprised, frankly. Though there were legitimate disagreements on some commission decisions in which Dickey played a role -- dropping the condemnation of developer Rick Ferguson's land, particularly -- she's a respected establishment lawyer who dedicated a great deal of time and effort to the water utility. I figured she'd get the benefit of the doubt, but the debate would be useful in favorably influencing future commission action on watershed issues. Wrong.

2) As several readers have already commented,  retired CAW CEO Jim Harvey is probably a non-starter as a replacement commissioner. His lobbying on the Dickey issue created bad feelings both on the commission, which will make the recommendation, and on the City Board. His eligibility may be complicated, too, I was told, by his receiving continuing retirement compensation from the utility.

3) On another topic:  Observers yesterday noted Mayor Mark Stodola's sudden interest in the height of a berm and landscaping specifics for a planned unit development on Highway 10 and Chenal. Huh? The feeling is that something else is at work other than an interest in azaleas. But his questions meant the planning change proposed for the property will be considered separately, and not as part of a consent agenda, at the regular meeting of the City Board next week. Maybe nothing. Maybe something. Foodies note: The whisper is that the land might be used for multiple restaurants, perhaps even by the Pappas family, a Houston, Texas, empire that operates popular restaurants of just about every description -- steak, Greek, Italian, Mexican.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette leads the front page with a belated report on bookkeeping questions at a local college when they could have run this? 

I admit it. The thing I love most about visiting England is rounding up all the papers every day -- Sun, Star, Mirror, News of the World, Telegraph, Guardian, Times. Each with its own slant, well understood by readers, and features.

County Clerk Pat O'Brien reported here early yesterday that the Pulaski Quorum Court had backed off the idea of a confiscatory per-page charge for viewing public records on-line.

But, in the Democrat-Gazette account this morning, I want to note something even more outrageous. It is JP Steve Goss' idea, backed by another JP, to require registration to view public records, perhaps accompanied by payment.

Is this East Germany? Think I exaggerate? Hear JP Bob Johnson, as quoted in the D-G:

"If we know who is using it, we might just stop a little mischief."

Will we now also have a sign-in sheet at the courthouse identifying who is looking at which paper records? And will you have to pay a fee for the privilege. And what a great idea is the notion of a public snoop compilation that would allow you to check what records other people are checking.  It would be accessible under the FOI, too, of course.

Message to Steve Goss and Bob Johnson re public records: STFU.

The lead story today, July 9, in the Democrat-Gazette is about the question of whether the $300,000 bonus to UCA President Lu Hardin runs afoul of state statutory salary caps.

Welcome to the party.

This question was first raised in this blog one week ago, July 2, and developed in several subsequent posts. I said then what I still say. I think the bonus is dubious under the cap. But, if a legal opinion says a public institution can take an auxiliary fund consisting of cash money generated by ancillary profits from books and burgers and spend it as its supervisors wish, even to make payments to an official in excess of salary caps, the loophole needs plugging.

UCA is moving in the right direction. It has requested an attorney general's opinion on the point. It has disclosed expenditures from the discretionary fund since its creation and the expenses don't raise immediate red flags. At least one trustee has vowed to be fully accountable on use of the account in the future. I expect the July 25 Board of Trustees to be well attended and I'd guess -- hope -- that discussions about this subject will be held in public, not in private. These are all good things, though they won't fully erase the bruising done to UCA and its successful president by the recent run of news.

What to do if there is a question about the salary cap? I think UCA can argue that Hardin earned $180,000 of his $300,000 bonus at the $60,000-a-year deferred comp pace originally approved in 2005. That would legitimately be deferred compensation, even if paid earlier than originally planned. I think the Board could legally justify moving up payment of that portion of the money. It also could authorize an additional $60,000 payment at the end of this year, which would be less than the 25 percent annual bonus allowed for extraordinary performance over statutory line-item pay. (He makes $253,000.) But the final $60,000 might have to wait another year. If this theory is correct, Hardin would have to repay a portion of the bonus.

I can't believe the UCA Board has unfettered control over an auxiliary fund generated on campus. You might just as well say the Little Rock School Board has freedom to spend its vending machine profits any way it wants, without public vote and regardless of authorized pay levels.

It's chump change in the sweep of official skulduggery, but the saga of expropriation of public right of way for private use in North Little Rock continues to interest me, in part because it illustrates the power of blogs.

To recap: Argenta News, a scrappy NLR blog, discovered weeks ago that street parking had been expropriated for the private use of the ritzy restaurant in the Arkansas Travelers ballpark. Scott Miller raised so much heck -- and we echoed it here -- that the DOG, or Democrat-Gazette leapt into the story. But they did so in a pitiably laughable way, with a front-page article that suggested efforts to block off street parking for paid spaces or private use of Valentine's was the work of some rogue independent operator, perhaps a homeless man. The reporter had to ignore professional signs, traffic cones and the use of the spaces by Valentine's valet parkers to reach the conclusion that this was some homeless man or creative teen at work, but never mind.

Miller pressed on, as did his spinoff Dogtown Wire. And Boss Hays, da mayor of Dogtown, has had enough of the blogs' carping. He's now proposed a city resolution for the next Council meeting turning control of public right of way over to the management of a private entity. A resolution requires one reading. There will be no public hearing.

The strong mayor is going to get his way and Valentine's is going to get its private parking at public expense. No need to kid yourself any longer about the homeless man theory.

UPDATE: On Dogtown Wire, Eric Francis takes the mayor's giveaway of public parking to its logical (that is to say, supremely illogical) conclusion.

It's yours.

NEWS UPDATE: LR Airport spokesman says an American Airline plane en route to Dallas made an emergency stop in LR this afternoon because of smoke in the cockpit. No problems in landing. Another plane was sent to LR to complete the flight.