The Anglican beat

Archbishop Peter Akinola, Primate of Nigeria, has given an interview to Ruth Gledhill, a British journalist. It is lengthy and revealing. This is the most powerful Anglican on earth. He talks abotu his life, his views on homosexuality, his stand on scripture and the church. If his deeds match his words, we are safe.

Like me, he has heard the hope that lights up among Western liberals at talk of his pending retirement, as if once he is gone Nigeria will suddenly cease its evangelical mission. “Someone told me they hope when Akinola retires the Church will revert,” he says. “They are making a big mistake. The Church is already receiving hundreds of people who are better, stronger. I can assure you this is God’s own church and the gates of Hell shall never prevail against it. God raised Peter Akinola to what he has done. The same God will raise hundreds of people more gifted than me to get the job done. It is God’s Church not mine.”

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Friday summary

Arkansas students made gains this year on most standardized tests compared with last year’s scores. In addition, for the first time since the state began phasing in the Arkansas Benchmark Exams about a decade ago, the achievement gap between white and black students narrowed.

70 soldiers with the Arkansas Army National Guard, based in North Little Rock and Dumas are in mobilization training to prepare them for a fall deployment to Iraq. In Fort McCoy, Wis., the 213th Area Support Medical Company will learn basic first aid and fundamental soldiering skills before traveling to Iraq.

Preparations are underway for the Kevin Jones trial, which is scheduled to begin Monday. The trial will take place at Franklin County Courthouse in Ozark. The trial for the killing of ASU beauty queen Nona Dirksmeyer was moved from Pope County after Jones’ lawyers were granted a change of venue.

People in Benton County who want to purchase liquor to drink at home, without driving to a private club or a liquor store in another county, can sign petitions starting Saturday. Citizens for Choice 2008 will conduct its second petition drive from 8:30 a.m. until about 2 p.m. Saturday on private property just north of the Missouri line. The property is directly across the street from the Wal-Mart Supercenter’s liquor store in Jane, Mo.

State Sen. Bill Pritchard of Elkins made headlines while on vacation in Pensacola, Florida this week when he helped rescue a man drowning in a swimming pool.

Gov. Mike Beebe has set aside $250,000 for the Delta Memorial Hospital to cover outstanding medical bills after February tornadoes tore through Dumas and southern Arkansas.

West Memphis authorities say they are unaware of any protest planned for Saturday — including a potential visit by civil-rights leader Jesse Jackson — related to the June 22 shooting death of 12-year-old DeAuntae Farrow by a city police officer.

Pulaski County officials, seeking to propose new taxes for jail operation, are desperately pointing to the latest count of 532 robberies occurring in Little Rock by the middle of June.

An exchange of gunfire between a man and intruders into his Little Rock apartment left the resident with a bullet in his stomach and one of the assailants dead. Julian Armstrong is recovering in a local hospital. T. C. Jeffrey of Dallas has a history of being arrested in Pine Bluff.

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Need a good laugh?

I am not saying this is a meaningless story, BUT you need to read it all AND the reader comments in the Log Cabin Democrat. You will howl like Molly!

A woman was issued a warning for trespassing and asked to leave a Wal-Mart after she called police when she heard a young girl who was getting her ears pierced crying and screaming.

Marilyn Johnson said she was told she would no longer be allowed in the store after the incident occurred Sunday.

Johnson said she called 911 after trying to talk to the girl’s mother and the employee who was doing the ear piercing. She said the girl, who she thought was about 5 years old, was “crying her eyes out.”

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The good fortune of freedom

Whoever put the Fourth of July on a Wednesday ought to be in seriously big trouble. Still, yesterday was a great occasion. Marie and I had the great pleasure to spend time with some friends. We had burgers, brats, booze, and a dozen kinds of salads. It was not even a shadow of Thanksgiving, but there were hints of gluttony.

Kids played, grown ups laughed, and there were fireworks. It is the most all-American holiday. On such a day, it might be easy to forget what it is all about. No guilt trip here. There is nothing to be guilty over. We are fortunate to enjoy the blessings of liberty. For all our problems and struggles, no other people have been as prosperous or free.

We are very lucky to be Americans, and that is a point to keep in mind. It is by the generosity of others that we are breathing free. It is a gift of God that most of us were born here and not in the rest of this tumultuous world where people somehow get by on a few dollars a year and might possibly have good water and live past 20 years of age. Who do you think owns the world anyway?

Our work may give us more possessions, but we are just darned blessed to be in this happy circumstance. It would seem that we ought to be more generous to people who would like to share our land of plenty.

(Broadcast July 5, 2007)

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