Sen. Bill Frist, the Republican Majority Leader, broke with President George W. Bush in the past couple of days and decided to push for federal funding of stem cell research - in spite of a threatened veto from the White House.

The activist group StemPac, which had been running broadcast and blog ads going after Sen. Frist, has decided to pull the attack ads and instead launch a letter writing campaign to thank the Senator from East Tennessee.

“For too long the promise of stem cell research has been held back by the ideology and ignorance of a small group of extremists,” said StemPac organizer John Hlinko. “The will of the majority has been ignored and hope for millions with debilitating illnesses has been needlessly delayed. For two long months, we have waited for the Senate to vote on HR 810, a critical stem cell bill that passed overwhelmingly in the House, and that has broad bipartisan support. That wait may now be over, thanks to the courage of Senator Frist. It took a lot of courage, and he deserves credit.”

The New York Times ran a story about this yesterday, but did not credit or quote the most visible group fighting for Frist’s support.

A group called Over the Mountain Democrats turned out at least 50 people last night for a party at the Moonlight Music Cafe in Vestavia. It was good to see some smart, progressive folks getting together to start trying to change some things in these parts, including my old friend and attorney George Huddleston.

The group is planning a series of events to raise money and get more poeple involved in issues such as poverty in Alabama, and have tentatively scheduled a visit from Vice Presidental candidate John Edwards in the fall. We’ll post more details as they become available.

What I’m wondering is: Where was the local press corps? No one from the Birmingham News, the Post-Herald, the Birmingham Weekly or Black and White? What about the TV News crews? Does this mean you can’t get press coverage in this town unless you are a bunch of card carrying Republicans?

What do you know, folks. The Birmingham Post-Herald finally got around to publishing my letter to the editor yesterday on how Senator Jeff Sessions embarrasses Alabama by kissing up to Karl Rove and George Bush.

It’s the lead letter. When you hit the link, you have to scroll down to where it says Your Views and the headline reads, “Sessions embarrassing to Alabamians.”

I also sent the letter to the Birmingham Snooze, the Montgomery Advertiser, the Mobile Register and a few other corporate chain newspapers in the state, where the letter was apparently ignored completely. So much for free speech and press in Alabama. I guess you have to be a good little professional Christian to get a letter published in a Newhouse or Gannet-owned media property in this DOG forsaken state.

How did I find out they published the letter? They actually took the bait and identified me as the editor and publisher of Locust Fork Publishing and included the domain name, LocustFork.Net. So a reader e-mailed me this morning with the following comment:

Well, the Professor and the Doc spent another afternoon on the front porch rockin’ away at some more radio food for the brain today, y’all.

We nailed a new intro and an ending to get us started, when all indications are the show will go live August 24, 2005, surely a day that will live in infamy in these parts.

Head on over to the Locust Fork Radio page to hear the latest musings. No really, hit the red link and go there…

There’s a severe thunderstorm brewing here in north central Alabama, folks, so I’ve got to unplug the modem and take a Yuengling break. I’ll be back chasing the headlines once this thing passes over. What the heck. It’s good for the grass.

More Smithsonian Photos

William Jennings Bryan (seated at left) being interrogated by Clarence Darrow during the Scopes Trial, July 20, 1925.

Marcel C. LaFollette, an independent scholar, historian and Smithsonian volunteer uncovered rare, unpublished photographs of the 1925 Tennessee vs. John Scopes “Monkey Trial” in the Smithsonian Institution Archives. The nitrate negatives, including portraits of trial participants, and images from the trial itself and significant places in Dayton, were discovered in archival material donated to the Smithsonian by Science Service in 1971.

Science Service is a Washington, D.C.-based organization founded in 1921 for the promotion of science writing and information about science in the media. Watson Davis (1896-1967), the Science Service managing editor, took these photographs when covering the Scopes trial as a reporter. In the 1925 trial, John Scopes was tried and convicted for violating a state law prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution. William Jennings Bryan served on the prosecution team, and Clarence Darrow defended Scopes.

In 2005, SIA restored fifty-two of the negatives with funds granted by the Smithsonian Women’s Committee. Shown here are twelve of the images. All photographs were taken by Watson Davis, Managing Editor of Science Service, while he was in Dayton, Tennessee, June 4-5, 1925, and July 10-22, 1925.