Fred Thompson spoke by video to the National Right To Life Committee last week. He introduces his family, speaks on the importance of life, talks about his efforts on behalf of Chief Justice John Roberts and addresses stem cell research.

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State Representative Mike Jacobs today became the latest Democratic member of the General Assembly to switch to the Republican Party.  He wrote about his decision at his newly launched blog.

In this last session, I helped Mike in the Senate Rules Committee with House Bill 181, a measure he sponsored to make DeKalb County government more accountable to its taxpayers.  The bill passed both the Senate and House by wide margins, but the vote totals were misleading.   I watched one Senate Democrat attempt to thwart its passage at every virtually turn, all the way making a public show of supporting the bill.  I certainly can appreciate Mike’s frustration with his former colleagues.

At his blog today, Mike renewed his commitment to the principles of fiscal restraint, individual liberty and open government.  I have encouraged him to join the Republican Liberty Caucus, but whether he joins the RLC or not, I am very happy to welcome him to the Republican Party.  He will make a great addition.

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Today, the voters of the Tenth Congressional District will choose a successor to Congressman Charlie Norwood.  I joined Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and the other members of the Senate Republican Caucus in endorsing our friend and colleague, Jim Whitehead.  A former school teacher and successful businessman, Jim served as Chairman of the Columbia County Board of Commissioners before winning election to the State Senate.  He did an excellent job representing his district in the Senate.  He is a strong conservative and a good man, and I am proud to call him a friend.  He will be a great Congressman.

My support for Jim Whitehead is not intended to reflect poorly on the other Republican candidates.  Dr. Paul Broun has been a friend of mine since the early 1990s, and I have long admired his tireless championship of the conservative cause.  I have known Bill Green for a shorter period of time, but he has become a friend as well, supporting my campaigns for State Senate.  I met Erik Underwood at the State Republican Convention last month, and he too impressed me.  I do not know Nate Pulliam personally, but I wholeheartedly subscribe to his “far right” view that ”In God We Trust” should be retained as the national motto.

I even know one of the Democratic candidates.  Denise Freeman ran for Secretary of State in 1996, and after losing the Democratic Primary, helped me in the general election as one of the “Democrats for David Shafer.”  It was not a large group, and Denise may not appreciate my bringing it up now! 

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Three Democratic state senators today urged Governor Perdue to call a special session to terminate legal proceedings in the Genarlow Wilson case and take “immediate and decisive action to set Genarlow Wilson free and end this terrible nightmare for him and our beloved state once and for all.”

I am not sure what they are now proposing.  Every earlier legislative attempt to free Mr. Wilson would have opened up hundreds or even thousands of child molestation cases to judicial review, with mandatory notifications to the victims of these crimes.

Two weeks ago, House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter urged Governor Perdue to call a session to reduce the gas tax.

Given that a special session for any purpose would force the immediate transmittal of the Governor’s vetoes and almost certainly result in an intraparty confrontation over the budget, I suspect the Democrats would embrace virtually any reason to meet in special session.

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The Athens Banner Herald has endorsed a retired Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nate Pulliam, in the special election for the Tenth Congressional District.  

The editors of the Banner Herald had one reservation about their chosen candidate:

That isn’t to say he’s the perfect candidate. Pulliam has some far-right positions on relatively trivial issues - he doesn’t believe in “winter holidays” but in “Christmas holidays,” and believes the words “In God We Trust” should continue to appear on American currency. However, Pulliam said those issues, while important to him, won’t be a high priority for his service in Congress, if he’s elected.

What a right wing radical.  He does not want to rename Christian religious holidays or change the national motto.

Hat tip to Peach Pundit.

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House Democratic Leader DuBose Porter has written to the Governor urging a special session of the General Assembly to consider a reduction of the gas tax.   A special session for any purpose would force the Governor to immediately transmit his budget vetoes to the House, bringing that issue to a head now as opposed to next January when the fiscal year will have been largely completed. 

I do not anticipate the Governor calling a special session.

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The USA Today delivered this morning to my hotel room carried a front page story on a new scientific breakthrough suggesting that adult stem cells from skill tissue can be reprogrammed into the equivalent of embryonic stem cells — without creating or destroying an embryo.

I could not find a copy of the article at the USA Today website (or the Atlanta Journal-Constitution site, for that matter), but the Washington Post carried this report:

Three teams of scientists said yesterday they had coaxed ordinary mouse skin cells to become what are effectively embryonic stem cells without creating or destroying embryos in the process — an advance that, if it works with human cells, could revolutionize stem cell research and quench one of the hottest bioethical controversies of the decade.

In work being published today, the scientists describe a method for turning back the biological clocks of skin cells growing in laboratory dishes. Thus rejuvenated, the cells give rise to daughter cells that are able to become all the parts needed to make a new mouse.

If the process also works with human cells, as scientists suspect it will with some modifications, it would mean that a person’s own skin cells could be converted directly into stem cells without having to collect healthy human eggs or destroy human embryos — steps that until now have been required to obtain embryonic stem cells.

Earlier this year, researchers discovered a way to extract stem cells with the potency of embryonic stem cells from prenatal amniotic fluid, again without harm to the human embryo. 

As I have written before, I am a strong supporter of nondestructive stem cell research – research utilizing stem cells that are not derived by processes which destroy human life at any stage of development.  Stem cells from bone marrow and umbilical cord blood are being used today as medical treatments and cures for a number of conditions, including cancers and anemia.

I believe that the Saving the Cure Act, which the Governor signed two weeks ago, positions Georgia to become a leader in this medically promising and ethically responsible field of research.

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For what it is worth, I thought Mike Huckabee won the Presidential debate last night.  In fact, I have been impressed with him in every debate.  He is a very articulate and impressive spokesman for conservatism.

Today I am on St. Simon’s Island for the government affairs meeting of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.  I am attending a fundraiser this afternoon for my friend Jeff Chapman, who represents Glynn County in the State Senate.  Afterward, I am having a fundraiser for my own campaign with three of my Senate colleagues.

While I am down here, I hope to catch up with Mack Mattingly, who is spearheading the draft campaign for Fred Thompson.  I was proud to serve as the campaign treasurer for Senator Mattingly when he was drafted to run for his old Senate seat in 2000 after Paul Coverdell’s untimely passing.  I was sorely disappointed when we fell short in that election, but the eventual winner, Zell Miller, did not turn out too badly.

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