Locally Speaking

S.C. Considers Second ALEC Voting Bill

South Carolina is again considering a bill from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to limit access to the ballot box. A nearly identical version of an ALEC voting bill is moving through the state Senate and comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) blocking South Carolina's ALEC-inspired voter ID law as discriminatory against people of color.

State Senator Chip Campsen (R), an ALEC member, introduced SB 304, which is almost a mirror-image of the ALEC Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act (pdf). The bill requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and has opened up a new round of debate over voting rights.

DOJ Blocked S.C. Voter ID in December

In May 2011, South Carolina was part of a wave of states to pass restrictive voting measures using the ALEC model Voter ID Act as a template (Sen. Campsen also co-sponsored the voter ID bill). According to the ACLU, the law would disenfranchise 180,000 voters in the state, primarily people of color, students, and the elderly.

In December, the DOJ rejected South Carolina's voter ID law, noting that the state's registered population of minority voters was 20 percent more likely than whites to not have the required identification. Based on its history of discriminating against African-American voters, South Carolina is one of several states that under Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act needs federal pre-approval for changes to voting qualifications or procedures.

Critics say the voter ID laws are a politically-motivated effort to limit voting by people of color and college students -- populations that typically vote for Democrats. According to a report issued by the NAACP, across the country 25 percent of African Americans (over 6.2 million African-American voters) and 16 percent of Latinos (over 2.96 million Latino voters) do not possess state-issued photo IDs.

Supporters of the laws allege that an ID requirement is necessary to combat voter fraud, despite almost no evidence that it exists (pdf). The DOJ acknowledged this reality when it blocked South Carolina's law, writing that the state "did not include any evidence or instance of either in-person voter impersonation or any other type of fraud that is not already addressed by the state's existing voter identification requirement and that arguably could be deterred by requiring voters to present only photo identification at the polls."

ALEC Round Two

With South Carolina's voter ID law blocked, GOP legislators turned to another ALEC model that would limit access to the ballot box. On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee South Carolina passed SB 304, which was introduced by Sen. Campsen and is nearly identical to the ALEC Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act (pdf). See the side-by-side here. The bill now heads to the full Judiciary Committee.

Campsen insists that the bill is not an effort to rehash voter ID. "This bill is about determining someone's citizenship," he said, "to make sure that people who are not U.S. citizens do not vote."

Where the voter ID law required voters to show a passport, military ID, or state-issued ID to vote, SB 304 would require "proof of citizenship" in order to register to vote -- meaning voters must show a passport, military ID, state-issued ID, a birth certificate, or naturalization documents.

With both SB 304 and voter ID placing very similar burdens on voters, they'll have the same functional impact, says Sen. John Scott (D), the only member of the three-person subcommittee to vote against the bill. "They're just another way of prohibiting people from voting," he said.

Little Doubt that ALEC Served as Voter ID Model

SB 304 is almost a mirror-image of the ALEC model, greatly strengthening the inference that ALEC served as the source for the outbreak of voter ID bills that swept the country in 2011.

The 2011 voter ID bills clearly had ALEC DNA but spotting it required dissecting the proposals. In most states, the voter ID bills amended sections in an election statute rather than creating new ones. This meant that provisions from the ALEC model had to be shoehorned into an existing piece of legislation, which involved changing language and reordering the ALEC provisions. Finding the ALEC roots required taking the bill apart and putting it back together.

SB 304, though, creates entirely new sections in South Carolina's elections statutes, and no alteration is necessary. This makes the ALEC influence immediately apparent. See the side-by-side of the ALEC model and SB 304 here.

"Illegals" and "Zombie" Voters

In voting against SB 304 / the Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, Sen. Scott said there is no evidence that non-citizens are voting in South Carolina. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles and Election Commission is reportedly looking into whether any non-citizens have voted.

The Commission's examination comes soon after the head of the Department of Motor Vehicles claimed that more than 950 dead people had voted in South Carolina over the past six years. The claim was repeated on Fox News and other outlets as proof of "voter fraud" (and an example of why the blocked voter ID law was necessary), but fell apart after the Election Commission examined the data. Of the names the department was allowed to examine, all were alive and eligible to vote. –PR Watch

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Horry County ABATE Group Unhappy About Change To Harley Rally

Horry County ABATE has decided to stage a boycott, not of the spring bike rally, but of the Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson store and its owner Phil Schoonover unless he retreats from his plan to hold the Harley-Davidson Spring Cruisin’ the Coast rally from May 18-28.

Schoonover’s plan to hold biker rally events later in May than other Harley-related rally activities and to blend his rally with Atlantic Beach Bike Fest has angered the ABATE group because, Coordinator Gary Balcom said, it’s a bad idea and was not discussed with anyone else.

“The dust just got settled with Horry County, and now this has upset the county council all over again,” Balcom said, recalling Councilman Gary Loftus’s recent comments.

When Loftus heard about Schoonover’s plan to hold his rally later in the month -- leaving other Spring Bike Rally events to be held earlier and, in effect, adding 10 more days of Harley-related rally events -- he recommended council members discuss yanking vendor permits in the month of May.

“They just don’t seem to want to play by whatever rules we set,” Loftus said at a meeting two weeks ago.

But ‘there’s no ‘they’ in this,” Balcom said. “This was a one-man decision.”

Schoonover is in Las Vegas this week at a Harley-Davidson expo and could not be reached for comment.

In 2008, following the city of Myrtle Beach’s efforts to push the May rallies outside city limits, the county restricted the number of vending permits for May and limited the length of time for any one permit to seven days. The effect was to make the rally shorter and less impactful on the area, a move that angered motorcycle riders and their supporters.

The city and county efforts, including Myrtle Beach’s now-defunct helmet law, stirred up a lot of controversy, and the first year after the changes, Spring Bike Rally attendance was noticeably lower than in previous years.

But Balcom said the attendance was better last year and the controversy had died down.

“We definitely don’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” Balcom said. “We had already hashed it out, battled it out, and it was fine.”

Plus, he said, it’s too late in the game to change plans for this year, especially because other venues have already announced plans for the Spring Bike Rally.

“I wish we could have all sat down together and talked about this,” Balcom said.

The dates announced by the dealership carry the Spring Cruisin’ the Coast rally right into Memorial Day weekend, which has, for more than 30 years, been the weekend of sport-bike rider oriented Atlantic Beach Bike Fest. That weekend is also now shared with the culmination of the city of Myrtle Beach’s Military Appreciation Days, which draws military members and their families from several states.

From the perspective of some residents and officials, that makes three whole weeks of rallies, because organizers of other non-sport-bike related rallies have plans for May 10-20.

“Two bike rallies, Memorial Day events and the regular tourists who just like to come in May?

That’s too many people in one place at one time,” Balcom said. “That’s what got this whole thing started in the first place.”

Denise Medlin, marketing manager for Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson, the dealership just south of Myrtle Beach city limits, wanted to set the record straight:

“We are not trying to run over anyone’s event,” she said. “We are trying to give tourists more options. It just happens that another event is going on, but the more the merrier.”

The whole issue has become confused, she said, because people are thinking of this as an “extension” of “the rally.”

As far as MBHD is concerned, the Cruisin’ the Coast rally is “the rally,” and all the other events that are organized by other merchants earlier in May do not have Harley-Davidson’s sponsorship. But Cruisin’ the Coast began in the mid-1990s, long after what was known simply as the Spring Bike Rally began 71 years ago.

Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson dealership owner Phil Schoonover branded the event Cruisin’ the Coast in the early 2000s, but the event overlapped with the spring rally. The first third of May included all the Harley-related “bike week” events that had blended into one large, if not centrally organized, rally that always ended the week before Bike Fest began.

Many people say that when the dealership got involved is when the rally began to grow to the huge proportions that eventually riled residents and community leaders enough to spark new rules in 2008 and a ban on May vendors in Myrtle Beach proper.

This year, Medlin said, Schoonover decided to change the dates for Cruisin’ the Coast, in part to “conserve resources for the county,” a goal she said county leaders had discussed with Schoonover for years, saying it would be less demanding on the county if Cruisin’ the Coast and Atlantic Beach Bike Fest were closer together.

County spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier said to her knowledge, there has not been any discussion about the bike rallies since the county changed the rules for vendor permits.

“Yes, we’d like to see the rally go back to the length it was (before the new regulations, there were nearly three straight weeks of Harley-related events and gatherings on the Grand Strand), but he should use the earlier part of the month. Give the county a break in between the rallies,” Balcom said.

There have already been discussions on social media outlets over which is the “real” rally.

“We hadn’t even announced the dates yet,” Medlin said. “Some people just jumped the gun.”

Some businesses, like SBB, have said on social media outlets that they are not involved with the dealership, that the rally is independent of the dealership’s plans, and that it doesn’t matter what the dealership plans to do, they are still going to hold their events when they want.

All this has raised questions of vendor permits, which the county limits to no longer than seven days, and says must be affiliated with an event.

The county considers the rally, no matter what it is called, to be the one that takes place between May 14 and 20, and it will issue vendor permits for that week starting in April, Bourcier said.

Harley-Davidson can apply for its vendor permits in conjunction with Bike Fest later in the month, she said.

But there are other concerns, too, Balcom said.

The large crowd would overwhelm local law enforcement resources, he wrote in an ABATE statement sent out Thursday.

“The last thing we want to see is any event getting out of hand,” Balcom wrote.

The statement encourages bikers to boycott “all the dealerships and clothing outlets that are owned by Phil Schoonover, and we hope that the biker community as a whole will come together with us on this boycott until such time as Mr. Schoonover retracts his plan of the overlapping dates he has proposed for this year.”

The statement calls Schoonover’s decision a “slap in the face to the county council,” and says it is not in keeping with the wishes of the larger part of the biker community.

Balcom and many others hope the county will not pull the vendor permits all together, because that, they said would really damage many of the mom-and-pop businesses that cater to the motorcycle community.

The county intends to discuss Schoonover’s plans, vendor permits and other rally-related issues at its committee of the whole meeting, 9 a.m. Feb. 14 at the Horry County Government and Justice Center in Conway. –Myrtle Beach Online

Ragbag Headliners

The Feds Had Better Stop Alabama…Before Everyone There Has a Job!

Oh no! It’s happened again. Alabama’s unemployment rate continues to plummet.

Ever since Alabama began implementing its immigration enforcement law, H.B. 56, in late September, the state’s unemployment rate has been dropping like a stone. In just the first month the law was in effect, unemployment in Alabama shrank from 9.8 percent of the workforce to 9.3 percent. And now the latest figures are in…and the news couldn’t be worse (for the Obama administration, the illegal alien lobby, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that is): Alabama’s unemployment rate checked in at 8.1 percent in December. That’s more than a 17 percent reduction since September.

No wonder the Department of Justice sued Alabama and its Civil Rights division continues to harass state agencies, even though the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed that all but a few provisions of the law could go into effect. Illegal aliens are responding to the law by leaving, which is not what the Obama administration or the illegal alien lobby want. And lots of jobs being vacated by illegal aliens are being filled by American workers, which is not exactly good news to cheap labor interests which have insisted that only illegal aliens would do those jobs.

Why the next thing you know, other states might get the idea that they too can reduce illegal immigration, tame unemployment, and cut costs by enacting similar policies. People might even start to wonder why the federal government isn’t doing it. –Immigration Reform

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U.S Falls To 47th In Press Freedom Rankings

Sweeping protests around the world made it an extremely difficult year for the media, and tested journalists as never before, the annual report into press freedom reveals.

The annual report by Reporters Without Borders has been released, showing the United States fell 27 points on the list due to the many arrests of journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests.

The slide in the United States places it just behind Comoros and Taiwan in a group with Argentina and Romania.

Reporters Without Borders said the heightened unrest around the world resulted in a significant shake-up of the group’s annual Press Freedom Index, which assesses governments’ commitment to protecting media freedoms. –Vision To America

NBC/WSJ poll: Majority Would Vote Out Every Member Of Congress

In a country sharply divided on almost every issue, most Americans agree on one thing: they don’t like Congress, and they would vote to replace every single member -- even their own -- if they had the option.

Fifty-six percent of registered voters say they would vote out every member of Congress if there were a place on the ballot to do so. That’s the highest response in favor of the question since it was first asked in March 2010.

And they say so across the ideological spectrum – with 55 percent of liberals, 55 percent of moderates, and 58 percent of conservatives all feeling the same way.

“We found the one area in which all people in the country agree,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart.

Combine that with Congress continuing to be at near-record lows in approval at 13 percent and all members of Congress are at risk, McInturff said.

But there are also warning signs specifically for Republicans.

More people say the GOP has brought the wrong kind of change (31 percent) in Congress than the right kind (12 percent). That represents a drop for the GOP from a year ago, right after when they took control of the House as a result of the sweeping 2010 elections. In January 2011, 25 percent thought Republicans would bring the right kind of change versus 20 percent who thought they would bring the wrong kind.

Those attitudes are also far worse than right after when Democrats took control of the House in 2006 (42%/15%) and Republicans regained a majority in 1994 (37%/11%).

“People want Congress to get things done, act responsibly and fix the economy,” McInturff said, “and if they don’t,” they could be in trouble. McIntruff added, “These guys are going to be running in a head wind.” -First Read

The US Constitution: Has it been forsaken?

About Act For America

WHAT WE'RE UP AGAINST

Followers of radical Islam have declared jihad against Christians, Jews, non-Muslims and secularists - simply because they regard us as infidels. They even target Muslims whom they regard as insufficiently “pure.”

The warriors of radical Islam are not only "over there." Tens of thousands of Islamic militants now reside in America, operating in sleeper cells, attending our colleges and universities, engaging in influence operations aimed at the media and government. They are here - today. Many have been here for years. Waiting. Preparing.

What’s more, there are Islamists throughout the world, and here in America, who may not engage in violent jihad, but are committed to “stealth jihad” or “cultural jihad.” Their modus operandi is summed up by this statement from The Muslim Brotherhood’s strategic memo, entered into evidence at the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial in 2007:

“The Ikhwan [Muslim brothers] must understand that all their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within and `sabotaging’ their miserable house…”

Omar Ahmad, co-founder of CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, made his intent clear in a July 4, 1998 San Ramon Valley Herald article: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur’an should be the highest authority in America.”

The ultimate goal of both violent jihad and stealth jihad is the same: the advance and imposition of Islamic sharia law throughout the world. Only the means to the end is different.

Islamists are being aided and abetted by the purveyors of political correctness - those in government, the media, academia and Hollywood who are apologists for and enablers of radical Islam, who refuse to acknowledge the supremacist political ideology embedded within Islam that motivates both the violent jihadist and the stealth jihadist.

Political correctness can be annoying, frustrating, even exasperating. In the struggle against the threat of radical Islam, political correctness will literally kill us.

WHAT IS ACT! FOR AMERICA?

ACT! for America is the nation’s largest national security movement. It is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America. We are committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America's national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam.

The fight against radical Islam is a fight Brigitte Gabriel knows all too well. Ms. Gabriel was born in Lebanon and raised as a Christian. When the Lebanese Civil War broke out, her family and her Maronite community came under vicious attack by Islamists. They promised to destroy her, and some 100,000 Christians died as a result.

She was nearly killed by a mortar. Her home was destroyed. She lived in a bomb shelter for seven years. Most of her childhood friends were killed. That's how Brigitte Gabriel knows about this fight.

The democratic values of Western Civilization, exemplified by the celebration of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, are under attack from radical Islam, exemplified by its celebration of death, terror and tyranny. This is an enemy that is determined, relentless and intent on imposing its ideology and sharia law on all freedom-loving people everywhere - including the United States.

WHY ACT! FOR AMERICA IS NEEDED

Brigitte Gabriel founded ACT! for America to be a citizen action network that will be the front-line voice for freedom-loving Americans everywhere. Our goal is to create a powerful grassroots organization of local chapters and citizens...

• Committed to the defense and advocacy of the democratic values that made America great;

• Committed to the dissemination of information about what radical Islam really is, what it believes, what its goals are, how it plans to accomplish them - and why freedom-loving people need to know this;

• Committed to our national security and defense and advancing public policies that will protect our national security from the multiple threats posed against our nation by radical Islam;

• Committed to holding our elected representatives accountable to uphold their oath of office to defend the United States and its Constitution from ALL enemies, foreign and domestic - which clearly includes Islamists committed to violent and stealth jihad and the advance of sharia law.

WHY DOES OUR STRUGGLE MATTER? IT MATTERS BECAUSE...

If we don't win the war against radical Islam other issues won't matter at all.

We won't have an economy to worry about.

We won't have equal rights for all.

We won't have our cherished freedom.

And we will live under sharia Law.

WE CAN WIN. WE MUST WIN.

America stood up to the terror and tyranny of Nazism -- and won.

America stood up to the terror and tyranny of Communism - and won.

If we will stand up to the terror and tyranny of radical Islam, we will once again win.

ACT! for America has been founded so Americans do not have to stand alone against the threat of radical Islam. Join us today and become part of this growing movement of freedom-loving Americans who will not stand by while our lives and liberties are under assault.

OUR MEMBERS INCLUDE:

Jews, Arabs, Christians, Hindus, non-Muslims and Muslims; secularists, liberals, moderates, conservatives. These good, patriotic people have put their differences aside on other issues to join together in common cause against the threat of radical Islam, sharia and global jihad.

(Note: When someone signs up for our free email alerts, or signs one of our petitions, we describe that person as a “member.”) -Act For America

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This is ACT! for America

A Note From An English Teacher -- Short And Direct To The Point:

In today's world of technology and electronic communication, more and more people who send text and email messages have forgotten/ignored the importance of and the reason for capitalization/use of capital letters.

Take note of the following sentence/statement:

Capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your uncle jack off a horse.

Author Unknown

The Life Report: Frank H. Wheeler

The following Life Report was submitted in response to my column of Oct. 28, in which I asked readers over 70 to write autobiographical essays evaluating their own lives. This one takes the form of a letter from a father to his two sons.

Dear Todd and Brian,

As my three score and ten years come to a close, it seems a good time to muse a bit about my life. Deep in the mire of active alcoholism in my late 30’s, not many people would have bet I would have passed 40, much less 70. But miracles happen in the strangest of ways and I have been given a life far beyond any I could have dreamed: I am married to the girl of my dreams, coming up on 50 years now. You two, your wives and kids put yourself in my presence, seemingly with pleasure. I have a relationship with, and a healthy dependence upon, a loving God. Both your mom and I have sufficient health, financial resources, mental acuity and interests to embrace and enjoy a robust, diverse life. I had a varied, remunerative, fascinating career in three industries. We seem to have balanced our own interests with responsibilities to our broader societies reasonably well. We, individually and as a couple, have a set of reliable, caring, fun friends different enough to provide spice and perspective, congruent enough to relate. At last count we have visited some 60 countries and seem to be at home in the middle of London or the backwoods of West Virginia. Were we perfect? Nope! Did we make mistakes along the way? Yup! Was it on balance pretty darn good? Absolutely!

Not much of this was predictable to anyone seeing a boy born in modest circumstances in West Virginia in 1940. Higher education was not a norm, a world war was starting, a depression was fresh in everyone’s mind, the average life span for a male in that state was around fifty, people stayed put and guys went to work in the mines, chemical companies or the state road. But my parents, both from humble backgrounds, were different. They had a vision for education, although they had little. They knew how to work hard, live within their means, save for the future, and delay gratification. They knew how to be a neighbor, in the pioneer style, and how to respect family. They had core values and lived by them. They knew God and tried to act as He would want them to act, as best they knew. They educated two boys. They mortgaged their house to found a church. They saved mom’s family farm from foreclosure. Were they perfect? Nope! Did they make mistakes along the way? Yup! Did they provide the foundation for me to build upon? Absolutely!

Now, did I use that foundation? Not for decades. At some point I concluded money and power were the source of happiness. I ran away from the God of my youth. I developed sharp elbows and the ability to “conveniently reinvent facts.” My values, to the extent I had any, were flexible and tailored to any current situations. I ignored obvious and compelling evidence of a genetic predisposition to alcoholism and embraced the magic of Jim Beam. But I did some things right. I worked hard to obtain a useful undergraduate and graduate degree. I had the amazing good sense to marry your mom and she had the poor judgment to stick around. We both shared a sense of adventure that led us enthusiastically to embrace work and other opportunities. I sensed ways to build an asset base by working for fast-growing, small companies and trading short term income for equity. I seemed to be able to do the best job I could at any given time and let the future unfold. We consistently, and to this day, lived below our means. We were able to take prudent risks.

Most fortunate of all, during my alcohol-induced wilderness years, and your early ones, your mom was the steel bands, wrapped in velvet, which held our lives together. As my life spiraled out of control, somehow we survived. I came face to face with the reality of my life, first in jail in Selma, Alabama, and then a moment of clarity in a Nashville coffee shop, Easter Sunday, 1980. Shortly thereafter I prayed, “God, if you are there and you care, I need your help.” God was there, God cared and I got help.

Over time, I did build on the foundation my parents had put in place. I was able to partner more effectively with your mom, expressing my deep and growing love, and joining to mitigate our individual weaknesses and to make the most of our respective strengths. All aspects of life improved and I began to participate in family, community and work in new, enjoyable and largely effective ways. Somehow out of disaster came a confluence of factors that have led to a life I could not have dreamed. I learned not to fear mistakes too much; they were the greatest source of effective learning. I learned to focus my physical, emotional and spiritual energy on things I could change and accept those I could not. I finally discovered that doing the “right” things, in the “right” way and for the “right” motives lead to a general level of contentment even in the face of sadness, uncertainty and legitimate fear. Perfect? Nope! Still much progress to be made? Yup! Largely good and acceptable at 71? Absolutely! Entering the twilight years reasonably at peace? Most of the time!

So, to wrap this up, are there some things I would change? You bet and here are some of them:

1. I would never have used alcohol or other mind-altering substances.

2. I would have become much more open to spirituality much earlier. Nowhere else has “contempt prior to investigation” served me more poorly. I looked at God, institutional churches and believers of all ilks with contempt, anger or amusement. I sought and found, only evidence that supported that view, ignoring evidence to the contrary. And my late blooming spirituality deprived you two of a fuller sense of God in your early years. That I regret deeply.

3. I would have been much more conscious of my footprint on earth. It is amazing how blind I was, and to a large extent still am, to the most sensible of environmental concerns in all aspects of my life. I have not been a good steward of the earth you and your children have inherited.

4. I would have been much more deliberate and thoughtful about how I spent my physical, emotional and spiritual energy, especially in regards my vocations, thinking more precisely about how my decisions affected those around me.
   
5. I would have been much more open, much sooner, to different people, their perspectives, their beliefs and their life styles. I love the diversity of many of my friends…their variety adds richness, openness, texture and interest to my life. Buddies range from 8th grade education to GEDs to Ph. D’s to MD’s, from dedicated socialist to a guy to the right of Attila the Hun, from atheist to Hindu to Muslim to Hassidic Jew to Christians of all stripes, from a murderer to a semi-saint, from multi-millionaire to a guy whose net worth is a dog, from about age 25 to me and the list goes on. I treasure the diversity and work very hard to ignore areas of core disagreements, focusing on what

6. I can learn and share. Dialogue not debate.

7. I would have become engaged with the political process, especially at the local level. At least be an informed, engaged voter.

So, how to end this? I look forward to musing about four score years!

Love, Dad

By David Brooks-The New York Times

‘We The People’ Loses Appeal With People Around The World

The Constitution has seen better days.

Sure, it is the nation’s founding document and sacred text. And it is the oldest written national constitution still in force anywhere in the world. But its influence is waning.

In 1987, on the Constitution’s bicentennial, Time magazine calculated that “of the 170 countries that exist today, more than 160 have written charters modeled directly or indirectly on the U.S. version.”

A quarter-century later, the picture looks very different. “The U.S. Constitution appears to be losing its appeal as a model for constitutional drafters elsewhere,” according to a new study by David S. Law of Washington University in St. Louis and Mila Versteeg of the University of Virginia.

The study, to be published in June in The New York University Law Review, bristles with data. Its authors coded and analyzed the provisions of 729 constitutions adopted by 188 countries from 1946 to 2006, and they considered 237 variables regarding various rights and ways to enforce them.

“Among the world’s democracies,” Professors Law and Versteeg concluded, “constitutional similarity to the United States has clearly gone into free fall. Over the 1960s and 1970s, democratic constitutions as a whole became more similar to the U.S. Constitution, only to reverse course in the 1980s and 1990s.”

“The turn of the twenty-first century, however, saw the beginning of a steep plunge that continues through the most recent years for which we have data, to the point that the constitutions of the world’s democracies are, on average, less similar to the U.S. Constitution now than they were at the end of World War II.”

There are lots of possible reasons. The United States Constitution is terse and old, and it guarantees relatively few rights. The commitment of some members of the Supreme Court to interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning in the 18th century may send the signal that it is of little current use to, say, a new African nation. And the Constitution’s waning influence may be part of a general decline in American power and prestige.

In an interview, Professor Law identified a central reason for the trend: the availability of newer, sexier and more powerful operating systems in the constitutional marketplace. “Nobody wants to copy Windows 3.1,” he said.

In a television interview during a visit to Egypt last week, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court seemed to agree. “I would not look to the United States Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012,” she said. She recommended, instead, the South African Constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the European Convention on Human Rights.

The rights guaranteed by the American Constitution are parsimonious by international standards, and they are frozen in amber. As Sanford Levinson wrote in 2006 in “Our Undemocratic Constitution,” “the U.S. Constitution is the most difficult to amend of any constitution currently existing in the world today.” (Yugoslavia used to hold that title, but Yugoslavia did not work out.)

Other nations routinely trade in their constitutions wholesale, replacing them on average every 19 years. By odd coincidence, Thomas Jefferson, in a 1789 letter to James Madison, once said that every constitution “naturally expires at the end of 19 years” because “the earth belongs always to the living generation.” These days, the overlap between the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and those most popular around the world is spotty.

Americans recognize rights not widely protected, including ones to a speedy and public trial, and are outliers in prohibiting government establishment of religion. But the Constitution is out of step with the rest of the world in failing to protect, at least in so many words, a right to travel, the presumption of innocence and entitlement to food, education and health care.

It has its idiosyncrasies. Only 2 percent of the world’s constitutions protect, as the Second Amendment does, a right to bear arms. (Its brothers in arms are Guatemala and Mexico.)

The Constitution’s waning global stature is consistent with the diminished influence of the Supreme Court, which “is losing the central role it once had among courts in modern democracies,” Aharon Barak, then the president of the Supreme Court of Israel, wrote in The Harvard Law Review in 2002.

Many foreign judges say they have become less likely to cite decisions of the United States Supreme Court, in part because of what they consider its parochialism.

“America is in danger, I think, of becoming something of a legal backwater,” Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia said in a 2001 interview. He said that he looked instead to India, South Africa and New Zealand.

Mr. Barak, for his part, identified a new constitutional superpower: “Canadian law,” he wrote, “serves as a source of inspiration for many countries around the world.” The new study also suggests that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, adopted in 1982, may now be more influential than its American counterpart.

The Canadian Charter is both more expansive and less absolute. It guarantees equal rights for women and disabled people, allows affirmative action and requires that those arrested be informed of their rights. On the other hand, it balances those rights against “such reasonable limits” as “can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”

There are, of course, limits to empirical research based on coding and counting, and there is more to a constitution than its words, as Justice Antonin Scalia told the Senate Judiciary Committee in October. “Every banana republic in the world has a bill of rights,” he said.

“The bill of rights of the former evil empire, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was much better than ours,” he said, adding: “We guarantee freedom of speech and of the press. Big deal. They guaranteed freedom of speech, of the press, of street demonstrations and protests, and anyone who is caught trying to suppress criticism of the government will be called to account. Whoa, that is wonderful stuff!”

“Of course,” Justice Scalia continued, “it’s just words on paper, what our framers would have called a ‘parchment guarantee.’ ” -The New York Times

Ragbag Headliners

Gun-scanning Cameras Could Hit Streets Soon

The NYPD is stepping up their war against illegal guns, with a new tool that could detect weapons on someone as they walk down the street.

But is it violating your right to privacy?

Police, along with the U.S. Department of Defense, are researching new technology in a scanner placed on police vehicles that can detect concealed weapons.

“You could use it at a specific event. You could use it at a shooting-prone location,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly told CBS 2′s Hazel Sanchez on Tuesday.

It’s called Terahertz Imaging Detection. It measures the energy radiating from a body up to 16 feet away, and can detect anything blocking it, like a gun.

The proposal returns us to the old “liberty versus safety” argument (for which ol’ Ben Franklin said those who would give up liberty for safety deserve neither), and has ignited an “uproar on both sides of the privacy issue.”

“I think it’s good. People will be safer and it will be a safer environment,” Jessica Ramos said.

“If it’s going to make us safer as citizens I’m okay with that,” said Lori Sampson of Lake Ronkonkoma.

“I think it’s all about invading people’s lives more and more and more,” Antonio Gabriel said.

“It’s definitely a privacy issue, but it’s for our safety. So it’s just one of those things, a double-edged sword,” added Clarence Moore of Union, N.J.

Police Commissioner Kelly said the scanner would only be used in reasonably suspicious circumstances and could cut down on the number of stop-and-frisks on the street.

“Trust us, we’ll never abuse our power.” When are we going to pass a law against public officials using that line?

But the New York Civil Liberties Union is raising a red flag.

“It’s worrisome. It implicates privacy, the right to walk down the street without being subjected to a virtual pat-down by the Police Department when you’re doing nothing wrong,” the NYCLU’s Donna Lieberman said.

“We have involved our attorneys as we go forward with this issue. We think it’s a very positive development,” Kelly said. –American Vision News

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PTC: More Skin Likely ... Unless

A conservative advocacy group is growing more concerned over the amount of skin shown during network prime-time television.

The Parents Television Council is worried about the troubling trend it has been documenting even before releasing its report "The Alarming Family Hour" more than four years ago. Melissa Henson is director of communications and public education for PTC.

"What we have seen so far this season is a fairly noticeable increase in the frequency of depictions of nudity on prime-time broadcast television -- and that's something that used to be unheard of not that long ago," she tells OneNewsNow. "And even though it started creeping into 10:00 p.m. shows, you never would have seen that sort of content, certainly during the family hour. But now you are."

Henson says this could just be the beginning, depending on how the Supreme Court rules on a couple of cases regarding indecency -- a battle that has gone on for decades between the networks and decency advocates.

"The concern, of course, is that if the Supreme Court sides with the networks in these cases, I think we can all expect to see even more of this sort of content in the future," laments the PTC spokeswoman. "And it's going to be increasingly difficult for parents to avoid it when they're watching TV with their kids."

She says it is very telling that more and more TV contracts for actors include nudity clauses. And as PTC points out, the broadcast networks would not be waging the legal battle currently before the Supreme Court for something they do not intend to do.

In a statement earlier this month, PTC president Tim Winter warned that if the high court rules in favor of the networks, "the American people are going to get a rude awakening when broadcast TV become indistinguishable from Cinemax, HBO, or something even more explicit."

PTC maintains a weekly, online "family guide" to prime-time network television indicating which shows may include indecent content unsuitable for children, which shows contain adult-oriented themes/dialogue that may be inappropriate for youngsters, and which shows are family-friendly and promote responsible themes and traditional values. –One News Now

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HPV Study Finds 7% of U.S. Teens, Adults Carry Virus In Mouths

Infection with human papillomavirus heightens the risk of developing cancer of the mouth and throat. The findings indicate that most cases of oral HPV can be traced to oral sex, rather than to kissing or casual contact.

A new study showing an estimated 7% of American teens and adults carry the human papillomavirus in their mouths may help health experts finally understand why rates of mouth and throat cancer have been climbing for nearly 25 years. The evidence makes it clear that oral sex practices play a key role in transmission.

The new data, published online Thursday by the Journal of the American Medical Assn., are the first to assess the prevalence of oral HPV infection in the U.S. population. The findings indicate that the virus is not likely to spread through kissing or casual contact and that most cases of oral HPV can be traced to oral sex, which many Americans mistakenly view as a safe practice.

"There is a strong association for sexual behavior, and that has important implications for public health officials who teach sexual education," said Dr. Maura L. Gillison of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, who led the study and presented the findings Thursday at a meeting of head and neck cancer researchers and doctors in Phoenix.

Though herpes, HIV and other diseases can be transmitted via oral sex, the practice is often considered a safer alternative to sexual intercourse. A survey released last year by theU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that about 90% of adults have had oral sex, along with 27% of 15-year-old boys and 23% of 15-year-old girls.

"I don't think people think of oral sex in the same way they do with traditional intercourse," said Fred Wyand, director of the HPV Resource Center at the American Social Health Assn. in Research Triangle Park, N.C. "Sometimes younger people engage in oral sex so they don't have to worry about pregnancy. They may not even make the link between oral sex and STDs."

Suspicion among researchers that the behavior could cause oral cancers by transmitting HPV to the mouth has been mounting over the last decade. Initial studies found that patients with oral cancer were far more likely than healthy controls to have engaged in oral sex. And a 2007 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the more oral sex partners a person has had, the greater their risk of developing throat cancer.

Most oral HPV infections are harmless, and oral cancers are still relatively uncommon. But given the new information, doctors should encourage their patients to use protection during oral sex, Dr. Hans Schlecht, assistant professor of medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.

"It's something people are not comfortable talking about, but it is protective," he said in an interview. "If you are going to be intimate with someone, there are some adult conversations you need to have."

HPV is best known as the cause of cervical cancer, which kills 4,220 women in the U.S. each year, according to the National Cancer Institute. The virus can also cause vulvar, anal, penile and various head and neck cancers. A study published in October in the Journal of Clinical Oncology traced more than 70% of new cases of oral cancers to HPV infection, putting it ahead of tobacco use as the leading cause of such cancers.

If present trends continue, HPV will cause more cases of oral cancers than cervical cancer by 2020, according to the October study.

HPV infection is common — an estimated 80% of Americans have contracted the virus, Gillison said. It usually produces no symptoms and is typically cleared from the body through natural processes.

But persistent infections can cause cancer. Vaccines are now available for children and young adults to prevent cervical and anal cancers caused by the most troublesome HPV strains.

To get a handle on HPV's role in oral cancers, Gillison and her colleagues analyzed data from 5,579 people ages 14 to 69 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2009 and 2010. The survey includes a detailed questionnaire and a physical examination, including the first large-scale use of a 30-second oral rinse from which researchers were able to extract cells to test for HPV infection. The test, which can detect the virus in the mouth as accurately as in the cervix, was 10 years in the making.

Gillison's team found that the overall prevalence of oral HPV was 6.9% — far less than the rate of genital HPV infection in reproductive-age women, which can be as high as 42% among women in their 20s.

The infection rate varied substantially among different groups. For instance, 10.1% of men in the study had oral HPV, compared with 3.6% of women. The reason for the difference is unknown but it could have to do with oral sex practices, Gillison said.

Among people who had more than 20 sexual partners, the prevalence of oral HPV was 20%. But the researchers found it in fewer than 1% of people who said they were virgins and in fewer than 4% of people who said they had never performed oral sex.

Researchers also noted age differences: Those in their early 60s had the highest prevalence at 11.4%. That's in marked contrast to cervical HPV infection, which is most common among women in their early 20s.

It's unclear why the prevalence of oral HPV peaks much later in life, Gillison said. One possibility is that the immune system weakens with age, making people more vulnerable to latent infections. Another theory is that study participants in their 60s grew up during an era of sexual permissiveness that preceded public health messages about safe sex.

"People who came of age during the sexual revolution may have had more sexual partners than other age groups, such as groups that came of age during the HIV epidemic," Gillison said.

The study also linked heavy smoking to oral infection. It's possible that smoking weakens the body's immune response, making it easier for an infection to persist.

The most common high-risk HPV strain, HPV-16, infected 1% of the participants. That strain raises the risk of oral cancer fiftyfold and accounts for most cases of squamous cell cancers of the mouth and pharynx. Squamous cell cancers, which arise in the mucous membranes that line the mouth and throat, are diagnosed in 2.6 per 100,000 people and are the most common type of oropharyngeal cancer.

Even with only 1% of people infected by HPV-16, that still translates to "hundreds of thousands of people" who will contract the virus and be unable to clear it, Schlecht said.

It's unclear whether the HPV vaccine will protect against oral cancers. That question that could take years to answer, experts said.

In the meantime, the new data should give parents more to think about as they consider whether to vaccinate their children — especially their sons, Gillison said. HPV vaccination is recommended for females ages 9 to 26 and males ages 9 to 21.

"Some parents may have felt that the risk of HPV infection wasn't relevant to them," she said. "But this study shows 1 in 10 boys has an infection that can lead to a cancer." -Los Angeles Times

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Expert: Newt Understands Islam 'Very Well'

A U.S.-born Israeli author and expert on the Middle East is praising presidential candidate Newt Gingrich for continuing to tell the truth about sharia law.

As previously reported on OneNewsNow, Gingrich recently took heat for saying that the Palestinians are "an invented people." Now, the Council on American-Islamic Relations is blasting the former House speaker for saying he would only hire Muslims to his administration if they renounced the use of Islamic sharia law as a tool for the U.S. government. CAIR is calling Gingrich "one of the nation's worst promoters of anti-Muslim bigotry."

But David Rubin, the former mayor of the Israeli city of Shiloh and author of The Islamic Tsunami: Israel and America in the Age of Obama, again thinks the presidential hopeful is right on.

"Sharia law is a threat to the United States of America and to Western civilization," he contends. "Sharia law says that women are allowed to be beaten by their husbands. It's also Islamic law that says that jihad holy war against all non-Muslims is a virtue and an obligation on every Muslim that needs to be adhered to. So, Newt Gingrich understands very well the Islamic civilization."

Rubin believes Gingrich has demonstrated boldness by speaking out about sharia, which by definition is intolerant and anti-American. –One News Now

20 Signs That Europe Is Plunging Into A Full-Blown Economic Depression

An economic nightmare is descending on Europe.  With each passing month, the economic numbers across Europe get even worse.  At this point it is becoming extremely difficult for anyone to deny that Europe is plunging into a full-blown economic depression.  In fact, some parts of Europe are already there.  In Spain the overall unemployment rate is over 22 percent, and in Greece one out of every five retail establishments has already been closed down.  All over Europe, economic activity is rapidly slowing down, unemployment is skyrocketing and bad debts are unraveling.  It isn't even going to take a default by a nation such as Greece or a collapse of the euro to push Europe into an economic depression.  All Europe has to do is to stay on the exact path that it is on right now and it will get there.  Normally, European governments would respond to an economic slowdown by increasing government spending.  But this time most of them are already drowning in debt.  Instead of increasing government spending, most governments in Europe are actually cutting back.  All over Europe, national governments are being encouraged to implement even more tax increases and even more budget cuts.  The hope is that all of this austerity will help solve the nightmarish sovereign debt crisis that Europe is facing.  But unfortunately, all of these tax increases and budget cuts are also going to involve a tremendous amount of economic pain.

The frightening thing is that we are just at the beginning of the process for most European nations.  If you want to see where nations such as Portugal, Italy and Spain are headed, just take a look at Greece.  Greece has been going down this road for several years, and there is still no light at the end of the tunnel for them.

The tax increases and budget cuts that are being implemented right now in Europe will be felt for years to come.  The tremendous economic prosperity that was fueled by unprecedented amounts of debt will now give way to tremendous economic suffering.

The following are 20 signs that Europe is plunging into a full-blown economic depression....

#1 The unemployment rate for those between the ages of 16 and 24 is 28 percent in Italy, 43 percent in Greece and 51 percent in Spain.

#2 Overall, the unemployment rate for those under the age of 25 in the EU is 22.7 percent.

#3 Citigroup is projecting that the economy of Portugal will shrink by 5.7 percent this year.

#4 The total of all forms of debt in Portugal (government, business and consumer) is equivalent to 360 percent of GDP.

#5 The Greek "recession" is now entering a fifth year.

#6 The Greek economy shrank by 6 percent during 2011.

#7 It is being projected that the Greek economy will shrink by another 5 percent during 2012.

#8 The overall unemployment rate in Greece is now 18.5 percent.

#9 In Greece, 20 percent of all retail stores have been permanently shut down.

#10 The number of suicides in Greece rose by 40 percent in just one recent 12 month time period.

#11 According to the IMF, the amount of debt accumulated by the Greek government is equal to approximately 160 percent of GDP.

#12 In total, there are now more than 5 million unemployed workers in Spain.

#13 Bad loans in Spain recently reached a 17-year high.

#14 The overall unemployment rate in Spain is now a whopping 22.8 percent.

#15 The number of property repossessions in Spain has risen by 32 percent over the past year.

#16 When the maturing debt that the Italian government must roll over in 2012 is added to their projected budget deficit, the total comes to approximately 23.1 percent of Italy's GDP.

#17 Manufacturing activity in the euro zone has fallen for five months in a row.

#18 The UK economy actually contracted during the 4th quarter of 2011.

#19 The German economy actually contracted during the 4th quarter of 2011.

#20 The Baltic Dry Index, often used as a gauge for the health of the world economy, has fallen a staggering 61 percent since October.

Economic gloom is slowly spreading throughout Europe like a dark cloud.  Some of the strongest economies in Europe are only just starting to slow down.  Others are already gripped by tremendous economic pain.  Trends forecaster Gerald Celente recently explained to ABC Australia that much of the EU is already experiencing an economic depression.…

"If you live in Greece, you’re in a depression; if you live in Spain, you’re in a depression; if you live in Portugal or Ireland, you’re in a depression,” Celente said. “If you live in Lithuania, you’re running to the bank to get your money out of the bank as the bank runs go on. It’s a depression. Hungary, there’s a depression, and much of Eastern Europe, Romania, Bulgaria. And there are a lot of depressions going on [already]."

As things fall apart in Europe, the political wrangling is going to become even more intense.

For example, over the past few days a shocking new German proposal has come to light.  Germany apparently would like Greece to give a "EU budget commissioner" the power to veto all Greek decisions on taxes and spending.

That would represent an unprecedented loss of sovereignty for Greece, and obviously Greek politicians are not excited about the idea at all.

In fact, Greek education minister Anna Diamantopoulou said that the proposal was "the product of a sick imagination".

But the sentiment in Germany is that since Greece must be bailed out by them, Greece should be willing to submit to some oversight for a certain amount of time.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Meanwhile, the Greek people continue to become angrier.  According to one recent poll, about 90 percent all of Greek citizens are unhappy with the interim government led by Prime Minister Lucas Papademos.

Things are also unraveling very quickly in Portugal.  Now there is talk that private investors will be required to take a "haircut" on Portuguese debt as well.

The following is from a recent article in the Telegraph....

A report for the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said Portugal would have to run a primary budget surplus of over 11pc of GDP a year to prevent debt dynamics spiralling out of control, even in a benign scenario of 2pc annual growth.

"Portugal's debt is unsustainable. That is the only possible conclusion," said David Bencek, the co-author, warning that no country can achieve a primary budget surplus above 5pc for long.

"We won't know what the trigger will be but once there is a decision on Greece people are going to start looking closely and realise that Portugal is the same position as Greece was a year ago."

Sadly, that article is exactly right.

Portugal is marching down the exact same road that Greece went down.

The yield on 5 year Portuguese bonds is now up to an all-time record 19.8 percent.

A year ago, the yield on those bonds was only about 6 percent.

This is the same thing that happened to Greece.

A year ago, the yield on 5 year Greek bonds was about 12 percent.

Now the yield on those bonds is more than 50 percent.

The world is facing a debt crisis unlike anything ever seen before, and Europe is right at the center of it.

Right now, the major industrialized nations of the world are 55 trillion dollars in debt.

Everyone knew that at some point that debt bomb was going to explode.

So what is going to happen next?

Well, Europe appears to be heading for a full-blown economic depression.

Will the rest of the globe be able to escape a similar fate?

The American Dream

Manufactured Fear

15 Minutes That Will Change Your Life

Black History Month: Waterways To Freedom And Other Events

How much do you know about Black History Month?

Do you know that this remembrance was founded as “Negro History Week” in 1926 by African-American historian, author and journalist Carter Godwin Woodson (b. 12/19/1875-d.4/3/1950) is known as the Father of Black History.

The son of James and Anna Eliza Riddle Woodson, who were slaves that found freedom, Carter became an activist that put him at the very core of a devoted group of black intellectual and activist.

At the age of 25 (1900), Woodson became principal of Douglass High School prior to working in the Philippines as a school supervisor.  In 1908 he attended the University of Chicago, receiving his M.A.   In 1912, Carter Godwin Woodson received his Ph.D. from Harvard University

Dr. Woodson founded “Negro History Week,” devoting his career to authoring books, journals, articles and publishing newspapers, in part, to insure that the role of the African-American was neither ignored nor misrepresented by scholars and people.

Dr. Woodson is not only the founder of what is now Black History Month, he is also one of the reasons we should take pause and consider the stories of some of this countries most remarkable citizens.

One historian walking in Dr. Woodson’s footpath is Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Ph.D., Associate professor of History, Norfolk State University.

In 2003, Dr. Newby-Alexander began work on Waterways to Freedom: The Underground Railway in Virginia.  Part of that project included working with the City of Norfolk, Virginia to develop an interactive map that tells the story of the Underground Railway in Norfolk.

A conversation with Dr. Newby-Alexander was very enlightening as I learned:

> The State of Virginia had more Slaves than any other state.

> That while issues of property were “State” governed, the ownership of Slaves was Federally protected under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.

> That William Still (b.1821) was one of Black History’s ameuteur historian recording the stories of escaped Slaves who came through the Philadelphia Underground Railroad, one such interview  revealing that the escaping individual was his lost brother, left behind in bondage when his mother escaped.

“The story of the escaping Slave is interesting for many reasons, “ said Dr. Newby-Alexander from her Norfolk University office.  “But at the heart of that story is a person willing to risk everything to run to freedom.”

Visit the Waterways to Freedom [below]  and explore twelve areas of importance to the Underground Railroad.

An 1873 map reflects a very different Norfolk, Virginia than the one that is there today.  Click on the twelve different points and learn about the men and women, and places that played an important part in the Underground Railroad.

“Slaves escaping from Norfolk left primarily by water,” Dr. Newby-Alexander said.  “In a rural area contiguous with a border to a northern state, it would have been difficult to make the journey undetected."

 “They escaped Norfolk by ship, usually paying a white captain for their escape.”

Many of those ships left out of Higgins Wharf (Clickable #1), located at the far end of Widewater Street, near New Castle Street.   Click and learn that the wharf’s owner, John A. Higgins, was the former owner of Shadrick Minkins.

Mr. Minkins place in history is recorded as he was being hunted under the Slave Fugitive Act.  Abolitionists helped him to evade trial in Boston, MA and escape to Canada.

Lewis Hayden (b.1811-d.1889) led the Vigilance Committee group that abetted Mr. Minkins escape.

Mr. Lewis was an ex-Slave that, once finding his freedom, became a representative from Boston to the State Legislature in 1873.

Mr. Minkins escaped from the ownership of John DeBree, a prosperous landowner and former navy man (see #4).

Visit the Wharf where in 1855, Captain Alfred Fountain sailed to Philadelphia with 21 fugitive Slaves.   Just before leaving dock with fugitive brothers, Thomas and Frederick Nixon, owned by merchant B.T. Bockover, Norfolk Mayor William Lamb and a group of men boarded the ship to search for escaping Slaves.

The Captain most surely received payment for his services but, if caught, would have been tried under the Fugitive Slave Act.

Though slavery’s origins tentacle back as far as the 1560, it was from 1654 until 1865 that slavery for life was legal within the boundaries of much of the United States.

Until the 18th Century, however, slave labor was often ruled by a form of bonded labor, or indentured servitude, in which whites and blacks alike would work to pay the cost of their transportation to the American colonies.

everything to run to freedom.”

Visit the Waterways to Freedom [below]  and explore twelve areas of importance to the Underground Railroad.

An 1873 map reflects a very different Norfolk, Virginia than the one that is there today.  Click on the twelve different points and learn about the men and women, and places that played an important part in the Underground Railroad.

“Slaves escaping from Norfolk left primarily by water,” Dr. Newby-Alexander said.  “In a rural area contiguous with a border to a northern state, it would have been difficult to make the journey undetected."

 “They escaped Norfolk by ship, usually paying a white captain for their escape.”

Many of those ships left out of Higgins Wharf (Clickable #1), located at the far end of Widewater Street, near New Castle Street.   Click and learn that the wharf’s owner, John A. Higgins, was the former owner of Shadrick Minkins.

Mr. Minkins place in history is recorded as he was being hunted under the Slave Fugitive Act.  Abolitionists helped him to evade trial in Boston, MA and escape to Canada.

Lewis Hayden (b.1811-d.1889) led the Vigilance Committee group that abetted Mr. Minkins escape.

Mr. Lewis was an ex-Slave that, once finding his freedom, became a representative from Boston to the State Legislature in 1873.

Mr. Minkins escaped from the ownership of John DeBree, a prosperous landowner and former navy man (see #4).

Visit the Wharf where in 1855, Captain Alfred Fountain sailed to Philadelphia with 21 fugitive Slaves.   Just before leaving dock with fugitive brothers, Thomas and Frederick Nixon, owned by merchant B.T. Bockover, Norfolk Mayor William Lamb and a group of men boarded the ship to search for escaping Slaves.

The Captain most surely received payment for his services but, if caught, would have been tried under the Fugitive Slave Act.

Though slavery’s origins tentacle back as far as the 1560, it was from 1654 until 1865 that slavery for life was legal within the boundaries of much of the United States.

Until the 18th Century, however, slave labor was often ruled by a form of bonded labor, or indentured servitude, in which whites and blacks alike would work to pay the cost of their transportation to the American colonies.

In the 18th century, Federal Court rulings allowed a racial bias to grow, establishing the right to “own” Black Africans as property, forcing them to unpaid, and usually harsh labor, particularly in the Southern plantations where tobacco and cotton were particularly labor intensive, big cash crops.

At the heart of this movement was the need for cheap, expendable labor that ensured the success of large plantations.

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, twelve million Africans were shipped to the Americas, with the majority being sent to South America, mostly to Brazil.  However, during that period approximately 650,000 persons were sold into slavery from the transporters, however by 1860, the Slave population in the United States had grown to four millions persons.

“The story of the Underground Railroad is not the story of just Black people,” Dr. Newby-Alexander said. “It is the story of those people, black and white, that worked together against something that they saw as oppressive and wrong.”

“Ship Captains may have been paid in coin, but they still transported people at great risk.  All along the Underground Railroad are stories of white and black abolitionists who worked together, helping people to escape to freedom. To evade those that would recapture them.“

Visit Waterways to Freedom  and explore Norfolk’s role in the Underground Railroad.

Waterways to Freedom

Click Here

The Washington Times