The case for voluntary sterilization

There’s a court case in Virginia that has liberals all in a tither. It involves a man who has fathered seven children with six different women. The judge took the unusual step of offering the man the option of getting a vasectomy in exchange for a lighter sentence. The liberals are crying that the deal harkens back to the days of eugenics when mentally deficient individuals were forcibly sterilized. The claim is not only hollow, it’s ironic.

You may not be familiar with the name Margaret Sanger so let me bring you up to speed. Sanger is the founder of Planned Parenthood. Sanger was one of the key figures in that eugenics program — the forced sterilization of individuals — that we all now so vehemently

 oppose. In a 1932 essay, Sanger advocated excluding immigrants “whose condition is known to be detrimental to the stamina of the race,” and advocated forced sterilization and segregation of those she and her cohorts deemed inferior. That’s Planned Parenthood’s ugly history which they choose to keep swept under the rug.

Now, back to the case in Virginia. The individual in question has proven himself to be irresponsible. He continues to procreate with no means of support. In short, he’s a menace to society. Should he be forcibly sterilized. Of course not, however, giving the man the option to have a vasectomy is no different than offering him the option to perform community service to lighten his sentence. It’s purely his choice, an option he accepted, by the way.

If we want to get to the heart of the welfare program, this case in Virginia does. There are far too many people having far too many children they can’t afford. Giving them an incentive to do the right thing only makes sense. If we, for example, were to offer a one-time cash award for anyone on welfare who would voluntarily take measures to break the cycle of generational dependency, shouldn’t we jump at that opportunity? Welfare recipients, both male and female, who would choose to stop having children they can’t afford would only benefit, not only society, but their own life situation.

There are millions of Americans who have already chosen to take measures to prevent pregnancy for myriad reasons. Those reasons range from financial constraints of the family to the limits of taking on the responsibility of more children. But they are all incentives nonetheless.

I would hope that more judges would seek the remedy of the judge in Virginia. If they do we will see a substantial reduction of the welfare caseloads in future generations. It’s not just about saving money, it’s about rebuilding lives and society. I don’t need to tell you that the housing projects are not only trapping millions in cyclical poverty, they are breeding grounds for crime. Ask any police officer in any town where the major crime area is and he or she will point you in the direction of the government housing projects.

The current course leads us into uncharted waters for America of more people riding the wagon than pulling it. We need only look south to the hordes of illegals coming here from third world countries to understand what that means to the well-being of a country. Soon we will be like them.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Don't fall in love with a DREAMer

The dreamer streamer continues unabated on our southern border. Kids are showing up on our country’s doorstep who are here to take advantage of President Obama’s open invitation of his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He couldn’t get the DREAM Act passed in Congress so he did what he always does. He acted alone.

You know, there’s an irritatingly adolescent disconnect with this president. He petitions congress for things he wants done and then says, “If congress won’t act, I will.” He doesn’t

have the authority to act unilaterally but there’s no one with a backbone in congress to stop him.

DACA is supposed to be for children who were brought to this country when they were young and who have grown up here but it’s acting like a magnet for people all over Central America. These folks have figured out how to play the game. Here’s how it works. The parents sneak across first. Since there’s relatively no border control now their chances of making it successfully are very good. Traveling with children slows them down and increases their chances of getting caught so they leave their kids behind. Then they send money back to pay to have their kids come across.

Children crossing over is a totally different matter and with the message Obama is sending the world it’s no wonder they’re coming in droves. But here’s the really outrageous part. These kids are represented in court for free by organizations like The Safe Passage Project. They dispatch high-powered lawyers to argue for asylum. It’s not a difficult argument. The federal government places these illegal children in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The department is just what it sounds like. They’re in the business of resettling kids in the United States.

But here’s where it really gets ironic. These pro-bono lawyers take advantage of the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). This is a designation for kids under 21 who’ve been abused, neglected, or abandoned by at least one parent. Safe Passage says about 90 percent of these kids qualify for that designation. Their parents have abandoned them in Mexico or Honduras or wherever and came here to America. The judges routinely rule in favor of asylum and order the kids reunited with their parents who broke into our country and abandoned their kids in the first place.

Think about that for a moment. If American parents abandoned their American children the Department of Health and Human Services would make sure those parents never saw those kids again. Heck, there was one case recently where DHS was trying to take a 15-year-old boy away from his father because a kid at school complained that the boy was twirling a pencil in class like a gun. I’m not kidding.

This whole situation is absolute insanity. And in the middle of it all Obama held a ceremony honoring DREAMers who received temporary amnesty under DACA. I understand the motivation on the part of the people who welcome all these illegals. They see future Democrat voters. Obama says these DREAMers are the key to this country’s success. If they’re so wonderful, do we have the right to steal them from their native countries? If they’re so great, wouldn’t their own countries benefit from their greatness?

Truth is, they’re certainly no better than American children and most will end up as wards of the state or in prison. You thought the third world was bad? Just wait. The third world is no longer down south. It’s here.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

The real motivation behind the Bergdahl swap

We’ve had some time to reflect on the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange, and I’m of the opinion that we’ve been focusing on the wrong thing. Since his release, the news media have delved into the circumstances of Bergdahl’s capture. There’s little doubt now that he sneaked off the army post and into enemy hands. The big question remaining is was it intentional? We may never know.

What’s puzzling about the Bergdahl affair is he was held captive, supposedly, for five years yet very few Americans had ever heard of him. This leads me to believe that the army knew all along he was a deserter. That’s why there was no national movement to bring him home.

I remember the POW bracelets of the post-Vietnam war era. The names of POWs left behind were engraved on nickel-plated bracelets with the soldier’s name, rank, and date of capture. We knew the names of these men. There were many of them.

Bowe Bergdahl was the only so-called POW left from the war in Afghanistan yet precious few of us knew of him. I believe that was on purpose. My theory is the army didn’t want to make him a hero, because he wasn’t one. In fact, sources say that Hillary Clinton, when she was secretary of state, had no intention of working on behalf of his freedom.

Why, then, all of sudden, was he exchanged for five high-value Taliban terrorists? That’s what I mean by our being focused on the wrong thing. It was never about Bowe Bergdahl coming home. It was about the Taliban prisoners getting out.

That may come as a shock, but remember President Obama’s campaign pledge when he was a candidate in 2008. He vowed to close Gitmo. Once he assumed the presidency, he found it was much more difficult than he had imagined. Congress wasn’t going along with it. Neither were many in his own party.

What does Barack Obama do when he hits a roadblock? He finds a way to go around it, even if it means trampling the Constitution and breaking the law to do it. He hit a wall on amnesty. Now we have thousands of illegals streaming across our border and nothing is being done about it. His cap-and-trade scheme for carbon dioxide emissions was stopped in the senate. Now his EPA is doing essentially the same thing without approval from congress. He’s wanted to ban guns but found little support in congress. Now he’s using the FDIC to label gun shops as “high risk” and banks are severing their relationship with them. If you can’t ban guns by law, the next best thing is to make it impossible for anyone to buy them.

The New York Post recently reported that Gitmo terrorists were being released for all sorts of crazy reasons. One because he had taken up yoga. Another because he wanted to start a milk and honey farm. Yet another because he had a positive attitude. The exact number of prisoners that have been held at Gitmo is a mystery. Best guesses by the news media put the number at around 775. Many of those have been released. Counting the release of the five Taliban terrorists, there are about 145 prisoners left. Some 70 are scheduled for release soon. About 30 percent have rejoined the jihad against America.

Very soon there will only be 80 prisoners left, and Obama is determined to release the rest before his term expires. He may not close Gitmo, but once he’s done there will be no one left to guard.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Bergdahl: Hero or Traitor?

It is impossible for me, as a father, to watch the news coverage of the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and not be elated for his family. It is impossible for me, as an American, to watch Bergdahl’s release and not be thrilled for America. However, I join many other Americans in my concern over the precedent this has set, and how it may affect many more American soldiers down the road.

There are two legitimate ways to look at this release. One is the way the Obama administration sees it. This was a prisoner of war exchange, plain and simple. Prisoner of

war exchanges are as old as war itself. Their goal was to gain the release of the last prisoner of war from Afghanistan.

The detractors argue that we just released five of the most dangerous Taliban in the world and are relying on Qatar, a country with a history of harboring terrorists, to make sure these five don’t re-enter the war against us. Quite frankly, it’s not at all likely that Qatar will honor its end of the bargain.

Remember, Qatar is the country that hid Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind 9/11, from American authorities when they had demanded his arrest prior to the September 11 attacks. It can be argued that had Qatar cooperated with us and arrested KSM, the 9/11 attacks would never have happened.

Now, we’re going to trust them to make sure five Taliban terrorists don’t return to action?

At a time when America is already perceived to be weak around the world, it now appears that we do, in fact, negotiate with terrorists, counter to our adamant claims to the contrary. A conventional POW exchange can only be claimed if one can argue that the war in Afghanistan has been a conventional war. That’s a tough case to make.

But even if this can be argued as a legitimate prisoner exchange, it seems the question of value has to come into play. Again, as a father, there’s nothing more valuable than your own child. When it comes to war, however, such emotions have to be set aside. What did we get and what did they get?

We got an American soldier who some claimed actually deserted. The circumstances surrounding Sgt. Bergdahl’s capture still remain murky. There’s no doubt he simply walked away from an American base in Afghanistan after asking a superior if he should take his weapon with him if he left. He was told he should not. He wrote an e-mail to his parents three days before his disappearance telling them he was “ashamed to be an American.”

He also told fellow soldiers of his plan to just walk away into the mountains of Afghanistan. A senior U.S. official at the time Leon Panetta was defense secretary and Hillary Clinton was secretary of state said neither cared anything about getting Bergdahl back.

Will anyone be bold enough to pierce the veneer of a returning POW to a hero’s welcome to get to the real story? Unless Bergdahl himself is forthcoming, we may never know the full story. If he was captured by the Taliban then, at best, we’ve traded a low-level soldier for five high-priority terrorists. Worse, if he deserted, then we’ve exchanged five valuable terrorists for a traitor. Neither scenario seems worth it in the long run.

Whatever the case, the deal has already been done, and also then, perhaps, the damage. We may have secured the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, but at what cost to future soldiers and our credibility?

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Who's to blame for a killer?

We may never know what drove Elliot Rodger to go on a killing spree in Santa Barbara, Ca. What we do know is that he was a seriously disturbed individual with a death wish and demented sense of revenge. He apparently blamed women who wouldn’t sleep with him for being a virgin — like there’s anything wrong with that at the tender age of 22 — as well as the guys who beat him to the punch.

Elliot Rodger killed seven people, including himself, and injured a dozen or so others. His list of weapons included a knife, a hammer, two machetes, a BMW, and three pistols. You can rest assured the mainstream media will fixate on the guns. They always do.

Hindsight is 20/20. His parents found out about his YouTube rant, in which he promised to kill as many people as possible, alerted authorities, and set out to Santa Barbara to stop him. 

They were too late.

Apparently he killed his three roommates with the hammer, the knife, and the machetes. He then went to a sorority house where he killed two sorority sisters on the sidewalk. He left the sorority house and drove around town randomly selecting his victims, killing one more innocent pedestrian before turning the gun on himself.

Reading his manifesto, it’s unbelievable that he truly felt as he did. What’s even more unbelievable is that no one knew he was nuts. Instead of trotting out the tired, old argument for banning guns, we need to start concentrating on the real problem. Quite frankly, there are too many crazy people roaming loose on the streets.

Now, crazy is a relative term. I’m sure we all have certain oddities that others might find strange. I’m not talking about locking up every eccentric in the country. What I’m talking about are danger signs. There’s no way Elliot Rodger wasn’t exhibiting them. He was obviously in therapy. Did his therapist know he was fantasizing about going on a killing rampage? Let’s hope not. But did he or she see signs that he might be violent?

Again, that’s quite subjective, but those of us who live in the real world know when someone is dangerous. A friend of mine who works with the animal rescue folks told me recently of a guy who cut the front legs off a cat. That guy should not only be punished for what he did, he should be watched like a hawk for the rest of his life. That’s the kind of person who ends up a serial killer or a multiple victim killer like Elliot Rodger.

One critic, Ann Hornaday from the Washington Post, was quick to blame Hollywood for white men promoting “escapist fantasies” that “revolve around vigilantism and sexual wish-fulfillment.” She went on to say Rodger’s misogynistic delusions were channeled through “male studio executives.” She singled out the movie “Neighbors,” and the movie’s star, Seth Rogen, and director, Judd Apatow. Apatow specializes in coming-of-age movies in which the inexperienced, immature guy gets the girl. Apparently, Ann Hornaday finds that distasteful.

We can blame Hollywood. We can blame video games. We can blame the “gun culture.” None of that gets us anywhere. There have been slasher movies as long as I can remember. Sure, some video games are violent. And, yes, we are a society that cherishes our Second Amendment right. All of those elements have been around for a long time. By blaming them, we ignore the obvious.

Too many people are too screwed up in the head, and too few of us take the time to notice.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Obama's war on guns

There’s something going on that should send a chill down the spine of every American. The Obama administration is using the FDIC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to go after gun shops. Eric Holder over at the Justice Department is in on this and they’ve launched something called Operation Choke Point. They’re getting the FDIC to designate gun sellers as ‘high risk’ thus getting banks, under threat from the federal government, to sever their ties with them. This is not only online gun retailers but bricks-and-mortar stores, as well.

They tried to cover this with a list of other businesses they’re targeting like porn shops and

stores that sell drug paraphernalia. We can argue over the merits — or lack thereof — of either of those two enterprises, but they’re legal. How on God’s green earth do we allow our government to shutter legitimate businesses in this country?

Part of the problem is precedent. Obama has been waging an open war against the coal industry and few outside of that business are willing to stand up and be counted. Now they’re coming after guns, and you can bet this won’t be the last business they attack.

If you’re thinking to yourself that you already have guns so it won’t affect you, think again. Where are you going to get ammo once all the guns shops are closed?

Whether you’re a big Second Amendment proponent or not, this should trouble you to no end. Through executive orders this administration is having its way with the American people. Their rationale is that Congress won’t act so they have to. That’s the whole point of having a congress. They pass laws and the president either signs them or vetoes them. This administration believes if congress doesn’t pass laws then they simply pass their own through executive orders.

It’s not hard to understand why the economy is struggling to recover when this administration has declared war on so many parts of it. Imagine if they continue to get away with it. Anything and anybody they don’t like will be in peril. If they’re successful in killing the coal industry, what’s to stop them from going after the oil industry? They already have been to some degree.

If they’re allowed to shut down the gun industry then one of our basic constitutional rights is gone. Now, I’m not saying that Obama is trying to grab all the guns so he can put us all in FEMA camps. What I am saying is even if he thinks he’s doing this with good intentions, it only takes one person with bad intentions to take this country in a dark direction once they know the people can’t defend themselves.

Like so many rights that die, it’s the people who stand on the sidelines who allow it to happen. Don’t be one of those people. It’s time to start pushing back and pushing back hard. It’s time to light up your congressman’s phone. It’s time to get involved with any group that’s joining the struggle to defend our liberties. It’s time to let Mr. Obama and Mr. Holder and anyone else who declares war on business know that we’re watching. Not only are we watching, but we’re active.

Irish statesman Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” That goes for you good ladies, too. We can either watch this administration tear business apart limb from limb or we can do something.

When good men and women actually do something, evil is vanquished. You can quote me.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

When a kiss is not just a kiss

Let’s get some things straight, if you’ll pardon the pun, on this Michael Sam gay kiss thing. If you’re not up to speed on this one, Michael Sam is the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL. He went in the seventh round and was seventh from the end to be drafted. After the St. Louis Rams picked him, his boyfriend gave him a smooch on the mouth.

Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones tweeted “OMG” and “horrible” after the kiss. He was fined an undisclosed sum and suspended from team activities until he can undergo re-education by team officials.

Super Bowl champ Derrick Ward tweeted, “I’m sorry but that Michael Sam is no bueno for

doing that on national TV. Man U got little kids lookin’ at the draft. I can’t believe ESPN even allowed that to happen.” Ward got death threats against him and his children.

I have absolutely no problem with Michael Sam playing in the NFL. That’s not even the issue. The issue is the outcry — along with punishment and/or threats — against those who dare say they find two guys kissing repulsive. For those who say that homosexuality is natural for gays I would remind them that a negative reaction to a gay kiss is just as natural for heterosexual men. But the PC crowd is now bound and determined to beat that out of us.

I made the comment on my radio show that if you’re a man and you didn’t have a distasteful reaction to the kiss then you’re either gay or bisexual. Some guys came unglued on me to which I asked, “You have a problem with someone who’s gay?”

It’s an interesting turn of the tables when those who profess to be so open-minded about such things are suddenly offended when their own sexuality is questioned. If, in your mind, there’s nothing wrong with being gay then there’s nothing to be upset about.

The problem is the double standard. When Tim Tebow was drafted in 2010 a Boston sports talker said Tebow’s draft party looked like a Nazi rally, clearly a reference to his religiously conservative principles. The host apologized on the air and that was the end of it. No suspension. No fine. No re-education camp.

NBC Sports reported in 2010 at the NFL Scouting Combine, “Tim Tebow’s habit of openly expressing his religious beliefs could potentially rub folks the wrong way.” Can you imagine the backlash had they reported that Michael Sam’s habit of openly expressing his homosexuality could rub folks the wrong way? Let’s face it. A public gay kiss rubs a lot more people the wrong way than someone expressing their religion. One is discouraged, even ridiculed, while the other is celebrated.

Former New England Patriot Teddy Bruschi opened up a post-draft recap on ESPN by saying the biggest story of the draft was the Michael Sam story. Former Eagles QB Ron Jaworski disagreed, saying the anticipation of Johnny “Football” Manziel’s draft was, by far, the biggest story, and he was right.

Had Michael Sam not been gay no one would’ve noticed. There were those who said he was passed over because of his homosexuality. Then why did three-time national champion quarterback AJ McCarron from Alabama go in the fifth round of the draft at overall pick number 164?

The big deal is not that Michael Sam’s gay. It’s not even the kiss. It’s the reaction to the reaction to the kiss. Stop trying to convince people that their natural reaction to something is somehow wrong or evil. It’s not.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.