Is It Your Constitutional Right to Have Kids?

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Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us tonight.

Is it your constitutional right to have babies and not support them? That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.

David Oakley lives in Wisconsin and has fathered nine children with four different women. Most of the kids live in poverty, and Oakley owes at least $25,000 in child support.

After years of shirking his responsibilities, the Wisconsin courts finally got tough with Oakley, and the judge sentenced him to eight years in prison, but downgraded the sentence to parole if Oakley would agree not to father anymore children as a condition of that parole.

To stay out of jail, Oakley agreed. But then Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe came riding in on his big constitutional horse. Tribe, who represented Al Gore in the election mess, argued to a Wisconsin supreme court that Oakley's rights were being violated and that the state did not justify its need to bar Oakley from having any more children.

The court ruled against Tribe and Oakley. The four male judges siding with the state. But incredibly, the three female judges sided with Oakley. They were fine with having him father as many children as he wanted without paying for them.

Counselor Tribe and the three ladies apparently believe that you and I are responsible for supporting all of Oakley's children, since he will not.  Tribe believes the Constitution mandates that all irresponsible procreative behavior is to be accepted by the state.

And I agree. Are you shocked? I don't think the government should be regulating procreation. That is what the Chinese do in a very brutal way. However, the state has a perfect right to charge David Oakley and every other deadbeat parent with child neglect, imprison them, and seek a stable situation for their children.

If the states did that, you would have far fewer Oakleys running around impregnating foolish women. The Supreme Court has refused to hear the case, thereby upholding the judge's ruling. Oakley cannot impregnate anyone else or he goes to jail.

Now I'm fine with that as well, although it does pinch the Constitution a bit. Far better would be to criminally prosecute neglectful parents early on. Hold those that abandon and abused kids extremely accountable.

What is absolutely appalling is the attitude of the Lawrence Tribes of the world, who do not offer viable solutions to crimes against children, and use the Constitution to try to undermine accountability for people like Oakley.

As we saw in the Milwaukee murder of Charlie Young, neglected children can do a great damage to this country. It is way past time to hold the David Oakleys and Laurence Tribes of the world accountable for subverting our society.

And that's The Memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time now for "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."

I guess I have to mention the foolish statements made by singer Harry Belafonte on a radio program. He basically said the Secretary of State Colin Powell is a house boy for President Bush serving on the plantation, blah, blah, blah.

This, of course, is incredibly disrespectful to General Powell who has honorably served his country, and, as for the plantation nonsense, hey, Harry, you made a ton of dough in the American system, and you have the right to say ridiculous things. You might want to re-think your misguided point of view.

— You can watch Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com