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Glenn Beck

Was it Right for NYT to Release Info on Secret Program?; How Can Parents Prevent Abuse of Special Needs Kids?; Operation Helmet Equips Soldiers; Former CIA Agent Discusses Cult of Suicide Bombers

Aired June 28, 2006 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: Today`s episode of Glenn Beck is sponsored by the "New York Times".
OSAMA BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA LEADER (through translator): Sunday is all about "New York Times." First I do the crossword puzzle. Then I read about American antiterrorism strategy. It`s great. I find it very helpful.

ANNOUNCER: "The New York Times", all the news that`s not fit to print.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN BECK, HOST: You know, I don`t want to jump on the bandwagon that everybody else is jumping on, that the "New York Times" is not alone, it`s also the "Los Angeles Times" and "The Wall Street Journal."

But I`ve got to tell you, I don`t know who these people are. You know, red-staters always say media doesn`t get us; Hollywood doesn`t get us, and you know what? I don`t get -- I don`t get Hollywood. I don`t get "The New York Times". These people, it`s like they`re a Woody Allen movie to me. You know, you`re like, OK, maybe I`m not smart enough to understand. What possible reason could the "New York Times" have for taking America apart and printing this kind of stuff?

Here`s what I would really like from "New York Times". I would like them to come up with a declaration of principles just so I know right where they stand. Because I don`t know who they are.

Now, I`d never asked them to do something I wouldn`t do, so to be fair, here`s who I am: one, I believe the United States has made bad mistakes in the past, but you know what? We`re good people and we`re trying to do better. We try to make up for our mistakes.

Two, I believe that we should stop living in the past and start looking to the future. Hello, Bill Cosby, please come speak to my neighborhood.

Three, I believe that our system of government may stink on ice, man, but it`s the best one on the planet. Show me one that`s better and that doesn`t involve a Kennedy of some sort.

I also believe that war is hell, but you know what? I`d fight it rather than have my kids fight it a decade or two later.

I also believe that doughnut holes are much better than doughnuts. They`re more delicious. You can fit more in your mouth, and you feel like a fat pig if you eat three doughnuts, but you can have 10 doughnut holes. I don`t know how many equal a donut, so I`m pretty cool with that.

Michael Gross, he`s a constitutional lawyer and former ACLU attorney.

Michael, we`re going to try to make -- try to make nice here and not make the blood vessels pop out of our head when we talk to each other. All right?

MICHAEL GROSS, CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYER: I`ll try, but it`s difficult for me, especially with that opening.

BECK: Well...

GROSS: You want to know who I am? Give me liberty, or give me death.

BECK: See this, Michael? Starting to pop a blood vessel right here.

GROSS: That`s not a blood vessel. It`s circulation.

BECK: Here`s the deal. Why, there is such a thing as liberty -- you`re right on the money on that. I feel the same way, sir. I`m part of the press. I appreciate freedom of the press. But don`t they have a responsibility? This is not something that was illegal. They`re not even claiming that it was unethical. Why would they print it?

GROSS: Because it`s the truth, and it`s something that the people have a right to know. Now, that`s the only criteria that`s required.

BECK: Michael -- Michael, why do you scream? This is a show you don`t have to scream on. I don`t hate you. Do you hate me?

GROSS: Certainly not.

BECK: OK. Then let`s not scream at each other.

You say they have a right to know because it`s the truth. My mother taught me when I was, oh, about this tall that sometimes the truth doesn`t need to be said.

GROSS: Glenn, the administration doesn`t need a P.R. agent in "New York Times" or "The L.A. Times" or certainly the "Wall Street Journal", where it`s doing pretty well. And if the "Journal" printed this as well as the times and the L.A. papers, you know that this surveillance program is not being watched by oversight. He won`t. Nobody in the administration...

BECK: You had John Murtha come out and say, "Please don`t expose this." John Murtha said don`t expose this.

GROSS: It doesn`t make any difference who said don`t expose it. Let me give you the words real clear: no law Congress shall make...

BECK: Yes. Say it with a smile. There you go.

GROSS: OK. I`ll try. Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press. No law -- what part of that can`t you understand? It can`t be restricted. You live in a country that doesn`t have a free press, and the government does whatever it wants to do.

BECK: Nobody is talking about that, Michael. Wait a minute.

GROSS: You pick and choose what you like to hear.

BECK: No, I`m not saying that.

GROSS: Criticism is not disloyalty.

BECK: I am not saying that. They were not criticizing it, sir. They were just telling about a secret plan.

GROSS: OK.

BECK: Is there no time for secrets? I`m not saying ban them. I`m not saying take their press credentials away. What I`m saying is, don`t they have any concept of being a responsible citizen? You only have freedom, sir, when you exercise responsibility with that freedom.

GROSS: The "Times" really knows, because the "Times" brought this case to the United States Supreme Court in 1971 with the publication of the Pentagon Papers over the objection of the Nixon administration.

And the procedure is very simple and very fair, and the "Times" abided by it here. They told the government, here`s what we know, here`s what we intend to print, do you have a problem with it? The government said, don`t print it. And the "Times" said what the United States Supreme Court told them to say, show us that it will cause an immediate -- immediate damage to the security of this nation. They couldn`t do that.

BECK: All right.

GROSS: If they could do that, and even if the "Times" didn`t agree, they would go to court and they get a prior restraint. The fact that they didn`t seek the prior restraint means they don`t believe it themselves. It`s simply trying to deflect focus.

BECK: I`ve got 30 seconds, so I`m going to give you rapid fire questions, OK, and then maybe a little Bayer aspirin for the heart. Here we go. You just tell me, yes or no, should you print these things? Yes or no? Troop positions?

GROSS: No.

BECK: Non-illegal ethical spy techniques?

GROSS: Print it.

BECK: I don`t understand it. Location of the Cheney bunker?

GROSS: That`s troop positions. He`s definitely in the Army.

BECK: The 11 -- the 11 secret herbs and spices from the colonel? I`m just saying...

GROSS: Thank you for giving me a smile.

BECK: Michael, we`re out of time. Thank you very much.

GROSS: Nice to see you, Glenn.

BECK: You bet, bye-bye.

ANNOUNCER: This is GLENN BECK.

BECK: All right. Let your blood pressure come down just a bit. Not too much. Unfortunately, this story is -- we got a happy story in a few minutes. This is not it, though, unfortunately.

Yesterday I brought up a story that is deeply personable -- personal to me; it`s also deeply disturbing. Kalie McArthur, 20 years old. She has an I.Q. of about 50. She`s about a 4-year-old mentally.

She was assaulted sexually in September 2004 by a 15-year-old boy that was assigned as her peer trainer. The attacker had been suspended 20 times the year before, had a 0.0 grade point average and never been screened or trained. The punishment, two weeks in prison.

We`re going to be following this story very closely, as I told you yesterday. And next week we`re going to bring you some more of this horrible story. Unfortunately, this may not have been the first time this happened to Kalie by different boys, but tonight I want to talk about how this may be happening in your school, with possibly your kids.

Joining us now is Pete and Pam Wright. They`re attorney and psychotherapist. They are advocates for those with special needs. How prevalent is this, guys?

PETE WRIGHT, ATTORNEY FOR SPECIAL NEEDS KIDS: It`s prevalent. I was on the phone yesterday for an hour with a parent who was yanking their child out of the public school because of the physical and mental abuse the child had suffered and was placing a child in a private school.

And Pam, tell Glenn about all the e-mails that we get on this issue.

PAM WRIGHT, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: We probably get 100 or more e-mails a week from parents and from teachers.

BECK: It`s not -- it`s not just kids that are predators, I mean, like in this particular case it was a 15-year-old kid. It`s also some of the caregivers that we`re seeing now with non-special need kids.

PAM WRIGHT: Exactly. And aides, untrained people working with kids with disabilities, no supervision of children in special ed programs, and abuse by staff, where kids are being put in boxes, being put in time-outs - - they`re called time-out rooms, little windowless boxes that are five by five. Kids who are put in restraints.

BECK: Pam and Pete, let me ask -- I don`t know which one of you is better to ask or answer this question -- my daughter has special needs, and she has a miracle of a mother. It was a full-time job to be an advocate for my child, and she took it on, and she was relentless, but there are a lot of people that don`t have that time or they don`t have that wherewithal to be able to do it. They don`t even know where to begin.

What does the average person do? How can people make sure this isn`t happening to their kid?

PAM WRIGHT: I think it`s important for apparently to realize that the buck stops with you, and so you need to spend time at school, as much as you can. You need to get to know the teachers and staff. You need to make friends. You need to offer to help, bring cookies, whatever, and develop good relationships.

So if your child is targeted or does have a problem, you are far more likely to find out about it quickly from the educators who are going to be very concerned about it and wanting to know, wanting to know.

BECK: Pete, are the laws tough enough?

PETE WRIGHT: No, not in terms of the consequences for public school educators who have knowledge that a child is being abused and look the other way, or even for those that commit the abuse.

BECK: In this particular case, in Colorado Springs, it -- it kills me that the school`s not being held responsible. I mean, it`s an outrage. I don`t know if you`re following this case...

PAM WRIGHT: Yes, yes.

BECK: ... but one of the school experts said that Kalie enjoyed the rape or the sexual abuse. That`s incredible. That`s criminal.

PAM WRIGHT: That`s outrageous, you`re right.

PETE WRIGHT: And sad to say, so many individuals working with these children believe this kind of stuff. They believe, well, you know this young lady did enjoy the sexual experience, and that makes it OK. And how individuals can be thinking like that is just beyond our ability to comprehend it.

BECK: Pam and Pete Wright, thank you so much for joining us from Richmond, Virginia.

And to you, do not miss next week as we tell you the rest of the story from Colorado Springs.

Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: We`re fighting a war right now that`s worth winning. We`re fighting a war with people who don`t misunderstand us; they hate us. They want to wipe out our way of life. There`s no coexisting with them. You know, that`s one thing I would like to hear from "New York Times". Do you believe we can coexist with these people?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: When I first agreed to do this cable news show, I made a promise to myself and I made the promise to you, as well, that we are going to try to cover this war differently. I`m not going to just show you all the depressing things you`re going to see everywhere else; you can`t miss that. We`d like to show you some of the inspiring stories. They`re never told and they`re everywhere. Tonight, more good news.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK (voice-over): Help protect our heroes. The tagline says it all. The program is called Operation Helmet. It was started two years ago by the Meaders family, when their grandson. U.S. Marine Sergeant Justin Meaders, called home asking for helmet upgrades. Not just for himself, but for his entire company.

Apparently, their Marine-issued helmets are made to protect against gunfire, but did little in the way of protection against a growing danger of bomb explosions. The sharp rise in traumatic brain injuries among troop casualties was causing great concerns that their helmets were simply just not safe enough.

The Meaders family took up donations from friends and loved ones sent the upgrade kits up. That`s when Operation Helmet began. The upgrade to the helmet is actually quite simple. The kit consists of seven foam cushioned inserts which go right into the existing helmet, making it more resistant to bomb blasts and injuries from motor vehicle accidents. The price of each kit is about $70, but the protection it provides can mean the difference between life and death.

Its founder, Dr. Bob Meaders, is looking for support from our own government. He`s testified before Congress and has implored the Pentagon to equip our soldiers with safer helmets.

To date the organization has distributed 11,000 kits, all at no cost.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Joining me is Mark Meaders, Bob`s son, who also works with Operation Helmet and also a good friend of my family`s.

Hi, Mark.

MARK MEADERS, OPERATION HELMET: Hi, Glenn.

BECK: How are you?

MEADERS: I`m doing well, thank you.

BECK: Why is the government not doing this?

MEADERS: You know, I don`t have a good answer to that. Perhaps it`s funding. Perhaps it`s -- they`re fighting the last war, perhaps a myriad of reasons.

And frankly, it doesn`t really matter why they`re not. All we can do as Americans, as citizens, as private people, is to go out and take out one of a couple actions. You can write a letter and send it to all your congressmen and senators, anybody you can think of. You can send some money or you can start a organization that will provide these helmet upgrade kits to our troops at no cost.

BECK: Hang on just a second. I want to show you this helmet here. This is what you`re buying for $70. Actually, Mark, I`ve got to tell you, I think it`s kind of cool that we`re doing it together. For one reason, I think if the government would buy this, it would be like $475. For you, if you act now, only $7 -- but here`s...

MEADERS: You got a typo, $71.

BECK: Seventy-one dollars. Oh, well, yes, forget it, $71. OK. It`s all of these pieces in here that fit, and you can see that if you didn`t have all of this, if you got hit or were in some sort of an accident, this helmet is really hard and quite heavy. It would rattle around and really do some additional injury, but here if you put these pads in there, it keeps the helmet snug on our soldiers` heads.

And I think -- I actually really like it, Mark that, you know, we the people, are kind of doing this and taking it on ourselves, getting actively involved in doing what we can.

How many soldiers have been affected -- how many have received these kits?

MEADERS: Well, we`ve shipped over 11,000 at this point, and frankly, the numbers that are coming in day in and day out are staggering. The book that I have here is the requests, just the requests that we received since the 22nd of June.

BECK: Wow.

MEADERS: That`s six days ago. And in fact, it doesn`t have today`s requests. This is as of yesterday.

BECK: I know that when we first had your dad on my radio show, what was it, Mark, two years ago maybe?

MEADERS: Something like that.

BECK: ... there were just a few people that had requested, and they had kept coming in and coming in. And I know Cher now has gotten involved. She saw your father, I think, on C-SPAN and was, you know, spending a wild weekend watching C-SPAN, and wrote a check for $100,000 to ship a lot off. And now we have even more, because she covered everybody who wanted them at the time.

MEADERS: Exactly. She zeroed our backlog out. And what`s interesting is that that backlog within a few days came right back up because of the requests that come in. Yesterday alone we received requests for 244 kits from the Marines, from a few Army, from a few Navy, and a lot of Air Force.

BECK: All right. So how do people get involved? If they are sitting at home and saying, "I`ve got $70. I want to get involved." How do I get involved?

MEADERS: Go to OperationHelmet.org, and click on the "get involved" link or clink on the "donate" or "contribute" link. Or if you`re a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine, click on "kit request" and request an upgrade.

BECK: That`s great. Bob, say hi to your father for me. And I can tell you, this is so weird, because you`re in D.C., I`m in New York, and your daughter is with my daughter tonight here in New York, and with your permission, Dad, if I can take them to "Superman", we`re going to go see to see "Superman" late tonight. Is that cool with you?

MEADERS: Absolutely.

BECK: That`s great, great. Bob, thank you very much. And again, the address, if you would like to get involved is?

MEADERS: OperationHelmet.org.

BECK: Thanks, Mark.

MEADERS: Thanks, Glenn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Every day the Glenn Beck program is heard nationwide by over four billion Americans in over 5,000 U.S. cities. And one of those cities is Houston, Texas, and KPRC, where the morning guy, my best friend, Pat Gray.

Hello, Pat.

PAT GRAY, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hello, Glenn.

BECK: Andrea Yates, I mean, can you guys get this one right eventually? I`m just saying.

GRAY: Sure would like to. Dragging through that Andrea Yates cesspool again, and it`s tough to go through.

BECK: Yes. I got an -- I got an e-mail from you this morning, and I haven`t had a chance to talk to you about it and find out what you meant by this, but you said, I don`t want her to die any more? What was it you said, exactly?

GRAY: I don`t remember exactly what I said in the e-mail, but I have softened on it. You know, in the beginning when the emotions were high and we all saw the images of the kids and the family...

BECK: Yes.

GRAY: ... and everybody felt pretty strongly about putting her to death and executing her the good old-fashioned Texas way.

BECK: Sure.

GRAY: But in the last five years I`ve softened. I mean, I`m not saying...

BECK: So you`ve forgotten the kids?

GRAY: No, no, no.

BECK: Because I could show you the pictures of the kids.

GRAY: No, that`s OK. No, that`s OK. I haven`t forgotten the kids. I`m not saying let`s release her, let`s set her free, let`s let her find her soul mate on eHarmony.com.

BECK: Sure.

GRAY: Although I`d like to hear the commercials: "I`m Dr. Neil Clark Warren. If I could find Andrea Yates` soul mate, match her on 29 dimensions of compatibility, I can find a match for you."

BECK: Right. Would the 30h dimension be dragging your kids into the tub?

GRAY: Yes, but we won`t get into that one right now.

BECK: All right. So why are you softening?

GRAY: I -- you know, she`s just clearly not in touch with her reality, you know? And every time she gets in touch with reality, she goes right back. Every time she realizes what she did, she seems to lapse back into nothingness.

BECK: So if that`s your case, if that`s your case, wouldn`t you say that it would be more humane to kill her? You know, because that`s why -- I mean, when I said, when everybody else is screaming for the death penalty, I said let her live. Because if she`s lucid enough to realize what she`s done, it is the worst torture. I mean, it would drive you insane.

GRAY: She`s got to be trapped in her own living hell.

BECK: Yes.

GRAY: And it seems -- and you probably saw the footage of her -- not footage, but heard the stories about her breaking down in court and weeping as they showed the crime scenes. So you know she`s reliving this thing over and over again.

BECK: Real quick, let me just switch gears with you, because Texas killed half-man, half-angel yesterday.

GRAY: Well, we can`t kill him. He`s going to be -- I want to put your CNN correspondents on notice in the Middle East. He`s going to be -- day after tomorrow he`ll be showing up at some railroad track there. He is the railroad killer after all.

BECK: What is up with that? We only have one minute?

GRAY: But it`s interesting to see, you know, the protesting outside of the Huntsville prison and dead people screaming that he`s too nuts or people are too stupid or it hurts too much. The guy`s a vicious killer. Come on.

BECK: And they -- they were playing the race card.

GRAY: They played the race -- they always do, as if this guy were white and killed 15 people in cold blood, we wouldn`t be putting him to death? It`s unbelievable. Unbelievable.

BECK: Thanks a lot, Pat, for the buzz from Houston. And you`re on what station again?

GRAY: KPRC.

BECK: AM...

GRAY: AM 950.

BECK: Wow, that`s great, on your AM dial. See you tomorrow.

Thanks a lot, Pat. Bye-bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Is anybody having like a flag-burning crisis in their neighborhood? Is this really the biggest issue we`ve got? This is it? Why is it even a debate? Mass flag burnings in Alabama, is that what`s happening? San Francisco -- even San Francisco`s not burning the flag. If you don`t have a giant bonfire of flags happening in Berkeley, California, this ain`t an issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Did you tune in for that cliffhanger on C-SPAN last night? Oh, we were riveted as a nation. Yes, it was the season finale of "Washington CSI: Constitution Senate Insanity." Will they back the amendment to ban the burning of the United States flag? It will take 67 votes. We`re one vote away. The last vote is cast and...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R), TENNESSEE: ... senators in the chamber who have not voted or who wish to change his or her vote? If not, on this vote, the yeas are 66; the nays are 34. Two-thirds of the senators voting. A quorum being present, not having voted in the affirmative, the joint resolution is not passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Oh...

ANNOUNCER: And now, another reason why this show doesn`t talk more about politics.

BECK: Really, it`s one word: politicians!

ANNOUNCER: This has been another reason why this show doesn`t talk more about politics.

BECK: Oh, they`re just so political aren`t they? It drives me nuts.

Here`s what this is. For those of you who have your bull crap-to- English dictionary -- every time you hear a politician speak, you need it - - Republicans and Democrats, all they`re trying to do is outmaneuver each other. They`re trying to be more American than the other guy.

Look, we don`t need a constitutional amendment for this. In America, you have a right to burn the flag. You have a right to be fat, no matter what the stupid clown says at the speaker at McDonald`s. You have a right to be stupid.

The problem here is: Politicians, they think we`re fat and stupid. And, unfortunately, most times we are, but not this time. Where is the epidemic of people burning flags? Where is it?

ANNOUNCER: And now, another reason why this show doesn`t talk more about politics.

BECK: There isn`t an epidemic. There isn`t an epidemic. You know why we don`t talk more about politics and politicians? Because it`s a game, that`s why.

ANNOUNCER: This has been another reason why this show doesn`t talk more about politics.

ANNOUNCER: This is GLENN BECK.

BECK: All right, let`s move onto an actual problem: suicide bombers. Instead of burning their flag, they blow themselves up in it. Since we went to Iraq three years ago -- listen to this -- 400 of these nut jobs have lit the fuse in the name of Allah and not cared one bit of how many innocent bystanders they take with them.

How do you get somebody to do that? Four hundred people. Robert Baer, a former CIA agent, and coincidentally the guy who George Clooney`s character was based on in "Syriana" -- a movie I`m proud to say I didn`t see -- tries to answer that in his documentary "The Cult of Suicide Bombers."

Here he is with the mother of the now-famous 15-year-old who proudly blew himself to bits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT BAER, "THE CULT OF SUICIDE BOMBER": Wasn`t he too young to be martyred?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): He really wanted to go. He was a child. Yes, only a child. He came from school one day, asking me to sign an approval letter for him to go to the front, and I did. He went for God. It was a good path for him to take, so why would we stop him? He became a martyr for God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I mean, I know -- I know you can`t, Robert, answer this question, but how do people actually believe that God is telling them to blow people up on a school bus?

BAER: Oh, this is a virus. This is a virus that`s spreading, as well, and these people believe it. That interview was spontaneous. We found this woman. This was not set up. She believed that she`d give her other children, she`d give her mother, her father, everybody, and there`s a lot of them out there.

BECK: You know, I was in -- by the way, you are one of my favorite guests. You spook the living bat crap out of me, man. You are somebody who actually knows all of the ins and outs of what`s coming, and it`s not a real cheery future that you see.

BAER: I don`t seize a cheery future. And what I see, what really scares me that`s going to happen in this country, and it`s going to be a homegrown bomber, it`s going to come out of a prison. He`s going to have joined an Islamic group, he`s going to go into the nearest mall at Christmastime and pull a pin. This is what scares me.

BECK: This brings me into two questions that I had for you.

One, I was in Israel, and I mean, it`s a different world, man. People don`t want to live like they have to live in Israel, where you are searched at every restaurant. And if you`re not going through a metal detector in a restaurant, you shouldn`t be there. How long before we get to that point?

BAER: It`s not that far away. As long as we see a conflict in the Middle East, the sooner it`s going to come here to the United States. Can I give you a day? No, but it`s not that far away.

BECK: The next thing that you just mentioned -- and I`ve been saying this forever -- I don`t know why we`re allowing some -- in New York, in the New York City prisons, I mean, there`s a nut job -- you know who I`m talking about? -- that is the cleric who is going in on a mission -- and, believe me, I think he is on a mission -- to help good people become Muslim.

Unfortunately, the rhetoric that he uses does not make you necessarily a good Muslim. It seems as though it`s the exact same kind of rhetoric that turns you into a suicide nut job.

BAER: Well, you can count on it that these people are being recruited in prison. Not all of them are going to fall for the line, drink the Kool- Aid, but some of them will. In L.A., there`s a case. Upstate New York in some of the prisons there, some Islamic jihad cells. It`s scary.

BECK: You got to get the people like the Canadians that were just arrested. They were normal, you know, middle-class guys. What`s the profile? How do you get these guys?

BAER: I hate to say it: There is no profile. The Israelis were quite categorical with me about this.

You know, they had a 47-year-old man with four children that blew himself up. They have 14-year-old kids. They have women. They`ve got Christians. Even in the martyrs` museum in Tehran, they have a corner for Jewish martyrs. Now, you know, this may be propaganda, but there is no profile, and that`s why intelligence alone is not going to let us figure out who`s going to do this.

BECK: Most disturbing thing that you found in making this documentary?

BAER: Most disturbing thing is they are so logical within their little system, and they absolutely believe it, and these people were not shaking, there was nothing the matter with them. They were absolutely certain of what they`re doing, and this is what tells me we`re going to be living with this a long time.

BECK: Bob, I`d love to have you on the radio show in the coming days. The DVD is "The Cult of the Suicide Bomber." It is in stores now.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. Here`s something that really hacks me off. Last presidential election, 78 million Americans who were eligible to vote just didn`t. They just stayed home.

Let me put it another way: 70 percent of Iraqis had the guts to stand up to terrorists and vote in their country`s parliamentary election last December. By comparison, 60 percent of eligible Americans showed up to vote in the last presidential election, and that was the highest percentage in decades.

What is it going to take to get the other 40 percent to the polls? Honestly, I don`t know if we really want them there, anyway.

There`s a guy out in Arizona who thinks he has the answer. It`s the lottery. Everybody who votes is automatically entered in a drawing, and the winner gets a million dollars, just for your vote.

Mark Osterloh, you`ve been collecting signatures to put this on the ballot. Please tell me, Mark, you`re not serious, man?

MARK OSTERLOH, ARIZONA POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Well, let me give you a visual to show you what it`s about.

BECK: I mean, who wants to be a millionaire? I mean, don`t you think this is -- you know what happens? Do you know who plays the lottery? I think the lottery is a stupid tax. I think, if you`re stupid enough to think that you`re really going to win, that`s what you do, you go play the lottery. I don`t want you voting.

OSTERLOH: Well, it`s a voluntary thing if you want to go ahead and play the lottery. It`s also voluntary to vote. But for decades we`ve had very poor turnout, and you`re talking 60 percent of the eligible people voting. That`s only 60 percent of the ones who register. There`s a huge number that didn`t vote and didn`t register.

BECK: But you`re offering $1 million. Isn`t the lottery on voting freedom? I mean, shouldn`t that be the thing?

OSTERLOH: No, you still have the -- you have the choice to not vote, but what we want to do is have true representative government. We want to have a true democracy. And for that to occur, you have to have every eligible person voting in those elections.

BECK: Yes, but if you`re offering...

OSTERLOH: If large people don`t vote, then they`re not being represented. And a lot of the...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: Then they shouldn`t be represented. They shouldn`t be represented if they`re not -- look, if you have somebody who`s going into a voting booth and they`re just, "I just want the million dollars. I don`t care who gets in," that`s much worse than having people who are informed and going and losing 40 percent of the population, if that 40 percent is uninformed or ill-informed and not motivated for the right reasons. I don`t want them in the voting booth.

OSTERLOH: Let me give you an example...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: You know what happens? You know what happens? You get stupid people voting, you know who`s president? John Kerry. No, I`m kidding.

OSTERLOH: No, you`re not kidding. Anyway, let`s go back to motivations.

BECK: Yes.

OSTERLOH: Let me give you an example of motivation. Let`s take an example of, you know, the ultimate authority on morals and ethics. What does God say? Do what you`re supposed to do, and I will reward you with eternal life in heaven. What we`re saying is -- listen -- do what you`re supposed to do and vote, and we will reward you with a chance to win $1 million. So if incentives are good enough for God, they`re good enough for the voters of Arizona.

BECK: Oh, come on, man, 77 percent...

(CROSSTALK)

OSTERLOH: Perfect example.

BECK: Well, that would make you God. I don`t know if that`s a perfect example.

OSTERLOH: No, I`m not saying I`m God. I`m just following his example. He used incentives. He uses incentives in his plan for...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: OK, then let`s do this.

OSTERLOH: Let`s use the same thing for voting.

BECK: I`m not a Bible scholar, but I am a thinker. Let`s do this.

OSTERLOH: OK.

BECK: Let`s use the example that, if you don`t do it, I smote you or smite you, whatever it is that God does.

OSTERLOH: If you want to smote or smite, that`s called the stick approach. We`re using a carrot.

BECK: Right, 77 percent of the people of Arizona turned out to vote, right, 77 percent?

OSTERLOH: That`s of the ones who registered. That`s of the ones who registered. There`s a large number that didn`t register.

(CROSSTALK)

OSTERLOH: Maybe half of them that could have registered actually registered.

BECK: Did it make any difference in Arizona to have more people voting?

OSTERLOH: I think it would make a huge difference. In Australia, if you don`t vote, they fine you $20. Ninety-five percent of the people in Australia vote, and everybody there has health care. Everybody here doesn`t have health care. They got great schools.

BECK: Yes, they also are dealing with, you know, kangaroo pickup, too, at night. It`s really -- it`s a different -- it`s a different...

(CROSSTALK)

OSTERLOH: Well, we don`t have kangaroos here.

BECK: All right, Mark, thanks a lot. I appreciate it. Bye-bye.

OSTERLOH: OK.

ANNOUNCER: This is GLENN BECK.

BECK: Holy cow, man. All right, here in my office today, my staff doing a little gambling on their own. Come on, Hillary Clinton. Would Star Jones show up for work today in her soap opera-style shocker from yesterday on "The View"? That was the question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAR JONES REYNOLDS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Excuse me one minute, you guys. I apologize for interrupting you. Something has been on my heart for a little bit. And after much prayer and counsel, I feel like this is the right time to tell you that the show`s moving in another direction for its 10th season, and I will not be returning as co-host next year.

JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Oh, shocking.

ELISABETH HASSELBECK, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Wow, that is such an act of kindness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Yes, right. OK, Elisabeth Hasselbeck didn`t actually say that, I mean, until later in the show and about something entirely different, but, I mean, we thought it was funny if we edited it that way.

But to all of Star`s co-hosts, I mean, it really was kind of like a mercy killing there. I mean, it would have been nice if she might have told Barbara, you know, before she told the rest of the world. If Barbara was a tree yesterday, what kind of tree would she be? I think a fiery thorn.

So this morning on the daytime drama, Star or no Star? Did she show up?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And then there were three.

BEHAR: And then there were three.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Wow, I mean, does that table look enormous now, honestly? Kimberly Caldwell is the host of the TV Guide Channel`s "Reality Chat."

And this is reality TV, is not, Kim?

KIMBERLY CALDWELL, TV GUIDE CHANNEL: It is for sure. It`s all-out brawl between Star and Barbara Walters right now. And actually, it`s always been an all-out brawl between Star and all of America, so it`s not a huge surprise. But I do think that it would have been respectful if she would have shown up and said, "Hey, listen, guys, I`m going to say this on the air today," so everybody wasn`t kind of, you know, thrown. But, you know, what do you do? It`s Star Jones.

BECK: Well, they were actually -- I mean, I understand the background story on this is they already said, "We`re not renewing your contract, so whatever."

CALDWELL: Exactly. It`s not that she`s not coming back. They actually didn`t want her to come back.

BECK: Right.

CALDWELL: But then, at the end of the show, if you noticed, she says, "I don`t know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future." And I thought, "I`m going to keep that with me and I`m just going to savor that."

BECK: I`m going to take that all the way to the bathroom, where I vomit after that.

CALDWELL: Yes, yummy.

BECK: "I`m going to keep that right here." The other thing is, she doesn`t get along with who they just hired, which is Rosie.

CALDWELL: Rosie O`Donnell, yes.

BECK: Yes. Here`s...

CALDWELL: Who I love. I love the lesbians, I do.

BECK: You know, coming from you, that just makes my day. I don`t know why, but...

CALDWELL: You`re a sick man.

BECK: I know. Here`s the thing: Rosie O`Donnell-Star Jones, this is the question I think America wants to know...

CALDWELL: Rosie O`Donnell would win.

BECK: Who would win in a -- I mean, a closed-fisted...

CALDWELL: Rosie O`Donnell...

BECK: Yes, I think so, too.

CALDWELL: Rosie O`Donnell, hands down. I don`t know, but Star has really long nails. And Rosie doesn`t have acrylics, so...

BECK: What a surprise on that one.

CALDWELL: You know, give or take. I don`t know, but Rosie`s, you know, she`s like -- she`s strong. She`s strong.

BECK: You go, girl. Girl power.

CALDWELL: So I think she`d whoop her. I think she`d whoop her.

BECK: The "American Idol," they`re doing a special "Fear Factor" thing. And you were a contestant on "Fear Factor."

CALDWELL: Yes.

BECK: I mean, on "American Idol." Are you going on "Fear Factor"?

CALDWELL: Well, actually, what`s so funny is "American Idol" is not doing it. It`s Carmen Rasmusen, who was in my season, and then there`s Anthony Fedorov, and they`re doing like a reality "Fear Factor." And they actually had asked me to do it...

BECK: And you said no?

CALDWELL: ... and I really thought about it, and I really thought about it, because I thought it would be fun, and then I was like, "I hate heights. I hate bugs."

BECK: Right, but you love lesbians.

CALDWELL: I hate moving.

BECK: Right.

CALDWELL: I hate moving, you know. I just like talking, and I can`t do that on "Fear Factor" and win a bunch of money.

BECK: I mean...

CALDWELL: So I figured that I`d just show up, look at everything, and go, "No, not happening," and leave.

BECK: So it`s not necessarily the -- you`re not repulsed by cow sphincters?

CALDWELL: No.

BECK: No, you`re...

CALDWELL: But they had even said you don`t have to eat anything.

BECK: Really?

CALDWELL: You won`t have to eat anything. Yes, nobody has had to eat anything yet. And Carmen Rasmusen, who was on my season, is like this little 19-year-old, like, you know, firecracker. And she has gone through every single step, and she`s been in the pit with the alligators, and she...

BECK: Kim, if it doesn`t involved lesbians, I`m really not interested anymore. ADD. Thanks a lot. We`ll talk to you, good.

(CROSSTALK)

CALDWELL: Much love.

ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow on GLENN BECK...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Hello. I`m Glenn Beck, a patriotic American. And you can tell that, because of that fancy flag graphic you`re now seeing behind me. No, it`s not just a regular flag; it`s a flag that looks like it`s flapping in the wind. That makes me even more patriotic.

You know, I was once called jingoistic. And after I looked that word up, at first I was actually annoyed. It basically means that I`m blindly patriotic. I`m not. I mean, I question everything, honestly. I question things that we do in the country all the time.

But now, I just wear jingoistic kind of as a badge of honor, I really do. Unlike the Dixie Chicks, who recently said they don`t seed a need for patriotism, I do, maybe because it`s natural for me. I don`t know why, but it is.

I think we`re the best country out there, and I`m proud of that fact, but I don`t support an amendment banning the burning of a flag. I mean, many people are a tad upset with me about that, like Frank from Philadelphia.

He wrote in and he said, "Hey, Beck, I thought you were a true American. Now you`re supporting all the druggie hippies burning the flag? I thought more of you, Glenn."

Look, Frank, here`s the deal: If you`re burning a flag, you`re an idiot. You know, what our soldiers fought for is not the flag, but what the flag represents, and that`s freedom to be an idiot.

It`s just agonizing to see all these politicians act like this is such a pressing issue. "We`ll save you from all the flag burners." With all the stuff we have to deal with now, flag burning is at the top of your list?

I saw this video airing in the background on Headline News last night. Look at this. This is all we have? Let`s see if we can find one scene that happened after "Silver Spoons" came on the air. We don`t have any recent video of people burning flags? You know why? Because nobody actually does it! Last year, there were four people that did it.

It`s even out of style for people who hate America, which seemingly is more and more in style.

It`s like that we`re passing a constitutional amendment to ban powdered wigs. Do I like powdered wigs? No. But, number one, it`s your choice to wear one. And, number two, nobody is making the choice to wear a powdered wig. So why are we even bringing it up?

Look, there are many things we can focus on instead of, you know, the flag burning thing, such as how super-extra-patriotic I am with my super- extra-jingoistic flapping flag behind me. And you can get on good, old American e-mail me and e-mail me at GlennBeck@CNN.com or just hold a flag up in the sky, and I`ll be there for you, America, if you can survive the stampede of politicians. I`ll be there.

END