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Glenn Beck

Mother of Slain Girl Starts Organization for Children; What Military Might Does Iran Have?

Aired August 30, 2006 - 19:00   ET

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

GLENN BECK, HOST: So how many sex offenders live in your neighborhood? The answer will probably shock you.
Plus, Iran has several different ways they could vaporize us. We`ll tell you all about that and much more, coming up next.

ANNOUNCER: Tonight`s episode of GLENN BECK is brought to you by the new sitcom, "Derek the Registered Sex Offender". Mothers, hide your daughters. The ultimate wacky neighbor`s moving in. Watch "Derek the Registered Sex Offender", coming soon to a playground near you.

BECK: You know, on this program we make an effort to tell you things you`re just not going to hear any place else. So here`s tonight`s exclusive.

Today is the day that you should no longer fear child molesters. And today is the day that, child molesters, you need to begin to fear us. Let me tell you why.

The guy who falsely confessed to the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, the guy we`ve been calling Captain Highpants because all he wants is fame, he may -- may have to register as a sex offender in California. He has admitted to fantasizing about young girls and collecting child pornography. Forget about JonBenet, and I know that sounds harsh, but this guy does not belong in our neighborhoods or near our children.

So tonight, the blue dot comes off of Captain Highpants. Here he is, America, once again. Never forget that face, because he could be in your neighborhood. John Mark Karr is his name.

Now to anybody who says, "Aw, he`s just different. He can be rehabilitated", bull crap. Let him baby-sit your kids, not mine.

Here are some facts from the Justice Department that I think might make you think twice before you let John Mark Karr and other sex offenders move next door.

Do you know that there are at least 500,000 registered sex offenders in the United States? That`s 10,000 per state. And that`s not even counting the thousands of unregistered sex offenders, like Captain Highpants.

Plus, one out of every four registered sex offenders don`t live where they`re supposed to live. Even if the pedophiles are registered, they`re lying to the cops about where they live.

You know, I know we all want to be kind and gentle. And we want to understand these people and what they`re going through, blah, blah, blah. But these scumbags are molesting our children. They are robbing them of their innocence and destroying their lives.

And politicians, a lot of them, don`t really seem to get it. They don`t have the same drive, at least, that I have on this.

I heard a line from a movie one time. And I think it spells it out. The guy said, "I`ve got a .45 and a shovel. And if something happens to my daughter, I doubt you`ll be missed."

I think that`s the way most Americans feel about child molesters. The best thing we could do is put these guys away and never let them see the light of day.

But it`s our -- it`s our misguided compassion, quite frankly, I think, our stupidity and a lot of our politicians who are present -- preventing us from keeping these guys off the street forever.

So here`s what I know tonight. I know that, even though it feels like we`re surrounded by these creeps, I`ve got a message for them. We`re not surrounded. You`re surrounded by us. And we`ve had enough of you. The country is finally waking up to that fact that you`re in our community with us, and we want it to stop now.

I also know I`ve talked to a lot of experts on the subject, and not one single time has any of them ever told me, "Oh, yes, child molesters, they can be cured." Not once. I really believe if you lay your hands on a child, one strike and you`re out. You should be put in jail, at best, for life. Not to punish you, but to protect my kids from you.

Now here`s what I don`t know tonight. I don`t know what the chances are that something like this could actually happen to my kids. I mean, how much of this is media hype? How much of this is reality?

I also don`t know, to be real honest with you if this ever happened to my child, I don`t know how I would stop myself from hunting these monsters in the middle of the night and killing them with my bare hands. That`s what the natural man in me would want to do.

Erin Runnion`s 5-year-old daughter, Samantha, was lured from her yard, sexually assaulted and murdered. Now she has -- a better person than me. Did something really positive. She founded the Joyful Child Fund to deal with the issues of violence against children.

Erin, did you at least have that same feeling that I think I would have where I just -- I`d want to kill the guy? Did you have that?

ERIN RUNNION, FOUNDER, JOYFUL CHILD FUND: Of course you do; of course you do. But I think -- well, what -- I loved what you were just saying, Glenn. Thank you so much.

BECK: Yes, thanks (ph).

RUNNION: Because it`s really important that people recognize that -- and this is really how I dealt with it, was that when Samantha was taken was that what happened to her was just an extreme example.

What`s happening all over this country, as many as one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually assaulted before they`re 18. That is how bad this problem is.

BECK: That is amazing.

RUNNION: That is why it affects every child in this country.

BECK: You know, let me show you, if you`re sitting at home, I just picked two cities, and you`ll see the web site at the bottom that you can check it yourself. I just want to show you how bad the problem really is.

Let`s just -- we just picked two cities. Toledo, Ohio. Let me show you. This is how many sex offenders. This is where they say they`re living.

Now you think well, I can live in a small city, I can just, you know - - let me show you Boise, Idaho. Look at that. That`s how many sex offenders are sitting there in Boise, Idaho. Is no place safe?

Have you been watching, Erin, the -- the Captain Highpants story with -- how did that make you feel?

RUNNION: Yes. Oh, it`s infuriating -- it`s infuriating to me for JonBenet Ramsey`s memory, for Polly Klaas`s memory, just the idea that the memories of our children could -- could be used and just exploited by some creep who just is desperate for fame so badly. It`s disgusting.

BECK: We are really -- I think we`re -- I think we`re at a turning point. Because we`ve got a guy in Ohio, I think it`s Cleveland, that said that he believes it`s his religious right to have sex with children.

RUNNION: There`s a whole organization based on that idea. It`s called NAMBLA.

BECK: It`s amazing. We`re really at a point where we`ve got to make a decision, man. Really, which is it? Do you have a right to -- to our children or do you -- do we have a responsibility to put you behind bars for the rest of your life and keep our children safe?

RUNNION: Well, I think you put it very nicely. The point is not putting then behind bars just to punish them. The point is there may be a few in there who can we rehabilitated. Great. They can be healthy in prison, because it`s not worth the risk to our children to let them all out for the few that might be able to recover. It doesn`t make any sense.

BECK: So do you see -- I mean, your -- I just love, just love the idea that you`ve taken such a horrible tragedy and turned it around into something positive.

RUNNION: Thank you.

BECK: Let`s talk about positive for a second. Do you see positive things happening? How about -- how about the Adam Walsh Law that came in? That`s positive, isn`t it?

RUNNION: That is extremely positive. Really, we have made more progress in the last five years than in the last 200 when it comes to child protection.

BECK: Explain -- explain, because I think a lot of people don`t know what it is. That ties into what I was just talking about in the monologue, that 25 percent of these guys are lying to the police, you know, when they`re registering. What does this law do to it?

RUNNION: The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. Within three years every state in this country will have a Megan`s Law web site that essentially follows the same protocol. It will have interstate communication. We will have a national sex offender registry that is complete with address verification programs and protocol for every state that they have to follow so that we don`t lose track of them.

It will fund GPS tracking pilot programs in states. There will also be mandatory minimum sentencing involved. So anyone convicted of possession, distribution or production of child pornography, child sexual aggravated assault, all of those people would be put behind bars in every state.

It will get rid of the incest exception law, which is insane. There are still about 20 states that think if you molest your own child it`s not as bad.

BECK: Erin, I`ve only got about 10 seconds left. No, no, no. It just -- life or death. Life in prison or death for these people?

RUNNION: Oh, I think life in prison. I think we have to study them like rats.

BECK: Great. Erin, thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

RUNNION: Thank you.

BECK: You know, it`s kind of a sad moment because, I mean, Captain Highpants is gone, and we barely really got to know him. And now it`s time for him to go away. And in the past two weeks, Highpants, let me tell you something, you brought the world so much, well, freakiness, quite frankly. And I think the last -- you know, I mean, the least that we could do is to give you a proper sendoff. So please accept this touching tribute as our gift to you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK (voice-over): Right here. Look at him in the high pants there. That`s the outfit we bought for him. Look at him sitting in the airport. Oh, he`s getting ready to have duck. Now he`s walking off the plane and then sitting in the courtroom.

He was so brave. He was so brave. We`re going to miss you, Captain. Going to miss you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is GLENN BECK.

BECK: All right. Coming up, Iran and what do they have that you need to know about?

Also the truth of why nobody wants you to pay for less for gas.

And get the duct tape ready. Michael Gross and the ACLU coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Tomorrow is the deadline for Iran to freeze its nuclear program, or else -- or else, you know, the United Nations will, you know, do nothing. That`s what will happen tomorrow. They`re not going to do anything.

Like Kofi Annan and his buddies are up, staying up all night. What are we going to do? We should come up with some tough new sanctions to oppose? They`re not going to -- nothing`s going to happen tomorrow.

But here`s the reason you need to pay attention to this. President Ahmadinejad -- I like to call him President Tom -- is just a master chess player. I`ve been saying for months, this is all about him moving the pieces and frightening Europe and the rest of the world to the point where they just back off and let him have a nuke.

Now the entire world, because of Hezbollah and their links with Iran, terrified of Iran. Tomorrow they will prove it by ignoring the U.N., and the U.N. will do nothing.

Sanctions are not the answer. That is going to turn the people in Iran against us, and they like us. We just can`t allow them to have a nuke. So what do you do?

We need to have a Ronald Reagan/Poland moment, and I`ll tell you about that in a second.

But first today on Iran 101, it`s our weeklong series devoted to educating you about Iran so, you know, you can make up your own mind. We`ll see what sort of weapons that they have.

Tonight we`ve got this guy, Ilan Berman. He`s from the American Foreign Policy Council. He`s an expert on the Middle East security. He literally wrote the book about Iran`s military capabilities, called "Tehran Rising: Iran`s Challenge to the United States".

Ilan, tell me how scary is their military might.

ILAN BERMAN, AUTHOR, "TEHRAN RISING": I think in regional terms it`s very scary. Look, make no mistake, the Iranians are not a match for U.S. forces, but what I think is significant is the fact that, since we`ve gotten rid of the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the Iranians are head and shoulders above all the other countries in the region, in terms of military capabilities.

I`m talking war fighting on the ground, war fighting at sea, war fighting in the air, and also Iran has the most robust, bar none, the most robust WMD program -- WMD complex in the region.

BECK: OK. Let me get to that here in a second. But first, when you say they`re no match for us. I agree with you. However, it`s not really them about us, you know -- them taking us on. All they have to do is get us engaged, and it will set the entire region on fire. Then you`ve got everybody fighting us, right?

BERMAN: No, I think that`s exactly right. And also, what`s useful to remember here is that the war fighting capabilities, the conventional Army and Air Force and Navy are simply the window dressing.

What is hidden in the corner, what`s the $64,000 question is what asymmetric capabilities the Iranians can bring to the table, and those are very, very robust.

BECK: OK, so let`s just go down this quickly. First, tell me about manpower. How many people?

BERMAN: Well, they have over a million -- over half a million people that are enlisted in -- there are two armies. They have two armies. One is the conventional war fighting army, the Artesh. These are the guys that are the cannon fodder that fought Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War.

And then you have the Posiron (ph). These are the scary guys. These are the shock troops of the Islamic Republican. There`s over 100,000 of them.

BECK: And they`ve got 50,000 suicide bombers, as well, do they not?

BERMAN: Well, those are certainly volunteers. Those are, in fact...

BECK: Right, volunteers.

BERMAN: What`s useful to remember here because I know you`ll be talking about the opposition is also that the Posiron (ph) is the one that runs the Basij. That`s the domestic militia, and they have over a million people conscripted into the Basij. So they have a substantial ability not only to project power outside but also inside the country.

BECK: OK. Ground combat -- let`s just skip that one. Let`s just show that up there. Aerial warfare? What do they have in aerial?

BERMAN: Well, an area there about on par with their closest military competitor, which is Saudi Arabia. They have a little over 250,000 combat aircraft, as well as helicopters and other unmanned aerial vehicles.

BECK: And naval combat, they just shot a missile off one of their ships just last weekend?

BERMAN: That`s right. And this is, I think, a very significant point. Over the last several years, courtesy of Russia, courtesy of China and North Korea, the Iranians have engaged substantial military modernization. Most of that has been in the navy. And they can now, according to the U.S. intelligence community, shut off the flow of oil from -- through the straight of Hormuz for a limited period of time, even with the U.S. military.

BECK: Yes, and that`s exactly what they would do with it. Now let`s get to the big question, the $64,000 question as you -- as you called it earlier. WMDs?

BERMAN: Well, WMD, the Iranians are far and away the most robust power. They have a chemical arsenal that we know about. They have a biological arsenal that we know a little bit about, not a lot.

They have, obviously, a very robust nuclear -- national nuclear endeavor that we think. And I think it`s a pretty good assumption is working toward the nuclear bomb. And most of all what they have is they have the ability to deliver it.

They have the most robust ballistic missile force in the region. Right now, the centerpiece of that is the Shahab-3. It has a 2,000- kilometer range. But they`re working on a missile, the Shahab-4, which can reach -- would be able to reach central and even parts of Western Europe with a 4,000-kilometer range.

BECK: Right. Thank you very much, Ilan. I appreciate it.

BERMAN: Thank you.

BECK: And the thing you have to remember is these people, they may have it, like the Soviets. But the Soviets wanted to live. Some of these, the leaders, the clerics, they don`t. They`re waiting for death.

We`ve been spending a lot of time telling you about Iran and the threat that they represent to our way of life, but what`s really important to know is how Iran is posturing itself in all this.

We looked for different headlines. We`re watching the Iranian news sources and what they`re saying to their own people. Today I found a headline from Iranian news services that said this. This one comes from "The Tehran Times": "Countdown for Vanishing of Zionism Started". Countdown.

A quote from an Iranian member of parliament said this, quote, "Compromise between Muslims and Zionist regime is now an entirely dismissed case. Regional nations will grow to eradicate this cancerous tumor, and in fact, it could be said that the countdown has just started for an end to Zionism."

My friend, that`s you and me. It seems fairly clear on the intent front.

Remember that Reagan/Poland moment I hinted about earlier? What we need right now is a speech from our current president that is directed from the Oval Office right to the Iranian people. We need it now.

You need to call your Congress and tell your Congresspeople to pass legislation calling for a regime change in Iran. The people of Iran are the last, greatest hope for us.

The president, just like Reagan in Poland, needs to stand up and say, "People of Iran, we know you want freedom. We know you don`t want to live this way. We will protect you."

Beg our Congresspeople and our president to make that happen. More in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Every day you can hear my radio program on great radio stations all across the country, including 1370-WSPD in Toledo, Ohio, and 1140-WRVA in Richmond, Virginia.

Pat Gray on the station that carries our show, on 950-KRPC. Pat does mornings, a good friend of mine, best friend in fact.

Pat, you are having problems in Houston with Katrina.

PAT GRAY, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Yes.

BECK: And the evacuee -- you still call -- are they still called evacuees?

GRAY: They are. And you kind of wonder when is that going to end?

BECK: Yes. Now that`s the problem. You`re cutting off the funding in Houston for the evacuees.

GRAY: Well, I`m personally not.

BECK: Right.

GRAY: But FEMA is trying to, and they`re being sued right now. This is the fourth lawsuit against FEMA because of the housing assistance. This one is done by the Association of Community Organizations for reform now.

And I guess -- I guess their theory is that FEMA needs to continue to support -- you know, pay room and board -- housing and utilities indefinitely. It`s been a year, and you would think, all right, does it need to be decades? Does it need to be centuries?

BECK: I mean -- I mean, we`re really protesting we`ve only given you free housing and every7thing else for a year?

GRAY: Or one year. And over that time FEMA has gradually been kind of weaning people off of the assistance, but there are a good number still -- this one includes about 3,000 people, and there`s still 35,000.

BECK: I`ve got to tell you, I mean, when does shame play a role in our society?

GRAY: It doesn`t.

BECK: You know, you kill the spirit. You give people free housing and everything else for a year. You don`t -- if you don`t take a year to go ahead and try to put your life back into order and get yourself a job and get back on the feet. I mean, jeez, man, that is more than -- I mean, that`s unreasonable to ask more than a year.

GRAY: Unless you don`t have arms and legs. Then it`s understandable.

BECK: Well...

GRAY: We had a -- we had a quote from an evacuee yesterday who said she might go back to New Orleans. She doesn`t like it here, because they`re trying to cut off her assistance. She might go back to New Orleans, but she`s waiting for -- for a place to be prepared for her, as if little FEMA fairies are sprinkling pixie dust all over the ground in New Orleans and an evacuee palace is going to spring up from it.

BECK: Right.

GRAY: With hot and cold running champagne and Beluga caviar bubble bath.

BECK: Let me ask you, Pat. Let me ask you. Do you feel in Houston - - do you hear in Houston this from your callers? Do you feel in Houston like stop looking a frickin` gift horse in the mouth?

GRAY: Absolutely. It really -- it`s starting to be bothersome because, you know, so many of us, including me, went down to the Reliant Center last year and volunteered our time. We gave up our money. We opened up our hearts and our homes.

BECK: And you gave time, as well.

GRAY: Time and effort.

BECK: You have been telling me for a year crime rate. You said that -- you said that almost -- you said it during, I believe, it was Hurricane Rita.

GRAY: Yes.

BECK: You said, "Glenn, there`s crime going on. There`s looting going on here, and it is not happening from Houstonians. It is happening from the evacuees." You guys have been the price for opening your heart for a year now.

GRAY: We have. And, you know, not to say that all of the evacuees have been causing problems.

BECK: Sure.

GRAY: But a good number of them, there`s a pretty significant number and our murder rate is up 26 percent.

BECK: Holy cow.

GRAY: And they attribute a lot of that to the evacuees.

BECK: Holy cow. It is -- it`s so tragically sad, because it stops people, and this -- it can`t happen -- it stops people from wanting to reach into their pocket and into their heart and help people. And there were so many people in Katrina that deserved the help.

Thanks, Pat. Appreciate it. Talk to yo7u again soon.

GRAY: You bet, Glenn.

BECK: You bet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BECK: All right. Welcome to "The Real Story." This is where we cut through the media spin and try to figure out why a story is actually important.

And first up tonight is Ernesto, formerly known as a hurricane, still making news for some reason, as it pounds Florida with 20- or sometimes 30- mile-an-hour winds and a slight chance of rain. But the real story here is that Ernesto is not a story at all, or at least not as big of a story as you`d think if you`ve been watching cable news lately.

I mean, watch this. Take the radar loop. This came out a couple of days ago. I mean, I`m no hurricane forecaster, but I am a thinker, and even I could tell this thing is about as powerful as a Nicole Richie haymaker. You know, I know we`re a little edgy about hurricanes over last year, and seeing that yesterday was the one-year anniversary of Katrina, I get it.

But the whole Ernesto thing -- I mean, we`re playing with people`s lives here. People boarded up and evacuated their homes based on these forecasts, when in reality we don`t know the first thing about these storms. Did you know, in 2005, NOAA predicted 12 to 15 storms, seven to nine hurricanes? Turns out 28 storms and 15 hurricanes. They weren`t even close.

Can you imagine sucking at your job that much and not getting fired? I mean, you`d be me.

So, instead of the fear-mongering, how about just being honest? I mean, let`s just admit that we don`t have any idea how many storms there are going to be, and let`s just take them one at a time as they come. Besides, you and I both know the only thing this fear-mongering is really good for is ratings.

Now, let me bring you another story that isn`t getting anywhere as much media attention as it should be. It seems that B.P., the world`s third-largest oil company, is under review by both the Commodities Future Trading Commission and the Justice Department for possible manipulation of oil and gas prices. The Justice Department`s investigation has been going on for over a year now and also includes a criminal probe.

And all of that, me, a capitalist, a conservative, I say it`s about frickin` time. The real story is what we pay for a barrel of oil -- and basically what we pay for a gallon of gas because of that -- has absolutely nothing to do with the laws of supply and demand. It`s all about power, greed and manipulation. We`re being screwed, man.

Let me blow your mind for a second. This is a stat I promise you you`ve never heard before. Did you know the United States is the third- largest producer of oil in the world? We produced more oil in 2005 than Venezuela and the UAE combined. Only Saudi Arabia and Russia produced more oil than we did.

But that`s where OPEC takes over, yes, an organization whose two primary requirements for becoming a member are producing a lot of oil and hating the United States. Just ask Venezuela and Iran, two proud OPEC nations, how they feel about the United States. You know what it is? It`s like -- you know that kid in school that hated you? I mean, hated you more than anybody else? It`s like having him decide how much you pay for lunch everyday. It`s not efficient. It`s not a fair system.

But the most frustrating part about all of this is that not even the countries that we import the oil from set the final price we pay. Traders do. Speculators do. Now, this stuff is really complex, but just know that traders buy and sell oil just like we buy and sell stocks. They trade on fear, fear of war in the Middle East, fear of an oil pipeline that spills in Alaska, or fear of hurricanes in the Gulf. Beginning to get the picture here?

I mean, when I get on TV and tell you about hurricanes, about Iran, about World War III, that plays into exactly what they want most: a climate of fright and panic, where they can get higher and higher prices for their trades, no matter what a barrel of oil actually costs.

The bottom line in all of this is that oil prices are as bogus as the price of a diamond. Just ask De Beers.

How did we get in this situation? I mean, ask yourself this question: How have we gone decades without one major innovation to help us cut the frickin` oil noose from around our neck? My theory is, it`s because some very powerful people in government and industry do not want that noose cut from our neck.

Edwin Black, he`s the author of an upcoming book, "Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives."

Edwin, who is responsible for keeping us hooked on oil?

EDWIN BLACK, AUTHOR, "INTERNAL COMBUSTION": Well, the main culprit on who is responsible is the public itself, because the public has allowed the government and the corporations to manipulate it and to take away the real energy alternatives that we actually need.

A hundred years ago, this country was crisscrossed with trolleys, electric trolleys, and with automobiles that ran on electricity. That was all subverted by people who realized it was easier to run an automobile on a gallon of gas that they took from the Middle East without paying a royalty than making a lead battery. So what they did is they subverted the electric cars -- and I`m talking about a hundred years ago -- and replaced it with internal combustion gasoline-burning cars. That`s befouled our air. It befouled our lungs. And ultimately it has led to where we are.

BECK: Well, hang on just a second. Edwin, I am -- you know, a look, I am a capitalist. I believe in a capitalist system and supply and demand, but I don`t think that`s what we have going on here. And I think we have such a shadow government of corporations that are really calling the shots. I hate to sound like a complete -- this is going to make me sound nuts. Maybe you know the answer, because you`ve done so much research on this. Do you believe -- hang on, do you believe...

BLACK: I`m a bigger capitalist than you are, and I can tell you that two of the biggest capitalists in the history of the United States, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, both agreed in 1914 to replace every gasoline- burning car in this country with an electric vehicle. It`s been forgotten in history. It was a secret project. And it was subverted by interests who wanted to stick with internal combustion machines, stick with gasoline burners.

And in 1914, we had a chance in this country to continue the electric vehicle trend with home-generated electricity. What happened to that?

BECK: OK. Is the solution sitting in some vault some place? Is it too conspiratorial to think that people have kind of just, oh, all of the sudden fallen into a river that had the solution? Is that too far?

BLACK: Well, it isn`t that we need to reinvent the wheel. We need to excavate it from where it was buried a hundred years ago. The secret weapon that you`re speaking about, the secret invention is the battery or electricity. And that can be produced with hydrogen or an electrical charge.

And all we`ve got to do in this country is to return to where we were a hundred years ago and generate electricity in our homes. There are plans afoot right now -- Honda, BMW want absolutely, within two to three years, to convert us all to hydrogen cars with home refueling.

BECK: The hydrogen car already exists, right? The compressed natural gas car -- Honda has them -- is trying to say, "Help us out. Put them in."

BLACK: Yes, but wait a minute. Wait a minute, Glenn. Do you know why nobody knows about the compressed natural gas car that Honda is making?

BECK: I`ve got 30 seconds. Tell me quickly.

BLACK: Because on the day they were making the announcement, the "Runaway Bride" occurred, and CNN and everybody else decided to cover that instead of a way we could get off of oil. That`s why no one knows about CNG.

BECK: Edwin, thank you very much. I appreciate it. That is "The Real Story" tonight. And if you would like to read more about oil and OPEC and the price manipulation, visit my Web site at glennbeck.com/realstory, this transcript of this section and a lot more information for you.

Now, if you see something in the news and you`re thinking to yourself, "Just how has the media completely missed the mark on this?" I want you to e-mail it to me, along with what you think the real story is, by writing to realstory@CNN.com.

Let`s go "Straight to Hill," Erica Hill, the anchor of "PRIME NEWS" on Headline News.

Erica...

ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Glenn?

BECK: ... have you seen the pictures of Katie Couric?

HILL: Yes.

BECK: Is that the story you have?

HILL: It is. I got to say, though, I don`t understand why everybody`s making such a big deal about it.

BECK: I think it`s the greatest thing ever.

HILL: What do you think is the greatest thing ever?

BECK: Do the story. I`ll tell you.

HILL: OK, so here`s the story. For people who aren`t familiar with it, there`s a little controversy. There are two different photos of "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric. We`re first going to show you the original, the picture -- there it is. The picture was taken in May. Now, in the September issue of an internal CBS magazine called "Watch"...

BECK: Whoa, what happened?

HILL: It`s not that dramatic.

BECK: Oh, yes, it is.

HILL: No, it`s not. So the picture was doctored so she looks a little slimmer.

BECK: That`s 20 pounds taken off of her. That`s 20 pounds.

HILL: But I don`t understand what the big deal is.

BECK: Look at that.

HILL: Pictures are doctored everyday. Our head shots are doctored at Headline News.

BECK: One is Elle Macpherson and the other one is Barbara Bush. I`m telling you, she`s taken -- now, look, here`s the thing. Do you have the quote, what she said about this?

HILL: She said she liked the other one -- she likes the original one better because there`s more of her to love.

BECK: Right. What a pile of bull crap. I see nothing has changed at CBS News. We`re still getting lies from CBS News. I like...

HILL: Glenn, Glenn, Glenn...

BECK: Yes?

HILL: ... you have to be honest.

BECK: What?

HILL: Every head shot that we all have gets doctored. They take out blemishes.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: If they could doctor me right now, doctor away.

HILL: There you go.

BECK: Magic camera.

HILL: Just call the people in P.R. They`ll do wonders for you. Cheapest diet ever.

BECK: All right. Thanks a lot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: How much money have we spent on Hurricane Katrina? How many billions of dollars have we spent? Did you see in the paper today? Oh, people are blaming George Bush. We haven`t spent enough. What? How many billions of dollars? I want these damn hurricanes to start paying for themselves. I say we sponsor the names. "And we`re down to the Ms. It`s Hurricane MetLife now developing." I mean, you can put it on the TV the whole time, Hurricane MetLife is there. Hurricane Ovaltine, Hurricane Cheezy Doodles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: You know, the show really has been going so well today I figure it`s time to drive this thing right over a cliff. You know what I mean? If you don`t have a headache yet, grab a couple of aspirin, get a glass of water handy, because it`s time to talk to the guy from the ACLU.

I personally love this guy, and it`s my goal to make a blood vessel pop in his head. Tonight, we`re going to talk about bongs, Jesus, and free speech at school.

In Alaska, the ACLU is celebrating an appeals court decision affirming a student`s right to free speech for carrying a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" sign, while in Nevada, they`re helping to defend a suit against a school district who stopped a radical student from inserting some references about Christ into her school speech.

Former ACLU attorney Michael Gross, how are you, Michael?

MICHAEL GROSS, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hello, Glenn.

BECK: Come on. Bring it on, brother. Let`s start on the first one with the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." Cheery. Free speech.

GROSS: Yes, it`s a great cheer, isn`t it, great cheer for Jesus?

BECK: Yes, it is.

GROSS: Isn`t that a cheer? He`s off campus. He has absolute freedom of speech.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: He was just across the street, because the school said, "This is a historic thing. We`re going to go ahead and take class and hold for a second. Everybody go across the street."

GROSS: You know, you don`t protest in your basement. You protest where the event is taking place. He wasn`t on the school campus, and the school doesn`t shut him up. Why doesn`t a talk show host respect free speech? I don`t get it.

BECK: OK, well, you know what? That is great, because you have said, in fact -- you have said the same thing here that the ACLU director, Michael Ball, said. He said, quote, "Students do not give up their free speech rights while in school as long as that speech doesn`t disrupt school activities."

GROSS: Right.

BECK: That`s right, isn`t it?

GROSS: Right. What did he do that was disruptive, by the way?

BECK: That is right? I want to make sure. That is right, right?

GROSS: Of course it`s right.

BECK: Of course it`s right.

GROSS: Right, right.

BECK: Let`s go to the next story. We`ve got a valedictorian who`s stepping up and just saying, "Hey, I got my time, I want to tell you, you know, that one of the things that`s really important to me is Jesus Christ."

GROSS: Yes, only this wasn`t a Sunday school graduation. This was a public school graduation. And she`s a liar.

BECK: Wait a minute. Michael, how is that -- hold it.

GROSS: And she was lying.

BECK: How is it, sir -- how is it that that`s disruptive for her to say, "I just -- you know, I really believe in Jesus Christ, and he`s played a central roll in my life"?

GROSS: Hold up. It was a great deal more than that. Now, you know it, because you read her speech. She was told in advance, "This is a public school graduation. Submit your speech in advance." And it was edited. She was told all of these things that she said...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: What part, Mr. Gross, don`t you understand about free speech? What part don`t you understand about free speech?

GROSS: That you don`t have a governmental function endorse a particular religion.

BECK: You just agreed with me, sir, that as long as it does not disrupt school activities, free speech should be protected.

GROSS: Look it, everybody is invited to the graduation, and they`re all told not this is a Sunday school graduation, this was...

BECK: OK. All right, so it`s speech that you find offensive. Let me go back and play something that came from your words. Watch this little montage from Michael Gross. Here we go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GROSS: It`s the First Amendment. This is serious stuff. Don`t suppress free speech.

BECK: And so wait a minute.

GROSS: They need to be protected, people who say things which are not popular.

Give me liberty or give me death.

BECK: ... or give me death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Are you going for the death or the liberty part, Michael? So that`s the best you got, that I`m a closet liberal?

GROSS: That you`re a Taliban, that you`re a Hezbollah party of god, that you don`t get it that public school is not a place to teach one particular religion.

BECK: Well, you know what? Let me tell you...

GROSS: Why did she lie?

BECK: Let me tell you -- let me tell you something, Michael.

GROSS: It wasn`t the ACLU that vetted her speech. It was the school authorities.

BECK: Let me tell you something. If it makes me...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: ... when you say that I don`t get it and that I`m a member of the Taliban, you`re right. If that`s what I am, I am a liberal then.

GROSS: Why teach religion in public school?

BECK: It`s not teaching religion. She has a right to say what she wants. Let me quote again the -- unless it disrupts school activities...

GROSS: She does. Yes, she can do it on -- this disrupted the graduation.

BECK: With who?

GROSS: She could do it on the street corner...

BECK: With who?

GROSS: ... she can do it on the school campus, she can do it as part of a club. But she presented that speech in advance, not to the ACLU, but to the school board. They vetted it. She lied.

BECK: The reason why they vetted it...

GROSS: She said, "OK, I`ll take those things out."

BECK: ... is because they`re afraid of people like you. And the fear stops here, Michael. And let me tell you something...

GROSS: It`s the United States Supreme Court.

BECK: ... you, sir -- you, sir, said yourself that speech needs to be protected at all costs, especially speech that`s offensive.

GROSS: Students need to be protected. If you want to teach fairytales in science class, you can`t do it. Save it for where it belongs.

BECK: Oh, man.

GROSS: Well, come on. That`s what we`re talking about here.

BECK: So now Jesus is a fairytale? Michael...

GROSS: It`s a time -- there`s a time and a place for it.

BECK: Jesus is a fairytale. That`s what I heard. That`s what America heard. Michael, I got to run...

GROSS: Not in a government function.

BECK: If you`re like me...

GROSS: Separate them, church and state, a wall.

BECK: All right, all right. All right. If you thought that the ACLU makes your blood just shoot directly out of your eyes, you may be a closet liberal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Are you sick and tired of hearing ACLU lawyers defending Nazis, NAMBLA, the Klan, child molesters, and child pornographers? Well, now your worries are over. Introducing the Moe`s noise-reversing head phones.

Here`s what your TV normally sounds like.

GROSS: Don`t put up a religious symbol on public land.

ANNOUNCER: Now, here`s what it`s like watching TV with Moe`s noise- reversing head phones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Glenn, when you`re right, your right. You should be able to put a cross anywhere you want. I`m sorry, buddy, I lost my temper. Here, give me a kiss.

ANNOUNCER: And Moe`s noise-reversing headphones are also the perfect anecdote to those fear-mongering cable news hosts.

BECK: Our enemies are drawing their plans against us now.

ANNOUNCER: Now, here`s that same broadcast using Moe`s noise- reversing headphones.

BECK: Everything`s sunshine and lollypops.

ANNOUNCER: Buy a pair today and kiss noises away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. We`ll get to our mail here in a second, but first let`s check in with Nancy Grace to see what she`s got coming up on the show tonight -- Nancy?

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Glenn, even more fallout from the John Mark Karr fiasco. Can the Boulder district attorney pick up the pieces and finally solve the JonBenet Ramsey murder mystery? Or is the case not only cold but dead because of her colossal blunder? He`s the only suspect ever arrested in JonBenet`s murder. And as all the world now knows, he`s the wrong guy. But it ain`t over yet, Glenn.

BECK: Good. Don`t forget you can check out Nancy tonight at 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here.

All right. Let`s get to the hate mail. This one`s from Roger in Arizona. He writes in, "After listening to Glenn`s rants, I think that an interesting variation would be to have a joint show with Geraldo Rivera. Sort of a Great American Putz-Off."

Please, I mean, Roger, that hurts me. I mean, is this the sort of attack that we`ve stooped to? I mean, why can`t we stick to the obvious facts? It`s obvious I could out-putz Geraldo any day, and I stand by that.

Steve from Ohio writes, "Glenn, with the usage in your Becktionary last night, `Prosti-tot` would be a noun, not an adjective. For it to be an adjective, it must describe a noun."

We need to check this. Could I see the "Prosti-tot" graphic here for a second? It`s vital for this program to be accurate at all times. And that stated -- yes, that goal not so much, but it is listed there as an adjective. Good catch, Steve. That should be a noun. And now you can feel the never-ending pride of correcting the grammar of a fake word on a mediocre TV show. Congratulations, Steve. Tell that to your children.

Harry writes, "I`d like to confess to a crime that happened in Hawaii. I will not fight extradition. I`ll go. Next summer, I`m pretty sure I`ll realize that I committed a crime maybe in Alaska. Then two years, my wife and I might be confessing to crimes in Ireland. We hear it`s lovely in the springtime. Thank you, Harry."

I`m telling you, man, this is the wave of the future thanks to Captain Highpants from the JonBenet story. Why waste your frequent flyer miles when you can confess to a crime at a vacation locale? You know, the only other way to get free trips is either you play some annoying game show, you tour a time share, or you get yourself a sugar daddy.

And let me tell you something: For guys like me, the offers from sugar daddies, short supply, really.

You can e-mail me now at GlennBeck@CNN.com. We`ll see you on the radio tomorrow and then back here tomorrow night. See you later, you sick twisted freak.

END