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Glenn Beck

Time for U.S. to Get Serious in Terror War; Whitney Houston Divorcing Bobby Brown

Aired September 14, 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: All right. Tonight is what I like to call our no kidding show. Here`s the first one. We`re fighting this war with political correctness where we won`t even kill people because they were at a funeral. Gee, no kidding.
Whitney Houston is finally divorcing Bobby Brown. No kidding.

And an air marshal is saying that our airport security is a joke. Like I said, no kidding. All coming up, next.

ANNOUNCER: Tonight`s episode is brought to you by the new hit comedy, "My Two Whitneys," starring Whitney Houston and Eli Whitney. One sings. The other invents. Together, they make magic.

BECK: In the last five years, I have really truly only been frightened twice. The first was September 11, because I didn`t know what any of it meant. The second time I was really, truly frightened was last night was after I saw a documentary that I told you about last night on radical Islam called "Obsession". It was the -- the reason why I was frightened is the opposite of what I felt on September 11. This time, I was frightened because I knew exactly what it meant.

We are going to talk frankly about this film and show you some disturbing clips from it. But, please. I`m a dad, and I know that I would not want my kids seeing -- and I`ve got a kid in college. I wouldn`t want them seeing these clips. I wouldn`t even want them being within ear shot of the material that we`re going to share with you. However, for you, I think it is a vitally important that you do watch the next five minutes.

All right. Here`s the point tonight. We are at war with people who will do whatever it takes to defeat us, and we refuse to make the same commitment.

I want you to look at this picture. This is a Defense Department photo. It was leaked to the press yesterday or the day before. It shows a group of 190 Taliban militants attending a funeral last July. You see the little black brackets there? Yes, those are called gun sights.

This picture was taken by a Predator drone aircraft. It was outfitted with missiles that could have killed all of these guys. But we didn`t. While it has not been specified why we didn`t attack the large group of terrorists, most speculate that it has to do with the military`s rules of engagement that don`t allow us to attack cemeteries. We weren`t attacking a cemetery. We were attacking dirt bags in the cemetery.

This wasn`t a wedding. At a cemetery, everybody is already dead. We had a shot at 190 Islamist extremists hell bent on killing us whenever and wherever they can, and we just fly on by? When asked about the incident, a coalition spokesperson said our forces have "higher moral standards than the enemy."

For the love of everything that is good and sacred, enough. We cannot afford to take the high road with such a brutal, ruthless enemy that will slit your throat as much as say hi to you. We don`t have the luxury of fighting a kinder, gentler fight. This is not your grandfather`s war with Europe.

And let me tell you something. If Grandpa were still around and he had been over in Europe, he`d kick our butt for not killing these people in the graveyard.

These terrorists see our compassion as a weakness, and they are using our decency against us. What is it finally going to take for us to take this war as seriously as these guys do?

All day, I`ve been thinking about that film that I saw last night, and I can`t get it out of my head. It`s a movie called "Obsession". It is a documentary that lets us hear and see what the Islamist fundamentalists think about us in their own words.

I am going to show you just a couple of clips here. You don`t have to read between the lines. Their message is loud and clear. I want you to take a look at these clips. The first one is the way they treat us. You don`t want to -- you don`t want to kill them in a graveyard? Look how they`re killing us. Terribly graphic.

And again, if you have children in the room, I can tell you as a parent, I wouldn`t want my kids to see this. Watch this and then see how the evil spills down into their children. Like it or not, this is the truth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The scene repeats itself in Iraq. This time it`s not an effigy that`s burned, but American civilians. The vehicle was ambushed by Islamic militia. Iraqi civilians cheer as they throw rocks at the dead Americans in and around the blazing vehicle. Amidst shrieks of delight, the charred corpses are dragged into the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking foreign language)

GRAPHIC: I hope Bush dies in flames, and I want to go to Ariel Sharon and kill him with a gun and stab him with a sword, because of the poor Palestinians!

I want to tell Bush that he is a pig and that I hope he dies. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I can`t make my point any clearer than that. We are battling evil.

Here`s what I know. This film "Obsession" is, without exaggeration, one of the most important films of our time. Please, you must see it. It doesn`t have distribution here in the America because no U.S. company has demonstrated the courage to step up and get it out there and just live with the consequences in our PC universe. You need to get a copy for yourself and another one to pass on.

I want you to go to GlennBeck.com for a link to the site. We sent people during the radio show, and we shut their servers down. So you can find all the information on my server. Please be patient. They`re getting a lot of hits on this today.

Once you see this movie, you hopefully will finally understand that we are at a time of kill or be killed.

I also know that radical Islamists would like nothing more than to drag us back into the 10th Century. And I don`t know about you. I`ve gotten kind of used to air conditioning and indoor plumbing, so I`m going to say no thank you, Mr. Extremist.

Here`s what I don`t know. Who made the call not to fire on the Taliban funeral site? Was it a general? Was it President Bush? Did we learn nothing from Vietnam? You can`t fight a war with one hand tied behind your back when your enemy isn`t threatening but promising to do everything in their power to -- and I am not kidding; watch the movie -- raise the Islamic flag over the White House and rule the world.

Joining me now is retired Army General David Grange.

General, who made this call? Is this standard operating procedure here?

GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I don`t know who made the call on rules of engagement. In other words, they cannot hit a religious facility, funeral site, religious activity. It`s a certain level.

And if you`re being shot at, you can hit anything you want, but if you`re not being shot at, then it goes to certain levels of command to make that decision. In this case, I`m not sure what level it would have been at. It would have been probably a colonel or a general.

BECK: Would you have made the call to fire on these guys?

GRANGE: Not knowing all the information, if it was confirmed that they were, in fact, Taliban, to be honest with you, I wouldn`t care if it was near a cemetery or not. To get 190 bad guys in one spot, which is very unusual in Afghanistan, I think I would have fired.

BECK: I would hope you would. Is there such a thing as a kinder, gentler war?

GRANGE: No, there`s not such a thing. Rules of engagement are important, however, but in the rules of engagement, there are processes in place to get permission to change the rule if the conditions warrant.

And in this case, if you have an enemy in sight, there`s not -- it`s not in the middle of the village of a lot of civilians around, which this was in a remote area, you would think that you would have had, "Go ahead. Take them out."

BECK: General, I don`t -- I really -- I`m not the kind of -- I don`t want to turn into our enemies. I think these guys are bloodthirsty monsters, quite honestly. But honestly, isn`t there a time to be really fierce and just never, ever show them the light of day and then when you win, be peaceful and friendly and show them how great you can be?

GRANGE: In conflict, you want to enemy to be totally fearful of your activities. I mean, you -- psychologically you must be in that position of power and fear for the enemy. You want them to say, "Oh, my goodness. It`s this unit, that unit, the 101st, the Big Red One, Rangers, whatever."

BECK: Do we have that at all?

GRANGE: I think we have it in certain units in certain areas. But it`s very important to have that condition on a battlefield. And if they don`t have that, they`re going to work it against you. Just like they work the scenes of the rules of engagement if they know what those rules are. They`ll work those to their advantage.

BECK: You know, in World War II, we firebombed Dresden, we nuked Hiroshima, Nagasaki. We bombed the monasteries. We destroyed 90 percent of the buildings in Okinawa. We had flame-throwers. When is it we`re going to wake up that we have to do what we have to do?

GRANGE: It`s very tough nowadays when you`re in conflict. For instance, when I was in the Balkans, I had a hard time getting permission just to use riot control gas on militants that were harming my soldiers. My other course -- course of action would have been to shoot them.

BECK: But my -- but my question is, because I understand the problem. I`m with you, and I think our soldiers are with you, as well. What is it going to take for us to get serious?

GRANGE: Well, I know there`s a lot of units that are very serious, and they go out there and then they relentlessly hunt down and kill the enemy. I know that for a fact. There are situations, though, where we are hesitant and when we are hesitant, I think in the long run we pay for it.

BECK: Oh, yes.

GRANGE: Now there`s been mistakes made, and of course, the media jumps all over that, but there are times when you have to be tough and take the risk.

BECK: Do you think precision bombs actually do the military a disservice? I mean, I like precision bombs, because you can go in and you can hit what you -- you`re not hitting schools.

However, the enemies will hide in the schools because of that, and if we then hit a school it looks like we`re intentionally targeting it. Do you understand my question?

GRANGE: Sure. It`s turned around that way. But you can hit a school; you can hit a mosque, if enemy are using it to fight against you...

BECK: But we don`t.

GRANGE: Well, we`ve hit some when we`ve been fired upon. However, precision-guided bombs are only as good as the information, the intelligence on the target. No matter how technical, how precise that are, they`re no good if you don`t know what`s at the site.

BECK: Yes. General, I appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time, sir.

GRANGE: My pleasure.

BECK: Coming up, what a surprise. Whitney Houston is finally dumping Bobby Brown.

Also, new claims that U.S. air marshals are being forced to blow their own cover. What a surprise.

And we go head to head with the all-time "Jeopardy" game show champ. Gee, I wonder who`s going to win that one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: If I were a homosexual, I would be disgusted by Rosie O`Donnell. I would say to myself, "Shut up." I wouldn`t want her representing me. Because, you know, if I`m a gay man, I just -- I want everybody to know I`m just like everybody else. I just happen to dig sex with men, as opposed to digging sex with women.

But I don`t think that`s the way Rosie O`Donnell comes off. I think she -- I think she`s angry, bitter, twisted. Is this who you want as a representative?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Well, let`s go to another celebrity who is just in a different world of their own.

Fourteen years, drug addiction, domestic abuse allegations, multiple arrests, a stint with Judaism, a really, really, really, crappy TV show, and believe me, I know crappy TV shows. The marriage of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown has finally come to an end.

To say the union was troubled would be kind of an understatement here. It`s tough to say which one has more issues, Bobby or Whitney. Both have had public battles with substance abuse. And, despite Whitney coining the phrase "crack is whack," there`s no hiding her struggle with drugs.

It`s not the first time that they`ve called it quits, and then they keep coming back to each other, saying, "Well, I was addicted to her." Uh- huh. Yes. So we`ll have to see if this split actually sticks this time. I really don`t understand why some women are drawn to these abusive relationships and just keep going back for more, despite how bad it really gets, especially like they do. You have a kid involved, as well.

Jeff Gardere, he`s a psychologist. Let me start with -- let me start with this. Can you tell me anything, Jeff, about Whitney Houston? She seemed like she had a pretty good childhood

JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, Glenn, from what I know and what I`ve read, she did have a very good childhood, grew up in a very religious family, the mother of a very famous gospel singer. And a lot of people were very perplexed once she started coming out of the shell, if you will, and became kind of this wild girl. But of course, this supposedly happened after her marriage to Bobby Brown.

BECK: OK. I mean, I`ve never seen anybody. This woman, she was on the road of being the biggest star of all time, recording star. And then she had this amazing fall into I don`t even know what, and I would think if she would come back out and say, "Wow, did I -- was I screwed up," she`d have a big, huge career in front of herself.

What do you think it`s going to take for her or Bobby or both of them to actually shake this and get away from each other?

GARDERE: Well, I think she may be on the right road right now. I mean, certainly I wouldn`t be one to gloat over their marital issues. I work with so many couples who are having these problems.

But we find that, when someone wants to make a major change in their lives, especially around breaking out of chemical abuse, if they kind of jettison that person who was part of that abuse with them, that`s usually a very positive step.

BECK: You know, a lot of people will say -- because I`m sure there are women right now that, you know, are screaming at the television when I would say something like if you`re in an abusive relationship, get the hell out. You deserve better than this. Nobody should ever treat you that way. And they`ll be screaming at the television saying, "Well, I can`t afford it." Whitney Houston could clearly afford to get out, and there was no reason. Why do women stay in these relationships?

GARDERE: Well, a lot of times they stay in, because in some ways they become dependent on the person who may be abusing them or they`re part of the pathology as to what`s going on. We find that if these women don`t get therapy and work out a lot of their unresolved emotional issues, sometimes from childhood, that that only end up leaving one abusive relationship and go into another and then another.

BECK: You know, I read something from you today that said that you thought that booze and abuse go hand in hand or drug abuse. Why?

GARDERE: Well, because it lowers the inhibitions, when we take the drugs or the booze, but in some ways, it fuels a lot of the domestic violence issues, domestic dysfunctional issues. And then in other ways it kind of is -- the people think it`s an antidote or it`s a way to deaden a lot of that pain. So it serves two purposes.

BECK: Jeff, I had -- we had Jamie Lee Curtis on last week, and she`s, you know, in recovery. I`m an alcoholic. We had a pretty strong disagreement on Mel Gibson. She said we should be more compassionate. I said, you don`t -- alcohol doesn`t make you say things that you don`t really believe. It just loosens you up. So this is really who those people are.

Would you say -- or turn all the way to 10, because they`re sick and twisted.

GARDERE: I think that many times there are emotional issues that cause the alcoholism and certainly a lot of the things that come from them that they say don`t come out of the air. It`s not in a vacuum. The alcohol loosens them up so that they say a lot of the things that have caused them pain. Alcohol doesn`t them to say -- doesn`t create these things, it just -- it becomes the vehicle.

BECK: Exactly right. Jeff, thank you.

Whitney Houston-Bobby Brown. The breakup is, of course -- I mean, this is a top story in the tabloids today. But also some serious news outlets are looking to get a piece of this action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Tonight on "Frontline", a special investigation. When divas go bad. She thought she`d found the greatest love of all. He was all the man she needed. Then all at once, she had nothing. Where do broken hearts go? We`ll find out tonight on "Frontline".

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Every day you can hear my radio program on stations all across the country, including 830 KLAA in Los Angeles and 1210 WPHT in Philadelphia. One station you can`t hear my show, because of this guy here, Roe Conn, on WLS 890 AM in Chicago.

Roe -- by the way, if you listen to Roe in afternoons on WLS in Chicago, just so you know, he`s out here looking for a job.

No, I mean -- right, the Caribbean station? You`re thinking about doing some work at the Caribbean station?

ROE CONN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I`m actually here talking to your bosses about taking your job.

BECK: So let`s start. I want to start with this new thing about tipping 20 percent.

CONN: Yes.

BECK: Well, the restaurant association is considering allowing the restaurants around the country to start adding 20 percent automatically to your bill for those who do not tip. They would do that for me? They would help me out on that? That sucks.

CONN: Now, don`t you think -- first of all, do you tip 20 percent or you more of like a 13, 15 guy?

BECK: Oh, I`d take out the calculator. And the guy my wife dated before she dated me, she went out on one date. I swear to her, he took out a calculator and started doing the calculations. She`s like round it off, Jack. Just round it off.

No, I`m at least a 20 percent tipper.

CONN: Yes.

BECK: But I will tell you, I`m about a two percent tipper if you stink. And I`m a "call for the manager" if you really stink.

CONN: So I guess what you`re saying is you can pay the 20 percent automatically and not think about it. But if the service really stinks, you`re supposed to tell the manager and then they will take it off your bill. I don`t think so. And I also don`t believe that the waiters and waitresses are going to get the full 20 percent, because I think there will be some people along the way get their hands in the till.

BECK: I was thinking about this the other day. When you are -- when you used to be a waiter, people used to pay with cash. Do a lot of people pay with cash now? I mean, it`s usually credit cards. That stinks. You used to be able to, you know, give it to the man...

CONN: Yes, and now they`re getting taxed. You know, the waiters get taxed on a percentage of what their credit card receipts are. So there may be something to the government liking this because the 20 percent can be taxed.

BECK: I don`t like it. Because I think that the tip thing is, if you do good service, great. If you don`t, I get to decide. It`s called a tip.

All right. Next one.

CONN: The secretary of the Air Force is in charge of coming up with non-lethal weapons for the U.S. military. And this is a very important thing. Like x-ray things. Like a gummy machine.

BECK: Why? Why are we working on non-lethal weapons? Can we win a war? Can we work on killing people more effectively?

CONN: Two words, Glenn. Public relations. It`s better to keep the enemy falling asleep in front of you by hitting him with some sort of sleep ray then it is to actually blow their heads off. Here`s the deal, though. The secretary says that they`re going to have to test this non-lethal stuff...

BECK: Yes.

CONN: ... on Americans first before they actually use it on the enemy.

BECK: Why?

CONN: Because two words for you, Glenn, public relations.

BECK: Unbelievable. You know what that strikes me as? You know, you get one of these sleep rays and you put them to sleep and then you move on, the army moves past them. You know what that sounds like? Every villain in "Batman", doesn`t it?

Where they were like, "We`ll just tie them up over here." They always got out and defeated. That`s exactly what our enemies are going to do. Can we not learn from really crappy `60s TV shows? Please.

Back in a second. Roe, thank you very much. On your way back to Chicago. Did you get the job at the Caribbean station?

CONN: I did not.

BECK: Wow.

CONN: Five more years.

BECK: Afternoons on WLS 890 in Chicago. Thanks, Roe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LAUER, CO-HOST, NBC`S "THE TODAY SHOW": Why do you think you got all the attention?

DEB LAFAVE, CONVICTED OF STATUTORY RAPE: I don`t know.

LAUER: I`ll say it. Do you think it`s because you`re pretty?

LAFAVE: I think so. I mean, sex sells.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I can`t take it. Now, Matt Lauer doesn`t take any time to say sex sells. You know what? I really feel like I need to get up from this chair and go take a shower, because I don`t think I`m going to be able to get clean now.

Why is it you think you got off? Well, is it because you`re hot? "Yes, well, yes, and sex sells." Matt, let me do an interview with you. Why do you think you`re doing this interview? "Well, I don`t know." Do you think it`s because she`s hot? "Yes, I do." And sex sells? "Yes, OK."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: All right. My next guest is the all-time America game show record holder, winning 74 consecutive games of "Jeopardy," raking in $2.5 million bucks. He`s been making the rounds lately talking about his new book, calling "Braniac." Oh, I`m smarter than you, which I say he`s not.

We`ve watched the interviews. He`s played, you know, "Can you Stump Ken Jennings?" Blah, blah, blah. And they ask him trivia questions. And if I ever stoop to that level, shoot me dead. Please. I beg you. Shoot me dead.

Ken Jennings, welcome. How are you, sir?

KEN JENNINGS, "JEOPARDY" CHAMPION: Hi, Glenn. Happy to be here.

BECK: Let`s play a little trivia game. No. How are things?

JENNINGS: Doing well. The book tour is keeping me very busy.

BECK: Yes. Now, this is -- this book is really -- I`m smarter than you, isn`t it?

JENNINGS: That`s the subtitle. My friend wanted me to call it, "Smarter Than You and Richer, Too." I thought that was a bit of a turn- off, you know?

BECK: You know what this is? Now, this is -- I love these. Have you ever seen those shows that, like, they`re on in the middle of the night and they`re like, "Call me now, and I`ll tell you how you can be rich, too." And the solution is always, you know, do a TV commercial where you have a book and you sell it to a bunch of schlubs in the middle of the night.

So you have this book. You have $2.5 million from "Jeopardy." What else are you doing? What do you do for, like, you know, for a living?

JENNINGS: Well, the book actually -- you know, for the last year, the book is not just some ghost-written, "I`m Smarter Than You," by Ken Jennings, even though it`s funny. It`s funny for the little jokes on Headline News.

BECK: Sure.

JENNINGS: The book is really sort of a history of -- a history of American...

BECK: He`s talking down to me already.

JENNINGS: ... it`s a history of American trivia and trivia culture.

BECK: Yes.

JENNINGS: Like, why we as a country like to answer questions on weird stuff, the weirder the better. And I spent a year, you know, traveling around the country meeting some of these trivia nerds and trying to figure it out what makes them tick.

BECK: Give me a highlight. I hate to wreck the ending of the book, so don`t tell me the ending. Spoiler alert. But what is the reason we like answering trivia questions?

JENNINGS: I think it`s just, you know, the information-saturated culture we live in. We all have this weird stuff in our head, whether we think of ourselves as trivia nerds or not, you know? So it`s so nice to actually have a chance to use, you know, whatever weird thing you know...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: You really are a trivia nerd, though, aren`t you?

JENNINGS: Oh, yes. I mean, I`m sort of outed on national TV.

BECK: No, I mean, you`re -- I mean, you`re like way over that. Let me ask you this way. Nobody really wants to talk to you at parties, do they?

JENNINGS: No, see, that`s the problem. Like, in "Braniac," I talk about, you know, spending my whole, like, high school years pretending not to be that kind of guy just because, a, he`s unpopular, and, b, he often deserves to be unpopular. Let`s face it, you know?

BECK: Right. You were beaten up like crazy all the time.

JENNINGS: No, actually, I went to, like, a private school. I grew up overseas. I grew up overseas.

BECK: Cut that out of the routine, because that`s not good.

JENNINGS: I grew up overseas at a -- you know, in South Korea. There`s only one English-language TV channel. Everybody watches "Jeopardy." Everybody in my class, so...

BECK: Sure.

JENNINGS: So like my -- you know, the playground at recess, everybody is talking about "Jeopardy," you know? It`s a weird environment, but I guess that`s what produces that.

BECK: You went to school -- how old were you?

JENNINGS: I`m in like fourth or fifth grade.

BECK: Fourth grade, everybody is on the playground talking about "Jeopardy"?

JENNINGS: Yes, it`s a playground full of fourth- and fifth-graders who are like, "Oh, gee, did you see that Daily Double last night? That guy bet way too much."

BECK: I would have ruled the school. I would have been the only kid cool at that school. My gosh. All right. So that`s why you know everything?

JENNINGS: I don`t think I know everything.

BECK: Well, you know what I mean, on "Jeopardy" you do.

JENNINGS: I have some stuff here I didn`t think you would know. I hear you`re looking forward to the end of the world. Is that true? I hear you love the end of the world and you can`t wait.

BECK: No, I`m not playing -- I`m not playing "Jeopardy" questions with this.

JENNINGS: Look at this, questions about the end of the world. This is your thing, right?

BECK: Well, oh, yes.

JENNINGS: Nostradamus` life was plagued by which of the following ailments. Was it gonorrhea, gout, scurvy, or shingles?

BECK: How much you pulling down a year?

(LAUGHTER)

How much are you pulling down a year?

JENNINGS: Like from the book or...

BECK: No, I mean, for like a living. Let me ask you this.

JENNINGS: I`m doing pretty well.

BECK: Let me ask you this. If you weren`t doing this, if you weren`t a trivia king, what would you be doing?

JENNINGS: You know, it will probably shock you to know I was a computer programmer before I went on "Jeopardy."

(LAUGHTER)

I`m sure you can`t believe that, but I was a pretty lousy one, you know? So I got lucky, you know, getting on "Jeopardy," the best thing that ever happened to me.

BECK: Did Alex Trebek ever piss you off because you knew he didn`t really know the answers? He was like reading them from a card, and then he looked down at you?

JENNINGS: People were...

BECK: And he was like, "Oh, sorry, that`s Quantohoho." And you knew, "You don`t even know, Alex. You`re reading it from a card."

JENNINGS: Well, you know, he`s got to look smart. You know, that`s his job, to tell people they`re wrong, you know?

BECK: Right.

JENNINGS: There`s no way to be well-liked in that job, so I feel for the guy, you know?

BECK: You know, I will tell you that I have an awful lot of respect for you, because I read that you took your winnings, and you took 10 percent, and you tithed it, which I think is a tremendous and admirable. We have 30 seconds. Can you tell me how tithing plays a role in your life?

JENNINGS: Yes. I gave 10 percent to my church and a lot more to other charities. And, you know, I really believe in that, you know? I sort of have the point of view that, like, everything I have is not because I`m so great, but, you know, it`s a blessing, you know? And it should be treated like that. And if God wants like 10 percent back, that`s a pretty good deal, you know? You still get 90 percent. The government doesn`t offer that deal, that`s for sure.

BECK: Yes, yes. Ken, thank you, and best of luck. The name of the book is "Brainiac." He`s smarter. Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

First tonight, the news that, on the five-year anniversary of September 11th, our very good friend, Hugo Chavez, went on state-run TV to honor the victims by saying that he believe the U.S. government just might be behind the whole thing.

I`ve said this before, and I`m going to keep banging this drum until people start paying attention: The real story here is that Hugo Chavez is a dangerous and desperate leader. He is determined to make sure that the world knows just exactly how much he hates America.

We have on this program talked about the dangerous part before, but tonight I want to focus on why I say he is desperate. First, you have to remember the whole reason Chavez is able to go around the world striking these deals and spewing hate is because he has oil muscles, kind of like beer goggles.

Countries like China, they need his oil. Countries like Russia need his oil money. It`s also the oil that fuels his anti-American rhetoric. Let me explain that.

I don`t want to get overly complicated here, because honestly I`ll get lost myself, and I`m riddled with ADD, but a lot of Venezuela`s oil is what they call extra-heavy oil. It costs a lot of money to pull up out of the ground and produce. But with prices this high, he`s making real money. They`re huge.

The key for Chavez, and the reason why I say he`s desperate, is he needs to keep the prices high. The Venezuelan economy is taking in oil profits estimated at a billion dollars a month right now, and their economy is really in shambles. If oil prices drop, that revenue dries up, and that is going to be disastrous, both for his country, oh, and his re-election campaign coming up this December.

So what better way to keep the prices artificially high than -- and also his economy rolling is then to make sure that the world`s largest oil consumer, us, thinks that you just might turn those spigots off without a second thought?

Just today, Hugo arrived in Cuba to sip mojitos and party with other leaders who hate us. He`s then on to New York for the U.N. General Assembly next week, and we will have full coverage on the show tomorrow.

Next, two stories that came out yesterday that caught my eye, and they caught my eye basically because they seemed so diametrically opposed to each other. First, I saw a headline that said, quote, "Airline security lines normalized quickly." The very next page, the headline was, "Banned items fly past security."

Hmm. If you take these two stories together and look at them, basically they`re saying a lot of illegal stuff is going through the checkpoints. But, hey, at least lines are moving fast. The headlines are all the proof I need to say the real story tonight is that our airport security system is still a joke.

I say that because, I mean, let`s be honest, we`ve got three huge obstacles in our path, all right? If we`re ever going to get serious about security, we need to get serious about these obstacles: time, money and political correctness.

Let me start with time. The headline itself -- I mean, look at this, "Security lines normalized quickly." Well, what is "normal"? How long should it take to get 200 or 300 people screened properly? Well, El-Al, the Israeli airline, they are the gold standard for security. They say it takes three hours to screen a whole airplane full of people. In the U.S., the average wait is less than 20 minutes. When was the last time you were in the line? All you hear is complaining about 20 minutes.

How about the money? That`s estimated that El-Al spends about $77 per passenger per trip on security. The TSA? Six bucks. You just can`t do a job right when you`re spending one-thirteenth of the industry benchmark.

Then there is political correctness, a problem that is just more insurmountable than time and money combined. El-Al realizes that screening people is far more effective than screening luggage. It only makes sense. Hello?

So they divide passengers into three groups: First group, Jews. They`re the lowest risk. Non-Jewish foreigners are second. They`re a medium risk. And then -- God forbid -- look out, this is horrible -- the high-risk group: anyone with an Arabic name. After that, you undergo intensive interrogations, sometimes by up to three different highly trained specialists who speak different languages and get paid a ton of money.

Believe me. I`ve flown El-Al. Something suspicious about me, I spent three hours with three specialists. They know that, if you can figure out who is a threat, then you don`t have to worry about changing the rules every time a terrorist tries something new.

Yesterday, it was shoes and lighters. Today, it`s liquids and gels. We`re relying on failed plots to teach us how to adapt. And you know what? Unless we change this culture of correctness, unless we realize that we`re at war with people who could care less about our rules, sooner or later the plots are going to stop failing, and then we`re in trouble.

Don Strange, he`s a former special agent in charge of federal air marshals in Atlanta.

Don, the air marshals, we`re losing them left and right. They`re dropping out, aren`t they?

DON STRANGE, FORMER AIR MARSHALL: Yes, sir. In the last two years, we`ve lost an unprecedented number of air marshals have resigned.

BECK: Like give me a number. I mean, what percentage?

STRANGE: Well, in Atlanta, for instance, which is an office that had excellent morale, I think we`ve lost over 25 percent there, so one out of every four air marshals in Atlanta is not on the job now. They`ve resigned.

BECK: OK. Is it true that some air marshals, they fly so much into an unhealthy zone, that they have nose bleeds and ear bleeds and everything else, is that true?

STRANGE: That is true, and that is an issue, as well, which is the frequency of flights. You had these guys lose their hearing, their vision in some cases. It`s terrible what`s been going on with them from a health standpoint.

BECK: I have to tell you, I find it absolutely ridiculous the way we deal with our air marshals. You can pretty much spot an air marshal. I mean, for instance, you go down and you fly down to Florida on the weekends, he`ll be the guy in the blue blazer. You know, I mean, it`s insane. You can`t even grow a mustache or anything. When are we going to drop this nonsense and let these guys just blend in?

STRANGE: Well, the policies regarding their attire and their facial hair changed just recently. Until then, though, it took three years to get them to change what average citizens knew just made no common sense at all.

BECK: Right. And are they trained in profiling? I mean, are you -- I`m a huge fan of El-Al and their security. Are you a fan of El-Al?

STRANGE: I am. And what you said a minute ago rang very true with me. About two years ago, I identified an office that had behavioral scientists, and they came to Atlanta, one out of Chicago, one out of Orlando. And they had developed techniques of identifying terrorists based on their behavior, behavioral characteristics. I`ve tried for two years to get the air marshal program to train air marshals as to how to identify terrorists before they get on the airport. Can`t do it.

BECK: Why? Why would we do that? Why?

STRANGE: You know, the whole program was set up to be reactive instead of proactive. In other words, they`re trained to shoot it out at 32,000 feet. And if that happens, it`s not going it be pretty, no matter what the result is.

BECK: I have to tell you, Don, I was amazed, when I finally got on the plane -- I really did spend three hours. They questioned me and my wife six ways to Sunday, and you know what? They never took their eyes off of me. They would ask me questions, and they`d watch me. I think they were watching me more than they were listening to me.

And we finally got on, and they handed me an actual steak knife on the plane. And I looked to my wife and I said, "This airline gets it." They just don`t let the bad guys get on the plane. Do you see us changing that ever in coming into this?

STRANGE: You know, I hope so, because that`s the future. That`s the only way we can be successful. But I think the average citizen believes that air marshals are trained to look for suspicious activities and suspicious actions of terrorists before they get on the airplane, and they`re shocked to find out that they`ve received no training in that whatsoever.

BECK: When you look for people that are suspicious, I have heard -- I don`t know if this is true -- I`ve heard, when air marshals sit around and they look for people that don`t fit in, most of the time or half of the time, they actually are spotting another air marshal. Is that true?

STRANGE: Or some other law enforcement officer. I`ve done that myself. I`ve flown about 100 times since becoming an air marshal.

BECK: Amazing.

STRANGE: And, you know, you can eliminate the great majority of people right away on flights...

BECK: Yes, yes.

STRANGE: ... but the ones that have that 1,000-yard stare and that very serious look about them, a lot of times they turn out to be other law enforcement officers.

BECK: Don, thank you for your service. I appreciate it. And that is the real story tonight.

If you would like to read more about our airport security compared to El-Al`s, you have to go to glennbeck.com. Or if you`ve also found a real story of your own that you`d like to tell us about it, check it out. Go to glennbeck.com and click on "The Real Story" button.

All right, let`s go "Straight to Hill." It`s Erica Hill, the anchor of "PRIME NEWS" on Headline News.

Hello, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, Glenn. How are you doing?

BECK: Oh, I`m doing pretty good. I`m doing pretty good.

HILL: I`m glad to hear it. You`re about to meet two people who are doing fantastic today.

BECK: Really?

HILL: Get ready for what is probably one of the first bionic high- fives ever. There you go. Coming to you from 26-year-old Claudia Mitchell and 59-year-old Jesse Sullivan and their bionic arms. They were giving a demo of their new high-tech limbs today.

BECK: I mean, I`m a little disappointed.

HILL: Why?

BECK: Can you show that footage again? I`m a little disappointed.

HILL: You didn`t like their high-five effort?

BECK: I mean, first of all, it needs the -- yes, first it needs the boop, boop, boop...

HILL: OK, well, whoa, whoa, whoa, before you get too disappointed, let me tell you how they`re doing it. The reason this is such a big deal with the bionic arm is that it actually, as they think, they make the arm move, which is pretty much never really happened before.

BECK: Yes.

HILL: So doesn`t that make it a little more impressive?

BECK: Yes, the high-five was -- I mean, I know it`s better than not having an arm, but we`re a long way away from Jamie Summers. We are.

HILL: Well, you know...

BECK: I`m just saying. I hate to point it out, but he used to be able to pick up giant foam rocks and throw them.

HILL: One step at a time.

BECK: The show was like in 1974.

HILL: But, as you said, the rock was foam.

BECK: Well, see, exactly -- yes, it was. Erica, thanks. We`ll see you tomorrow.

HILL: See you tomorrow.

BECK: Bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right, I rail on Hollywood actors all the time. The impression that I have is that most of them are spoiled, disconnected elitists who have absolutely no idea what regular Americans are thinking. And I`m also sick and tired of them spouting their political opinions, not because they don`t have a right to, but because -- dance for me, will you? They start running their mouths, and then I`m seeing them as activists instead of actors.

But that being said, occasionally they`re right. I mean, really occasionally, but it does happen, like today. George Clooney -- I can`t believe I agree with him -- spoke at the U.N. about the situation in Darfur. Here is the clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR-DIRECTOR: This genocide will be on your watch. How you deal with it will be your legacy, your Rwanda, your Cambodia, your Auschwitz.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: First of all, I don`t know about anybody else, he`s a handsome man, isn`t he? But he`s also right. Bill Clinton, a guy I almost never agree with, was right about one thing: He believed that one of the biggest mistakes of his administration was not doing something about Rwanda. Now here we are in the exact same spot all over again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLOONEY: We were brought up to believe that the U.N. was formed to ensure that the Holocaust could never happen again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Yes, well, I mean, that`s the way it was supposed to be, but, I mean, really, George, it`s a joke now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLOONEY: We believe in you so strongly. We need you so badly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK, this is where we really part ways a bit. The U.N. is badly needed? No, not really. We believe in them? No. Not so much, George.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLOONEY: We`ve come so far. We`re one "yes" away from ending this. And if not the U.N., then who?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Well, I could point out, you know, America, if America stopped it, you and a lot of the same people would be protesting that America stepped in, but that`s a different story.

Look, when people aren`t completely ignoring it, they see Darfur as a humanitarian disaster, which it is. It is a very complicated problem, but it is driven by violent Islamic extremists in action yet again, killing everybody in their path, including Christians and Muslims that just aren`t Muslim enough. Does it sound familiar?

However, stopping the genocide in Darfur, while it needs to be done, doesn`t stop this movement. This is where Clooney and I disagree. If we don`t succeed in changing the face of the Middle East, then we`ll be trying to figure out how to stop mass murder on our shores. And places like Darfur are going to be completely left to fend for themselves.

So, George, you and I agree, kind of, which I think might be the seventh sign of the apocalypse for the evening. Good night, and good luck.

END