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Glenn Beck

Bush to Declare New Way Forward in Iraq; Activists Work to Save Iranian Woman; Life on Mars? Ask Buzz Aldrin

Aired January 09, 2007 - 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 again, from Hollywood, California, we have a preview of the president`s speech tomorrow night.
Plus Martians, do they exist, believe it or not, and did NASA kill them? That and more next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Tonight`s episode is brought to you by "Good Morning America". Now that Glenn`s joined the team as a contributor, mornings just got a whole lot doughier.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: The whole world is upside down. It doesn`t make any sense anymore. Does it? It`s true. This rodeo clown headed for morning network television on ABC. What has the world come to? I have no idea.

We will find out tomorrow night a little bit of what this world is coming to when the president outlines his new way forward strategy for Iraq in a speech to the nation.

Now we already know what the president is going to say tomorrow. He`s going to request that we temporarily increase the number of troops in Iraq, even though some Democrats in Congress are trying to renew their approach and come out against it.

Here is the point tonight. Are more troops the answer? I have no clue. That was a question for you. I don`t have the answer, but if they help secure the borders of Iraq and crush the insurgents so we can win this thing? Great.

This is not the time to be playing politics, and here`s how I got there. Nancy Pelosi and all of the House Democrats are all up in arms, "Oh, we can`t increase the troop levels. We`re not writing this president a blank check, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

If we`re all being fair with each other, which rarely, if ever, happens in Washington, what the president asked the Democrats to do was take an honest look at the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group.

I believe the president has taken his time talking to people, talking to representatives on both sides of the aisle, talking to members of the study group, talking to the military experts. Well, now you know what? It`s time for the commander in chief to man up, grow a pair and do what he believes is right in Iraq.

Unfortunately, for the Democrats, that`s not the same path that they would choose. Also, unfortunate for Democrats and for many, many journalists who only give you half the truth because it`s more interesting than the actual truth, the increase of troop levels was mentioned and endorsed in the report of the Iraq Study Group.

Believe it or not, here is what it said: "The number of embedded personnel should be large enough to accelerate the development of real combat capability in Iraq army units. Such a mission could involve 10,000 to 20,000 American troops instead of the 3,000 to 4,000 now in a role."

So, for as much as I`m against the advice of the Iraq Study Group, George Bush is actually referring to it and taking its advice. Now, he`s not meeting face to face with Iran and Syria, thank God, but what he will propose is not that different from the recommendations of the study group.

You`re never going to find a committee in war that`s in complete agreement, and by the same toke, you`re never going to win a war by committee. It`s going to take a person with vision to get the job done.

Now I don`t know if George Bush`s vision is the right one, but I do know he`s the commander in chief. It`s his damn job. Somebody has got to make the job. He`s listened. He`s researched. He looked for an answer. And now, like it or not, it`s his job to decide.

Don`t worry, Democrats. In two years you may have your crack at being the decider. And I may not like the decisions that that person makes, but in the end, I`ll at least recognize that they`re the commander in chief, and his or her decision is what goes.

So, here`s what I know tonight. Our enemies -- you know what? Our enemies are damn near animals who want to behead us, want to see our blood in the streets and then celebrate -- celebrate by handing out candy and sweets to their children when it happens. We`re not going to defeat those guys by going soft. You chop the head off the snake before the snake bites and kills you.

I support anything that helps us shore up the Iraqis, who are today afraid of being abandoned and killed by insurgents in their own neighborhoods, and that includes sending more troops. If it works, great.

Now here`s what I don`t know. I don`t know if sending more troops will actually turn out to be the right move. I have no idea, but the good news, America: I`m not the commander in chief.

Jed Babbin is the former deputy undersecretary of defense from George H.W. Bush`s administration.

Jed, what is the president going to say tomorrow to the American people to explain the needs of a troop surge?

JED BABBIN, FORMER DEPUTY UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, I think he`s going to try to say this is the only way to secure Baghdad so that the people of Baghdad, the government there, can actually secure itself and make progress in developing their country and making deals politically that they need to make. I don`t know that that`s going to prove to be true.

BECK: Right. Now let me just follow up with this. I don`t know if Americans even really understand what we`re doing in Iraq anymore. I think so many people have lost even faith that it can be won. Does he need to address that?

BABBIN: Well, I think it`s almost too late for him to do that, Glenn. I mean, I went back and looked in my columns that I`ve been writing on this war since long before it started, and back in April of 2002 I was saying already that George Bush is not leading us as a war president must.

If he says really good things tomorrow, he can start turning the tide, but if he doesn`t do it consistently week after week, month after month, you can`t build public support. He needed to have done that starting in about 2002, and he didn`t.

BECK: Yes. You know, I really think that at this point -- maybe it`s just me. Everybody has already made up their mind, and so they`re not listening to him anymore. I`ll be interested to se the rating that this gets tomorrow night.

BABBIN: Well, I mean, yes, I mean, yes, there`s not going to be a college football game up against it, I guess.

BECK: Yes.

BABBIN: But the problem he`s got, seriously, is he needs to be a real wartime leader, like Lincoln, like FDR, you know.

BECK: Right.

BABBIN: We don`t have that in George Bush, and that`s really the problem we have in this whole war.

BECK: OK. Let me switch gears here to Congress. To me, at least -- now I mean, don`t get me wrong. I`m a conservative. You know exactly where I stand, so I see things differently than a lot of people in America.

But to me he`s done exactly what Congress asked him to do. They asked him to meet with everybody. He did. Look at the Baker report. He did. You know, follow the recommendations. He is taking some of those. One of those is a troop surge.

That`s not making Congress happy at all. Ted Kennedy is coming out, trying to take control of this whole thing which...

BABBIN: Nothing -- nothing that -- nothing George Bush does is going to please Congress.

BECK: Right.

BABBIN: Unless he admitted oh, my God, I was wrong. Oh, my God, it was a big mistake. I take the blame. Let`s pull out. That`s the only thing he could possibly do to please the Pelosi Animal House and the people such as, you know, Teddy Kennedy.

Teddy`s Kennedy bill, No. 1, is going to be vetoed. It`s not serious.

No. 2, even if it wasn`t vetoed it would be unconstitutional.

And, No. 3, the Democrats don`t have the guts to try to cut off funding for this war. They want it to be George Bush`s fault. They don`t want to see that last helicopter lifting off the embassy in Baghdad like they did it to Vietnam. These are the same guys. Teddy Kennedy was one of the guys who made sure that we lost in Vietnam. He wants to do it again.

BECK: OK. Now wait a minute. Let me play devil`s advocate here because I believe people like Ted Kennedy -- I agree with you on that. But let me play devil`s advocate and be fair.

What American, no matter how much you think they`re wrong -- Ted Kennedy -- what American wants to see America lose? Isn`t that unfair to say?

BABBIN: No, I don`t think it`s unfair at all. I think if you look at the Democratic Party since the time of George McGovern in 1972, they`ve been the party of cut and run. They wore the Clinton cloak for eight years. They got to this "don`t worry, be happy" mentality, but now when it`s time to fight or lose, the Democrats, they don`t know how to win. They only know how to lose. They want to make politics out of this.

And, you know, quite frankly, the president is not strong enough as a war leader. As I said a minute ago to actually get this right.

So we`re caught between, you know, really two very weak forces here.

BECK: OK. Jed, thank you very much for your time. Appreciate it.

BABBIN: My pleasure.

BECK: And we`ll watch the speech closely tomorrow.

Now while Bush is putting the finishing touches on tomorrow`s speech, the one thing he`s got to be concerned about, is I was just talking about, are people going to watch? Are people going to tune in? Frankly, the ratings for the last few speeches not so hot.

This time I say he doesn`t take any chances. Soup it up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Got an urge for a surge? Well, strap yourself in and get ready for the ride -- the speech of your life. Tune in tomorrow and catch all the presidential action.

Will he be sitting or maybe standing? What shade of red will his tie be? Find out Wednesday at 9 Eastern only on CNN and C-SPAN and CBS and ABC and NBC and FOX and PBS and all the other cable news channels. And what am I missing? Oh, yes, Telemundo. What else? Al Jazeera. God, I hope there`s a ball game on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is GLENN BECK.

BECK: Coming up, an Iranian woman faces death for killing her alleged attacker in self-defense. Humanitarian organizations are pleading for her life, but America, the clock is ticking.

Also, Buzz Aldrin, he`s the second man to ever set foot on the moon. He joins me for a conversation about life on Mars and the aliens we found and apparently killed 30 years ago.

Plus, as the first 10 hours of the 110th Congress start ticking away, what are they tackling first? Is it Iraq, immigration, homeland security? No. They`re applying their maximum effort to the minimum wage. Stupid? You bet, and I`ll tell you why in tonight`s "Real Story", coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Welcome back to the program. Today from Los Angeles, California, the home of our affiliate 830 KLAA. Tune us in if you`re in the Los Angeles area.

Now if you watch this TV program at all you know that I think Iran is dangerously crazy as a country. It`s run by psychopaths who are still living in the 12th century.

Now fortunately for me, I get to have that opinion here in America, but millions of Iranians are suffering under President Tom`s rule. They`re not so lucky. Women have it the worst of all over in the Middle East, and in particular in this story in Iran.

That brings us to the story of two women. They share the exact same name, Nazanin.

The first one is an 18-year-old girl from Tehran. She was sentenced to death by an Iranian court after stabbing and killing one man. Unfortunately, the way she stabbed and killed them, she stabbed this one guy. He was one of three that were attempting to rape her and her 16-year- old niece.

Yes, you heard me right. She now is the one on trial and sentenced to death.

The other is a former Miss World Canada and a native Iranian who has adopted this cause of her Iranian namesake. She is trying to rally international support and save this young girl`s life, but she has her work cut out for her.

In Iran a woman`s life is only worth half as much as a man`s. And a rape, believe it or not, is a crime where the burden of proof lies with the accused.

Nazanin, she joins me now.

What -- what are the circumstances surrounding this conviction?

NAZANIN AFSHIN-JAM, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Well, she was sentenced to death by hanging from the judiciary in Iran. She would have needed four male witnesses to basically legitimize her word, and obviously, in a situation like that she didn`t have that.

BECK: OK. Wait a minute. I want to make sure I understand this, because in -- so many people don`t understand, even in our good friend Pakistan and that country, you need three men. In Iran you need four witnesses that were eyewitnesses to it and saying it happened?

AFSHIN-JAM: Well, you need four male witnesses to say that such an occurrence took place because in the court system the -- the statement of a woman is worth half that of the man so if the reverse had taken place and the man had stabbed Nazanin there would probably be no way he could have been sentenced to death.

BECK: Unbelievable. So now this went to trial. She is -- she has been sentenced to hang. You are involved, because you`re trying to rally international support. What -- what good is that going to do?

AFSHIN-JAM: Well, already we`ve had a lot of support and a lot of success, quote, unquote, through international pressure, through the signatures on the petition, which has garnered 260,000 signatures and the support of the U.N., the E.U., Canadian parliament and many international organizations, human rights organizations, on June 1 the head of judiciary in Iran granted a stay of execution and ordered this new retrial.

So this is a re-trial that`s taking place in less than 24 hours now, January 10, 10:30 a.m. Tehran time. And we`re just waiting to see the verdict so we know what action to take now.

BECK: OK. You know, I saw the trial of Saddam, and what`s really strange over in the Middle East. Everything is just different than it is here. With the trial of Saddam, it was almost a formality. You hear all the evidence in private, and then you go through this court. It`s almost a charade.

What are the odds of her actually getting a fair trial and one that you can trust is, you know, decent?

AFSHIN-JAM: Well, we have a very good lawyer for her, a very well- recognized lawyer, Shavia Sadr (ph), on her case. And at the same time she`s -- based on past cases, like that of Afzan Anuri (ph), another woman in 1997 who killed a police officer out of self-defense after he tried to rape her, with enough international pressure, she was released. So we`re hoping the same will happen with Nazanin.

BECK: So you`re from Iran originally. How long have you lived, I assume, in Canada?

AFSHIN-JAM: I left when I was one. The revolution happened.

BECK: OK.

AFSHIN-JAM: And my father was imprisoned and tortured by the revolutionary guards, so we had to leave the country right away, and we`ve made our life here in Canada.

BECK: What is it like to be from a country that has such a glorious past to it and has been taken and just jammed back into the 12th century?

AFSHIN-JAM: It`s unfortunate, especially obviously those that are living within Iran, because the people of Iran don`t want this. It`s basically the clerics in power who have the say, and it`s through the pressure from the outside world that -- and especially from those within the country that we`ll be able to see change.

BECK: Yes. All right. So I`m sitting at home and I`m listening to this story, and I want to make sure this woman isn`t executed for, you know, trying to defend -- defend herself against a rapist. What do you do? How can we help?

AFSHIN-JAM: I suggest go on www.HelpNazanin.com and read the "what you can do" section, sign the petition, bombard the judiciary`s fax with your personal messages, because that makes a huge difference.

BECK: OK.

AFSHIN-JAM: And just raise awareness.

BECK: OK. Thank you so much, and best of luck.

AFSHIN-JAM: Thank you.

BECK: Up next, apparently we found life on Mars just before we killed it. I`m not kidding you. This is an amazing story, and Buzz Aldrin joins me in just a minute.

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BECK: All right. Thirty years ago two NASA space probes visited Mars. They say now they may have stumbled upon alien microbes. I don`t even know what that means. But then we accidentally killed them. Oops, sorry. At least that`s what one scientist has theorized.

The truth is I`m barely bright enough just to be able to turn on my own television set. I don`t even understand this story. Fortunately for you, we have managed to book a real live astronaut. He`s just the second man to have set foot on the moon, Colonel Buzz Aldrin.

Buzz, do you know anything about -- you know, I only know about outer space, you know, what I see on the Sci-Fi Channel.

BUZZ ALDRIN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes.

BECK: You know a little bit more. What is this really all about? Is there a chance we killed life on Mars?

ALDRIN: Well, all sorts of things have possibilities. There was a Nobel laureate who said that when we went to land on the moon we were going to sink 15 feet into dust. Well, we didn`t.

BECK: Right.

ALDRIN: And the world doesn`t know his name all that well, but I do. If we had of sunk in 350 feet everybody would know his name, because he`s the guy -- he`s the guy who predicted disaster.

BECK: Right.

ALDRIN: Now people are motivated by making doomsday claims and conspiracy claims and hoaxes like we never even went to the moon.

BECK: Right.

ALDRIN: I suspect you really need to talk to the scientist who was in charge of this experiment, and I`m sure that they were doing absolutely everything they possibly could to make a detection of life instead of destroying it.

BECK: Right.

ALDRIN: Now there may be some circumventing story that somebody could come up with. I don`t know whether it`s quite the same caliber as all the climate change and "An Inconvenient Truth" or whatever that was trying to tell us.

BECK: Right.

ALDRIN: But I think that you really need to look into details and get the people who really understand what was going on.

BECK: OK. All right. Did you see -- did you see or read Carl Sagan`s "Contact"?

ALDRIN: I saw the movie, and I wrote a science fiction story that has that as a small part of the whole story, and I`m hoping that one day it will get -- be made into a movie, also.

BECK: OK. Now in that, one of my favorite lines is if there is no life, what an incredible waste of space. Do you believe that there is life on other planets? Are we going to find life on Mars?

ALDRIN: Well, we may find the remnants of life on Mars, because if there`s water and if there`s incoming energy from the sun and there may be other episodes like lightning or other shock formations that could cause the emergence of life, it seems that, once it starts, it really runs rampant, as evidence would show here on earth. So I think there probably were the ingredients.

Now the universe is very, very vast, and I think that there are bound to be conditions where a habitable planet will be at the right distance from a source of energy like the sun and unstable conditions, like having a moon moving around to create the tides...

BECK: Right.

ALDRIN: ... will give the cycles that -- that will promote the emergence of life, the back and forth continuous.

BECK: Buzz, I`ve -- I`ve got to tell you what an honor to talk to you, sir. We hope to talk to you again. We`ll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. Welcome to "The Real Story."

If you`re anything like me -- and you know you are, like it or not -- you completely lose your ability to stay awake as soon as someone utters the word "Somalia." I know. It`s horrible to say, but at least I`m being honest. You hear Somalia, and you`re like, "OK."

So last night, when I heard about the possible U.S. air strikes there, I really had to struggle really, really hard to keep my eyes open. I did, but I`m glad I did, because I have a new understanding of why Somalia actually matters to us, so please fight against every impulse you have right now to change the channel. I see you reaching for the remote. Hold off for a second, and hear me out on this. This is actually good stuff.

If you don`t know the story, the U.S. military attacked and killed a, quote, "large number of Islamic extremists and Al Qaeda terrorists yesterday in Somalia." Some of whom were thought to be responsible for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

But the real story is this attack is actually about President Bush getting serious and showing Al Qaeda we will attack them any place, any time. He`s sending a message that the weakness we`ve shown in the past -- some of which probably led to 9/11, and the rest of which has happened lately -- is gone.

And if you`re still awake, and you`re still sitting there thinking to yourself, "OK, Beck, I mean, all right, I got it, but none of this has to do with the larger war we`re fighting or me," then I want you to take a look at this map, because most of us have absolutely no idea where Somalia even is.

There you see it. There`s Iran; there`s Iraq; there`s Saudi Arabia; and, oh, look at the friendly little neighbor that is Somalia.

Somalia has not had an effective central government in 15 years. This has created a void that, until now, Al Qaeda and others were more than happy to fill. In fact, everybody seems to forget that it was Osama bin Laden who claimed to be behind the infamous Black Hawk Down incident. There`s a way to stay awake. That was a good movie, and it was also in 1993.

People are so worried about Iraq turning into a lawless wasteland controlled by terrorists, but it`s already happened in Somalia. And now we`re finally doing something about it.

But this isn`t just about Somalia. It is really truly about proving to these terrorists that we are on the offensive everywhere, not just in Iraq, not just in Afghanistan. And if you`re part of Al Qaeda, oh, watch your back, brother, because your worst enemy just might be a U.S. president with nothing left to lose.

Next, the Democrats searched long and hard for an issue to make their centerpiece during their first 100 hours in Congress. The actual importance of that issue really didn`t matter as much as finding one that no Republican in their right mind could ever come out against. Luckily for us -- not so much -- it`s not too hard to find one.

May I now present to you, America, the signature issue of the 110th Congress`s first 100 hours, an issue of utmost importance for the health, safety and welfare of the American people. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the minimum wage.

Yes. Yes, that`s right. The minimum wage on the docket tomorrow, because anyone who votes against it automatically hates poor people, wants to starve their children to death. That`s the message that always seems to get sent, isn`t it?

Well, here`s the real story. The real story is that message is wrong. The minimum wage has become nothing but a political issue and, because of that, all logic just gets thrown right out the window completely. Apparently, common sense and compassion can`t mix.

It`s just like global warming. You can`t actually ask common sense questions about global warming and whether humans are responsible for it, because once you do, oh, you`re just a hatemonger who wants all those polar bears and penguins to die.

Well, you know what? I`ve had enough. I like polar bears; I like penguins; I like to have them on a plate with a giant fork. No, I`m kidding. I refuse to let politics prevent me from thinking logically or raising objections on an issue. We`ve got to talk this stuff out.

When it comes to raising the minimum wage, federal minimum wage, there`s a million different arguments. I can make a million of them. For instance, I could argue to you that each state should set their own minimum wage. It costs a lot more to live and work here in Los Angeles than it does in North Dakota. Why don`t we let the states do it?

But, instead, I want to give you a real world, very simplistic example of why the conventional wisdom that higher wages actually help entry-level workers is dead wrong and hurts them.

Let`s say you own a small bakery, like my father did. You have five employees all working full-time and making minimum wage. You`d currently be paying about $53,000 a year in salary. Well, if that minimum wage eventually raised to the proposed new level of $7.25 an hour, your business, which probably isn`t seeing any more in the way of revenue, will now be paying $75,000 a year in salary.

To keep your expenses the same, you`d now have to lay off two of those five employees. Now, contrary to what some people think, that`s a bad thing, and businesses can`t just print up more money every time the wage goes up. That means people will lose their jobs.

"Oh, but, Glenn, you just raised the prices to compensate." Right. You know, I`m not Alan Greenspan, but I am a thinker. And even I know that higher prices equal lower demand. Do you really think your bakery is going to sell as many doughnuts at two dollars each as much as they did at one dollar a doughnut?

Of course not. You set the prices of your frickin` doughnuts in the first place because that`s what people were willing to pay for them. Oh, and incidentally, our current unemployment rate is 4.5 percent, which basically means full employment, meaning virtually everybody who wants a job in this country has a job. And if you haven`t noticed, we`re also in the midst of one of the best overall economies of all time!

So, Congress -- no, and I mean this from the heart -- thank you so much for taking up an issue that will not only not help anyone, but actually may end up hurting a lot of us.

Jim Dorn is the director of the "Cato Journal`s" Annual Monetary Conference, which is a conference, quite honestly, I never miss. Tell me exactly, sir, how am I wrong on this?

JIM DORN, THE CATO INSTITUTE: Well, you`re exactly right. What Congress is doing, they want to look like they`re doing something. They`re making false promises.

They`re promising a higher wage rate, which is nice of them to do since it`s not their property, you know, they`re not the employers, but they`re not guaranteeing a job. And as you said, you increase the minimum wage, if it`s above the prevailing market wage, it will destroy jobs.

Now, Hong Kong doesn`t have any minimum wage, and Hong Kong is one of the -- has one of the highest living standards in the world. The workers fare very well there. So the minimum wage is not a way to reduce poverty; in fact, there`s evidence that it increases poverty.

BECK: OK. Seven out of 10 Americans right now are watching going, "Uh-uh. That`s not the way it is. Minimum wage is a good thing." What do you have to say to people to convince them that this is just a horrible idea?

DORN: Well, let`s think of it this way. Your wage rate is the price of labor, and the hours worked times the wage rate is your income. So if the wage rate goes up and you lose your job because of the minimum wage, your income is zero. And that`s not very helpful. So people confuse the wage rate and income.

BECK: OK. Who besides the guy who`s cooking my McGriddle at McDonald`s is making minimum wage?

DORN: Well, that`s right. Most people -- the market economy is -- economic freedom is the thing that generates higher wages, and people have to increase their productivity through education. The minimum wage does nothing to increase a worker`s productivity, does nothing to increase education.

BECK: Right, but who`s making it? Who is the person that is making minimum wage? And how long do they make it?

DORN: These are typically your part-time, you know, young workers that are making minimum wage. Most of these workers are in families that have incomes in the middle income or even higher middle-income families.

Very few people in poverty with families are making the minimum wage, maybe 15 percent of earners. And these are exactly the people who will be hurt the most by an increase in the minimum wage, the lowest-skilled workers in poverty families.

BECK: All right. Now, you`ve got the people who are making minimum wage. Is it true that most people make minimum wage less than a year? You`re making minimum wage maybe to start, but then you`re bumped up to a higher wage.

DORN: Well, that`s exactly right. Minimum wage is typically for a temporary wage rate, but at least you get your foot in the door. You get a job. You can increase your skills. Or you`re going to school, getting an education.

So the mobility of labor in the United States and the mobility of income in the United States is quite high, relative to some place like Europe, where there`s many, many restrictions. Unions dominate. The minimum wage is relatively high.

So the minimum wage is not the right way to go if you want to have a free economy and a prosperous and dynamic economy.

BECK: All right. Now, Jim, you know and I know, I mean, this show is damn near the witness protection program, so nothing`s going to change. This thing is going to pass through Congress, and we`re going to raise the minimum wage. What is it going to mean to the economy?

DORN: Well, I think the most damaging thing is it sends the wrong signal, and a lot of these things can`t be measurable. All the people in the future that may be looking for a job but can`t find one, that won`t show up very much in the statistics.

And what people will say was, "Well, these people that retained their jobs at the higher minimum wage are better off," but only at the expense of workers that can`t find a job at that wage rate and, therefore, can`t get into the workforce at all.

So I think it`s a bad signal for the U.S., as the world`s freest country, supposedly, to send the signal. Hong Kong actually has a higher economic freedom rate than the United States and has had higher growth rates. So if we want to grow jobs, at least we should abolish the minimum wage at the federal level. If states want to have differential wage rates, let them do that.

BECK: Great, Jim. Thanks a lot.

That is "The Real Story" tonight. And if you`d like to read more about this or if you found a real story of your own and you`d like to tell us about it, please visit glennbeck.com, click on that "Real Story" button.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: When you travel, tipping will drive you out of your mind. You`ve got to tip the guy at the curb who loads your bags onto one of the luggage carts. Then you`ve got to tip the kid who brings the cart to the room and shows you where the closet is. I love this.

They bring you up into the room, and they`re like, "Do you need anything? Can I show you the closet?" "No, I`m assuming that it`s the only door besides the bathroom door that`s the closet. I think I can -- I`ve been in a room before." "This is the bathroom. I`ll show you how this works." "I don`t think I really need you to show me how the bathroom works. I have one at my own home. I`m rich like that, I guess."

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BECK: No matter where you look, girls are going wild. The Fab Five cheerleaders of McKinney, Texas, shocked their school and their parents when pictures of them surfaced with them in risque poses, drinking in bikinis, and posing with phallic candles in a condom store.

One of the girl`s mothers lost her job as school principal. And all five former cheerleaders admit now they made stupid mistakes that none of them will ever live down. Whether they mean it or not, I don`t even know. Yes, bad decisions.

I can tell you that raising children, teenagers in today`s culture, ain`t easy. I`m struggling with it. I`m sure you are, too. Our society celebrates, to be frank with you, skanks. Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, peer pressure is stronger than ever.

Fortunately, there is some help. There`s a new book out called "The Six Most Decisions You`re Ever Going to Make." It is a guide for teens and parents so they can identify, understand, and conquer the key issues that will help keep teens on track and out of trouble.

The author is Sean Covey. The name might sound familiar. Dad is Stephen. He now joins me.

Sean, tough time for raising teens. I mean, it`s insane.

SEAN COVEY, AUTHOR: Absolutely. You know, I`ve got two teens of my own, and it`s very, very scary right now raising teens. I think it`s actually, you know, probably tougher than it`s ever been. I think a lot of it is all the media, and the lack of values, and lots of other things.

BECK: Yes. My daughter and I were having a conversation -- she`s in college now -- and I said to her, I said, "Honey, I`m on my knees praying every day for you that you just remain strong, because you -- I can`t even imagine what it is like now to be a teen." Things are different.

How did you whittle everything down and come up with the six things that they need to pay attention to?

COVEY: Well, that`s a good question. Many years ago, I wrote a book called "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens," you know. And I got hundreds of letters back from teens, and they talked about these struggles they were having and so forth.

I interviewed them. I sent out surveys. I asked them, "What are your biggest challenges?" And from all that, I narrowed it down to these six key big decisions they make when they`re young. I call them the most important decisions because these will either make or break their futures.

BECK: OK. Let`s go through them quickly. What are they?

COVEY: Sure. The six decisions are -- the first one is, what are you going to do about school, about your education? The second is, what kind of friends are you going to choose, those who lift you or those who tear you down?

The third, your relationship with your parents. Fourth, dating and sex. What kind of decisions are you going to make around that? The fifth, addictions. And finally, self-esteem. Are you going to choose to be OK with how you are or not?

BECK: Boy, you know, Sean, you might be -- I mean, you grew up in a different world, with your dad being Stephen Covey. I can`t even imagine what that must have been like to grow up -- good or bad, I don`t know.

But I think most people struggle with self-worth. Many of the problems of today`s world is just not feeling like you`re good enough or that you`ll never be able to do it. Wouldn`t you say that`s a huge problem?

COVEY: I think it`s absolutely huge. I think, especially for young women, it`s a major issue. And I think a lot of it comes from just the media influence. There`s lots of good media -- like your show, of course - - but there`s a lot of negative stuff out there...

BECK: That`s right, yes.

COVEY: You know, your average teen today spends about 30 hours a week in front of a screen and less than 40 minutes a week in meaningful conversation with a parent.

BECK: OK.

COVEY: And so, as a parent, that`s what you`re up against.

BECK: OK, if you`re not -- if you didn`t have a good role model as a parent, and you`re struggling, and you`re trying to be a better parent than you were, what is the key? What is the one thing, besides buying your book, what is the one thing that they can do?

COVEY: Well, I think it`s really accepting the fact that it`s choice, that you`re in charge of your life. You can be a cycle-breaker. If you`ve come from a long pattern of high school dropouts or drug addiction or whatever, you really can be a transition person, and you are in charge. It`s choice.

I think that`s the theme of this book, is that there are six big decisions you make, and you can make a great life of yourself if you make smart choices on these six issues.

BECK: Great. Sean, thank you so much, and it is a great book. I just had a -- I just read it a couple of weeks ago, and it`s just a great book. Thank you very much.

COVEY: Thanks a lot. Good luck with your teens.

BECK: You bet. Thanks.

Time to check in now with Nancy Grace. She`s got something coming up tonight. Nancy, what is it we`re looking at?

NANCY GRACE, CNN HOST: Glenn, pizza, Chinese, the morning paper, sure, but a baby left on a doorstep like a newspaper? That`s right: An infant girl, just hours old, deposited on a doorstep in the early morning hours. Portland police on the case tonight.

And tonight, Glenn, a 13-year-old little boy, a model student, scrubbed in sunshine, gets off the school bus, there at the school bus stop Monday, and disappears. Tonight, the desperate search for a white Nissan or Chevy truck with a camper on top. Will finding that truck also rescue a missing Missouri boy?

BECK: Don`t forget. Check out Nancy tonight at 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

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BECK: All right. Let`s check in with some of your e-mails.

Brita from California writes, "Glenn, I just have to say, I love it when you say `Not so much.` In fact, I say it all the time. It`s contagious."

First of all, Brita, let me say to you, I love your water filters. Keep up the great work. I mean it. Secondly, I appreciate your endorsement of "not so much" so much.

Staff here have been encouraging me to use other classic catchphrases like, "Don`t go there, girlfriend," "Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids," and, of course, "Dyn-o-mite." Pretty awesome, sure, but will I ever say them? Not so much.

Tony from Virginia writes, "Glenn, love your show, but please stop yelling. You`ve got a microphone. It`s called modern technology, my friend."

Tony, use your remote control. It`s called the volume button, my friend. Seriously, tony. I mean, I can be loud and obnoxious, I know it, but what do I do? Whisper like I`m covering a professional golf tournament? Sit here quietly and read a book so I don`t disturb you? Sorry, Tony, can`t do it. I`m loud, I`m proud. Get used to it.

Finally, some video mail from Graham in Indiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM, VIEWER VIDEO MAIL: Hey, Glenn. We need to talk about Pat Robertson. You ran a segment the other day where he claimed that the Apocalypse was coming in the fall.

You know what? I`m a college student. I already have about a billion bills to pay off. I don`t need to hear that kind of stuff. And you know what? I`ll bet you a dollar that the Apocalypse isn`t coming into the fall. You know how I know that? Because Paris Hilton hasn`t been nominated for an Academy Award. The day that happens, we`re in trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Well, Graham, let me tell you something, Paris Hilton may not have won an Oscar yet, but Mel Gibson, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Three 6 Mafia, Eminem, Marisa Tomei, and "The English Patient" all have, and yet we`re all still here.

For now, this year`s Oscars are seven weeks away. And let me tell you, if Ben Stiller wins best actor for "Night at the Museum," we`re all doomed. Just saying.

You want to send me some video mail? Grab your cameras, your phones, your Web cams, whatever, record your question, your comment, and click on CNN.com/Glenn, and upload your video. Until then, we`ll see you tomorrow, you sick, twisted freak.

END