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Glenn Beck

Renewed Tensions in Gaza Strip; Taliban Terrorists Graduate from Training Camp; Was Missing Pregnant Woman Murdered?; School Bans Touching

Aired June 19, 2007 - 19:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, graduates of Taliban terror camps pledge to attack American soil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me say something about why we are going along with my team.

BECK: Propaganda or only a matter of time before they attack?

Plus, a Virginia school cracks down on touching. That`s right. Students, no handshakes, no hugs, and no high fives. It`s a touching story.

And a sit-down with country star Toby Keith, just back from Iraq.

All this and more tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, I`ve been on the road for the last 16 days doing our summer comedy tour, and, unfortunately, while I was gone, it seems like a lot has happened, much of it in the Middle East.

And you know, when you first turn on the TV, you`re like, "Oh, jeez, not again. The same old, same old." But it`s actually not this time, and I`ll explain why.

It`s only been a few days since Hamas overthrew the less crazy Fatah Party to take over the Gaza Strip, and now the Hamas leaders have called for a national dialogue with Fatah, the group they just conquered and executed.

Here`s the point tonight. The Middle East is a tinderbox, and it is about to ignite into flames, and they will definitely reach us here in America, and here`s how I got there.

President Bush today met with the Israeli prime minister to discuss the conflict, and here`s what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We recognize that it was Hamas that attacked the unity government. They made a choice of violence. It was their decision that has caused there to be this current situation in the Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Oh, I got to tell you, as they spoke and I saw this on television, I thought most Americans could care less about what`s happening in the Middle East. They hear the president and they just hear blahdy, blahdy, blahdy, blahdy.

Our attitude has been for a long time, oh, what a surprise; they`re fighting in the Middle East. We`ve gone back to the way we used to be before 9/11, which was, you know what? They`ve been fighting for 5,000 years. The whole region could fall into a sinkhole for all I care. Well, you know what? We need to care. We should care, and here`s why.

A school and a convent belonging to the Gaza Strip`s tiny Roman Catholic community ransacked, burned, looted during the clashes with Hamas militants on Thursday. They used the top of a school as a place to put their snipers. Crosses were broken. A statue of Jesus was destroyed. Prayer books were burnt at the Rosary Sister School and nearby convent, which was also desecrated. This is according to the Gaza`s Latin Church.

Now, the ironic thing is to me when we fight them, we don`t desecrate their holy sites out of respect, and quite honestly, out of political correctness, and, yet, do they fight the same way? Absolutely not.

Why? Because they don`t care. They`re fighting to win. They are trying to wipe out our religion and our civilization.

I hope the world understands that this is not about foreign policy and what the United States has done in the past. This is not about Israel. The current fighting that is going on now is between what I believe are the moderate terrorists, Fatah, and the hard-core terrorists of Hamas. Hamas has won, and everybody else, including me and you, have lost.

Tonight on this story, here is what you need to know. The reason why there will never be peace in the Middle East is because one side just doesn`t want it. What they do want is complete control, and they will kill anyone who stands in their way. I don`t care if it`s a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim.

Joining me now is Dore Gold. He is the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and the author for "The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, The West, And the Future of the Holy City".

Dore, has anybody bothered to tell Jimmy Carter yet that he was wrong about the peace-loving members of Hamas?

DORE GOLD, AUTHOR, "THE FIGHT FOR JERUSALEM": Well, I don`t know. I don`t think he`s at all aware of what`s going on in Hamastan.

Frankly, over the last two years since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, we`ve seen steady infiltration of al Qaeda from different parts of the Middle East, who have set up camp and found a new sanctuary in Gaza. I don`t think President Carter is at all aware of what is going on there when he gives his books tours and sells his book.

BECK: This is really frightening because of something -- and you`ll probably be able to explain this to me. I`ve been -- I`ve been doing my research on it, and where they occupy now, Hamas, is extraordinarily crucial. It is the Philadelphi area -- am I not mistaken -- where they are getting a lot of money and arms directly right through Egypt. Can you explain this?

GOLD: Yes. There is a very thin corridor called the Philadelphi Corridor named as such by the Israeli military randomly. It`s 14 kilometers long and maybe 70 to 200 meters wide, a very thin strip. Israel pulled out of it when it disengaged from the Gaza Strip.

And up until now there have been a number of secret tunnels through which terrorists have come into Gaza, and even trained terrorists in Gaza have gone out for operations in Egypt or training in Iran.

Now they don`t even need the tunnels anymore, because they can just come in. Hamas controls the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt.

BECK: Dore, how frustrating is it to you? I know blood was shooting out of my eyes last week when I saw Hamas standing on the desk and holding up their guns and saying it is a new Islamic order.

And they`re executing people, Muslims -- but just not the right kind of Muslims, I guess -- executing people out in the street in front of their wives and children, and the world does nothing. Nobody says a word about it.

GOLD: Well, and it even gets worse, because if you ask most foreign ministries in Europe and even, I would, imagine American policymakers, what should peace in the Middle East look like, they`ll tell you, for example, adopt a Saudi plan which divides Jerusalem.

Imagine having the same people who just scorched the Latin church in Gaza take over the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the heart of Jerusalem. It would be a disaster to the holy sites. It would be a disaster to religious freedom.

I think people have to wake up and move back from these old suggestions from ten years ago and understand the reality we`re facing in the Middle East.

BECK: Bernie Kerik was in the newspaper today. He`s over in Jordan, and he says he is building a nuclear-proof bunker over in Jerusalem. He says it`s scary stuff going on there. How close are we to a fuse that just can`t be blown out?

GOLD: Well, I think the real critical question for Israel is two- fold. One is that Philadelphi Corridor. If we find out that Iran is pushing into the Gaza Strip, the kind of longer range rockets that they had in Lebanon and the Egyptians fail to stop it, we`ll have no choice but to stop it ourselves.

In the meantime, Iran is building up Lebanon, and that`s the second threat we`re facing. They`re moving in from the north and the south.

BECK: Dore, thanks a lot. I appreciate it. I have to tell you that I watched the president and the prime minister today, and I thought to myself, this is a meeting where he`s saying, "Mr. President, our back is against the wall, and it`s coming soon."

Meanwhile, ABC News is reporting that trained suicide bombers are emerging from tribal areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they`re planning attacks on the west.

Footage of the Taliban graduation ceremony shows a large group of men, their faces hidden by black scarves, who are graduating. They were assigned to carry out attacks in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and Germany.

The group of 300 included children as young as 12 years old. So how long will it be before the terrorist class of 2007 comes here to blow something up?

Joining me now is Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterrorism expert and senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Daveed, a terrorist attack, imminent? What does this mean?

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, COUNTERTERRORISM EXPERT: Well, we know that, for a long time, there have been people being trained to be suicide bombers and other sorts of attackers in the various safe havens that al Qaeda has enjoyed, particularly within the Pakistan area where this footage is believed to have come from.

We also know that they want to strike the United States, and we`ve had echoes of this in past terrorist plots, including the massive transatlantic air plot that was disrupted last August.

So you know, this isn`t something that`s new to analysts. What is new is actually having the video footage, which is now starting to draw attention to this problem.

BECK: How do we not -- how do we not kill those people? I mean, look at them. How do we -- does this go on and us not know about it and us not call in a missile strike?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: If this was happening in Afghanistan, we would strike them with missiles. Whenever you have this many terrorists together there, you have enough coalition forces to be able to hit them, but this is taking place in...

BECK: Unless they`re -- unless they`re at some sort of a funeral. We didn`t do it last time. They were at a funeral.

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: And that was also in Pakistan. And that`s where this footage is believed to have come from, from Pakistan.

One thing that`s very critical to understand is that the Pakistani government has been consistently ceding territory to both the Taliban factions and also al Qaeda factions.

Last September you had a major accord entered called the Waziristan Accords, which formally ceded the Waziristan area, providing the Pakistani military would not operate there and also prohibiting American forces from doing so, as well.

This year you had another accord, the Bejore (ph) Accords. These -- this basically strategic retreat on the part of Pakistan`s government, puts us, the United States, in a very bad position.

BECK: Waziristan. What-"stan"? There`s too many stans" over there. I can`t keep track of them.

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: The Waziristan region is about the size of New Jersey. It`s in the western part of Pakistan.

BECK: OK. I heard somebody say that this is just a propaganda film. Don`t worry about it, yada, yada.

You know what? The CIA has been wrong since the Berlin Wall. When are we going to stop listening to these guys and start lisping to the words of our enemies? These guys make promises, not threats.

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Well, the statements from U.S. intelligence that are from the ABC News story that broke the existence of these tapes are very vague statements. They talk about how this is propaganda, but something can both be propaganda and can also be real.

BECK: Yes.

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Clearly, al Qaeda wants this in order to propagandize, but you know, one of the most well-known things of their propaganda are the footage that`s constantly shown on CNN and other stations of the guys marching and of the jungle gyms where people are training. Now, that`s propaganda, but it`s also real.

And likewise, the intelligence sources that I have spoken to believe that, indeed, this is propaganda, but that those suicide teams are ready.

BECK: Daveed, do you -- do you feel that there is a heating up that is going on right now? You`re starting to se all these things start to come together. Is it -- is it possible that they`re not all connected, that we are -- we`re on the beginning, the precipice of something bigger?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Well, I think that things are coming together. I would put what you talked about in the first part of the segment with Dore Gold in a somewhat different camp, in that the situation between Hamas and Fatah has been brewing for quite a while on a separate track.

But one thing that`s important to understand, as I said, the Pakistani government has ceded an enormous amount of territory to al Qaeda and to the Taliban. And it`s important to understand that, as they gain safe havens it becomes far more likely that we will feel the consequences here in the homeland.

BECK: Daveed, thank you very much.

Coming up, more questions than answers on the mystery of a missing pregnant mother in Ohio who -- this story is amazing. Evidence suggests foul play, as do the chilling words of her young son. We`ll have the latest on that.

Plus, the revived immigration bill is on the fast track back on the floor of the Senate. These politicians, I`m telling you, are going to do whatever the hell they want, and I`ll give you the details in "The Real Story".

And America is on the verge of changing. And the politicians and the media just don`t get it, but you do, and Toby Keith does. He`ll be here a little later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: The immigration bill, it`s alive. How far will it go? Will it make it all the way through Congress? Well, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, is betting $4.4 billion of your money, guaranteed funding, and we all know how far you can take a guarantee from Congress.

We`ll have all the details in just a bit.

But, first, Jessie Davis, she is a 26-year-old Ohio woman who has a 2- year-old son named Blake. She is expecting her second child in just a couple of weeks, a baby girl she decided to name Chloe. Well, tragically, no one has heard from Jessie Davis since last Wednesday.

All that police have to go on is a torn-up apartment and a few disturbing words from Jessie (sic), the 2-year-old son, who was found all alone in his mother`s apartment.

He said, quote, "Mommy was crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy is in the rug."

The search for Davis continues, but those sad words seem to coincide with the physical evidence in her home. The room was strewn with broken furniture. There was a pool of bleach on the floor, and a bed comforter is now missing.

The father of Jessie`s young son and unborn daughter is Canton, Ohio, police patrolman Bobby Cutts Jr. Now, he is estranged from his wife -- that`s not Jessie Davis -- and has at least one other child.

Cutts is cooperating with the authorities in the investigation. So far that`s all we know. But we have to remember that homicide, believe it or not, is the leading cause of death for pregnant women.

Wendy Murphy -- Murphy is a former prosecutor and law professor at the New England School of Law.

Wendy, Laci Peterson case all over again?

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: You know, you never know. It`s looking a lot like that case. She`s pregnant. She`s beautiful. It`s a boy next door kind of not-so-suspect suspect at this point, but you know, not quite the type when you have a police officer in the realm of the people they`re looking at.

So maybe not Laci Peterson yet, but it`s certainly looking like it`s going in that direction.

BECK: OK. The stat that I just quoted, that homicide is the leading killer for pregnant women, can you break that down at all?

MURPHY: Yes, most of the time when I say that out loud, people say that`s not possible. With all the medical issues women go through during pregnancy, how can homicide be the leading cause of death?

There actually are a couple of different very solid scientific studies that show homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women and -- and that does not mean murder. I want to be clear about this. You can die from all kind of homicide: accidental, you know, involuntary manslaughter.

And the definition, by the way, includes the post-birth period. So it`s not always while pregnant. It could be a couple of months after. That`s the window we`re talking about.

But here`s why, Glenn.

BECK: But wait, wait, wait. What is the definition of homicide? Homicide, somebody kills you.

MURPHY: But it could include, for example, motor vehicle homicide, involuntary manslaughter, high degree of negligence cases, in other words. It`s not always a gun to the head of the pregnant woman. We just have to be clear about that.

BECK: OK. OK.

MURPHY: It`s still a shocking statistic. There`s no question about it. And the theories about why the data looks like that are mixed.

Some people say it`s because pregnancy is such a stressful time. The guy feels -- especially narcissistic types, they feel they`re going to lose the attention of the wife when she gets this new baby in the house. There`s often not a lot of sexual activity at the end of a pregnancy, in particular.

The stress level just goes way up during a pregnancy, and for men who are worried about the stress of being able to manage a family and pay for it. I mean, that`s often a trigger, as well. It`s not justification, just an explanation.

BECK: Do we have any clue as to if this guy is -- I believe police are saying he is not a suspect at this time. I mean, it could have been just a crazy woman who was, you know, watching her and coveting the baby and -- I mean, we`ve had crazy people go in and cut women up and do that. Is there a possibility that that`s the case?

MURPHY: Well, sure. And at this point if there`s an alternative explanation, then someone she knew did it, I suppose it would be that somebody desperately wanted a baby and kidnapped her in order to cut open her belly. We`ve seen plenty of those kinds of cases, and we have to keep an open mind at this point.

But the police searched the guy`s house, and they don`t do that for nothing. Now, that doesn`t make him a suspect, but it certainly suggests that they`re concerned about what evidence could be in the home.

BECK: How -- boy, wouldn`t it have broken your heart to hear this little 2-year-old say, "Mommy broke the table and mommy is in the rug"? Oh, my gosh. It just makes me want to cry just even hearing that.

How credible is that, and why would somebody leave a witness? Boy, I hate even asking this question. Why would somebody leave a witness there, especially if it`s a cop? I mean, you`d take a 2-year-old seriously, do you not?

MURPHY: Yes and no. I mean, if it is somebody who knew the child -- and I really hate to describe the guy as the suspect, but if it was his father, you know, it`s hard to kill a 2-year-old, your own son. So that could be an explanation.

BECK: It would be hard to kill him, even if it wasn`t your own son.

MURPHY: But some people do. I mean, look at, you know, Andrea Yates. I mean, some people who claim to and, in fact, do love their children, kill them for selfish reasons, including wanting to get rid of an eyewitness.

But a 2-year-old could have been, in the mind of whoever took her, that this is not a credible witness. This person will never be able to testify against me, because it`s only a 2-year-old.

But I`ll tell you something, Glenn. There are a lot of cases out there where 3-year-olds take the stand. And, let`s face it, not all 2- year-olds are the same. If this child is close to 3 years old, for example, then what he`s saying could be perceived as highly credible, could well have been used to justify the search warrants.

I mean, my kid could count to three languages -- count to ten in three languages by the time he was 2. You just don`t know.

BECK: OK. All right.

MURPHY: I`m not bragging.

BECK: Thanks for making my kids look bad.

Wendy, thanks a lot.

Coming up, crackdown on touching, believe it or not, in a Virginia middle school has some parents with their hands in the air. Banning hugs and high fives. Really? We`ll take a closer look.

And country music star Toby Keith stops by to tell me about his new album. Don`t miss it. It`s coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Can you imagine being thrown into detention for high-fiving your friend in a hallway at a middle school? How about serving suspension for putting your arm around a classmate? Believe it or not, America, this is the world we live in.

A Virginia middle school has had a ban on touching for the last 15 years, but now it`s coming under fire, since a student was warned for hugging his girlfriend. I got a problem with him having a girlfriend.

The parents of the hugger were none too pleased at the school`s warnings, and you know what? I`m torn on this, because I don`t want my kids hugging kids, but I don`t think I want a touching ban either.

With me now is Laurie Baker. She`s the PTA president of Kilmer Middle School.

Laurie, thanks for being on the program. Are you for or against the touching ban?

LAURIE BAKER, PTA PRESIDENT: Oh, it`s common sense. We`re absolutely for it.

BECK: We didn`t have a touching ban in my school. You know what we had? Parents that raised their kids.

BAKER: Well, we live in a diverse society, and, you know, at first blush maybe the rules sounds draconian, but you see 1,000 kids in a middle school, and you hear some of the vignettes at how they interact, and it`s common sense. It`s practical. It`s based on experience. And it`s the best for the kids in our society today.

BECK: This is the argument that I have with Al Sharpton. He comes after the rap and says, "Oh, this rap music is horrible. I got to go after the record companies."

No, you don`t. You go after the parents and say, "Parents, tell your kids not to listen to it and control your kids."

If you`ve got kids that are inappropriately touching, you don`t have a problem with touching in your school. You have a problem with parents in your school, do you not?

BAKER: Well, but your kids are there for seven hours a day. The interactions are happening. You want them to be positive for the kids during the day. You don`t want some little girl to be upset during the day and having her day ruined.

BECK: Wait, wait, wait.

BAKER: This is preventative.

BECK: Laurie, that little girl is eventually going to go out into the real world, and you know, big bad principal is not going to be there to help her. Nobody is going to be there. So aren`t you actually hurting the child?

I don`t mean to be rude here. I just -- I`m trying to figure out how you could possibly be for this? We are helping cripple our children by not letting them have bad experiences.

If somebody is inappropriately groping a child, you don`t need a no touching ban for that. But high-fiving?

BAKER: High-fiving, let`s take that as an example. You got two big boys. We got -- we`ve got 14-year-olds that weigh 200 pounds that are over six foot. They`re high-fiving each other in the hall. The next thing you know their friends want to get in on it, and now they`re chest bumping, and now you`ve got 15 boys chest bumping in the hall.

BECK: That`s when you have a teacher come out in the hallway and say, "Hey, dummies, knock it off."

BAKER: That`s exactly what this rule is, and that`s exactly how it`s enforced 99 percent of the time. It`s common sense. "Move along, boys. You got two minutes before class. Come on, girls, you`re going to be late to Spanish. Kids, hold it down. Let`s get back to work." That`s what it is.

BECK: What is the punishment for hugging?

BAKER: It depends. The first time it could just be the hairy eyeball from the principal walking by.

If you do it repeatedly after warnings, you may get a stern talking to from the dean of students. They may call your parents in. They may have you sit in a classroom all by yourself for in-school suspension. They may make you sweep the halls after school.

BECK: Are we talking about all hugging or, you know, active hugging?

BAKER: It`s basically hugging, because any interaction -- two kids -- say this family is upset. Maybe their son hugged his girlfriend, and it was OK with those two.

You`re in a lunchroom. You have 250 other kids watching. Now the next thing you know, you`ve got ten more middle schoolers who want to test the rules, get some excitement going, and you`ve got inappropriate behavior.

BAKER: This is -- this is what leads us to, you know, girls not being able to take ibuprofen because it`s a drug-free zone. It`s insane.

Laurie, I appreciate your time, and thank you very much for being on the program.

We`ll be back in just a second with "The Real Story".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up in just a bit, he is one of country music`s biggest stars and he`s here tonight, Toby Keith. We`ll talk about his music and his recent USO tour in Iraq and Afghanistan and politics. I think it might surprise you.

But, first, welcome to "The Real Story." For years conservatives like me have been screaming from the rooftops that the only acceptable way to stop illegal immigration is to seal the borders first. Then we deal with all the people that are already here. But time and time again, politicians are ignoring us by continuing to offer comprehensive reform packages that nobody wants, security and amnesty tied together.

Now, as we sit here watching Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid attempt to bribe conservatives by adding -- whoops, did I just use the word bribe? Yes, by adding $4.4 billion in so-called guaranteed border security funding to the immigration bill, it`s time for a quick reminder on why we demand the fence first, America, with no strings attached. The real story is that in Washington nothing is guaranteed. And for proof, all you have to do is look back at the last two times that Congress has demanded that a border fence be built.

Let`s stop in 1996. They authorized 14 miles of double-layer fencing near San Diego and included the funding to get it built. Oh, we`re serious this time. Eight years later, 2005, nearly four miles of that little, teeny fence still missing. Why? It`s called the Tijuana River, which sounds beautiful, especially this time of year. Environmental groups were so upset that some animals might have to relocate that they successfully blocked the fence`s completion for almost a decade. That forced Congress to pass another bill giving the Department of Homeland Security the power to waive all environmental regulations and finally finish the project, which they still, two years later, have not done, due to engineering difficulties. Yes, sure.

Then, last October, Congress authorized another fence, this time 854 miles worth. They gave this one $1.2 billion in funding. It`s guaranteed. Sounded great in all the headlines, but 13 miles have actually been built. And we may never get the rest of it.

House Democrats now want homeland security to review local environmental laws and provide proof to Congress that a virtual fence wouldn`t be a better option before any more of that money is released. They`re responsible and on your side.

There`s another potential roadblock to building any new fence that any politician won`t tell you about. It`s called the Borderlands Conservation and Security Act of 2007. And if this nightmare passes, it will add even more environmental restrictions on how and where the new border fence could actually be built, including the one that is currently being debated.

You know what? I don`t hate the environment. I really don`t. I genuinely like our cute, little planet and the furry, little animals that live upon it. But if we don`t seal our borders completely and immediately, our problems are going to be a lot bigger than endangering the migration of the ocelot or the flat-tailed horned lizard.

I don`t know if there are more snakes on the border or in politics, but if the ones in Washington don`t start listening to us, oh, I know they`ll be the first on the endangered species list.

Jonathan Allen, a reporter with "Congressional Quarterly," Jonathan, $4.4 billion in bribe money, why should we believe any of this is actually going to make a difference?

JONATHAN ALLEN, "CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY": Well, Glenn, I think there are a lot of conservatives who are skeptical that this $4.4 billion will be spent in a way that they`d like to see it spent. So I think you`re not alone in having some skepticism about that, given the difficulty that some of the other money has had being spent on the purposes.

BECK: Skeptical? I`m not skeptical. I know it`s an out-and-out lie. It will never happen. I`m not skeptical. That leaves some doubt in my mind. Uh-uh. No doubt.

ALLEN: Well, I don`t mean to understate the point, Glenn, but certainly conservatives want to see a little more evidence.

BECK: Yes.

ALLEN: They`re not really at the "trust but verify" point. They`re at the "verify, then trust" point.

BECK: Yes, and, Jonathan, I just gave two examples, but, I mean, you have to look just back to the last time we went through this. Duncan Hunter was on my show over a year ago, and he said, "Glenn, this is going to be built, because I wrote the language, and it says `shall be built,` not `must be built,` `shall be built,` which is this legalese stuff that makes it now impossible for them not to." And I said, "Duncan, oh, I remember when I was so naive."

I mean, how is that even -- how is that even possible that people believe this is going to be built?

ALLEN: Well, far be it for me to question a presidential candidate`s understanding of the legal system and how laws are made, but I do think that there are a lot of contravening laws that are in place. As you mentioned, there are some environmental laws that are issues for some of the fences being built. And with this $4.4 billion, I haven`t seen language yet, so I don`t know exactly what requirements it might waive, if any.

BECK: I mean, we`ve got Harry Reid, who has a lower approval rating - - I`m sorry, he may be tied with Scooter Libby now in approval ratings. He`s going to jam this thing down our throat. He`s using something called the clay pigeon. What is a clay pigeon?

ALLEN: Well, a clay pigeon is as it sounds. It`s an arcane procedural tool. And the clay pigeon is a nickname because it`s one amendment that can be broken into several parts, with each being voted on. In this case, it`s the amendments that the Democrats and the Republicans have agreed to vote upon. So what Reid does is he offers one amendment, and then it splits into 22 pieces, each of which gets a vote.

There are some procedural reasons why that expedites consideration, smoothes passage. It really gives the majority leader a lot more control over what`s going on, on the floor, and it ensures votes for all of those amendments, all of those separate pieces of the clay pigeon. You know, if you`re familiar with shooting clay pigeons, you understand it breaking apart. All those pieces get votes under this system, whereas it would be possible for that deal to fall apart otherwise.

BECK: All right. Thank you, Jonathan. Appreciate it. Keep your eye on it for us so we don`t have to look directly at it.

Next, I`ve been telling you for months now about how U.S. Border Patrol agents are being sold out by our government, and now we`ve got more evidence for you tonight. Six years ago, Agent David Sipe used his flashlight to subdue an illegal alien who was fighting with him during an arrest. Well, the government decided throw the book at Sipe, and they used every tool at their disposal to get a conviction.

Last January, we found out that some of those tools apparently included the illegal alien travel expenses. They gave him a border crossing permit, a Social Security card -- those are hard to come by -- and a driver`s license in exchange for his testimony. Well, after a new trial, Agent Sipe acquitted. Now a judge has ordered the Border Patrol to give him his job back and pay him for six years of missed work.

One Border Patrol agent may finally have gotten some justice, kind of. There are still many others who continue to sit in jail as what I believe are political prisoners caught in our government`s web of lies. David Sipe and his attorney, Jack Wolfe, join me now.

David, let me start with you. You got your job back. They`re paying you back pay. I asked you this last time you were on here, but why do you want to go back to this job?

DAVID SIPE, FORMER U.S. BORDER AGENT: It`s what I do, sir. I enjoy the work, and I want to go back to it.

BECK: And you believe in -- I mean, I would be so disillusioned with what`s going on in the border. I mean, do you think you`re going to be able to go back there and give it your all? Do you trust that you`re not going to be targeted yet again because you stepped over Mexico`s feet?

SIPE: All I can say is, I`m going to do the job the best I can. With Mexico`s interaction with the United States and how they pursue cases, I can`t really comment. It`s not a pleasant idea, but you know...

BECK: I`ve got to tell you, Jack, what your client just said is amazing to me. He can`t really comment on it. I mean, that should tell people everything they need to know. What have you learned?

We see $80,000 going to this illegal alien that testified against David, you know, driver`s license, Social Security card, everything else. It`s an outrage, from what we`ve learned. What is it that you`ve learned through this whole process?

JACK WOLFE, SIPE`S ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, Glenn, I`m glad to be here, and especially now that you, Rush and Sean are controlling America.

BECK: Yes, I know. Wait until you hear the radio show tomorrow. If talk radio is controlling the nation, oh, we`re going to set out some new guidelines tomorrow on the radio program.

WOLFE: Well, good luck to you.

BECK: Yes.

WOLFE: Listen, what we learned in this case is the government will go to extreme lengths. I guarantee you they spent way over $1 million trying to do an injustice. Their own pre-trial memorandums showed that they knew that David wasn`t guilty, and yet they proceeded, they lied, they cheated, and they stole six years of his life.

BECK: And, David, they did, indeed, do that. You have no credit left. You have no house. Your wife left you through all of this. You said you want back what you`ve lost. Do you really think you can get that? Did you get what you lost?

SIPE: No. All I`ll get would be just the time and the money from the service. That`s all I`ll get back from them. I`ll repair my credit, but the time with my family, I can`t get that back.

BECK: Unbelievable story. David, I`m glad it`s all over for you. It`s beginning, just beginning, for so many more.

Jack, thanks a lot. That`s the "Real Story" tonight.

WOLFE: Thank you.

BECK: Up next, sit down with country superstar Toby Keith. We`re going to talk about his music, his recent USO tour in Iraq, and a little politics that I think might surprise you. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Joining me now on the set is Toby Keith. What a pleasure, sir.

TOBY KEITH, MUSICIAN: Hey, man, it`s great to be here.

BECK: Good to be here with you. We spent about 20 minutes on the radio today. We talked a lot about that song that is on the new CD, and I think, just like "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue," you have nailed America and where we`re at yet again. The song is really -- well, you tell me. What`s the song about?

KEITH: Well, you know, you get caught up in a political crossfire when you support the troops. You know, I`m a lifetime Democrat, and I`m not going to ever quit defending or make excuses for my patriotism. And I`m all about justice, and I see things right, wrong on every issue, you know, whether it`s abortion or protecting the border or health care. You know, I see things from the left side and from the right side. And I look at them right, wrong, and that`s what this song is about.

BECK: That`s what America is about.

KEITH: Two-thirds of this country doesn`t even vote, so we don`t live in a very political world when only one-third of the country voted -- more people vote on "American Idol" than vote in the last election.

BECK: Does it bother you? I mean, because I really think that -- I mean, the politicians are intentionally dividing us. Here I am, a guy who generally votes for a Republican. You`re a guy who generally votes for a Democrat. But we both will vote for -- I don`t care. I`ll vote for a Democrat if they`ve got the right idea.

KEITH: You`ve got to have the right guy, the right person first.

BECK: Go for it. Who cares? And yet they`re dividing us like this. Do you think it`s -- my theory is, is that they`re doing it for power, and what gives them the power to win is we don`t talk to each other. We just demonize each other.

KEITH: Well, the two ends of the spectrum, the right and the left, the far left and far right, fight the hardest, and they make the most noise because they all have their agenda. But us, everybody that`s stuck in that middle 80 percent, to me doesn`t -- I mean, I got caught up in it because I`m a celebrity and I wrote a song that supported the troops, so I got caught in that crossfire. You get trapped in it. I`m guilty of doing that.

But at the same time, the rest of the country isn`t affected by what politicians say or what the news says. The sad part is, is if you watch a far-left news broadcast or you get your media from the far right, you`re affected by the information that makes your decisionmaking. But past that, if you can make a decision on your own and you can go out and get your own knowledge and make it, then that`s what most of the country does.

BECK: It`s amazing. I just got off the road. We just did a comedy tour for -- I think I was on the road for 16 days. And when you are on the ground in the heartland of the nation, it is radically different than being here or Los Angeles.

KEITH: Oh, yes.

BECK: I mean, it`s no comparison.

KEITH: No.

BECK: And, you know, I was just talking to some news executives today, and I said, "You know what you need to do? Everybody on your staff needs to spend at least three weeks out in the heartland of this country, because they get it." I mean, and you spend -- where do you live?

KEITH: I live in Norman, Oklahoma. I have a ranch in Oklahoma, so it`s, you know -- it is the heartland. I get tremendous support there, but you know what`s amazing is I`ve been doing -- I did a movie a couple of years ago, and I`m working on a script. I`m casting another movie that we`re doing. And the more I get tied into Hollywood -- this is going to freak you out a little bit -- you`d be surprised how many big, big name people and directors and producers who come up and admit to me...

BECK: Oh, they say it under their breath, though.

KEITH: They say, "Well, I support you, and I support the troops, and thanks for being a breath of fresh air." I say, "Well, why don`t you stand up and say that?" They say, "It would kill my career."

BECK: That`s amazing.

KEITH: And I said, well, you know, people will say, because I`m out here speaking about this and this song that I`m trying to save my career, my career is in great shape. My career -- for anybody that I lost for writing the "Courtesy of Red, White, and Blue" I gained on the other side.

BECK: Oh, yes.

KEITH: So I`m not out here saving any career. I`m just telling you like it is.

BECK: And I love you for it.

KEITH: Oh, well, God bless you.

BECK: Thank you very much, and congratulations debuting on number one.

KEITH: Oh, thank you, "Big Dog Daddy."

BECK: Good for you. Thanks.

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: All right, time to introduce you to another kind of hero, a man from Rwanda, Africa. He`s been fighting to protect the global population of a rare mountain gorilla species under severe threat. He is tonight`s "CNN Hero."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EUGENE RUTAGARAMA, "DEFENDING THE PLANET": When you approach a group of gorillas, the first feeling that you are approaching a relative, a human being. In this region, we have been able to bring conservationists from the three governments together to sign an agreement to protect these mountain gorillas. Having rangers to cover the park with their patrol means that we keep the poaching at the lowest level, but the poaching is still there.

My name is Eugene Rutagarama. My work is to protect mountain gorillas in their habitat.

When I came back from Burundi, Rwanda was devastated by the genocide. You would see the bodies of dead people, thousands of people. The whole country had to resume from scratch.

My attention went to the national parks. If these parks were not protected, it means that we`ll have lost the mountain gorillas, which is a hobby for many tourists. It brings foreign currency for this country which helps to conserve this park.

Gorillas can`t really do much if a human being has decided to decimate or to kill the gorillas. They need to be defended; they need to be protected by human beings.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, a summer comedy tour has been on the road for the last couple of weeks, and it`s been like a full-fledged rock tour, you know, without the rock or the drugs or the alcohol and the groupies. And pretty much the whole thing was carb-free, too. But other than that, it was exactly like a rock tour, and I have to admit in a lot of ways I love going out on the road. I love leaving this little island of Manhattan that most of the media thinks is the only place on the planet worth being.

We flew all over America, and what I learned was amazing, yet again. I found out that Texans are not real happy with our government right now. And, trust me, America, you don`t want to piss Texas off. They feel like a lot of America: let down by Washington.

I had 11 different people in about a 30-hour period walk up to me and tell me how they were going to take the country back. I don`t think anybody really wants to find out how Texas intends to do that. I also learned that liberals are just as angry with the Democrats as conservatives are with Republicans. So many self-described liberals came up to me and said, "Glenn, I`d rather get the Ebola virus than listen to your views on health care or taxes, but when it comes to being sick of politicians, I am with you 100 percent."

I came back from the tour with a renewed belief that this country believes as I do, that it is not about right and left, it is about right and wrong. I also came back with a message for much of the media headquartered here in New York and in Los Angeles. It might sound unbelievable, guys, but you`re actually allowed to land your plane in some of those flyover states. Yes, no law against it.

And the amazing thing is, you can go there even when there`s no tornado damage to shoot or, you know, if you`re searching for the crazy other side of an atheism story. You can still go.

You know, sometimes I can`t help but wonder if we are going to be strong enough to take on the challenges coming our way in America in the next few years. But whenever I visit the real America, the center of the country, I come back with a rejuvenated confidence in this country. In the last two weeks, I`ve met thousands of right-thinking Americans who know how this country was designed: as a place that puts the real power not in Washington, but squarely in the hands of we, the people.

You can email me at GlennBeck@CNN.com. We`ll see you on the radio tomorrow. After all, talk radio is running the country now. We`ll be there to redesign and fix it. You can join us then. From New York, good night.

END