Return to Transcripts main page

Glenn Beck

Congress at Impasse Over Security Issues; Should We Stop Fighting Wildfires?; Can We Really Prevent Global Warming?; Cheerleader Sues Over Not Making Squad

Aired July 10, 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, Congress debates the Iraq war. As al Qaeda activities intensify, the folks in Washington take action with a two-week debate. I`ll tell you why we need to stop all the talking and do something.

Plus, massacre at the Red Mosque. The standoff between Pakistani troops and militant Islamic students reaches the boiling point. We`ll have the latest.

And give me an "S", give me a "U", give me an "E". The cheerleader that`s suing because she didn`t make the squad.

All that and more tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America.

After an especially bloody weekend in the Middle East, this week Congress has launched a broad debate on the future role of the U.S. presence in Iraq. A little chat that will last for at least the next couple of weeks.

Man, I don`t know how they do it. How do they find the time to do all of the people`s work? I mean, the Democrats have already launched some 300 investigations against the Bush administration.

Hillary Clinton is busy writing -- busy writing op-ed pieces about how this isn`t our war and making YouTube videos.

George W. is, you know, handing out those get out of jail free cards.

D.C. attorneys are gearing up for another attempt to impeach the president. I mean, this is the people`s work, isn`t it?

Here`s the point tonight. I`ve got to tell you, I`m sick and tired of Congress grandstanding and wasting time. Forget about the forests of Utah. The whole world is on fire, and unless Washington finally stops wasting their time and my money, there`s not going to be much left of the free world for them to lead.

And here`s how I got there.

If you are just half as exhausted by all the political bull crap that I am, you`ll understand me when I say, Congress, I`m done. No more. I`m not playing any more of your little reindeer games, reporting on the nonsense that you occupy your time with instead of the holy trinity of life-threatening problems facing our country today.

The security of our borders. What are you doing? Achieving energy independence? Where is that moon shot? And most importantly, the war against terror and Islamic extremism. Everything else is bull crap, as far as I`m concerned. It`s just that simple.

And the media is complicit in diverting the public`s attention. Congress -- Congress works like -- like a magician. You know, it`s like David Copperfield distracting us, usually with a lot of bloated speeches and grade school tantrums, because they don`t want us to see what they`re really doing, which it turns out is absolutely nothing.

That`s why they turn and point fingers at one another, because none of them have an answer. Well, most of them, anyway. There are some in Washington that do seem to get it.

Listen to what Senator Joe Lieberman had to say on the Senate floor today. And, by the way, just so you know, I`m a conservative, but I don`t care about the donkeys and elephant. I`m proud to say I voted for this guy. Listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: In fact, now American Iraqi security forces are winning. The enemy is on the run in Iraq. But here in Congress, in Washington, we seem to be -- or some members seem to be on the run, chased, I fear, by public opinion polls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Amen, Senator Joe Lieberman. I only wish more of your colleagues agreed with you that they need to have a spine and that things are getting better, and there`s proof of it. But you never saw it.

There`s a new 90-minute video from al-Zawahiri. He`s the al Qaeda`s deputy leader. Have you seen it? Yes, yes, of course, you didn`t. Why? Why would the mainstream media show that to you when they have congressional bickering and pointing fingers at each other instead?

In the video, released last week, it says that Sunni extremists in Iraq are in trouble, that the U.S.-led offensive in Baghdad is disrupting and scattering insurgent forces.

So tonight here is what you need to know. America is tired of the war, because we`re tired of watching the military try to fight it while wearing congressional and presidential handcuffs. The only enemy that can defeat the U.S. military is ours.

Let me ask you a question. Honestly, do you really think that America could ever lose a war that we intended to win? If you answer -- if you answer yes, we`re in worse trouble than I thought.

Our strategy in this war must be a winning one, because losing isn`t an option. We`re still in this war, and victory is ours for the taking. Our fighting men and women are up to it, but Washington, are you?

Michael Cutler is a former special agent for the INS and is now a senior fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies. He also has a background in counterterrorism.

Mike, you have real experience out there with counterterrorism.

MIKE CUTLER, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: Right.

BECK: And you`ve also been with the snakes in Washington. Which is more terrifying to you?

CUTLER: Well, sometimes I think one is the ally of the other. Look, by the way, thank you for having me on your program.

BECK: You bet.

CUTLER: The bottom line is this. You know, if you look back at December 7, 1941, America was attacked. We weren`t a superpower back then. But I`ll tell you what, in less than four years America did what had to be done. We built fleets of ships that never existed before, fleets of aircraft, atom bombs. You name it, we did it.

We won the war, declared the war safe for democracy and moved on. We`re coming up on the sixth anniversary of 9/11, and we still don`t even have enough passports that we can implement the Western Hemisphere travel initiative. We still have a visa waiver program. Our borders are still wide open. And we`re being told we`re waging a war on terror.

Meanwhile, look, you have the secretary of state going to Pakistan and chastising Musharraf for creating a wild, wild west on the border with Afghanistan. Meanwhile, we have our own wild west.

BECK: Yes. That`s why America is so angry, because none of this makes any sense.

CUTLER: That`s right.

BECK: You know, I gave the speech that I would have liked to hear President Bush give on the radio -- I think it was yesterday -- when it comes to the border. And that speech is he needs to look at the American people and say, "Look, guys, you sent me a message. You sent me the message that you don`t trust us. You don`t trust that I`ll enforce the laws that we have, so you wouldn`t let me make any new laws.

"Here`s what I`m going to do. I`m going to enforce those laws. I`m going to be so tough on the border. I`ll enforce every single one. But in exchange, when I come back to you in a year and a half, I need you to give me the trust to finish the job. And we can talk about what we`re going to do with the illegal immigrants."

But they won`t do that. They`re not doing jack on the border now. It`s just gone, isn`t it?

CUTLER: But it`s not even just the border. Look, last year U.S. CIS, the division of DHS that gives out citizenship and immigration benefits, claimed that they lost -- are you ready for this -- 111,000 immigration files and then went ahead and naturalized 30,000 aliens without their files.

Could you imagine a bank doing business that way? "Here`s your mortgage. We don`t know where your paperwork is, but have a nice house."

BECK: Can you even -- strategize with me.

CUTLER: Sure.

BECK: Because this is my biggest fear.

CUTLER: Go ahead.

BECK: That I sense so much frustration. I sense the people saying these people don`t even -- they not only don`t represent me, they don`t even know who I am. And when a big tragedy comes our way, I think the American people are going to disown this government and say, "I`m done with you."

CUTLER: Well, that`s a real fear. Look, 14 percent of the Americans give Congress their approval rating. Could you imagine if -- imagine if CNN, God forbid, gave you a 14 percent approval rating.

BECK: I think they probably do. I think they probably do.

CUTLER: Oh, I doubt that.

BECK: I`ve got them tied to a contract.

CUTLER: But you know my point. We know that governments have to lead -- can only lead when they have political legitimacy.

What political legitimacy does our government have when 14 percent of Americans give Congress a passing grade and just over 20 percent gave the president a passing grade? Clearly, there`s a lot of anger and a lot of frustration.

They tried to ram this piece of legislation through the Senate the other day. I came to call that bill the Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007.

And that bill was concocted in the dead of night behind the closed door session between Senator Kennedy and some of the other fools on the Hill, as I call them, and, meanwhile, the American people understand that it makes no sense to provide millions of illegal alien who are undocumented. We don`t know their names. We don`t even know their nationalities.

That bill would have given them official identity documents that would have enabled terrorists to embed themselves in our country, which is why I gave it the name that I gave it.

BECK: Mike, thank you. We`ll talk to you again, sir. Out of time.

CUTLER: Thank you.

BECK: Wildfires are continuing to rage out west. I say let these fires burn and stop putting our great firefighters in harm`s way. Why? The answer in a second.

Also, all the latest details from Islamabad, Pakistan, where a raid on the Red Mosque has left over 50 future suicide bombers dead. I`ll tell you why this actually affects you in tonight`s "Real Story".

And Miss New Jersey is being blackmailed over some racy Internet photos. This doesn`t add up to me. She`s worried about she`ll lose her crown. Better question: why did she put the pictures up on the Internet to begin with, and once you do something stupid, can you get them out? Stick around. Answers right around the corner.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, a weeklong standoff comes to a violent head today in Islamabad. Anti-government Islamic extremists are still clashing with Pakistani forces in fierce fighting, expected to last well into the night tonight.

The most frightening part, those militants are prepared and willing to die, and they are largely young children. The domino effect of all of this and how it affects your safety at your home in just a bit.

But first, wildfires continue to rage across the west today. High temperatures handcuff the firefighters from trying to stop them. I just -- this story has been driving me crazy all weekend.

Lightning strikes, trees burn, forests are renewed. It`s called the circle of life. I learned that from a Disney movie. Not exactly a new phenomenon.

Obviously, we should do everything we can to save lives and destruction of property, but we`ve caused this. Why put firefighters in harm`s way if no lives are at stake? I say control the fires, but let them burn out naturally.

In the battle of man versus nature, man is going to come in second place. I think the more we try to fight these fires, the worse we`re actually making them.

It`s the same thing with global warming. Live Earth produced nothing except tons of garbage and some crappy music. When are we finally going to learn that no matter what our intentions may be, sometimes man`s best efforts and what we think we`re doing that is right is exactly the opposite of what Mother Nature really wants and needs?

John Kostyack, he is the director of the wildlife conservation campaigns for the National Wildlife Federation.

John, I`m just guessing where you work and what I do for a living, you and I don`t agree on very much of anything, but can we agree on this, that these super fires in many ways are our fault, because we thought we were doing the right thing?

JOHN KOSTYACK, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: Well, certainly there were mistakes made over the past century in terms of letting too much fuel build up in the forest -- in forests. Fires are a natural phenomenon. They`re good for forests when they happen in moderate levels.

What we`re seeing today are catastrophic -- catastrophic fires. These are tragic. Many people are getting hurt. They`re losing their homes. They`re losing their livelihoods, and this is a tragedy that, really, we need to deal with today, and it`s not just reducing the...

BECK: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I just want to make this clear, because I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and all the way down from -- "let`s take the wolves out of Yellowstone and put them on planes up into Canada", these environmentalists have been driving me crazy.

It is environmentalists who said you shouldn`t have controlled burns, and put all the fires out. Well, when you just said, well, we didn`t take -- we let too much fuel burn -- build up, what you meant was we didn`t allow forests to burn because man thought they knew best.

KOSTYACK: Well, there were mistakes made in the early part of the 20th Century. We`ve come to get smarter in recent decades. They`re now doing prescribed burns. They`re getting more regular burns going on in the forest.

But that`s not the Real Story. The Real Story is global warming. The reason why we are seeing these catastrophic fires all across the west -- they`ve increased four-fold since the 1980s -- is global warming.

BECK: Really? Point seven degrees Celsius has caused our forest fires to burn?

KOSTYACK: All the scientific studies are showing it is a major factor. The reason why we are suffering so badly today is the fact that we`ve heated up this planet. We now have decreased snow -- snow pack in the mountains, which means less water in the summers when we need it the most. Global warming is the story, and the fires are telling it for us.

BECK: It`s not -- it`s not also stupid people. It`s not -- it`s not environmentalists didn`t want to have controlled burns. And it`s also not stupid people building their houses in places that they shouldn`t buy -- build houses, like, you know, in the middle of these forests that have no controlled burns.

KOSTYACK: I`m completely with you. People should not be building homes in these fire-prone areas. That`s a big mistake. And the mistake that was made a century ago, putting these policies in place to control all these fires -- by the way, they weren`t called environmentalists back then.

BECK: You know what? Let me tell you something. You know what? You need -- you need to go back and read about Teddy Roosevelt. He was an environmentalist that made some common sense.

Don`t give me this crap that this was started 100 years ago. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and I remember hearing these arguments 20 years ago.

KOSTYACK: Oh, sure, no.

BECK: People say, "Oh, we shouldn`t -- oh, we`ve got to protect Mother Nature and put the fires out." No, you didn`t.

KOSTYACK: Yes, there`s been dumb fire policies for the past century is my point. They`re starting now to deal with it, but that`s only a Band- Aid solution. Because the ultimate problem here is that we`re heating up this planet. We have -- you know, when I...

BECK: I love this, man.

KOSTYACK: When I`m sitting here with my grandkids.

BECK: Yes.

KOSTYACK: Thirty years from now, and they want to ask me what I did when this story was facing me...

BECK: Right.

KOSTYACK: ... we have the polar ice caps melting, the entire west is burning...

BECK: Right.

KOSTYACK: ... and we`re going to sit on our hands.

BECK: That`s right. I love this. Let`s do a solution. We were wrong then, but we`re not wrong now. I remember you guys saying you weren`t wrong then either, but now you are. We`ll see -- we`ll wait a few years and find out how wrong you are this time.

John, thanks a lot.

Earlier, I mentioned the hypocrisy of Live Earth. One of the messages at the concert was we`ve all got to do our part to stop global warming by buying a fluorescent light bulb or fueling our cars with fudge. You know, whatever it takes.

This is not even going to make a dent in this. If you truly believe in global warming, A, why aren`t you a vegan? B, can we actually do anything about it?

Roy Spencer is the principal research scientist at University of Alabama at Huntsville, and he`s an expert in atmospheric science. He worked for NASA, for the love of Pete. Oh, he must be a kook.

Roy, if I buy a fluorescent light bulb, and I embrace that, and it makes me feel good, and I go and I save a tree and I -- I become a vegan and I do everything on that list of seven things that Al Gore told me to do, does it change anything? Does it stop the forest fires?

ROY SPENCER, PRINCIPAL RESEARCH SCIENTIST, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA: It will not make any measurable difference in future global temperatures. Basically all it is, is just a feel-good exercise to show that we`re doing something.

BECK: See, this is the -- this is the problem, because I hear this from everybody. They say, "Don`t you care about the earth." Of course, I care about the earth. I have four children. Of course, I care about the earth.

But the question is, do you do something that actually makes a difference, and are you doing something that will -- that will not cause worse problems?

The environmentalists told us from the turn of the century all the way up in the last few years don`t burn the forests. Don`t allow controlled burns. We`ve -- we have now super fires, and they`re blaming it on global warming.

Do you have -- do you have anything to say about the global warming and the super fires, Roy? What are the odds this is...

SPENCER: Well, of course, this is fire season out west, and fires do happen each year. And, like you mentioned, you know, there`s been an issue about forest management that hasn`t been well handled over the years.

But, you know, we`re in a weather pattern right now with unusually warm temperatures in the west and unusually cool temperatures in the east. Those that are saying, "Well, we`ve got a heat wave in the east right now." Yes, for, what, one or two days? And then it`s going to be 20 degrees colder in a couple of days.

It`s been an unusual summer from the standpoint that it`s been unusually cold in the east and then warm in the west, and warm and dry in the west is fire.

BECK: You know, Roy, I just read a new study that just came out. I think it was last week or the week before, about the oldest ice core we have ever taken.

And it shows that the temperature of the earth in the last 180,000 years has actually varied by 27 degrees Fahrenheit. We`re talking about a current change of .7 degrees. This is minuscule in the history of the earth, is it not?

SPENCER: Yes, it is. Plus, half of the warming that we`ve seen so far occurred before 1940, which couldn`t have been because of mankind, because we really hadn`t produced much in the way of greenhouse gases yet.

So how is it that half of the warming up until 1940 was natural, but then the second half was our fault?

I think the whole global warming thing, and, of course, that`s my area of expertise, is scientific research.

BECK: Oh, come on. You`ve got to be working for big oil or something.

SPENCER: Yes. Well, that`s what they say on the Internet, which isn`t true, but, you know...

BECK: Well, you should see what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said about me, and that`s coming up in just a second. You won`t believe this on, Roy. Buckle up for that.

Thanks a lot. We`ll talk to you again.

Coming up, coddling our kids. If your child doesn`t make the cheerleading squad, what do you do? Have them practice harder for next year, or call your attorney? The ridiculous story out of Texas in just a bit.

Plus, the insanity is everywhere. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants all global warming skeptics to be treated like traitors. Yes, I`ve got a few choice words for Mr. Kennedy in tonight`s "Real Story". Don`t miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Get the duct tape out and wrap your head, because this one is going to make your head pop or blood shoot right out of your eyes.

High school freshman in Texas, Wycoda Fischer, tried out for her school`s junior varsity cheerleading squad. She didn`t make it. End of story, right? Yes, that`s the way it would be in my grandparent`s America, but not in our America. No, no.

Wycoda`s parents decided that her failure to make cheerleading was unjust, so they hired an attorney.

Am I the only American that didn`t have an attorney when I was 14? If I sued somebody every time I didn`t make a team in high school, I`d be a millionaire. Does Wycoda Fischer have a case?

Joining me now is her attorney, Lisa Duke.

Lisa, come on. Don`t you feel a little dirty for taking this case?

LISA DUKE, ATTORNEY FOR WYCODA FISCHER: Not at all, Glenn.

BECK: Really? Go ahead. I`m listening. I can`t wait.

DUKE: I`m actually proud to represent Wycoda.

I think the situation here is that Wycoda was going to be a member of the junior varsity squad. What happened was that the varsity squad was supposed to be made up of eight people. In fact, the superintendent allowed for nine girls to make that squad.

Because they had already said to everybody that "you`re on the team," and so then they didn`t want to go back and say, "No, I`m sorry you didn`t make it. We made a mistake."

Then in the same situation with the junior varsity squad, they refused to let Wycoda join that squad.

BECK: No, wait, wait, Lisa. Hang on. Not the same situation. They didn`t tell her that she made it.

DUKE: They did tell the parents that these girls were going to be able to be on the cheerleading squad, so it was the same situation.

And what we`re looking at is that our client, Wycoda, is the only girl in Yorktown High School that tried out for cheerleader that did not make it.

BECK: Oh, no.

DUKE: And everyone was told that they were going to make it. And Wycoda is the only girl that wasn`t allowed to do so. We`re looking at a school that is not following their own rules here. There`s a cheerleader constitution, and the cheerleader constitution, believe it or not...

BECK: Come on. This isn`t why you went to school. You didn`t go to school to talk on national television about a cheerleader constitution, did you?

DUKE: You know, although -- although it may not be too important to you, Glenn, or maybe even some other people around the country...

BECK: Right.

DUKE: ... in Yorktown it`s pretty important to be a cheerleader.

BECK: OK. Look, let me -- two things. Two things. One, you think she feels humiliated now that she didn`t make it on the squad. She`s the only one. How humiliating is it that she`s only on the team because Mommy and Daddy sued?

DUKE: Well, you know what, actually everyone is supporting Wycoda.

BECK: Everyone is?

DUKE: And they want her to on the squad with them.

BECK: OK.

DUKE: And they`ve stood up and said to the school board, "We want Wycoda on the squad with us."

BECK: OK.

DUKE: So it`s really only the superintendent that stepped in and let -- told everyone that they can`t have what they want to happen.

BECK: All right. I`ve got to play this -- I`ve got to play this sound byte. This is from Wycoda`s mom. Go ahead and roll this, please.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WYSENDA FISCHER, CHEERLEADER`S MOM: It`s upsetting all of us because she tried so long. She`s tried so long. She`s been to so many gymnastic classes, and to see her left out for no reason at all is just heartbreaking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: No reason at all? I mean, sometimes life is heartbreaking. Sometimes life isn`t fair. Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

Isn`t this a lesson that we should be -- I hate the people who give trophies to losers. I mean, you didn`t come in first place. You didn`t win. Can we stop coddling our children?

DUKE: Glenn, I think the lesson here is that children are taught to follow their elders, and when their elders don`t follow their own rules, what lesson are they learning from that?

BECK: Well, you teach -- you teach your kids: "You know what, they didn`t follow their own rules, and, you know what, you don`t want to be a part of that. You follow your own rules."

Lisa, thanks a lot. Best of luck to you. We`ll follow this story. I want to find out how this turns out.

Also, next, how the Red Mosque raid in Pakistan directly impacts your freedom and your safety. Don`t miss tonight`s "Real Story". It is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, evidently photos from Miss New Jersey`s Facebook page have her doing some serious damage control. I don`t know if you`ve been following this story, but something doesn`t smell right. She claims she`s being blackmailed. Stop me if I`m wrong here, but does publishing photos on the Internet give you reasonable expectation of privacy? We`ll find out in just a bit.

But, first, welcome to the real story, and tonight I am not going to bury the lead on you. Here it is. The real story is that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in serious need of a dictionary.

This past January he wrote on a blog entry in which he called me, quote, "CNN`s chief corporate fascism advocate" for being what he called a stubborn holdout about the existence of global warming.

I thought it was cool at that time. RFK Jr. knows me name. How cool. It`s a Kennedy talking about you. But there`s a problem with this. It`s not true.

I`m never denying that the earth has warmed .7 degrees Celsius. In the last 100 years, that`s a fact. I`ve only questioned why, and what can we actually do about it? You know, a couple of questions I think are kind of important.

A couple of weeks after that comment, the "Washington Post" called RFK Jr. and asked him exactly what I had said on my program to prompt that response.

He replied that he recalled me voicing doubts about global warming or something. Wow. You know, I have never been blessed with firsthand courtroom experience like RFK Jr. was, you know, after his 83 arrests for possession of 183 milligrams of heroin.

But vaguely recalling something doesn`t sound like good enough evidence to publicly label me a fascist, but, you know, hey, us fascists, nothing we love more than freedom of speech.

So I pretty much brushed that one aside. Unfortunately, Bobby, as I like to call him, just couldn`t keep the pie hole shut. Here is he giving a speech at the Live Earth concert in New Jersey at Giant Stadium last Saturday.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR, LIVE EARTH: And so I`m going to tell you that that the next time you see John Stossel or Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, these flat earthers, these corporate toadies, lying to you, lying to the American public, and telling you that global warming doesn`t exist, you send an e-mail to their advertisers and tell them you`re not going to buy their products anymore."

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: I`m going to send him a throat lozenge. While you are writing those e-mails to our advertisers, maybe you could also write Robby and ask him, you know, why he was against the plan to build clean energy wind farms in the ocean off of cape cod.

Could it be that Mr. Environmentalists didn`t want his precious cape view ruined? No. That would be hypocrisy, and he is a Kennedy, after all, so that would never happen.

But if you think that`s bad, then buckle up, because Robert is about to be the next Kennedy to drive right off a bridge into the deep end. Listen how he summed up the views of people like me.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP0

KENNEDY: This is treason, and we need to start treating them now as traitors.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: Wow. Now, I`m no big-time attorney like he is, but I looked up the punishment for treason in the U.S. code, and it`s pretty clear, imprisonment for at least five years along with at least a $10,000 fine or execution.

Now, I, for one, was curious which one of those punishments junior had in mind for me, so we faxed him a letter today asking for his ruling. I haven`t heard back from him yet. Oh, but I`m sure I will, and I`m sure that Rush and Sean and John Stossel are all just as nervous as I am about our fate. What am I going to have as my last meal? I`ll keep you posted. If I`m missing tomorrow, I think you have your answer.

All right. Now I want to bring you quickly up to speed on what`s been going on in Pakistan. Last week militant Islamic students who demanded that Taliban-style Islamic sharia law be instituted in Pakistan, attacked a police checkpoint in Islamabad and then sealed themselves inside the building called the red mosque.

People surrounded the compound and a standoff ensued, resulting in the death of at least 86 people over the last week. After negotiations to end the stalemate continued to fail, commandos finally stormed the compound before dawn this morning killing the mosque`s radical chief cleric -- good -- among many others.

Tonight, troops continue to secure the area and count the dead, but the real story is Pakistan`s battle with radical Islam is far from over. The red mosque siege may have been the latest visible sign of the massive unrest there, but bubbling just beneath the surface Pakistan is literally teetering on the edge.

From at least four assassination attempts on their president, the latest one just this last weekend, to the rise of militant Islamic groups throughout the country, one of our greatest allies in this war on terror is in grave danger of falling into the hands of our enemies. So what would that actually mean for us?

I mean, there you are sitting in your living room going, I don`t really care. You should. Could a country 9,000 miles away, a country that before 9/11 most of us had no idea what it was even about -- could it have a significant Effect on us here in the United States?

To figure it out, I brought a guy in who has war games scenarios like this one for the Department of Homeland Security as part of their analytic red cell program and continues to do it now as a best-selling thriller writer. His latest book, "The First Commandment" comes out next week. His name is Brad Thor. Brad, welcome back to the program.

BRAD THOR, AUTHOR: Hi, Glenn. Thanks for having me.

BECK: You bet. I had the sense, Brad, that something not so good is coming our way. It feels like everything is just a teetering domino. Tell me -- war game a little bit on what happens if the radicals take charge over in Pakistan.

THOR: Well, the scariest thing for me is the amount of nuclear devices that they have in Pakistan. They have anywhere from 40 to 70 nukes. They claim they`re not all fully assembled. They`re in different locations that have to be put together, but that would be one of my biggest fears right of the top is that this is the one Muslim country that`s got the bomb.

BECK: We have you know, turn the key Mr. Bower. We`ve got the two-person system over there. Are they fairly secure?

THOR: Now, you know what, there`s a lot of discussion about how secure the nukes in Pakistan actually are, and one of the big things that we worry about is in America we`ve got this two-person system, as you referred to, and it`s got to be high-level people doing this.

But in Pakistan they have this three-person system where they can actually be relatively low level. This can be a base commander or a unit commander who is plugging the codes in to activate the device.

And there`s an exception to that where they can empower a Pakistani air force pilot and let just one person put the codes in, so there`s a lot of concern about how do you control rogue elements or what`s the fail safe in case rogue elements get in, and the Pakistanis have already admitted that they know al Qaeda has infiltrated the lower rungs of their military.

BECK: And it`s really -- I was just going to say, it`s not like Turkey, the military has been the real protector at keeping Islamic radicalism out and making sure that it is right to the constitution. The same kind of situation over in Pakistan in a way, but it`s being infiltrated by Taliban, right?

THOR: Right. It`s being infiltrated by Taliban, elements of al Qaeda. I mean, like I said, the Pakistanis have admitted this much, and not only that, but you have a growing distrust of the military coming from the civilian population in Pakistan.

I mean, they`re really upset. The Pakistani military has got a portfolio of over $20 billion worth of things all the way from banks to bakeries, and the people really don`t trust them. There`s a volatile mix of stuff happening in Pakistan, and things are starting to come to a boil there.

BECK: How bad do you think things are over there with Musharraf? I mean, do we -- do you think we lose Musharraf, and is there anybody there that would be good for him to take it over from him? Is there -- what -- we`ve got to be war gaming this. What do we have in mind?

THOR: Yeah. At the end of the day the big fear -- and I mean this was even -- you know, everybody talks about the Republicans and the neocons being the hawks and the war mongers, but this was something that was brought up by John Kerry in the Democratic debates, and Kerry was so concerned about the fact that this -- that their nuclear state is not secure in Pakistan.

He is suggesting we should have an alliance with India where if we think there`s going to be a coup there and some of this stuff is going to go rogue, that India ought to do a first strike on Pakistan, and then Barack Obama went even further, and Barack Obama said why let India do it. Let`s launch ourselves.

When you get that coming from the Democratic side, you know this is a serious problem that we should be worried about in this country.

BECK: I have to tell you, I met President Musharraf when he was here in the building, I don`t know, about a year ago. I met presidents. I have never seen anyone under more protection than Musharraf. He reached out to shake my hand, and we were having a conversation, and he reached out to shake my hand, and his security personnel had him boxed in so tightly one of them had his arm pressed into his throat, and he said -- and he kind of backed p and looked at him. He said these people care about my life more than I do, and they were our people protecting him. He is in a really bad situation.

THOR: Not only that, but there is a certain amount of distrust on the Pakistani side because right after 9/11 Seymour Hirsh came out with an article in the "New Yorker" talking about how there`s a secret American- Israeli plan that if there is a coup in Pakistan or if some elements get in that we don`t like, that we have got a plan to go in there and secure all the nukes. That we would go in and forget sovereignty and all this kind of stuff.

There is a lot of unease with Pakistan in general, and I think it`s operating on both ends. I think the Pakistanis are a little bit concerned about might we jump the gun if we really think there`s a threat to the region or to us.

BECK: Brad, always great to talk to you a little. We`ll look forward to your book coming out next week.

That`s the real story tonight. Up next, Miss New Jersey claims she`s being blackmailed over some Internet photos she posted on the Internet. Now it may cost her her crown. Doesn`t smell right. We`ll have the complete story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: This is the world we live in. Why is it we have gone from a world where you actually had to earn something, you actually had to do something, you had to have value, you had to create value. Now, you don`t have to create value. You could be Paris Hilton. You can spread your legs in green-o-vision, and, you know, make millions of dollars. God bless America. You don`t actually have to do anything. You get a trophy just for playing.

Now Miss New Jersey, Amy Palumbo, claims she`s being blackmailed by somebody who is threatening to reveal photographs of her that originated on her Facebook page. Palumbo said the pictures don`t feature nudity or anything illegal but police are investigating.

My question is why doesn`t she just release the pictures herself and put an end to the whole thing? She`s Miss New Jersey. How bad can they be? How embarrassing can they be? They kill people in New Jersey.

Plus, what if somebody tried to do this to you? In the Internet age, bound to be some photos out there of, you know, you that you don`t want people to see like me in the white pants. I look like Thurston Howell (ph). Hello, lovie.

Potential uncomfortable media firestorm could come my way just from a picture of me in these pants. Michael Fertik is the CEO of reputationdefenders.com. Michael, let me start with her. Something doesn`t smell right on this story. She says there`s nothing illegal. Maybe she was drinking a beer or kissing her boyfriend. What -- what harm would come out of this? Do they -- is she afraid that they`ve augmented these?

MICHAEL FERTIK, REPUTATIONDEFENDERS.COM: Well, I haven`t seen the pictures, and I haven`t talked to her, but I can speculate in broad strokes based on the experiences that some of my clients and perspective clients have had.

So the problem that I think she faces as she has stated it is actually quite common, and it affects people in a lot of different walks of life. So the problem is even innocuous pictures or even sort of semi- innocuous pictures, ones that are not terribly salacious in a dress, in a bikini, in a pair of white pants.

BECK: Very puffy weight in white pants.

FERTIK: Very puffy weight on a hot summer day, you`re sweating, they can be refactored and reused and recaptioned by third parties in a way that was never expected, so.

BECK: You have actually had -- and I know that have you some cases that are still in court, so you can`t really talk about them.

FERTIK: Right.

BECK: Explain some of the cases where just innocent things, you know that, people who are not members of, you know, celebrity or whatever, just regular people had their pictures taken and their reputations destroyed.

FERTIK: OK, I will. I should add that we`re not lawyers. We try to solve the problem through moral and economic suasion and also by being very nice typically, or by moving down the results on Google.

But if all those things fail, litigation can start. So the kinds of stories and challenges our clients face range from, well, this was an intimate photograph that was taken by an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend in a moment that did not intend to be a public moment later.

BECK: But these things are out in cyberspace forever. How do you get somebody just to remove it?

FERTIK: Not necessarily. Not necessarily. Sometimes if you ask the right way or if you ask the right people, you can take them down. Sometimes if it`s impossible.

BECK: Is this like a New Jersey thing, if you ask the right way?

FERTIK: Yes, Vito and Tony can come down. So we don`t pack heat here in Silicon Valley. We just use different techniques. Some of them are very polite, and some of them are a little less polite, and then if those techniques don`t work, what you can do is move down the results in the search engine chains, so that`s very important.

It`s important to remember that normally the content itself by itself does not do the harm by itself. It`s normally the content plus its position on the search engine results.

BECK: Mike, we are out of time. I got to have you on tomorrow on the radio program. I would like to book some time with you tomorrow because I want to talk to you a little bit more about this and how much it costs to, you know, change the Google results of you on the Internet.

FERTIK: OK.

BECK: Now, time to make an abrupt left turn and introduce you to Somaly Mam. She`s a victim of human trafficking in Cambodia who`s reclaimed her life and is facing considerable dangers. She`s devoted to saving the lives of young women and girls everywhere. She is tonight`s CNN Hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOMALY MAM, CNN HERO: In Cambodia, prostitution is illegal, but right now you can see everywhere we have the prostitute because of the corruption.

The brothel owners, they force them to have sex. They hit them. They receive a lot of violence. I remember when I was young. I was sold into the brothel. I was forced to have sex, and I was raped.

When I need the people to help me, I need the people, but nobody helped me. My name is Somaly Mam, and my mission is to help the victims to take them out from the brothel.

Many of them, they have HIV/AIDS. Sometimes they cut themselves. Sometimes they try suicide. I just say to them you have your pain full. Everybody treats you so bad. Why you treat yourself bad? It`s not your fault.

My work is so dangerous. You face the police who are corrupted. You go in the courts, sometimes they are so corrupted. I have a lot of people trying to destroy me everywhere. They are trying, trying, but I just want to say to them, no way. My organization, we have the counseling, and we have all kinds of training, like sewing, hair dressing, and then give them opportunity to work and then reintegrate them into society.

UNIDENTIIFED FEMALE: I feel like I have a new life. I was so upset before. It seems like everything was destroyed. Now I have a new life.

MAM: I just want to give them love, for real. It`s what I needed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, I know you were on the edge of you`re seat waiting for the result of the worldwide election to pick our new seven wonders of the world, because I was. Over 100 million losers cast their votes in over 200 countries, and here`s the list they came up with.

First, you got the Roman coliseum, best known for falling apart and, of course, holding public executions. That`s quaint. Then you have Christ, the redeemer. That`s the big Jesus statute that overlooks Rio. You can tell it`s only a statue use because it`s not constantly calling out for lightning bolts to rain down on the debauchery in the city.

Then there`s the Great Wall of China, not to be confused with the great invisible wall created by Congress last year on our southern border. Speaking of Mexico, there`s this thing that I`m not going embarrass myself trying to pronounce. I believe it shouldn`t be a wonder of the world simply because it involves walking to the top. You put an escalator there, and then we`ll talk.

There`s Petra in Jordan, also known as the place in Indiana Jones which was better than the crappy Temple of Doom movie, but still not as good as the original. There`s the Taj Mahal, FYI this one is in India, not the Trump Resort with those slick penny slots in beautiful Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Then there`s Macchu Picchu in Peru, which honestly to me looks like an ancient Inca miniature golf course. Nothing better than Incan mini golf. Maybe it`s just me.

Is this the best we can do? I have a few suggestions. Nobody would listen to me. Starting, of course, with the world`s largest shuttlecocks in Kansas City. Remember, besides tennis, racquetball and ping pong, I believe badminton is one of the most popular racket sports in the world. Or at least pretty close to it.

I would like to nominate the largest church on the planet. It is the -- in the Ivory Coast and can hold about 18,000 inside and another 300,000 on the outside.

Now, some may have questioned the $300 million cost since about 40 percent of the country lives under the poverty line. But on the positive side, because the Ivory Coast is only about 20 percent Christian, you can count on plenty of available parking every Sunday.

And for my last world wonder, I would have to go with the Hardy`s monster thick burger. I mean, it has over 1,400 calories, 100 grams of fat, plus cheese on the top, the middle, and the bottom. Hardy`s, it`s about time, brother. Yeah! Don`t forget, if you would like a little more in depth of, you know, stupid commentary like this on the news, you can sign up for my free daily e-mail newsletter at GlennBeck.com. We`ll see you tomorrow from New York. Good night.

END