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Glenn Beck
What Do Changes in Polls Mean?; Prisons Breeding Grounds for Radical Islam; Philly Cheesesteak Shop Under Fire for "English Only" Signs
Aired December 17, 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, the great American divide. How the rise of Huckabee and Obama symbolizes America`s political disenfranchisement.
Plus, terror cells and jail cells. More proof our prisons are breeding grounds for terror, as two members of a homegrown jihadist group plead guilty to planning terrorist attacks right here.
All this and more, tonight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BECK: Hello, America. I have to tell you, I never thought I`d say these words. It`s nice to be back in New York City. It`s weird, isn`t it?
It`s amazing, after everyone was justifiably complaining about how soon we began talking about presidential primaries, we`re actually right here at them. If you think about it, this is probably the last week that will matter before everything gets going. Next week is Christmas. Nobody`s going to be paying attention. Even atheists aren`t going to be paying attention to it. Then you`ve got New Year`s Day. And by the time we`re settled back at work, it`s January 3rd and the Iowa caucuses are happening.
So here`s "The Point" tonight. Enjoy this Christmas, gang. Be with your family. Because afterwards we`re in for a year of non-stop nightmare hell politics. And here`s how I got there.
Despite a large national lead, Senator Hillary Clinton is losing ground in key states. Polls in Iowa now show Barack Obama with an edge in New Hampshire. Local polls show the two candidates in a statistical dead- heat. Same thing goes -- can be said for South Carolina.
Now, on the Republican side, long-time front-runner Rudy Giuliani still holding on to a small lead nationally, but Mike Huckabee has opened up a double-digit lead in Iowa and leads in South Carolina by 7.5 percentage points, according to real clear politics.
Mitt Romney, however, still dominates in New Hampshire, leading his closest rival by 13 percent.
So you have to ask the question, why has there been this huge shift in the polls in only a matter of a few days or weeks? Why Huckabee, why Obama, and why now?
To me it is the voters suddenly embracing both Obama and Huckabee that symbolizes the same thing: the country is sick of the same-old-same-old. The same politicians saying the same things with the same lack of results for decades.
Both Huckabee and Obama come off as likable, affable. Most importantly, they sound like they`re actually telling the truth. I don`t know if they are or not. But this country is so disenfranchised with the way things are working that we`ve hit a boiling point. A lot of people are just saying enough.
But here`s what you need to know tonight, America. Just looking for a nice guy, a plainspoken guy, is exactly how we ended up with Jimmy Carter. You saw how that worked out. You`d better take a long time and take a look at these guys and their policies. How effective will they be in leading us before it`s too late?
The truth is both sides are actually a lot closer to each other than we think. The one of the big stories out of the day is John McCain. He`s received the endorsement of Senator Joe Lieberman, which -- I love this story. This is essentially a Democrat who should be a Republican endorsing a Republican who should be a Democrat.
The real world isn`t the constant battle of the fringes that we see through the prism of television. It`s the battle that seems to be driving an impossible-to-predict preseason to the endless political season that`s ahead.
Scott Rasmussen is the president of the polling firm Rasmussen Reports, and Jonathan Allen is a reporter with "Congressional Quarterly."
Jonathan, let me -- let me start with you. All indications are the momentum is now behind the newcomers, Obama and Huckabee. What do you think is behind this?
JONATHAN ALLEN, REPORTER, "CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY": Well, I think that they tried to draw some distinctions between themselves and the rest of the field, particularly the front-runners, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, early on. As they do that, primary voters look at those distinctions and say, "Hey, they`re with me." They start to move up.
But I think you`ll also see these candidates, as they get closer to the front-runners, as they get into ties, start sounding a lot like the front-runners that they were running against and drawing distinctions from earlier on.
BECK: Scott, what are you seeing in the polls, the momentum shift now for Huckabee? I have to tell you. I had a private discussion for about 25 minutes with Governor Huckabee, I think, on Thursday at the airport. I was pissed at him with the game that he`s playing. And it`s the same game that Hillary Clinton was playing with Barack Obama. And we sat there in the airport for about 25 minutes.
I can`t figure out why people are seemingly just wanting to vote on religion. Do you get that sense in the polls, or is there something more to Huckabee?
SCOTT RASMUSSEN, RASMUSSEN REPORTS: Well, first of all, on the Republican side of things, Republican voters have been looking for someone to believe in. They`ve never really embraced the choices that were at the top. You know, Rudy Giuliani was the 9/11 hero, but he had some social issue things they`re concerned about. Mitt Romney never really caught traction on the national basis, but he was doing well in the early states.
Huckabee became someone that a segment of the Republican electorate could be excited about. And yes, it is faith-based. We do some polling ask people how important is their candidate`s faith and religion? Among those who say it is very important, Mike Huckabee leads everywhere.
BECK: OK. But hang on just a second. I mean, faith is extraordinarily important to me, but I don`t care what -- Joe Lieberman`s faith is important to me.
RASMUSSEN: That`s correct.
BECK: So is this -- I mean, how does this guy unite if he is -- if he`s dividing us on who`s Christian enough?
RASMUSSEN: Well, if -- if voters come to believe that he is dividing people on who`s Christian enough, he will not be uniting, and he will not be nominated. I mean, just because he`s having a surge right now doesn`t mean that he will end up with a nomination.
BECK: Right.
RASMUSSEN: But what he is doing right now is he is speaking for a segment of the Republican electorate that felt totally left out of the process.
And by the way, it is not just evangelicals. It is people who do have a belief that faith of a candidate is very important.
BECK: Jon, let me go to you. Let`s go to Obama here for a second. He is -- while I disagree with almost every policy that he has, I like the guy. You know, I could sit down, and you could have a normal conversation. You`d say hey, "Did you go see, you know, `I Am Legend` this weekend," and we could talk about it. Where I couldn`t do that with Hillary Clinton.
Is there something more, or is it really the, ooh, old-school normal guy kind of stuff?
ALLEN: I think you hit on it in your intro, and it`s true about Obama and Huckabee, that there`s some charisma there. You said you sat down with Mike Huckabee for 25 minutes. Well, it wasn`t a 10-second conversation. You were able to at least talk to him, even if you don`t like what he`s saying, right?
BECK: It seemed like two hours.
ALLEN: It seemed like two hours?
BECK: Maybe three for him.
ALLEN: It seems like six years, right, Glenn?
BECK: It does.
ALLEN: But I think there`s a charisma issue on both sides. And the thing that Huckabee`s trying to capture is this sort of -- the old southern guard, a lot of whom are socially conservative. There was the Nixon southern strategy in `68. He`s looking at the same types of voters, whereas Giuliani and Romney and some of the others have been going after the establishment Republican Party. It`s been a long rift.
Romney`s father was a pretty progressive governor of Michigan.
BECK: Yes.
ALLEN: And I think you`re going to see that play out in these primary states. Huckabee`s got a lot of popularity among social conservatives. We`ll see how far that goes and whether they`re the dominant force in the party or whether the more traditional establishment is.
BECK: So I mean, I`m a guy who voted for Ronald Reagan. You know, I vote generally for Republicans. But I`ve also voted for Joe Lieberman. I`m just a conservative guy. I don`t give a flying crap about the parties. I really don`t. I hate them both.
But I want change but not change at any -- not just change for change sake. And it was kind of a bad strategy to go for the Republicans, because I think most Republicans are like that. They`re like, "I don`t even know what my party stands for anymore."
Scott, how does -- how does a Republican win where people are saying, "I don`t know what the Republicans stand for"?
RASMUSSEN: Well, you`ve just hit on part of the reason the Republicans are dispirited right now. There are some people who think their party is the economic conservatives, some who think it`s social conservatives, some who want a new Ronald Reagan, some who thought Fred Thompson was going to be that person. They haven`t found someone who can give them a reason.
And when you talk about the candidates that are taking over right now, that had momentum right now, Barack Obama on the Democratic side is able to give a sense that maybe he can bring about something exciting more than just a single election victory. It`s a much different type of campaign.
BECK: Yes.
RASMUSSEN: But a Hillary Clinton will grind it out. We`ll have another eight years of this partisan warfare.
BECK: Correct me if I`m wrong, either one of you guys. Correct me if I`m wrong. I think America will vote for somebody that they believe will unite the entire country.
I mean, we`re sick of being told that we should hate the people that we work with every day that vote differently than we do, but we know they`re good people. We`re sick of that. And I think these parties are designed to divide us. They used to unite us afterwards, but they don`t anymore.
RASMUSSEN: A large part of the problem, Glenn, is the way we nominate the candidates right now. Since 1976 we`ve had this open primary system, and neither party has been able to gain a real governing majority. We`ve had two presidents in a row who lost congressional majorities. We`ve had only one dominant landslide victory in that period.
And I think it`s because the primary process forces the candidates to pay too much attention to a narrow segment of their electoral base in the first part of the campaign, and that causes them problems when they move into the White House.
There`s also very little incentive for the parties to do anything other than divide their ideas, to grow and to take up as much of the political spectrum as possible, and to win. And so when they try to do that they`re both actively engaging in getting as close to 50 percent...
BECK: But we`re pushing ourselves out to the edges, and the center won`t hold if nobody`s standing there. Scott, Jonathan, thanks a lot.
RASMUSSEN: Thank you.
BECK: Well, I`m not really ready to endorse a presidential candidate yet, like it would make a difference to you, but you`re in luck because I am willing to go way out on a limb and endorse a Christmas present. I`ve done a lot of thinking about it. "An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World`s Biggest Problems."
I don`t even know who wrote this thing, I really don`t, but it`s -- after being sold out for weeks across the country and No. 1 on the "New York Times," finally back in stock. It is in a bookstore near you. You can get your copy right now at bookstores everywhere or online at GlennBeck.com.
Full disclosure, I wrote it, and it`s great. I`m just saying, I`m impartial.
Coming up, I`ve been telling you for a while that U.S. prisons are nothing more than breeding grounds for Islamic terror cells. We have the latest example of this frightening trend when we come back.
Also, evil hatemonger or honest American that makes one great Philly cheesesteak sandwich? The owner of a Philly sandwich shop under fire for his English-only signs.
And a remind minder, tomorrow on this program one full hour of honest questions with Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. We are going to hit all of the issues: bloated government, Founding Fathers. You name it. Trust us, you don`t want to miss this episode. Tomorrow night, 7 p.m.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: Coming up in just a bit, seeing the light on full disclosure. Why NBC News is doing a disservice for their viewers by forgetting to mention their relationship with their parent company, General Electric.
But first, I`m going to be right up front with you. I`m a conservative. Yes. Now that I think I`ve said that, you know, about 1,000 times, if that`s the first time you`ve heard it, you`ll know why it`s so shocking now that I say, "Hello, my name is Glenn and I agree with New York Senator Chuck Schumer." Ooh. It`s only on one topic, but still.
When Senator Schumer took the bold step of drafting a strongly-worded memo to the New York State Department of Corrections in 2003, he advised the immediate terminations of all prison imams hired during the tenure of Chief Muslim Chaplain Warid Dean Umar (ph). And that`s when I said, "Oh my gosh, I`ve got a problem. I agree with him"
Why? Well, nothing big. Umar was just using his position to tell people that 9/11 terrorists should be remembered as martyrs and that terrorism was accepted by the Koran. But other than that, we are in total agreement.
More details on that can be found in my book "An Inconvenient Book." And I have to tell you, when I did the research for the chapter on radical Islam, I found out some scary stuff that nobody is talking about: how U.S. prisons are being used as breeding grounds for Islamic terrorists.
For instance, September last year, deputy assistant director of counterterrorism division of the FBI sat before the Senate committee on homeland security and said the following, and I quote, "FBI and the Bureau of Prisons analysis shows that radicalization and recruitment in the U.S. prisons is still an ongoing concern."
Concern. Really? Might have been a mild way to put it after a California inmate named Kevin James used his time in jail to convert cellmates to radical Islam and plot attacks on military bases, synagogues, and Israeli government facilities.
James just pleaded guilty to terrorism charges Friday. And the prosecutor said it was a terror cell that was within months of conducting operations in the Los Angeles area, the first cell to even come close to an attack on American soil since 9/11. Yes, now that I think about it, I might have gone with a word a little stronger than "concern."
Frank Cilluffo, he is the director of Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University, has extensive knowledge of now prisons are being used for this very purpose.
Frank, tell me a little bit about the James case at all. They caught him actually by mistake, did they not?
FRANK CILLUFFO, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Sure. It actually highlighted the significance and the importance of good gumshoe work. In this case they were looking into an investigation of a series of bank robberies and convenience stores. And one of the perpetrators left a cell phone, which unraveled a much larger case.
And here you had one individual who was recruited by an inmate, Kevin Lamar James. LaVar Washington (ph) was the inmate who, once he was on patrol, recruited two other individuals to create a cell to hatch attacks on U.S. military facilities, as well as Israeli and Jewish cultural facilities.
BECK: OK. First of all, I have to ask you, Kevin James. It`s not the guy from "King of Queens," right?
CILLUFFO: No. It`s Kevin Lamar James.
BECK: All right. And you actually say that -- you have a new phrase for prison now. You say it`s "prislam." What do you mean by that?
CILLUFFO: "Prislam," or jailhouse Islam, which is the convergence of criminal activity with a distorted version of the Koran and of a faith. So here you have charismatic criminal leaders who are using the Koran as cover to perpetrate further goals that they may have or that their group may have.
BECK: See, this is -- I mean, this is a microcosm of what I`ve been talking to America about for so long. I`m so concerned about the disenfranchisement. And we feel so separated from our government and its institutions that we`re easy prey for -- really for a myriad of things.
But hearing people that are even farther down the road, they have -- many of them believe nothing really -- nothing`s going to turn around for them. They`re completely disenfranchised from the system and our society, and so they go for it, because it gives them what exactly?
CILLUFFO: Sure. I mean, in prison itself you have not only a captive and a captured audience, but you have a large population with -- that`s predisposed to dislike the country, dislike our society, dislike culture. And they`re much more vulnerable and susceptible to a charismatic leader, who can give them a sense of opportunity, to give them a sense of meaning, to some extent.
BECK: Do our guards even know what we`re looking for?
CILLUFFO: That`s the big challenge, is firstly we have linguistic skills that are lacking dramatically.
Secondly, our guards are already dealing with a huge set of issues with gang activity, stabbings on a daily basis, that to throw another priority in their already too long to-do list has been a challenge. So we need to -- we need to raise awareness and educate.
BECK: Is it true that local and state prisons really a hotbed for this, because they have to ask for volunteers from the community, and there`s no vetting on any of these imams that come in?
CILLUFFO: Well, not no vetting, but it`s up to each state, and it`s a bit of a patchwork. Some might be more robust than others.
But I think the real story here is 93 percent of the prison population in the United States is at state and local prisons and county jails, not in the federal bureau of prisons, not in federal prisons, where finally you are starting to see some robust actions taken by the authorities to vet imams, to vet chaplains.
The reality here is we don`t have enough chaplains, at least enough of the right chaplains. So much of that void is being filled by the prisoners themselves.
BECK: You co-authored an extensive study on this. Did you find any connections to Saudi Arabian money and Wahhabism?
CILLUFFO: Well, not direct to Saudi Arabia, but there was some concern with al-Harmein (ph) and some of the other organizations in the United States that were providing only certain -- a vast majority of the versions of the Koran available in the prison.
BECK: How much -- how much is political correctness stopping -- stopping us from fixing this, or at least looking at it?
CILLUFFO: You know, if we do it right, political correctness shouldn`t be an impediment whatsoever, because ultimately, what we`re talking about is addressing the national security concerns, the public safety concerns, and then letting a faith speak for itself.
BECK: All right. Frank, I remember when I was young and naive like that. I mean, come on, man. Political correctness is killing us on everything.
Coming up next, I`ve got a sandwich shop, a sandwich shop in Philadelphia that is requiring its customers to speak English. No big deal, right? I mean, yes, if you were living in the land of common sense like Frank. This is America 2007, not so much common sense. I`ll explain in just a second.
Then, I`m all about full disclosure, especially when it comes to the media. NBC News, hmm, gee, not so much. I`ll explain in just a bit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: I`m pretty sure it`s safe to say that immigration is kind of a tender issue for some in this country. I mean, I`m guessing here. But I think a six-hour public discrimination hearing about two "English-only" signs hung at a private business might indicate feelings on both sides of the issue are, shall we say, inflamed?
Joey Vento, business owner who started this particular fire.
Joey, the signs at Geno`s Steaks, which by the way, if you ever go to Philadelphia, do not have another cheesesteak anyplace but Geno`s. It is the best. Your sign says, "This is America. When ordering, please speak English."
Did you and your jackbooted thugs ever just drag people out because they tried to order in another language?
JOEY VENTO, OWNER, GENO`S TEAKS: Glenn, first, it`s an honor to be on your show.
BECK: Thank you, sir.
VENTO: No, first of all, they dropped the discrimination suit because they knew and they found out Joey Vento never discriminated against anybody for a language problem. So they dropped that suit.
The suit now says it`s just an offensive sign. And the sign is offensive to non-speaking English people. Well, if you don`t speak English, you can`t read the sign. So how is that offensive?
BECK: May I ask a question, Joey?
VENTO: Yes.
BECK: I mean, you`re a lifetime Philadelphian, are you not?
VENTO: Yes.
BECK: Yes. So you`ve seen some crazy things in your city.
VENTO: Yes.
BECK: Yes. The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. Does Philadelphia not have something better to spend their money on?
VENTO: Well, you would seem to think so. They brought a big firm in. And you know, they`re very expensive. So the taxpayers are going to be picking up the tab on this. And I don`t know if the people are aware of that.
I mean, we can`t hire policemen, and we`re closing fire stations down because we don`t have the funds for it. But they go after Joey Vento for this offensive sign, that we`re in a country where primarily the English language is spoken. And it`s English. I mean, we`re just trying to tell people speak English.
BECK: So you actually -- you have, also, a problem with hyphen Americans. I mean, you`re -- you`re not -- you say you`re not an Italian- American. What are you?
VENTO: I am an American of Italian descent.
BECK: God bless you, sir. Why do you say it that way?
VENTO: Because I`m born here, and I`m an American first. I took after Theodore Roosevelt 1907. This is where this all comes from, on being an American.
And I don`t understand -- you don`t want to assimilate into this country and learn our language, well, then you shouldn`t have came here then.
BECK: Right.
VENTO: Stay where you was. You come here, you know, our immigrant grandparents came here. They always throw that in my face: "Joey, how would you feel if your grandparents were treated that way?"
Let me tell you how my grandparents were treated. When they went to a store, you know what they were told? "Hey, guinea, wop, dago, you go home until you can speak English."
Here at Geno`s, no one`s getting refused service. We just asked you politely to speak English. If you can`t speak it, you`re going to get a product. It`s just that if you say something in a language we`re not familiar with, you may get a product you just didn`t order.
BECK: If Philadelphia rules against you and says this is some sort of, you know, hate speech or whatever they`re going to come up with, are you going to fight it?
VENTO: Oh, definitely. Because I know they`re going to rule against me.
BECK: No! Philadelphia, it`s the land of common sense.
VENTO: Yes.
BECK: I mean, did you get that necklace in Philadelphia?
VENTO: Yes. That`s my lovely wife`s idea, Eileen. She takes care of me, all the bling, you know. I`ve got to contribute everything to her. She`s my...
BECK: I need bling.
VENTO: She`s the woman behind the man.
BECK: You got it. Joey, thanks a lot.
VENTO: Thank you.
BECK: We`ll see you next time we`re in Philadelphia.
Now, coming up next, a Saudi woman sentenced to 200 lashes for the crime of being gang raped, finally pardoned. It`s about time, Saudi Arabia. That`s tonight`s story in "The Real Story." Don`t miss it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: Well, a quick programming note.
Tomorrow I`ll be sitting down with presidential candidate Ron Paul for a full hour of honest questions. I personally think he needs a little more than 30 seconds to tell us why he thinks the FBI should be abolished, among other things. So I`ll give it to him tomorrow night. Going to be a good discussion and one you do not want to miss.
Again, tomorrow, 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
But first, welcome to "The Real Story."
For over a year now I`ve been saying the best way to beat radical Islam is not by using soldiers or guns. It`s by freeing women.
They have been repressed and in some cases abused for so long now that empowering them to fight back is the greatest weapon we have in our arsenal. There is possibly no greater illustration of that than what has just happened in that case of the young Saudi woman who was sentenced to 200 lashes and prison time, six months in prison, just for being gang-raped by a group of seven men.
That`s her only crime. Well, that and being alone with a man in a car. That`s it.
Fortunately, the details of the story leaked out earlier this year and were picked up by the international press, and that resulted in a huge backlash against Saudi Arabia. A backlash that has now brought a whole lot of unwanted publicity and scrutiny to a country that tries so hard to pretend, what, look at us, we`re in the mainstream, we`re just like you.
Even with the world`s spotlight on them, the Saudi government had continued to maintain that the punishment was warranted. Until today.
According to a Saudi newspaper, King Abdullah has given the rape victim a full pardon. Well, how gracious of you.
Great news, right? Game over? Common sense wins again? Wrong.
"The Real Story" is that common sense didn`t win, radical Islam has no common sense. We won. The human race won. More importantly, one woman won.
People who think it`s OK to lash rape victims and throw them into prison or give death penalty to homosexuals don`t usually care about our opinions. But when the world comes together as it did in this case, things change overnight.
Which brings us back to my crazy theory that women of the Middle East are the key. If we can take that same outrage and channel it, all of us together, and focus now on the repression of all women and all minorities under radical Islam, not just this one woman, then we could win this war without firing another bullet. Liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, that is a goal that all of us should be able to unite on.
Unfortunately, an issue that we can`t seem to unite on is global warming. And tonight I want to show you one of the reasons for that.
Imagine if you flipped over to CNN later on tonight and they were doing a segment on the new "Harry Potter" movie or something like that and they called it revolutionary filmmaking. The reporter said, it is amazing, a must-see. And by the end of the piece, you`re so excited to see the movie that you go out and buy your ticket if you could.
Well, what happens if later you found out that Warner Brothers, which is the studio behind "Harry Potter," is owned by Time Warner, which also owns CNN? Would you feel a little like Farrah Fawcett in a Lifetime movie rocking back and forth in the shower, just not being able to get clean? Wouldn`t you?
Would you believe that at a minimum the reporter should have disclosed that our parent company also owns the "Harry Potter" movies? Would part of you feel that perhaps Time Warner was using its news division to promote their other products?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, then "The Real Story" is you should be outraged at what NBC did again last week.
Brian Williams -- and here`s my full disclosure -- I like Brian Williams.
Brian, I think you`re funny. I think you`re an accurate guy. I mean, what are you thinking?
What happened on his program last week was at best a major breach of journalistic integrity. That`s coming from me.
I mean, I don`t really know journalism from a molehill. I don`t. But at least I understand the meaning of disclosure.
This latest NBC controversy revolves around a segment about LED lights that aired on "Nightly News" last Thursday. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC: If you are seeing this holiday season in a different light this year, it may be because of these tiny but powerful new bulbs that are revolutionizing lighting and helping cut energy use. They burn a long time. They burn cool. They burn bright.
They are now stoplights, reading lights on planes, some car headlights, flashlights. And as we just said, let`s not forget about Christmas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Wow. That`s fantastic. Please, tell me there`s more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: LEDs burn less electricity, last longer, and cut costs by 95 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About $2 million in savings for the life of the display. So it`s pretty significant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s also a big saving for taxpayers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The investment will pay for itself within 4.2 years, and then we`ll be saving about $100,000 a year ongoing on the electricity costs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Wow. I think what they`re saying, Christians, if Jesus made light bulbs, he`d be making these. Where do I sign up for these tiny but revolutionary light bulbs?
Actually, that`s exactly the problem. Just like the green is universal gimmick from just a few weeks back, the problem isn`t what NBC is promoting. It`s what they`re not disclosing.
NBC is a subsidiary of GE, otherwise known as General Electric. Log on to GE Illumination Web site at illumination.com and you`ll notice that there`s all sorts of stories on these amazing and efficient LED lights, and they are being marketed directly to cities right on the home page.
Now, some people will argue that it`s no big deal. But if you`re someone like me who believes that global warming is really all about hidden agendas, redistribution of wealth, and corporate profits, then this is a very big deal, because it just shows how easily the line between journalism, science and advocacy can blur.
For his part, Brian Williams did come back the next night and acknowledge the omission, answering viewer e-mail, which quite frankly I believe was probably one of our radio listeners. Williams said, "We sometimes forget who our parents are around here. GE, parent company of NBC Universal, makes a whole lot of things, including LED lights, and we should have said so."
Yes. You think so?
And if you ever forget who your parents are in the future, Brian, here`s a tip. Just stick your head out the window and look up, because it`s pretty hard to miss that massive red light at the top of your building that spells out GE.
I wonder if those are LED lights. I hope so.
Norman Solomon is the executive director of the Institute of Public Accuracy.
Norman, you agree with me that they should have disclosed this?
NORMAN SOLOMON, INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC ACCURACY: It`s a big problem when there`s not disclosure. I`m glad you opened this up. And I wouldn`t want any viewers of this program to be left with the impression that somehow General Electric is an environmentally conscious company.
On the contrary, they have a 30-year history of refusing and actually fighting against efforts to make them clean up the Hudson River, which GE fouled with terrible quantities of horrific PCBs, other rivers as well. People told they can`t fish in the Hudson River. General Electric still lobbying to not have to clean up.
General Electric, even today -- and this report is very timely -- General Electric is lobbying to get Congress to pass $18 billion in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees for a huge GE product which is General Electric components for nuclear power plants. So we should not be fooled in any way by efforts to greenwash General Electric or any other company.
BECK: You know what`s amazing to me? GE has a bigger budget for -- special interest budget than all of the oil companies combined, and yet nobody says anything. Let me reverse this.
Norman, do you think if I got on as somebody who says I don`t know what we can do about global warming, I`m not sure man causes it, and I certainly don`t want to have laws and regulations on this, if I got on and said that but I was being -- my corporate -- my corporate parent was Exxon Mobil, do you think I`d get away with that for a second without that being on the front page of "The New York Times?"
SOLOMON: Well, other networks, including General Electric`s NBC, have been very slow on global warming. And in fact, General Electric has major interest in components and products used by the oil and gas industry.
I think if you look across the board, all the major networks, even so- called public broadcasting, which has Chevron underwriting its "Washington Week" program every Friday, there is a problem, as you say. I think your words are very apt, promoting but not disclosing.
But let`s be clear about this, Glenn. I have a list here, for instance, that I jotted down.
ABC owned by Disney. ABC doesn`t disclose in their relevant news reports about Disney`s stake in sweatshops.
FOX News -- and now as of the last couple of days now, "Wall Street Journal" owned by the same entity, Rupert Murdoch`s News Corp -- they don`t disclose that the ownership is entangled with the Chinese government to the detriment of human rights but to the advancement of the profit margin of the parent company.
BECK: See...
SOLOMON: We would be remiss, Glenn, if we left out CNN, because CNN has a huge multi, multibillion-dollar stake in Internet deregulation and the failure of the Congress to safeguard so far what would be called net neutrality. So every time CNN does a news report on the Internet, on efforts to regulate or deregulate or create a two or three-tier system of the Internet, CNN news should disclose that Time Warner, the parent company, stands to gain or lose billions of dollars in those terms.
And one more thing.
BECK: Real quick.
SOLOMON: A major -- a major advertiser for CNN is the largest military contractor in the United States, Lockheed Martin. So when you and others...
BECK: I got news for you, Norman. Norman...
SOLOMON: ... promote war -- when you and others promote war on this network...
BECK: Norman -- Norman...
SOLOMON: ... we have Lockheed Martin paying millions of dollars undisclosed. So I would quote you...
BECK: Norman -- Norman...
SOLOMON: Promoting but not disclosing is a bad way to go.
BECK: Norman, let me just tell you this. First of all, Lockheed Martin is not a -- not a corporate overlord of this program.
SOLOMON: It`s a major advertiser on CNN.
BECK: That`s fine. That`s fine. Advertisers are different. But let...
SOLOMON: Well, it is fine, but is should be disclosed.
BECK: Norman, let me just tell you something. If you think that it`s warmonger central downstairs at CNN, you`re out of your mind. But that`s a different story.
SOLOMON: Well, upstairs, when I watch Glenn Beck, in terms of attacking Iran, it certainly is. It`s lucrative for the oil companies, as well as for the major advertiser on CNN, Lockheed Martin.
BECK: But we`re not talking about advertisers. We are talking about...
SOLOMON: Well, you don`t want to talk about it. So let`s talk about the Internet stake.
BECK: No, no, no. Norman...
SOLOMON: Let`s talk about the Internet stake that the owners of CNN have. Huge profits to be made or lost by the parent company of CNN depending on what happens in Washington in terms of Internet regulation.
BECK: Norman, let me tell you something.
SOLOMON: That should be acknowledged, don`t you think?
BECK: Absolutely. And if it was on this program, it would be acknowledged.
I thank you very much for your time.
That just goes to show you, you`ve got to beware of everybody who you`re getting your news from.
Wouldn`t it be nice if once in a while somebody came on and said, you know, I don`t really have an agenda except the truth? It`s my truth. If you don`t like it, you should go someplace else.
By the way, I`m a conservative. Maybe somebody will join me on that front one of these days.
That`s "The Real Story" tonight.
If you`d like to read more about this, please consider picking up a copy of my new book -- uh-oh, full disclosure, I wrote it -- "An Inconvenient Book." It is the first chapter. It`s all about the lies, the distortions and the hidden agendas that play such a huge role in just the global warming debate.
The book is now back in stock. Retailers all across the country. And remember, if we can make it to number one on "The New York Times" list, I swear to God anybody can. And it should be at least number five on your Christmas list.
Back in a second.
Coming up, the United States caves in at the Bali Climate Conference. Maybe the negotiator was scared of Al Gore. I know he scared me. Or it could have been guilt after the U.N.`s environmental chief left the room crying. I`m not kidding you.
Either way, it ain`t good. Details coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: You know, let me just check here real quick. Global warming is still being called global warming, right, and not America warming?
I`m sorry for the confusion, but after reading the stories and watching what happened at the conference in Bali last week, I wasn`t sure anymore. I mean, after all, if you listen to our media, the conference was basically about how big, bad America just tried to hold the rest of the world hostage on climate change until they all ganged up on us and we finally said uncle.
But if you read the overseas press, which happens to be far more fair on this issue, you realize that the U.S. only compromised after developing countries like Brazil and South America finally agreed that they would cut their emissions as well. Well, that of course has been one of the major roadblocks to the U.S. becoming part of any major initiative.
So it was convenient that the media pretty much ignored the change of heart. And as for that so-called huge about-face with the U.S., the reality is we agreed to agree to meet in 2009 to think about a new agreement. And people say the U.N. doesn`t get stuff done.
Chris Horner is the author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism."
Chris, this is one of the most -- this is one of the most amazing things I`ve ever heard. First of all, we`re going to agree to agree to meet sometime in the future. And it sounds like a comedy show, unless you hear Al Gore give that speech where he just chastises us and says in two years things will be different and you`ll have us then.
Please tell me that you don`t think that`s true. Please.
CHRIS HORNER, "POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO GLOBAL WARMING": I don`t think it`s true for the following reasons -- we remember history as much as Mr. Gore is trying to revise it. When he gave his PowerPoint presentation before a group I attend in Washington on Wednesdays, he said essentially the same thing. And I challenged him and reminded him that it was -- it`s true, the Clinton administration did agree to Kyoto and they did sign it, though our media can`t seem to get that right.
Bush never unsigned it. He said mean things about it. That doesn`t matter.
They signed it on November 12, 1998, which is all the permission the Senate needs under our Constitution. Read Article 2 Section 2 and Article 1 Section 5. So the Senate could vote on these things. And Gore knows this.
And you`ll notice that no senator, including those who see a president in the mirror when they shave in the morning, has tried to move Kyoto through the Foreign Relations Committee or to the floor.
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: OK. Does that include Hillary? Does she shave?
HORNER: So, in other words -- I`m sorry?
BECK: Does that include Hillary? I mean, she -- she shaves her legs. I`m just saying.
HORNER: Now who`s being...
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: I can see her in there. Give me a pack of Kool cigarettes, will you?
HORNER: OK. Yes, in the white muscle T-shirt. I see it too.
BECK: Yes.
HORNER: Let`s move on.
BECK: Yes. Is she -- is she somebody that will -- because quite honestly, I am really petrified because I believe this is a move to global socialism and one world government. It`s not about anything but taxes and empowering the U.N. And any president that says, hey, I`m all for that is the last one I want.
Do you think Hillary Clinton is in on that?
HORNER: Well, the only reasons that would lead to you believe this is about taxation and global taxation and socialism is if you listen to the people pushing the treaty. Jacques Chirac said that. Margot Wallstrom, who is the European Environment commissioner said that. Numerous of the NGOs who are, of course, sanctioned by the U.N. as manifested by the fact that they get into these conferences say that.
There were several panels discussing global taxation. The Swiss proposed it this time. There have been several runs at it at the U.N.
That`s what this is about. It`s about leveling the playing field for business, according to Wallstrom.
Should we be worried? Yes and no.
Hillary has said that she would sign the next Kyoto treaty. OK, that`s cheap virtue for the following reasons. Again, her husband signed the first one, though "The New York Times" can`t get that right. Actually, they in the corrections section admitted that last November.
The Senate won`t vote on it now, in the past, or in the future. So it`s cheap virtue.
Why don`t we ask every senator running for office, not presidential candidates, would you vote to ratify to entangle us in this? And then we might actually have the honest discussion about what this treaty entails, that the global treaty involves 34 industrial titans like Slovenia and Slovakia, but not China, India, Mexico, and so on.
BECK: But hang on. Don`t you think, Chris, that there are enough people that are just -- that will just go right down this highway because it is now -- you know, it`s now the fashionable thing because of the media, and beyond that you`ve got corporations like GE just breathing down the Senate`s throat?
HORNER: Everybody who picked at the carcasses of Enron`s subdivisions are now up on the Hill showing how responsible they are.
BECK: Yes. Right. OK.
HORNER: Please give me more subsidies and mandates.
BECK: Chris, I`ve got to run. I`m sorry. I`ve got to wrap.
HORNER: I don`t think we`re going to see this. But we should have the debate.
BECK: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Coming up next, something so ridiculous that it is actually funny. It is the top five most influential people under the age of 5 right after the break.
Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: Well, I don`t know about you, but the one problem I see in America today is the complete lack of lists. You know, like what are the top 10 funniest e-mail forwards of the year? What are the 10 most comfortable curbs in Hollywood to collapse post-drug overdose? What are the top 100 movie decapitations of the `90s? Things like this that make us all better inside.
How would we know the answers to such things without the invention of the list? I`ll be posting the top 13 answers to that question later on my Web site.
The latest pointless list comes from "Forbes," believe it or not, which actually ranked the top 10 most influential toddlers. Yes, it is the top 10 under 5.
And I would just like to take a quick second to pause and admire the complete collapse of western civilization, which reminds me, I`ll be posting the top 91 most radical societal collapses of the 1400s on my Web site later tonight.
Who is on the top 10 under 5? Dannielynn Birkhead makes the list for having a disaster of a mom that she`ll be forced to explain away for the rest of her life.
Madonna`s kid, who will not be allowed to watch anything her mother has ever done for another 15 years, is also on the list for good reason. He`s the only reason any of us have ever heard of Malawi.
At number four is Sean Preston Federline, the only kid in history to failed -- you know, have a failed white rapper as his most reliable parent.
Suri Cruise, child of Tom and Katie, comes in at number 2. And if you ever forget how to pronounce Suri, just remember how Alex Trebek says it on "Jeopardy!" all the time. Ooh, boop, boop, Suri.
The rest of the list is comprised of three separate Jolie-Pitts -- Shiloh, Zahara and Pax. Notably absent, the king of all adopted super celebrity offspring, Maddox Jolie.
And you know, I thought to myself how could this be? Well, apparently, he has celebrated his sixth birthday, which I apparently missed while following the Darfur genocide.
I know. Where are my priorities?
My question is, where was the most influential toddler list when Maddox would have ruled it? Why wait until after he turns 6? Is there some sort of anti-Cambodian bias we all need to accuse somebody baselessly of?
Oh, believe me, America, I`ll be watching that story closely. Don`t you worry.
By the way, tonight is the last night you can order "An Inconvenient Book" from Amazon and still get the free shipping before Christmas. It`s crazy. I`ll be posting it on my Web site later tonight, the top 62 reasons why buying my book will help children -- namely, my children. In fact, only my children.
You can get all the details at glennbeck.com.
From New York, goodnight, America.
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