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Glenn Beck

Which Candidate Has Better Energy Plan?; Obama Calls for Fathers to Step Up; Textbooks at Islamic School Deemed Intolerant

Aired June 16, 2008 - 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: Tonight, gas prices hit another record, and your utility bills are next. So which of these two men have what it takes to solve America`s energy crisis? Or is it none of the above?

Plus, Killing Infidels 101, a follow-up story we gave you almost a year ago about the intolerance of some schools here in America. A federal panel has ruled a private Islamic school is teaching intolerance. Wait until you see it.

And the casualty list on the border continues to grow. Thousands are dead. So what can the next president do to fix the problem? Answers and more, tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America.

Brace yourself. Gas prices reached an all-time high over the weekend. The average price of a gallon, yes, over $4. According to AAA, you`re looking now at a 35 percent increase over this time last year. That`s fantastic.

And as if that`s not bad enough, "USA Today" reported today that utility companies across the country are raising the price of electricity by nearly 30 percent. Worst of all, I have a guy on the radio tomorrow. He`s a congressman. He`s been doing this for a while, and he talks about natural gas. This is the thing that most people heat their house with here in the United States. The price of natural gas is soaring.

We also have the record price of a barrel of oil, new record high today. Remember, it takes a while for the increase of a barrel price to affect the price of a gallon, so in the weeks and months ahead, the price at the pump and price at what you`re paying to heat your house if you use natural gas, is going to go through the roof.

So let`s see. Just between gas and the electricity, it`s now costing you 65 percent more to get to work and keep your lights on. Did you suddenly get a 65 percent raise? Because I seem to have missed mine.

Here`s "The Point" tonight. Could we please get a candidate who will cut through all the bull crap, and give us a moon shot before it`s too late? Somebody in Washington needs to do something. And what I`d like them to do is get the hell out of way, and here`s how I got there.

I don`t need to tell you how bad things are. You pay bills every month. You see your bank account. It`s getting smaller.

So how is Barack Obama -- we`re going to start here, and then I`ll do John McCain -- how is he going to help? Well, here`s his plan, right from his own Web site.

He wants to reduce carbon emissions, support the next generation of biofuels, restore U.S. leadership on climate change, and reduce oil consumption. Whew, well, there`s a plan for you.

The reduction in carbon emissions and climate change leadership are attempts to pander to the green mafia. Supporting new biofuels, OK, that`s great, but it`s wasting more money on corn gas. Have you purchased any corn gas? All it`s doing is driving the price of food up all over the world, and they`re really starting to get a little pissy about it.

And then -- then there`s my favorite. Instead of going after more domestic oil, put a sweater on. We should use less. Wake up! It`s not the answer. The solution to our energy crisis is more supply, not less demand.

But why would I expect a real solution from a candidate who would rather tax more than spend less?

Now, let`s go to John McCain. This guy is just as remarkable. He`s harping on the summer gas tax holiday. He wants to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He also wants to cut ethanol subsidies. I just can`t believe the Republicans picked this guy.

Cutting off funding for corn gas? OK, that`s good, but considering the state of the world, does anybody think it`s a good idea to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Are you crazy? Do you realize who we`re fighting? Iran is heading toward energy independence by building refineries. We`re not building any.

And then the tax holiday, this is a Band-Aid. This is a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. It`s a diversion, not a solution. It wastes time; it wastes energy. And quite frankly, America, you know it and I know it: we`re running out of both.

So here`s what you need to know. We need a moon shot. Where is the candidate with some vision and courage to finally make this nation energy independent? Damn it, we can do it. Time is running out.

My mother used to say all the time, where there`s a will, there`s a way. I have the will. How about you? There is a way, and here it is, shale oil, coal-to-oil, nuclear, wind, solar, and more domestic drilling offshore and onshore. Let`s cut through the red tape and just get her done.

Mary Matalin is a Republican strategist and former White House advisers -- adviser.

Mary, now why are you shaking your head like that?

MARY MATALIN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Because I -- well, hello, Glenn. I love you; I miss you.

BECK: I miss you, too.

MATALIN: Because it doesn`t require a moon shot. What you just described is how we could almost -- almost -- overnight reduce our prices, improve or maintain or quality of life and increase our independence from foreigners, for whom we are sending the very dollars they`re using to threaten us.

BECK: To kill us.

MATALIN: So -- but it doesn`t take a moon shot. We have all that capacity, and -- and we have a bevy, a vast wealth of resources here. There are, as you well know, in Montana, North Dakota alone, three times as much oil as there is in Saudi Arabia.

The Chinese are drilling in the Gulf with the Cubans. The Brazilians are going to be there. Everybody in the world that has resources...

BECK: Yes, but the Brazil -- Mary, the Brazilians, come on, they`re known for the thong. I mean, energy independence is the next step in that cycle.

MATALIN: But everybody -- but here`s my point, Glenn. Everybody that has any kind of fossil fuel or natural gas is exploiting it, us drilling for it. We can do it environmentally safely, and cleanly. And it would maintain our equality of living, our standard of living. And it would decrease or dependence. I don`t -- it`s immoral.

BECK: This is why it -- this is why it requires a moon shot, because both of these candidates -- and I know you`ll disagree with this -- both of these candidates are -- they`re watermelons. They`re green on the outside, and they are red through and through. I mean, this is -- this cap in trade, that`s not capitalist; that`s socialist.

MATALIN: No, that is. That is. And it`s a mark of distortion that won`t work.

BECK: And both of them want it.

MATALIN: I think the data will come to light. We haven`t had a lot of substantive coverage in the campaign so far. But the data is explicit and it`s clear. By voluntary emissions reductions, our -- our emissions are reduced here in the United States under Bush`s plan. And where it was mandatory, they are not reduced.

So -- but that`s not -- that whole global warming stuff, no one -- I know the media likes to talk about it, but people are really concerned at significant percentages at energy, not global warming. Not global warming. That`s nonsense. But energy: energy security, energy independence. It`s a quality of life thing. It`s a standard of living thing. You cannot have health-care costs reaching into double digits of the GDP percentages. Why? And energy going up like this. It`s not sustainable.

And the answer, unlike health care, which is going to require years of reform, energy is here and it`s now. Even electricity. We put something forward six years ago that would have accelerated improvement of infrastructure, which is where you get all that lost flow, which is why electricity is more. We could -- we could do nuclear here. France -- France has 80 percent of its energy from nuclear...

BECK: We`re not going to! We`re not going to. None of these candidates will do it. We`re going to get a progressive Congress -- I swear to you. It is -- it is approaching treason with these people in Washington. You know it and I know it, and every single American knows. They are standing in the way, and it is going to cost us our country if they don`t do something.

Meanwhile, we have Thomas Friedman say this. Ready? "Cynical ideas like the McCain-Clinton gas holiday would only make the problem worse, and reckless initiatives" -- listen to this -- "reckless initiatives like the Chrysler Dodge Jeep offer to subsidize gasoline for three years for people who buy gas guzzlers are the moral equivalent of tobacco companies offering discounted cigarettes to teenagers."

MATALIN: All of this is dancing on the head of a pin. It`s all marginal. As is extricating from (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It`s not going to save us, what, a penny on -- nothing. We`ve already explored all that. We need to increase supply.

BECK: But you`re not...

MATALIN: It`s unethical. It`s immoral. Do you know how much corn was diverted from food supplies? We have a global food crisis. A hundred and thirty million tons of corn diverted from food and animal food to do what? And 10,000 liters of water...

BECK: Mary, you and I are singing the same song. America is singing the same song. What I`m asking you is neither one of these candidates are going to do it. You just said a minute ago, "Hey, Glenn, well, please, I mean, look it, we haven`t had a lot of coverage on it." Neither of them are saying, "This is how we get out of this. This is how we go."

MATALIN: Well, Glenn, we`re in a democracy, and people in possession of information and understand the level of problem, which nothing gets your attention faster than a 65 percent increase in your daily cost of living, is they work for us. They can only get elected if we don`t stand up here and say something.

We`re the ones who have been standing around going, "The earth is melting, the earth is melting." Why don`t we -- and you know what? I do blame conservatives for thinking that no one would believe this "earth is melting" stuff. So we didn`t come out with the facts as quickly as we needed to, and we let them control -- the greenies control this.

But you`re talking about it. Russia is talking about it. People are getting energized, no pun intended. They work for us. They cannot work for us unless we hire them. So let`s get out there and talk to them.

BECK: All right. Hang on just a second, Mary. Because I want to come back to you in a second.

The evangelical vote is up for grabs. Barack Obama may appeal in faith to people that disagree with his policy. How is John McCain doing to deal with that?

I also want to talk to you about J.C. Watts possibly endorsing him.

Now, textbooks used at a private Islamic school in Virginia. I told you about this story a year ago. We finally have a look at the textbooks. They`re teaching students how to kill. Why is this school still open? It`s coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Now, the history of the Constitution, in a couple of seconds.

BECK (voice-over): It all started a couple of hundred years ago when a bunch of guys in wigs got together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold it. Hold it just a second. Hold up.

Gee, we`re never going to fit all of this in.

BECK: You`re right. Better just get this month`s special issue of "Fusion" magazine. It will show you exactly what the Founding Fathers said about the issues that face us today, side by side with what the weasels in Washington are saying about them now. Compare, contrast, cry.

ANNOUNCER: It`s the special edition "Fusion" voter`s guide. Order now at GlennBeck.com or by calling 888-GLENNBECK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: We`re going to pick up the energy crisis again here in just a minute and how we can solve it. The only way we -- really, we solve anything is to be 100 percent energy independent.

I want to sit down with the man that helped make Exxon Mobile the largest evil company in the world. We`ll get the other side for a change.

But first, back with Republican strategist, former White House adviser Mary Matalin -- Mary.

MATALIN: Evil, evil oil.

BECK: It is evil. It is. Here`s -- let me just play a clip from Barack Obama. This is from yesterday, what he had to say on Father`s Day. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You and I know this is true everywhere, but nowhere is it more true than in the African- American community.

We know that more than half of all black children live in single- parent households. Half, a number that`s doubled since we were children. We know the statistics that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime. They`re nine times more likely to drop out of school. Twenty times more likely to end up in prison. They`re more likely to have behavioral problems or run away from home, or become teen parents, because the father wasn`t in the home.

The foundations of our community and our country are weaker because of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: A couple things here come to mind. First of all, first time I think I`ve heard Barack Obama say something with substance in it, and I agree with him. This is the kind of thing that`s not just in the African- American community. It`s in all of our homes. It`s just the African- American community happens to be leading.

But my thought to you is Bill Cosby said these very things, and he was torn apart by the African-American community.

MATALIN: Right, right.

BECK: I believe the community -- African-American community agrees with most of this stuff.

MATALIN: Absolutely.

BECK: How can Barack Obama get away with this, but Bill Cosby couldn`t?

MATALIN: Because everyone who knows anything about these policies knows that those statistics are spawned of liberal policies, which had the exact opposite effect on the family and the community, particularly the African-American community, that they were designed to.

So -- but Barack Obama is the liberal standard bearer here. So more power to him. If he`s the only one who can deliver that message, who cares where it comes from? But just keep doing it.

BECK: But he -- but he wants to -- his policies will only make things worse, because he wants to expand the size of government. You know, he said one thing in it that I thought was fantastic. He said, "People come up to me and say, `My son or daughter got a `B`.` Why didn`t they get an `A`?" I`m like, that`s fantastic.

MATALIN: Well, he also said, you know, about daddies, any fool can be -- you know, can have a baby. It takes a man to be a father. That`s really not -- the government can never replace the family, can never make a man a man.

There are some policies that he threw in there that you can enforce child support. You can -- there are things that the government`s not extracting from somebody else or redistributing somebody else`s wealth, but are enforcing policies that force people to be responsible, the very people that they`ve allowed to become irresponsible by replacing those -- their duties to their family with government programs.

But at least he`s saying it. It`s like hooray.

BECK: I know, I know. Let me give you this. Armstrong Williams, an African-American conservative, said, "I don`t necessarily like Barack Obama`s policies. I don`t like much what he advocates. But there -- for the first time in my life history thrusts me to really seriously think about voting for him."

J.C. Watts is saying that he might vote for him. He`s a conservative. Is this reverse racism?

MATALIN: No, I wouldn`t say that. All of my black conservative friends, there`s just a special -- there`s just a special pride. And this is an historic time. Most of these friends of ours that are African- Americans were alive when the votes of...

BECK: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

MATALIN: I don`t agree with it.

BECK: Didn`t MLK say judge a man by the content of his character? I understand the historic nature, but how do you sell out your values for skin color?

The same thing is happening with the evangelicals. They are saying he speaks the language, but yet his policies don`t line up. He`s -- he`s as pro-abortion as anybody can get.

MATALIN: I think by the -- Armstrong and J.C. may be in the euphoria of this historic moment. They are deep -- have deep values. They`ve been working at this for a long time. I think in the end they`re going to vote for their values and the policies, not -- and the content of the character of the candidates, not the color of their skin. So let`s just give them time to enjoy this historic moment.

As for the evangelicals, this is -- they`re going through a transition. The younger generation cares about a different set of issues, a panoply of issues, from humanitarian efforts, curing of, you know, diseases, or eradicating diseases that takes a little bit of effort. They don`t care about these social, cultural fights the way their predecessors did, their forefathers.

The movement is changing, and there -- it is ripe. It is ripe for the pickings.

And at the same time, the evangelicals did not like John McCain`s campaign finance reform.

BECK: Oh, that is...

MATALIN: So you`ve got some tension here. Having said all that, John McCain is tied in -- with Barack Obama in the worst possible environment for Republicans in a generation. So something good is going on out there relative to conservatism, whether or not he`s expressing it in every context that they would like.

BECK: Mary, I`ve got to run. I really only have ten seconds. Is there anyone that can replace Tim Russert? I don`t...

MATALIN: No, no.

BECK: I can`t think of anyone.

MATALIN: No, there isn`t. It`s the end of an era. It will never come again. We should feel blessed that we had him and rejoice in his life. No. In ten seconds, no. There will never be another.

BECK: I know you were -- know you were a friend of his. And I`m sorry for your loss. And the nation mourns with you. He was an amazing man.

I want to do -- I do want to take a minute here and talk about Tim Russert.

I have said over and over again I`m not a journalist. Russert was. He was the best. He would make me scream at the television every step of the way if he was going after my guy, but then I would cheer for him after he would go for the other one.

I realized after about the third time I did that, this guy got it right. You didn`t know what his politics were. That is a true professional, and more journalists should be like him. I honestly don`t know who will replace him. He will be missed.

We`ll be back in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, if you think that indoctrination of Islamic extremists is only a problem in the Middle East, I`ve got news for you. According to a federal investigator, the textbooks at a private Islamic school in Northern Virginia teach students that it permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam.

Other choice passages state that the Jews conspired against Islam and its people and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed polytheists, which in this school is pretty much everybody but these people.

The school teaches about 900 students in grades K through 12 on two campuses, Alexandria and Fairfax, Virginia. They receive much of the funding from -- wait for it -- Saudi Arabia, the government there.

I hate to tell you I told you so, but I told you so about a year ago. And I`m the crazy one.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser is the founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy.

About a year ago, Judy (ph) -- Zuhdi, you and I talked about this. No one could get a hold of these textbooks. Finally, we have a look at these books. What`s in them is horrifying. Who wrote them is just as horrifying. Can you tell me a little bit about the writer of these textbooks?

DR. ZUHDI JASSER, FOUNDER, AMERICAN ISLAMIC FORUM FOR DEMOCRACY: Well, surprise, surprise, something coming out of Saudi was written by Al- Fouzan, who is a Wahhabi cleric on the Senior Counsel of Clerics for Saudi Arabian Islamic University, which is the prime spreader of the cancer of Wahhabi Islam around the world. And this is what they`re teaching.

And these excerpts are simply excerpts. You can`t simply -- after the U.S. commission went in there and talked to them, they tried to clean it up by whiting out a few sentences. It`s sort of like trying to take Karl Marx`s manifesto on communism and changing it into somebody on liberty by whiting out a few things. The ideology is supremacist Islamism, and it is a political insurgency on our soil.

BECK: Zuhdi, you -- we talked earlier today, and you`re a Muslim, and this enraged you. I have never -- I don`t think I`ve ever heard you as mad as you were, especially if I say the two words "State Department," on this issue.

JASSER: Well, that`s the thing. That we`re fighting a war of ideas.

Families like mine escaped that theocratic, autocratic, totalitarian ideology to come to the land of freedom, and here we have our own State Department allowing these schools to be built as vessels for the spread of radicalism, where you have students like Abu Ali, who actually was valedictorian in `99, left there to then become arrested for joining al Qaeda in 2003 and plotting to assassinate our president, while being home- grown on our own soil.

BECK: Yes.

JASSER: And you say where is the Muslims speaking out? We`re trying to, but our own State Department is facilitating the spread on our own soil.

BECK: So why do you think this is? Do you think this -- I mean, here it is Saudi Arabia. We have a story in "The Real Story" next where they`re all -- they`re going to open up the spigots. And they`re going to give us more oil. It`s not going to make a difference.

I really truly believe this is being tolerated because we need Saudi Arabia. We don`t want to step on their toes. And yet, at the same time, they`re opening up a little bit of oil and their spigots, they are sending evil and destruction over into our own communities.

JASSER: Well, we didn`t learn our lesson on 9/11, where 15 out of the 19 hijackers were Wahhabi indoctrinated. And you can either pay now or pay later. And our security is threatened. These are definitely an imminent danger, a clear and present danger to the American people and those that live in freedom, and we need to start fighting this radicalism.

It`s going to -- there`s going to be a -- there`s going to be a price we pay.

BECK: Yes.

JASSER: But we`re going to have to start working at fighting it.

BECK: Zuhdi, thank you very much.

Now, up next we`re going to continue on this same vein and Saudi Arabia. They do plan to increase oil production. "The Real Story" is it ain`t going to make a difference. I`ll explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, as violence on or southern border rises, so does the body count. I don`t envy the candidate who inherits this mess, but neither one of them, come on, seriously, let`s be hones, they`re not going to fix it. Details in just a bit.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story."

The benevolent Saudi Arabian king has decreed an increase in oil production by 200,000 barrels a day to save us peasants from the energy crisis. Oh, were that only true.

The world demand for oil is 87 million barrels a day. Two hundred thousand extra barrels isn`t even a Band-Aid. It`s an 18th century bloodletting fix.

Why don`t you just throw us some leeches?

After this announcement of this groundbreaking promise, oil prices hit a new high of nearly $140 a barrel. Gee, maybe the Saudis are using reverse psychology on us and I`m just not smart enough to figure it out, or there`s an actual shortage of energy.

The Saudis also said that the West must help by lowering oil and fuel taxes. Too bad nobody in the media or in Washington seems to be talking about that little tidbit. They`re talking about the exact opposite.

"The Real Story" is that an increase in production might help reduce oil costs, but an increase of taxes will definitely raise the cost of your gasoline. The Saudis know this, the American people know it, even Vladimir Putin knows this. One of his first acts as prime minister was to lower oil industry taxes, but Barack Obama, not so much.

He doesn`t -- here`s what he said this last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I`ll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we`ll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: This is driving me -- I mean, how can we be this stupid? How about just making energy cheaper by increasing the supply and getting rid of the government middleman?

With the Obama tax, families will certainly need the help, because you know what happens when you tax oil companies? Oil prices go up. It`s like that in any product. If the evil cheese industry was taxed, do you think the price of cheese would stay the same? Of course not. To make up for the lost profit, they will just raise the price of cheese.

But this really only makes sense to those people who understand capitalism, and I don`t think the politicians in Washington do. Our politicians don`t get it.

And you know how bad it is when I would rather follow the plans of Saudi Arabia and Russia. They seem to understand the free market better than the people who invented it.

Obama`s plan is ridiculous at worse, and blatant political pandering at best. And the American people deserve better.

Lee Raymond is the former chairman and CEO of that evil ExxonMobil.

How are you, Lee?

LEE RAYMOND, FMR. CEO & CHAIRMAN, EXXONMOBIL: Just fine, Glenn. Good to see you.

BECK: Good to see you.

OK, the Saudis announced 200,000 barrels. It`s absolutely meaningless. Shouldn`t we be building refineries and shouldn`t we be building oilrigs to go find our own oil?

RAYMOND: Well, sure we should. And I think it`s a broader issue than just oil, Glenn. I think we should move try and forward on all fronts of energy production in this country.

BECK: Well, you know, let`s go here for a second. I`ve been saying - - and I don`t think people get this, and help me explain it -- the world has changed. People haven`t caught up to it yet.

It`s not 1972 anymore. You can`t just stop using oil and expect the price to go down. Global use of oil is much different. And we need wind power, solar power, nuclear power, oil, coal, shale. We need it all, do we not?

RAYMOND: We do, and I think the point that you`re making is the most important point of all, and that is the markets are global. The United States has no special ticket into this oil market or any other energy market. It`s going to have to compete with all the other people in the world who are consumers. And in order to do that, the best way we can do it is increase the production of our own energy here in the United States, and at the same time, frankly, become much more efficient in how we use energy.

BECK: Lee, does it ever drive you crazy that these politicians are talking about your obscene profit, when your profit is about 8.5? Anybody who`s ever actually done business knows that`s an OK profit margin, but it`s not great. And yet no one in Washington ever seems to talk about the profit margin of hedge funds, which is about 82 percent profit.

Why is that?

RAYMOND: Well, you know, there`s a long history in this country of dealing with oil companies in that sense. And it goes all the way back, of course, to John D. Rockefeller.

I think the point is that there are a number of industries in this country that over time have profit margins higher than do oil companies or chemical companies, and nobody says anything about them. And the other comment I would make about large companies, international companies in particular -- and I don`t have anything to do with Exxon anymore, but if you look at the first quarter earnings, over 80 percent of their earnings were from outside the United States. They had nothing to do with the United States operations at all.

So, consequently, when you think about that, that Exxon made a couple of billion dollars in the first quarter, there are a lot of companies in the United States that make $2 billion in a quarter, and there`s no comment made about them.

BECK: Yes.

Well, I think it was Chris Dodd said last week or the week before that he`s willing to open up all of the companies that make "obscene profits." And if obscene is 8.5 percent, that blows me away.

Congress last week said they weren`t going to open the Continental Shelf. It died in committee. Tomorrow I`m going to spend about an hour with the guy who tried to get that bill through. I`m trying to remember where he`s from -- Ohio -- no, Pennsylvania.

And he is -- he said what he dealt with was, A, the oil companies won`t really make any money on this anyway. They don`t really -- it wouldn`t be good for their business. And B, they said that the oil companies already have so many leases out there, that about 82 percent of the leases that they have -- that you guys, you know, have, you don`t use anyway.

So why don`t you develop the oil on the leases that you do have?

RAYMOND: Well, I think that`s totally misleading. I mean, the fact that the industry has a number of leases -- and I`ve heard that comment made in the last couple of weeks -- all that does is demonstrate that they really don`t understand how the industry operates.

When you get the lease is when you finally decide you`re going to try to find out whether or not there`s any prospectivity in the lease to find oil and gas. Some people seem to have the notion that there`s oil and gas under every square foot of land in the United States. That`s not true.

It`s still like looking for a needle in a haystack. And the fact is that when you get a lease, you have the haystack, and now you`re going to try to find out if there`s a needle there. And frankly, nobody should drill a well where they are absolutely certainly there isn`t any oil and gas.

BECK: So let me ask you this, because another thing, Congress is just so misleading the American people on this issue right now. I find it amazing.

There are leases signed for China and India off the coast of Cuba, and also of Key West. They haven`t started drilling because it takes a while to start drilling, but they have the leases and they`re going to be drilling. The rest of the world is locking up the oil reserves. They`re locking up these leases while we are doing nothing.

How far best hind the eight ball are we going to be, Lee?

RAYMOND: Well, we`re going to be a lot farther behind the eight ball, because we`ve been getting behind the eight ball for 30 years. You know, Glenn, the question I think people ought to ask themselves is why would we expect some other countries to do for us what we`re unwilling to do for ourselves?

And in many cases, the countries around the world that do let oil and gas be developed in exactly the same kind of environments that the United States has are asking themselves, why should we do that for them when they won`t do it themselves?

BECK: Lee, let me -- I feel the same way about rendition. Let me ask you this question.

My mother said that when there`s a will, there`s a way, that we can do anything. I believe in this country, I believe in the entrepreneur. I believe in the spirit of America like no other place in the world.

Gosh, we are the people that have changed the world forever, and here we are being left in the dust. And the American people are pretty pissed about it.

Everybody says, oh, it will take 10, 15 years. If you got all the of the governmental bull crap out of the way, and we really dedicated ourselves, could we, A, be energy independent, and B, how long would it take us to make a serious dent in that? If the American people said, enough, let`s just do it?

RAYMOND: Well, I hate to tell you, Glenn, it`s going to take a long time. It took us 30 years to get into this mess that we`re in now, and it`s going to take a long time to get out of it.

The point I would make is we have to get going, and we have -- we can`t just keep standing around and talking. You know, one of the things that I think is most frustrating for somebody who spent a long time in the energy business and did -- was involved in the study on the hard truths about energy is people keep debating like they have the option of deciding, well, is it going to be nuclear? Is it going to be coal? Is it going to be conventional oil and gas? Is it going to be wind?

And the answer is...

BECK: All of them.

RAYMOND: ... it has to be all of them. And people should stop arguing about it and just get on with it. And that`s what the American people expect, and they have every right to expect that.

BECK: Lee, thank you very much.

That`s "The Real Story" tonight. If you`d like to read more about this, or if you`ve found a real story of your own, tell us about it. Visit glennbeck.com, click on the "TV" button.

Now, coming up next, we`re going to go to the other mess. Our administration has failed to secure the southern border. Whoa. Now violence is starting to spill over onto our soil.

We`ll look how bad it really is. And is this next president going to do anything about It? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, here in New York City, people don`t talk much about the problems at the border because it`s not in their back yard. But across the country, especially in states like California, Texas, Arizona, people are living and dying with the issue every single day.

In the last two-and-a-half years, 6,000 people have died on both sides of our southern border with Mexico. That is more than the entire number of U.S. deaths in Iraq. Hard to believe, but these days some parts of Texas are more dangerous than Baghdad, yet nobody in the media is covering it.

There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already living in the United States, an additional 500,000 sneak in each and every year. The problem is growing at an unchecked pace.

Is somebody going to pay attention to this issue?

Our next guest, Michael Cutler, is doing that. He`s a former special agent with the INS and now a senior fellow at the Center of Immigration Studies.

Michael, the difference between these two candidates -- either one of these guys going to jack on this?

MICHAEL CUTLER, CENTER OF IMMIGRATION STUDIES: Thanks for having me, Glenn.

You know, I`ve got to tell you, I`m not encouraged by either of them. We`ve got Mr. Obama chanting, "Yes, I can," "Si se puede," which of course was the war cry, if you will, of illegal aliens when they took to street corners a couple of years ago. And John McCain was the co-author of the McCain/Kennedy bill. So both of them.

BECK: Is there -- you say Barack Obama is Jimmy Carter. Why?

CUTLER: Well, because the guy just doesn`t get it or doesn`t want to get it. You know, under Jimmy Carter, we, as INS agents, were forced to use the term "undocumented worker" instead of illegal alien. And now you have got Barack Obama saying that he wants to go out there and legalize the millions of illegal aliens whose identities are unknown and unknowable, whose backgrounds are unknowable.

We don`t know who they`re affiliated with. We don`t know what they`re truly involved with. Why would you want to legalize people who, because they`re undocumented, we have absolutely no idea about anything concerning those millions of people?

BECK: You know, Michael, I mean, nothing seems to be getting better here in Washington.

CUTLER: No.

BECK: I mean, it`s really -- it`s really disturbing, because, you know, I just was on the road for nine days, nine different cities. We talked about this issue and others. And I can feel it. The people are sick to death of it. On this issue, 70 percent of America is aligned.

CUTLER: Oh, I agree.

BECK: We want it to stop, so why isn`t it?

CUTLER: Well, you know, it`s a great question. And by the way, I`ve got to disagree with you on one point. New York is getting hammered. We probably have a million illegal aliens in New York, and probably half of them ran the border and then made their way to the New York area.

BECK: But you know what? People here are OK with it, because they say, oh, these are jobs Americans won`t do. That`s what John McCain says. This is modern-day slavery. These people, especially in New York, are living like animals.

CUTLER: You bet. Look, I`ve raided apartments where I`ve found 20 adult men jammed into an apartment designed for a family of four with one bathroom, where there were so many bugs in the apartment, you flipped on a light switch, you had a moving wall because so many bugs were scampering across the walls.

This isn`t the way anybody should live. It`s not the American dream. But it also hammers the American worker, and I believe it contributes to the current situation with mortgages being defaulted upon, with crime, drugs.

Look at what`s happened with narcotics coming across the border and money headed south, funding the cartels and creating more death, more destruction, more corruption. We`re getting hammered from so many directions. The American people get it; the problem is neither political party is willing to provide real representative government for the American people.

BECK: I have to tell you, I wonder what the breaking point is going to be in this country. We`re the only country in the world that would allow something like this to happen. No other country does this.

No other country -- no other country lets unskilled people come into their -- across their border. We need to start picking and saying, wait a minute, you were watching us from afar, what is it that you think you can make better here?

Bill Gates just spoke out last week and said, I can`t get visas for the top students that are coming in here to study, so they go abroad. I don`t want to ship jobs overseas, but I can`t keep the best minds in the world here.

We`re not keeping the best, we`re just letting people come and do jobs that Americans won`t do.

CUTLER: Well, when you talk about Bill Gates, we`ve got to talk about Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who`s in jail. Abramoff got his start working for Gates` dad trying to lobby the government for more H1B visas.

Why aren`t we encouraging more American kids to take the computer and high-tech jobs also? We`re hammering people at the top of the food chain, and we`re hammering people at the bottom of the food chain, and American`s middle class is getting hammered. No one is paying attention to the plights of kids in the inner city.

You don`t hear about job fair anymore. Now it`s all about, let`s bring in cheap labor. Well, you know, poverty is so pervasive that, you know, there`s over a billion people that don`t have safe drinking water. Can we bring a billion people here?

BECK: You know what? I have to tell you, Michael, it`s not -- people aren`t -- these aren`t jobs that Americans just won`t do.

CUTLER: No.

BECK: These are jobs that companies don`t want to hire Americans for, because Americans, A, are too demanding, they`re suing all the time. Anything happens, common sense is out the window. You can`t afford to run a business here.

And that`s the problem. That`s what these jobs -- that`s what these people are hiring in these companies, are people that they can just abuse and will never say a word about it.

We`ve got to have some balance of sanity here. And you just asked a minute ago, how come we don`t go in (ph) to get Americans? You tell me that the vast majority of American teenagers are actually excelling? Most of them are like, whatever, they owe it to me.

CUTLER: Well, but, you know, again, we go back to people that have children. That`s the most important job you have, is raising your child.

BECK: Yes.

CUTLER: But right now there`s no incentives for anybody. The educational system is failing the children. As much as the children are failing, it`s the system that`s failing. And you know, when you listen to Homer Hickam who wrote the eulogy for the Sago mine disaster, he said, "There`s no water holier than the sweat off a man`s brow."

BECK: Yes.

CUTLER: His dad was a coal miner. My dad was a plumber. He was a construction worker.

BECK: My dad was a hard-working man as well. I mean...

CUTLER: Goodness. And now we show no respect to the Americans who built this country? That`s wrong.

BECK: All right. Mike, thanks a lot.

Now listen, I don`t know who to vote for. I don`t know who I`m going to vote for.

This is -- I put more work in this "Fusion" magazine, this issue, than any other magazine that I have ever done. We worked about six months on this.

What we`ve done is we`ve taken the two candidates, we`ve taken their positions on all of the issues, then we`ve compared them to quotes from the founding fathers and Karl Marx. You see which direction we`re heading, it will blow your mind.

Check it out at glennbeck.com. Order your subscription to "Fusion" magazine, glennbeck.com.

Back in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, finally tonight, it looks like those in the Midwest are dealing with a disastrous flooding, and they`re going to finally be getting a break. It should be dry for most of the week, but the damage has already been done. And the numbers are staggering.

In Iowa, 4.8 million sandbags. Two million acres of soybeans have been lost. Four million acres of farmland under water, 1.3 million acres of corn lost, driving analysts to predict a 33 percent rise in the cost of corn from already record levels.

Thirty-six thousand Iowans are now evacuees, 24,000 in Cedar Rapids alone. And only five have died. That is amazing.

I just got back off of my summer comedy tour, one of my favorite times of the year because I actually get off this stupid island and actually get talk to people in the middle of the country. And every time I come back I come back rejuvenated.

When you watch the news every day, it is easy to forget how this country became this country. But when I travel, I remember the attitude that brought us here in the first place. It is an attitude of work ethic and personal responsibility.

My grandfather taught it to me. He was a farmer, third grade education, a guy who made his living off the land. Most of what he ate was at one time something that he had planted or something that he had fed, and he had the same spirit. He knew how bad things would be sometimes.

But he also knew that there were times when you would be able to show what you were really made of. By the way, he was from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

He didn`t want any help other than his family and the neighborhood getting together to fix the problem. Well, that is the same sort of spirit that we`re now seeing in Iowa and the rest of the Midwest today.

It is not a litany of complaints and nobody is standing on their roofs. It is an understanding of the issues at hand and using real heartland-style effort to get the job done.

The Iowa National Guard troops have been deployed, and of course they`re doing everything they can to help, but it struck me as interesting that much of their time was being spent not trying to rescue Iowans from their homes, but trying to keep Iowans away from their homes. They wanted to get in there and do the jobs themselves.

They actually wanted to enter the dangerous flood zones. They wanted to do whatever they could to help secure their homes and their belongings and save their communities.

It`s hard not to be optimistic on the future of this country when you think about that truly American spirit.

From New York, good night America.

END