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Glenn Beck

Conservative Speaker Booed Off University Stage; Crime Intense on Mexican Border; Town to Ban Products Made in China

Aired October 29, 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, no love from the far left as a popular conservative activist is booed off the stage at a respected university.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

BECK: Is the "listen to all sides" approach of learning officially dead at our colleges?

Plus, a bigger, badder, more violent threat on the border. Human traffickers and dangerous drug cartels are now teaming up. I`ll talk to somebody who`s battling this new breed of terrorists on the front line.

And this yeas scariest Halloween trend. Sexy costumes for kids? Why more and more children`s Halloween costumes are pushing the boundaries of common sense.

All this and more, tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America.

Many colleges all across the country last week, it was homecoming. Students celebrated. They had dances. They had parties, football games. Everybody cheered.

Also, last week was Islamofascism Awareness Week. Boy, things have changed. And let`s just say at our universities, the response was a little different than it was for homecoming week.

It`s bad enough when our universities were just liberal, but now some are embracing the hateful, oppressive message of Islamic extremism. So here is "The Point" tonight.

Our society has not become more tolerant. It`s just changed targets. And now our American way of life is in the cross-hairs, and here`s how I got there.

I want to start by showing two pieces of videotape. The first one is from Iranian President Ahmadinejad`s recent appearance at Columbia University. Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): We don`t think it`s necessary before the speech is even given to come in with a series of claims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: It`s unbelievable. They`re giving him a round of applause because he`s chastising the people that came before him and said bad things about him. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, round of applause, warm welcome from Columbia University.

Oh, and for the record, it`s not just me. It`s the State Department that also considers his country a terrorist state.

Now, next piece of videotape. Author David Horowitz. He`s a 1960`s- era peace advocate who now devotes himself to raising awareness of the dangers posed by radical Islam.

Here`s a clip from his appearance last week at Emory University.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Racist, sexist, go away. Racist, sexist, go away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Racist, sexist, go away. Racist, sexist, go away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Racist, sexist, go away. Racist, sexist, go away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Racist, sexist, go away.

Iran`s murderous leader gets applause, and -- and the voice of reason gets chanted off stage. Police, by the way, couldn`t subdue the crowd at Emory, and Horowitz had to leave under armed guard.

Tonight, America, here is what you need to know. Islamic extremism is evil, plain and simple. And it is time to put political correctness away and face the truth.

Under Islamic extremism, Sharia Law, women are legally only worth one third of a man. For accusations of infidelity or even talking to another man other than her husband, a woman can be stoned to death. Women can`t participate in business or politics. Homosexuals and handicapped are sacrificed, usually by hanging.

Children are not given access to normal schooling so they can be indoctrinated in a radical Islamic belief. And some are specially selected to become suicide bombers.

When the extremists don`t agree with your political or cultural beliefs, they`ll hijack planes, and they`ll fly them into buildings, killing thousands. If you`re a member of the press, hey, good news, they may only chop your head off, post that video online.

This is not opinion. It is documented fact.

Ahmadinejad is the living symbol of hate and oppression in our -- in our world. Islamic extremism is the most dangerous and destructive force on the planet.

Now, I know it`s cool for college kids to be contrary and wear their cool Che t-shirts to poetry readings. But there`s got to be a line in the sand that can`t be crossed. Doesn`t there?

Many campuses have zero tolerance when it comes to hate speech, and it needs to apply to people like Ahmadinejad and those who champion his evil beliefs.

Parents, our universities have been hijacked, and it`s not just by tweedy liberals. It`s by those who want to seem so open-minded that they`ll welcome a modern-day Hitler on the campus, but they will not provide a forum for the dangers of Islamic extremism to be exposed.

It is no longer about right versus left or Democrats versus Republicans. This is about ideologies. Some colleges feel that fascism is less oppressive than democracy and freedom. That, my friend, is a lie. And we cannot allow that lie to see daylight.

If we don`t get control and drive the hate-mongers off of our campuses and away from our kids, we may find that the price of free speech is a lot higher than we think.

Author and activist David Horowitz, driving force behind Islamofascism Awareness Week.

David, you were a leftie left. You went to Berkeley. You were there in the `60s. Now you see this. I mean, I cannot give the professors a pass and say, well, they just don`t know that fascism, Islamic fascism is, you know, is against gays and women and everything else. They have an agenda. Help me find out what it is.

DAVID HOROWITZ, AUTHOR, "INDOCTRINATION U.": Well, their agenda is that America, George Bush`s America, is a greater danger than Ahmadinejad`s Iran. And a primary goal of the left now is to prevent the United States from bringing this guy, you know, to heel.

They`re defending the nuclear program of the Iranians, just the way they defended Saddam Hussein when George Bush attempted to get him to comply with the U.N. resolutions.

BECK: David, it is insane to think that they`re just against George W. Bush and allowing this kind of stuff to happen. It`s insane. It`s not anti-American. This is almost pro-fascism.

HOROWITZ: It is. It begins with anti-Americanism because they see America as the Great Satan the same way our enemies do.

And I just want to say one thing about these obstructions and interruptions. Eventually, the universities will get enough police in force to keep these people at bay.

This isn`t the big danger. The big danger is the attempt to embargo discussion by using terms like "hate speech".

The reason for all the outrage on the left is the term "Islamofascism", which I believe is a very perfectly accurate term for describing our enemies. The president was intimidated from using that term. He says we`re fighting terror. But terror, of course, is just a tactic. It doesn`t identify the enemy.

BECK: How is it -- how is it hate speech? How is it racist, when Islamofascism -- I mean, what about white racism? Isn`t that hate speech?

HOROWITZ: Exactly. I was on, you know, with Alan Colmes the other night, and he said the term "Islamofascism" is hate speech. Well, that means you can`t use the term. It`s the way the so-called liberals, because people aren`t really liberal when you come down to it, are going to ban speech.

So the worst thing that happened this last week, we had 100 campuses. We had very brave students putting on these events. Every one of those students was called a racist and a religious bigot.

BECK: How is that a religious bigot? For the love of Pete...

HOROWITZ: It`s ridiculous.

BECK: Do you think if the pope had a morals squad, and they were picking people up outside of Vatican City and throwing them in jail or making sure that they weren`t making -- wearing too much makeup, or stoning women or saying that they`re only worth one third of a man, do you think these people would welcome the pope? Of course they wouldn`t. I mean, what the hell -- what is going on?

HOROWITZ: That`s exactly right. The term "Islamofascism", first, doesn`t mean all Muslims. We were defending most Muslims. If you believe that there are moderate Muslims, and I do, we were defending them.

We were defending Muslim women from being accused.

BECK: Jeez.

HOROWITZ: And yet we were called sexist. Because the terms are not used to describe anything real. What they are, they`re terms to shut you up, to paint a target on your back and make everybody hate you so they won`t listen to you to begin with.

BECK: David, I appreciate it. I have to tell you, I have no idea how long it is before we lose control of our country with the indoctrination that is going on right now. It is -- this is dangerous, dangerous stuff.

Now, let me bring somebody else in who didn`t get the same treatment that Ahmadinejad got when he went to Columbia. He was dis-invited from speaking at Columbia University. Jim Gilchrist, he is from the anti- illegal immigration group the Minutemen.

And Jim, we`ve had you on before. I want to show -- I want to show a piece of tape when you were there. Can you roll this, please, Conway?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (screaming)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Jim, tell me how that`s not hate speech.

JIM GILCHRIST, MINUTEMEN PROJECT: It`s more like a hockey game breaking out.

BECK: You know, I appreciate your sense of humor. And I know you want to go back and, you know, if you`re ever invited you`ll speak again.

GILCHRIST: Absolutely.

BECK: I`ve got to tell you something. I wouldn`t minimize this stuff. That`s hate speech. You want to talk about hate speech? There it is. They practically threw the podium at you.

GILCHRIST: They did. Actually, they body-slammed the podium. I jumped out of the way so I wouldn`t get my legs broken.

And I didn`t mean to minimize it. But this is so comical. The mentality of people who conduct themselves in this manner, particularly Columbia University and Emory University. They`re literally staffed by a bunch of students who I would refer to as those who are intellectually frozen.

BECK: You know what, Jim, this is -- this is -- correct me if I`m wrong. I see these students as brown shirts, as almost Hitler youth.

GILCHRIST: Yes.

BECK: These are the same tactics that they used to shut people up in Germany, where they would dress in the brown shirts and they`d scare the living hell out of anybody who wanted to speak out. This isn`t freedom of speech. This is anarchy.

GILCHRIST: That`s correct, Glenn. And with David Horowitz or -- and myself, neither of us engage in any rhetoric that smacks of racism. We present the facts. And because those facts are something that certain groups, certain isolated groups on campuses disagree with, they literally take the First Amendment, the intentions of our Founding Fathers for that First Amendment, into their own hands.

And to them the First Amendment belongs only to the meanest thug who wields the biggest club. And that`s despicable. And Columbia University and Emory University should be ashamed of themselves.

BECK: Amen, Jim. Thanks a lot.

GILCHRIST: Thank you.

BECK: I mean, you can disagree with what anybody says, but man, we`re in America.

Coming up, while politicians worry about the danger in Baghdad, there`s a whole other city a lot closer to home that is just as dangerous as Baghdad, but it doesn`t get the attention from Washington that it should. Why not? Oh, the politically incorrect story next.

And wonder why our military would need a B-2 stealth bomber equipped with a bunker-busting bomb? Could it be Iran? The "Real Story" buried in the details. Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, I`m not sure if you`ve noticed, but it`s getting colder out there finally, and if you combine the winter weather with the $93-a- barrel for oil price, you`ve got a recipe for disaster. I`ll explain how this is going to hit your pocketbook in just a minute in "The Real Story."

But first, if you`re trying to name the world`s most dangerous city, don`t even think about Baghdad. To find feuding warlords, rampant death squads, and general mayhem, all you have to do is take one step over the Texas border into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

Here`s a fact that you will not believe you don`t know. According to the "Dallas Morning News", since 2004 more than 70 Americans have been kidnapped in Nuevo Laredo. Over two dozen are still missing.

Mexico`s border towns have largely lost or ceded control to drug traffickers. In a line that could have been taken from "Scarface", first they got the drugs, then they got the money, and now they have the power. And why not -- why not use that power in someplace other than Mexico? I mean, there`s fresh meat on the U.S. side of the border.

Democrats love to cry about all the outrageous things that are happening in Iraq. But where`s their outrage towards what`s happening in their own back yard?

Sheriff Rick Flores is fighting on the front line in Laredo, Texas. And Chris Burgard is the director of the documentary "Border Sheriff".

Let me -- Sheriff, let me start with you. I got called -- when I talked about this today on the radio program, I got calls from listeners who live in that area. And they say they and their families are afraid to even go outside their house at some times, and they say the media is too petrified to even do anything.

SHERIFF RICK FLORES, LAREDO, TEXAS: Well, the media on Nuevo Laredo`s side is muzzled. They`re not allowed to report anything that`s going on, especially any violence.

BECK: Have they actually gone into the newspaper plant and bombed it?

FLORES: They went into a newspaper agency which is called "El Manana", and they threw a couple of grenades in there, and they sprayed bullets, AK-47s, hitting people, paralyzing one.

And of course, that was just a message that they wanted to pass along to let the media know that they meant business whenever they wanted the media to stay away from publicizing whatever they were doing.

BECK: I have to -- first of all, thank you for your service, sir. I can`t imagine being a sheriff down there. Seventy people have been kidnapped since 2004, 25 still missing. Tel me about the two girls. They were young girls that were taken that you know about.

FLORES: They had gone to a concert in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and they were on their way back when they were stopped, apparently by two municipal police officers, and told to get off -- get out of the car. And they shoved them into a police car, and they kidnapped them.

What we know is information that apparently these two girls were then given to one of the drug lords as a -- as a prize, if you will, for the drug lords. It just so happens...

BECK: I just want to make sure I understand this. You`re saying that two American teens, or young girls, were given as a gift to a Mexican drug lord?

FLORES: That`s the information that we have, Glenn. I`m disappointed, because we run the International Crime Stoppers Hotline, and we were getting calls from Nuevo Laredo which were then reported to the FBI in regards to where these girls were being held.

Of course, it just -- it`s very difficult when you`re working with another country.

BECK: OK.

FLORES: And sometimes the information just doesn`t get there.

BECK: I`ve got to go to Chris real quick. Chris, tell me, this is -- this is not new to you. You went down, and you made this film with the rape trees. Refresh people`s memories. Something I just found out about two weeks ago. Rape trees. What are they?

CHRIS BURGARD, FILMMAKER, "BORDER": This is just not new. Rape trees are the coyotes, when they get some of the better-looking women on our side of the border, they`ll rape these women, often within earshot of their children or their parents or their husbands that are with the rest of the group.

Then they`ll have these women hang their panties up on trees, and they become trophy trees. And this coyote will compare his tree to the fellow down the street. And this is the kind of violence that these ranchers and these residents are living with all up and down the southern border.

BECK: I have to tell you, it`s time that America starts paying attention to this. The ranchers` families, you say -- you had a few of them in your film -- they`re afraid to even get out of their car at night. You were with one rancher that found Mexican military I.D. in their yard. True or false?

BURGARD: True. South Ferius (ph), Texas, 65 miles north of the border. The Vicars Ranch (ph). You`ll see the Vicars Ranch (ph) in the movie "Border". Three weeks after I left their ranch in 2005 at a distance of a few yards they observed 20 soldiers in black BDUs, automatic weapons. First three fellows had state-of-the-art NVG goggles, coming through their ranch.

And these 20 soldiers with automatic weapons, their cargo was six civilians. This is 65 miles north of the border.

BECK: Yes, it is not -- it is not new, but unfortunately, to the media it is. Thanks, guys.

Coming up, poisonous toys, safety issues, child labor laws broken, slavery. Just part of the price we pay for purchasing products in -- made in China. And why one city in Florida is saying enough is enough.

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BECK: Well, it used to be when a label read "made in China" you could count on cheap products made by cheap labor. These days "made in China" could also mean deadly products made by slave labor. But at least it`s cheap, huh?

Thanks to our friends overseas, in the last few months we`ve had to deal with tainted pet food endangering thousands of animals, stores full of Barbies and toy trains slathered in toxic lead paint. We have to look for our meat, is that toxic as well?

One city in Florida has finally had enough of it and is proposing a ban on all Chinese-made goods.

Joining me now is Andy Anderson, city councilman from Palm Bay, Florida. Andy, why are you -- what is the boycott about, and what is the impact that you hope to make?

ANDY ANDERSON, CITY COUNCILMAN, PALM BAY, FLORIDA: Well, it`s really twofold. One, you`ve got a practical measure that we want to make sure that taxpayer monies, the money that the Palm Bay residents pay, the money stays in America, goes to American workers.

The second one is symbolic. We want to send a message to the federal government saying enough is enough. There`s an attack on the lower and middle class citizens of this country, and I think the city of Palm Bay, Mayor Mazziotti, who proposed this, has said that we want to take care of Americans first.

BECK: I applaud you, Andy, honestly. I`m not into boycotts and everything else, but this is -- these are blood toys. You know, they`re made by slaves. They`re poisonous. And now we`ve been threatened by China.

But here`s the problem. You know the state and the feds are going to be breathing down your throat. Am I wrong?

ANDERSON: Well, you`re right. And it`s not the first time we tried to do something with undocumented workers in Palm Bay. We`ve done this. And we`re willing to take on the task, and we`re willing to take them up on anything they`re willing to dish out to us. But if we don`t do it, who will, Glenn?

BECK: Well, here`s the problem. China -- it boggles my mind you that I was with a group of people this weekend, and nobody knew that China had threatened -- has -- what is it, $1.3 trillion in U.S. currency.

And when the president did speak out about this very thing a couple of months ago, they threatened to dump it, which would collapse our economy. I mean, what are you -- again, what are you to do?

ANDERSON: It`s very clear that they`re holding us hostage. And we -- it`s not just Palm Bay. Hopefully, we can send out a message, and other cities, other municipalities throughout the nation will do the same thing, because the monetary threat they`ve made. They`ve tried to hack into the Pentagon computers. And as you know, indirectly or directly, they have American blood on their hands from two conflicts.

And I think it`s about time that we say it`s enough. We`re not going to deal with the enemy. We`re going to deal with our own and take care of the United States of America and Americans first. And that`s all we`re trying to do by principle, Glenn.

BECK: You`re a very blue-collar town.

ANDERSON: Absolutely.

BECK: What is the reaction so far?

ANDERSON: The reaction has been great. The problem...

BECK: But are people actually going to do it? Try to buy stuff that`s not made in China. It`s damn near impossible.

ANDERSON: Well, remember, this is just the city government on our purchasing department level, not buying things that are made in China. It`s not mandated to individual residents. That would be impossible with 180,000 people and two Wal-Marts in our city.

BECK: Right.

ANDERSON: However, the things that we buy: computer equipment for the city, heavy tractors, trenchers, things like that, that go along with public works, I think we can make a dent and ensure that we`re buying American-made products.

BECK: Thanks, Andy, and we`ll continue to follow the story.

Now, there was a little-reported but very telling line in the latest war spending request from the president. Does it mean war in Iran? Tonight`s "Real Story", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Fifty-year-old dirt bag Graham Hurley faces 184 years in prison, and, if you ask me, this guy got off easy. This guy is from New Jersey, and authorities there arrested him for having a secret sex chamber filled with the worst of your imagination. I will take you into that chamber of horrors in just a minute.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story." Today I, Glenn Beck, officially declare October 29th to be Scientist Appreciation Day. It came to my attention earlier today that 2007 so far is the least active year for hurricanes in the last three decades. Of course, that makes the scientists` prediction of 17 named tropical storms, nine hurricanes, and five major hurricanes for this season alone look like something my 3-year- old son could have beaten.

But it also made me realize how much I appreciate the scientists. I mean, they don`t let their continual public humiliation ever get in the way of issuing ironclad consensus predictions on virtually any topic you choose. I mean, it is tough to pull something like that off with a straight face. You know, year after year after year, everything from hurricanes to global warming to the health benefits of eggs and then butter, eat butter, don`t eat butter, butter`s good, butter`s bad, you know, it`s just -- I mean, a lot of people would have a hard time believing some of the scientists, but not me. I say scientists, congratulations, this is your day to shine.

Now, we spend a lot of time on this program trying to figure out the best way to deal with Iran`s nuclear program. Well, never been able to find any easy answers until now. This is just genius. It is. All we have to do is just pretend that Iran doesn`t have a secret nuclear program. That way, we don`t have to do anything. I mean, it`s brilliant.

Actually, I want you to know I can`t take credit for that idea. I stole that idea from the U.N. Actually, the guy who oversees the International Atomic Energy Agency, he was on with Wolf Blitzer yesterday, and here`s what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL: We haven`t seen any concrete evidence to that effect, Wolf. We haven`t received any information that there is a parallel, ongoing, active nuclear weapon program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I assume, you know, when he says "information," you know, he means everything aside from their president openly calling for the Jews to -- what was it again? -- burn in the fires of the Islamic fury or operating centrifuge cascades that could easily be converted to weapons once they kick the inspectors out. But other than that, nothing.

Fortunately, the United States is not, at least yet, fully governed by the United Nations charter. We`re still allowed to make a few decisions on our own. And, you know, like I`ve been warning you now for over a year, the "Real Story" is it is becoming more and more likely that President Bush is going to act on Iran with force before the end of his term. This is not good news.

The latest evidence is, quote, "an urgent operational request from battlefield commanders for $88 million to retrofit a B-2 stealth bomber so they can carry our brand-new 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs." That request, by the way, is buried in a $190 billion emergency war spending bill. Kind of curious, really, when you think that, don`t we have complete air superiority in both Iraq and Afghanistan? Where`s the one place we don`t have it? I know: The one place where a combination of large bombs and stealth technology could come kind of in handy would be Iran.

Make no mistake. It doesn`t matter if the U.N. believes Iran has a secret nuclear program, because the U.S. and Israel do. We`ve learned lessons from World War II. We understand you must take people at their word. And that`s why, if the Iranian regime does not collapse on its own, then you can mark my words. You will not see the stealth planes in the skies over Iran, but you will see those bombs, whether the U.N. or anybody else likes it or not.

Anne Bayefsky, she is at the Hudson Institute. Tell me, Anne, who is the leader of -- this is the same guy who came out and said that Saddam Hussein doesn`t have weapons of mass destruction, and it turns out that he`s right, or he was.

ANNE BAYEFSKY, EYEONTHEUN.ORG: Well, this is Mohamed ElBaradei. I like to think of him as sort of the Tweedledum and Iran as the Tweedledee. The two of them spin each other off at the United Nations. Iran says, "Nothing happening here," and Mohamed ElBaradei says, "I ain`t seen anything." And...

BECK: Well, wait a minute. Hang on. This will add a lot of credibility to a lot of people. He won a Nobel Peace Prize, so he`s not a dummy. What evidence do you have that he is in bed with Iran?

BAYEFSKY: Well, winning a Nobel Peace Prize isn`t exactly evidence that you`re not a dummy.

BECK: No, I know.

BAYEFSKY: But let`s face it: 1,580 days ago, the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which Mohamed ElBaradei heads, decided that Iran wasn`t living up to its legal obligations under the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty. And since then, what do we have? Two Security Council resolutions calling on them to stop its enrichment activities.

This morning, ElBaradei spoke to the General Assembly and said, "Oops, actually, they aren`t -- they haven`t lived up to those obligations under the Security Council resolutions and they`re continuing their enrichment activities." So what`s his plan? His plan is to watch, talk, just keep the conversation going. And in the meantime, we really know that this is a code language for do nothing and watch them develop the bomb.

BECK: Anne, can you help me understand why people are not paying attention to Israel bombing a warehouse or some sort of a complex where we say that North Korea was helping them build a nuclear processing plant? Why is nobody paying attention to that? Why is there not more outrage in the Middle East? Why is there not more play here in America?

BAYEFSKY: Well, I guess if you dug too deep, you might find that actually they were pursuing nuclear weapons. We wouldn`t want to find that. And after all, Syria`s pretty isolated. Iran has more friends, like take Germany, for example. Germany has 160 major corporations doing business in Iran today.

If we were serious about diplomacy, if the Germans cared about Iran developing a bomb, then they would have bilateral sanctions, much stronger than they have. They wouldn`t wait around for the United Nations. So Iran has friends in high places.

BECK: OK. Anne, thanks a lot.

As far as the average American is concerned, WMDs will be the least of your problems if and when we attack Iran. While the rest of the media is busy talking about how the biggest threat to our economy is the housing slump, which is bad, the "Real Story" is that home prices and the U.S. dollar are falling, and the price of oil is rising fast. Not a good combination.

Oil futures recently traded at $93 a barrel. That`s today. It`s now a record. We`re closing in on an all-time inflation-adjusted high that was set back in early 1980. If you`re keeping score at home, that is now a 9 percent jump in prices since last Wednesday.

While most people will hear about oil prices and immediately think about how much it`s going to cost to fill up my new tank on the new car that I bought and probably couldn`t afford, the more pressing issue is your heating bill. If you use oil to heat your home this winter, you`re going to pay an average of nearly $1,800. That is a 22 percent jump from last year.

Unfortunately, for people who are already on the edge, that may be their tipping point. But the real question is: What`s the tipping point for the entire U.S. economy, an economy that has been built on a house of charge cards for years now?

Michael Panzner is the author of "Financial Armageddon," which, Michael, I mean, that sounds like a happy book. Let me ask you the question of, when does the price of oil futures actually impact us in a meaningful way at the gas pump and with the economy? What is that breaking point?

MICHAEL PANZNER, AUTHOR, "FINANCIAL ARMAGEDDON": Well, it`s hard to put an exact number on it. Clearly, psychologically, $100-a-barrel oil does have an effect. But I think it`s already filtering through now. I mean, there`s various reasons ascribed to the fact that the U.S. economy and the U.S. consumer are slowing down, but certainly it`s feeding through and affecting spending plans as we speak.

BECK: By the way, that last high that we`re now trying to beat was when Iran went to war with Iraq. So does this all sound a little too familiar? We have the falling dollar. The Fed is about to cut rates, which I talked to economists, and they say, OK, no, falling dollar, cutting rates, too many dollars chasing too few goods, really bad idea. Are we entering, are we circling in on the mistakes that we made in the 1970s?

PANZNER: I think in some respects we are. Clearly, all those imbalances that you referred to before are having an impact. The dollar is a response to the fact that we do borrow a lot of money from overseas.

But I think the real issue here today, and I think what we`re seeing - - what you referred to in the earlier part of the segment is the fact that suddenly there`s a whole other big risk entering the equation, geopolitical risk. We`ve got this prospect now of potentially having consumer confidence, business confidence, and really global confidence seriously dented by the prospect of uncertainty in the Mideast.

BECK: If you`re thinking about expanding your business in the next 12 months, I mean, this is the real problem. You know, once these companies start to lay off employees or not hire employees or not expand, then you`re in real trouble. If you are a small business owner and you were ready to expand your business, would you do it in the next 12 months?

PANZNER: I think you`d have to have some serious questions about that. You know, any kind of element of planning involves taking some kind of prudent measure of where you think things are headed. Well, now you`ve got a situation where, you know, currency markets are in upheaval, commodity markets are in a state of upheaval, and now you`ve got a situation where the prospect of war lurks. You`ve got the Russians making comments the other day suggesting that the crisis over a missile shield in Europe is something akin to the Cuban missile crisis. I mean, I think there are some issues here that are going to unsettle people.

BECK: OK. Michael, thanks a lot. That is "The Real Story" tonight.

Coming up, every year Halloween costumes for your kids geet sexier and sexier. Is it just the dad in me that`s noticing this? Find out all about it, next.

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BECK: John Edwards says, if he`s elected president of the United States, he`ll institute a New Deal-like suite of programs. So he said he`ll ask many Americans to make sacrifices, like paying higher taxes to the motherland!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Comrade, this guy`s fantastic. What country is this guy running for president?

BECK: President of the -- the motherland.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The western front?

BECK: The western front!

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BECK: Oh, that makes me so happy. Now, Halloween is almost here, and you know what that means. Well, first of all, it means that I will most likely eat my entire weight in Reese`s Peanut Butter Cups, which I believe needs to be done. And, second, there will be little girls running around the neighborhood in completely inappropriate outfits, I mean, costumes. Costumes.

Turns out it`s no longer cool to dress up like a witch or, you know, Casper the Friendly Ghost. No, no. Now you have to wear skirts as short as Paris Hilton and makeup and wigs like Britney Spears. Halloween is supposed to be about looking scary, and I don`t think it could be more true, because I can`t think of anything more frightening than to have grade-school girls dress up like they`re raunchy celebrity pop tarts.

What is wrong with the parents in America? Adrienne Anderson, she owns her own costume store, president of the National Costumers Association. And Sharon Fried Buchalter is a clinical psychologist and author of "Children Are People, Too."

Adrienne, you own a store. Tell me what you have seen change here in the last few years.

ADRIENNE ANDERSON, NATIONAL COSTUMERS ASSOCIATION: Well, the last few years we`ve seen young girls coming in, wanting to look like the celebrity pop stars that they see on television and in the films. And it`s not the older children or older teens. It`s the very young girls.

BECK: Like how old are you talking?

ANDERSON: Oh, I`m talking 11, 12, 13.

BECK: Great. Great. And you have like the Bratz dolls outfits?

ANDERSON: Yes.

BECK: And you have the rock star and the devil. These are -- I mean, these are prosti-tot outfits. I mean, I`ve seen one where an 11-year-old`s wearing fishnet stockings.

ANDERSON: Oh, yes. That`s very popular.

BECK: Is it?

Sharon, can you help me out on this one? How is it that our country can say that we are against child molestation and we`re trying to hunt down predators, and yet we dress our kids like this?

SHARON FRIED BUCHALTER, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, Glenn, you ask a very important question. Where are the parenting skills and the communication between the parents and the children? If they`re allowing their children to wear these costumes, what message are they sending to the children?

BECK: But they`ll all say the same thing. "Oh, gee, my kid knows the difference. It`s Halloween. It`s just one day out of the year that she can look like a whore."

BUCHALTER: Well, do they really know the difference? Have they really sat down with their child? And why is it important for that child to wear that costume? What are they hoping to achieve, get more attention from males? I mean, there may be a self-esteem issue here, a little deeper than we`re looking at.

BECK: Adrienne, let me ask you this question. You`re sitting there, and my theory is: Women don`t understand men. They just don`t get it because they`ve never been one. Generally speaking, do guys come in and buy these with their children, or do moms?

ANDERSON: No, I think it`s more the moms that are allowing this to happen.

BECK: Yes.

ANDERSON: Fathers that come in definitely don`t want their little girls dressing like pop stars.

BECK: So, Adrienne, can you help a woman understand that guys, generally speaking, have magnets in their eyes and, you know, anything that looks sexy, it`s like steel and you can`t look away from it? I mean, what is it that women don`t understand, that guys are driven visually? If I`m a 15-year-old and I see a 13-year-old that`s looking hot, I mean, what are we doing?

ANDERSON: Well, I think it`s a decline in the society, for one thing. Another thing, I think that mothers are just trying to promote something that they would like to do themselves a little bit.

BECK: Adrienne, does she have a point on, that that this is Mom wanting to do this as well?

ANDERSON: I think so.

BECK: I`m sorry, Sharon.

BUCHALTER: I agree with that completely. It`s so much so mothers are trying to look younger. There`s plastic surgery, and they`re trying to look sexier. And I think maybe they`re trying to live vicariously through their own teenage daughters and tweens.

BECK: Do you think that there is something to be said for the morphing of our -- you know, our kids, our teenagers want to be more adult- like. Our moms want to be more teenager-like. They`re starting to dress alike. They`re starting to hang out. They`re just being friends. I mean, there`s a blurring of the mom and daughter relationship that is new to us. Or is it -- am I just making that up in my own head?

BUCHALTER: Glenn, you`re absolutely right. I see a lot of these people in my practice. I see many young girls come in, and the mothers wanting to dress like teenagers, and the teenagers wanting, you know, to be friends with the mom, and there`s no boundaries. There`s no boundaries. The mother doesn`t even see that, when she goes into the store, to a costume store, she`s picking out an outfit that`s provoking men to come on to their daughter.

BECK: Adrienne, honest question. Do you ever get some mom with her daughter up at the counter of your store and just want to slap her across the face? I take that as a yes.

ANDERSON: Oh, of course, I do. But you don`t do that.

BECK: Of course not. Thanks a lot.

Coming up, New Jersey police arrested a man for having hundreds of thousands of pornographic images of children hidden away in a secret sex chamber so secure it had its own fingerprint identification system. This last story ties together to the last story of the program. It will creep you out. Details next.

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BECK: Well, Halloween is usually a time of harmless, scary fun, but last week in New Jersey they discovered a real-life house of horrors, and they were acting on a tip that a child was being molested. Authorities got there, and they investigated the home of Graham Hurley, and they could not believe what they found: an elaborate kiddie porn chamber with a 72-inch television, a network of hidden cameras, and hundreds of thousands of pornographic images of children, one of the largest collections ever seized. The chamber was even secured with a high-tech fingerprint I.D. system.

Now, pending this guy`s court appearance, Hurley is being held on a suicide watch, and I`m hoping that we`re not watching too closely. Ken Zisa is Hackensack, New Jersey, police chief.

Chief, the 13-year-old that you got the tip about, is there evidence that she was being molested and it is his stepdaughter?

CHIEF KEN ZISA, HACKENSACK POLICE DEPARTMENT: That`s correct. And he has been charged with criminal sexual contact in regard to that relationship.

BECK: OK. When you guys got into this house, one of the bedrooms had a fingerprint I.D. open the door. Did he just -- how did you get it open? Did you force him to open it up?

ZISA: He was cooperative with us in the beginning, and that`s how we gained entry into that room.

BECK: OK. And just describe a little bit of what you found.

ZISA: Well, the officers really had never seen anything like it. And, of course, very quickly they realized that something big was going on. There was computer equipment all over the place, the big monitor. There was a stage set up. The system he had was comparable to better than 20 home computer systems. So we contacted our prosecutor`s office, who sent over their forensic computer expert, and we were shocked at what we found.

BECK: And you found cameras all around the house to where his 13- year-old stepdaughter would have friends over and he would videotape them going to the bathroom and everything else, right?

ZISA: That`s correct.

BECK: How did the wife not know?

ZISA: Well, I don`t want to speculate on that. But, certainly, if you have a room in your home and there`s a double entry lock on it, it needed fingerprint I.D., as well as a combination that probably should have been a signal.

BECK: Daughter still with the mom? Is the daughter still with the mom?

ZISA: Yes.

BECK: Please tell me, Chief, that you`ve got this one buttoned down and this guy`s not going to go away, and he`s going to spend the rest of his life in prison?

ZISA: Well, right now with the charges he faces 184 years in jail. This will take several weeks for us to really get a handle on it. There probably will be more charges coming down the road.

BECK: OK. Chief, thank you very much.

Now, if you want the story of G.I. Joe now reporting to the U.N. instead of the Marines, sign up for my free daily newsletter at glennbeck.com. Do it right away. We`ll have more on that story tomorrow, as well.

From New York, good night.

END