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Glenn Beck

Barry Bonds Breaks Babe`s Record: Should We Care?; Is Cheating Chic?; Eating Together Important for Family, Kids

Aired May 30, 2006 - 19:00   ET

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

GLENN BECK, HOST: I`m going to level with you, America. Not really feeling well this day. I had a lot of ribs this weekend. My blood is really now more of a thick, zesty barbecue sauce than anything else. So, in order to make it through the show, I paid a visit to Barry Bonds` doctor. And, I`m going to be OK. You know? As long as my testicles don`t turn out to be raisins, it will be great.
Hope you`re rested and tan and had a great Memorial Day weekend. I had a good one. But here`s what I didn`t do, and that`s watch sports. I have never been into sports. Probably because I run, catch and throw a little like Rose Kennedy. It really is spooky.

But apparently, some big news happened in the baseball world Sunday when Barry Bonds hit his 715th home run, passing Babe Ruth`s all-time home run list. Yay!

Here`s the thing I really can`t figure out. When I was a kid, I used to love to read the Guinness World Record Book. Remember the fat guy that, you know, they buried in the piano case and everything else? I just cannot bring myself to care about this story.

And I think this is why. Let me show you a picture of Barry Bonds at the beginning of his career. OK? Now a picture of him today. Well, I mean, kind of like that. The guy can now literally lift a car with his teeth.

Does anyone else think that baseball is self-destructing? I mean, you know it`s not just baseball. It`s all of these sports. It takes a lot to get somebody to go to the ballpark, pay 12 bucks for a hot dog, or, in my case, about $48 for four hot dogs, see a bunch of rich whiners who are totally juiced run around the bases. I honestly would rather watch my parents make out. And I really don`t want to see that.

And like it or not, athletes are role models. Each time one of them sticks a needle in their butt, the real damage isn`t to them, to baseball. I mean, I don`t really care. It`s to the high school kid who thinks it`s OK to do the same thing just to make the wrestling team.

Claire Smith, she is the assistant sports editor for the "Philadelphia Inquirer".

Claire, I know nothing about sports. So you may have to talk down to me here for a second.

CLAIRE SMITH, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR, "PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER": That`s OK. Go ahead.

BECK: But I do know that my physical performance really didn`t improve when I hit 35 the way Barry`s did. Did you think he got a little help from friends?

SMITH: I think the entire sport got help from friends. And if everyone from the commissioner on down denies that, then I don`t think they`re telling the truth. The whole sport was juicing. We were all juicing on the home run craze. Everybody was in love with the home run.

BECK: Does anybody -- right. Does anybody really care about Barry Bonds and this record? I mean, it doesn`t -- to me it doesn`t mean anything, because it`s bogus. I mean, so OK, you use drugs to enhance your performance. And I`m impressed why, exactly?

SMITH: Well, apparently you can charge us $4 for gas. You can -- you can tap our phones but you can`t mess with Babe Ruth. That`s the lesson I took from this, yes.

BECK: So you don`t think -- let me ask you a different way. Do you think people are going to ever get sick of this stuff and just stop going? I mean, you know, it`s like with Terrell Owens. Shut up. You`re a millionaire. Shut up and play the game.

Is there a point when we`re going to say, all right, enough? They`re making millions of dollars and they`re complaining. They`re whiners. They`re not good role models. When did it stop becoming about the game?

SMITH: Well, you know what? Baseball in the last few years it`s attendance is just jumping. It`s breaking all kinds of records. People are fantasizing about baseball in their fantasy leagues.

BECK: Right.

SMITH: They`re going for Barry. They`re guaranteed drafting him for the...

BECK: Yes, but fantasy league is the, you know...

SMITH: They`re paying to see him. They`re paying to boo him. They`re still paying. That`s the bottom line.

BECK: Isn`t this the same scenario -- really -- I mean, isn`t Barry Bonds Ken Lay, just in sports? I mean, just do whatever you have to do to win.

SMITH: That`s what this country apparently is about. And you know what? Getting back to the kids, if we`re counting on Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, whatever dead rapper is in the news this week...

BECK: Right.

SMITH: ... to teach our kids about honesty and integrity, we lost already. That war is over. We lost them.

BECK: But you know, they are role models. I mean, I love these -- I love these sports guys who say, "I didn`t get into this to be a role model." Really? Tell me about the guys you watched and you sat and watched on television, said, "Some day I want to be like that guy."

Let me ask you this about Danny Glover. Have you seen what Danny Glover said about Barry Bonds?

SMITH: It`s a race thing. It`s the third rail in the United States, race, yes.

BECK: Do you think it has anything to do with race?

SMITH: I`m going to give the entire country the benefit of the doubt. If this was Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa, I`d like to think if they had the unmitigated goal to last -- outlast their injuries and be able to perform in the postmodern steroid era, we`d still be as outraged.

BECK: I`ve got to tell you...

SMITH: Barry had the -- he had the temerity to stick around and get close to Babe and Hank.

BECK: I have to tell you that I think that -- I mean, I was into the McGwire run. But you know what? Now that everybody suspects he was juicing, I could care less about the record. I feel exactly the same way.

Claire, thank you very much. Appreciate your time

SMITH: Thanks a million.

BECK: You bet.

SMITH: Take care.

BECK: Well, you know, sadly, cheating isn`t just limited to the world of sports. It`s everywhere. It`s in Washington. It`s in show business. I mean, how do you think I got this job, honestly? Cheating on your tax returns. Cheating seems to be very chic in `06.

Bruce Weinstein, he`s the author of "Life Principles: Feeling Good by Doing Good". Love the name of the book. He`s known as "the ethics guy."

Has cheating always been a part of life? Or is it -- I mean, is this a new thing? Is it more popular nowadays?

BRUCE WEINSTEIN, AUTHOR, "LIFE PRINCIPLES": You know, Glenn, human nature has not changed in thousands of years. Even though we often say that the previous, the younger generation is screwing up, if you look at Plato`s "Republic"...

BECK: Yes.

WEINSTEIN: ...written several thousands of years ago, on the third page, you have an elderly character complaining about the youth of today. So this may just be something that older people like to complain about and yet...

BECK: Go ahead. And yet?

WEINSTEIN: There`s something that is new about our society, namely the speed with which we communicate with one another. And, you know, with the pressure not just in sports but let`s say in journalism, I mean, the whole thing with Dan Rather last year was a result to a large degree because of the pressure to get ratings and to be No. 1 and to be the first to call the election, let`s say. So this is what is giving rise, to some degree, to this problematic behavior.

BECK: A couple of years ago I was flying out to California, and I was reading Peter Singer`s book which Peter Singer -- I want to hang myself when I read Peter Singer -- but I was reading his book on ethics, and my daughter said to me, she said, "What are you reading, Dad?"

I said, "Ethics."

And she said, "What are ethics?"

And I said, "Well, you know, it`s like would you kill a bunny rabbit if you could cure somebody from cancer?"

And she said, "Yes."

And I said, "OK, would you kill every bunny rabbit if you could cure cancer?"

And she sat there for about five minutes thinking about it. And she just looked at me and all she said was, "Wow. Dad, ethics suck." And she`s right.

And I think that is the way all society feels about ethics right now. It just sucks. I don`t even want to think about it, especially when I can make a buck right now.

WEINSTEIN: The problem, though, is that, if you think about it in the long run, we personally benefit by taking the high road and doing the right thing. And conversely, when we take the low road, like Ken Lay or Jeffrey Skilling and you know, we`re sent to prison, sent to the big house for our wrongful conduct, that`s the worst possible P.R., if you will that we could bring upon ourselves.

BECK: When are people going to catch on that the easy way is not necessarily the good way? I mean, it seems -- you take Martha Stewart, everybody else. Sure you can make more money right now, but if you do it right the way, you make more money for a longer period of time.

WEINSTEIN: Well, you know, with George Santayana said, those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

BECK: I love George.

WEINSTEIN: We ignore these moral lessons at our peril. I`d like to ask you, why do you think "The Sopranos" and "Goodfellas" and "The Godfather" and "Scarface" are so popular?

BECK: I think...

WEINSTEIN: Why do you say that -- think that they`re so popular?

BECK: I think they`re popular because people get to take -- take things into their own hands. They don`t have to sit around and wait for a system that many times people perceive as broken.

WEINSTEIN: Well, that`s part of it. But I`d like to think that in their own way these films and TV shows teach important moral lessons, moral lessons that we have to remind ourselves.

And you know, if you look at "The Sopranos", this is the sixth season. Every single character, and I do mean every single one, is worse off than they were at the beginning of the run. And so, if you -- if we ignore these...

BECK: Well...

WEINSTEIN: ... these lessons at our peril.

BECK: Except for the guy with the pool stick where the sun doesn`t shine.

Bruce, thanks a lot. I appreciate your time.

WEINSTEIN: Thanks Glenn.

BECK: You bet. Bye-bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Sometimes sex needs to be hot but other times, there is nothing more beautiful than making love to your wife. I believe about half of the audience just scurried for a garbage can. I understand. If you need to vomit, you can vomit. I get it. Am I wrong or is it just that it`s coming out of my mouth that makes it so...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you wrong that everyone is scurrying for a garbage can? Absolutely not. You said a lot of things I don`t agree with Glenn, but you are on the money on that one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: All right. Between my radio show, the TV show, my magazine, stage show, blah, blah, blah and, of course, my Tai Chi classes, I`m a very busy man. And I`m trying really hard to find balance in my life. I really try hard to find time to sit down and have dinner with my family. It is tough. And I think most Americans are struggling with that.

Which leads me to the question, is the sacred tradition of the family dinner slowly slipping away from us?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK (voice-over): Family dinner? I mean, who`s got time? We`re busy people. I mean, between work, school, homework, soccer, cheerleading, chess club, Tae Kwon Do, yoga, book club. Man. We barely have enough time to chew our food, let alone eat it together as a family.

But that doesn`t stop us from trying. Some families are good at getting everybody to sit down to dinner. Others, eh, not so good.

Meet the Stell family. Well, actually some of the Stell family. Supper at the Stells seems less like a family dinner and more, well, like a pit stop at Daytona.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So hurry and up and eat. Come on. We`ve got to go.

If we`re lucky we`ll have 20 minutes between time. I hope that they`ve gotten their homework done.

All right. We`re going to pack this up for Daddy, so when he comes home, he can make a plate and eat alone.

BECK: Can you say indigestion?

Meanwhile, just across the street is the Dempsey family. What a difference 30 yards can make.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all kind of merge back here around 7 o`clock- ish. And have dinner and try and catch up with each other to find out what everyone`s been doing, and all of the things that I have to yell at them for. Did you do your homework? Did you do your book report, you know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s tough spending time together. I don`t get home until later in the evening. And of course, they`re very hungry by then. And...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No kidding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we do the best we can.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`d say four out of seven nights we wait for him to come home.

BECK: Now the Dempseys aren`t any less busy than most families.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mondays through Thursdays I usually have dance or volley ball practice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Varsity dance team, sports night, volleyball.

BECK: But for some families, just getting dinner together can seem like a monumental task. If only there was some way to take the brainwork out of making dinner. Hmm. What do we have here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Super Suppers is an assembly kitchen where you come and assemble meals for your family.

BECK: They do the shopping, the chopping and the cleaning. You just assemble a couple of week`s worth of meals and pop them into the oven. Easy, right?

But of course, it takes more than a week`s worth of precooked meals to get families around the table. So why are some households able to sit down to dinner and not others? It`s actually quite simple. They make it a point to do so.

Today, only about half of families in the United States have dinner together on a regular basis. And a recent study by Columbia University found that teens who have dinners with their families at least five times a week are less likely to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or try marijuana. And these same kids also perform better at school. And, there`s also the added bonus of knowing your kids and strengthening family bonds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think there`s any other way of keeping your family close to you than sitting down together and spending time, and the best time to do it is meal time. Because other than that, with school and work and all this, you`re just forcibly going to be apart from each other.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I find out so much more between salad and dinner than I would, you know, if I sat down and said, "So tell me." I think when you`re eating and you`re relaxed and if they like it. And let`s say all of a sudden one of their favorite meals, I don`t want to eat this. Well, now I know something is bothering them. You get a read of the kids.

And they`re away from their friends at that time. They don`t have to act anyway. They don`t have to be cool. They don`t have to be cute. They, you know, their true colors come out.

BECK: And after all, isn`t that the whole point?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, she is a behavioral therapist who`s studied the impact on family meals and the impact that it has on children and adolescents.

Dianne, a lot of people can watch a piece like that and start to feel a little guilty and oh, jeez, man. Here they go again. What is the real impact? What`s the most interesting thing you discovered?

DIANNE NEUMARK-SZTAINER, BEHAVIORAL THERAPIST: Well, I think you`re right. I think some families will watch that clip and feel very guilty and very anxious. And others feel very good about what they`re doing with their families.

And our research has shown that family meals really do make a difference in the lives of teens. And I really like to encourage parents to make family meals a priority. But at the same time, be realistic about what can happen, what they can do, to avoid feeling that anxiety.

BECK: Right. Does it matter if Mom or Dad cook? I mean, can it just be pizza?

NEUMARK-SZTAINER: Well, I think sometimes it can just be pizza and sometimes you want to have different kinds of food.

BECK: What I`m saying is does the matter if -- is the cooking process, you know -- or if you`re really busy, can you just pull something out of the freezer and just make it? Is it the actual sitting down with each other the important part?

NEUMARK-SZTAINER: I think there are two pieces here. There`s the connectedness, what happens at a family meal, the opportunity to see what`s going on in your teenagers` lives, to pick up at any problems that -- that are happening before they become serious problems. And for that, it doesn`t matter so much what you`re eating.

But in terms of nutrition value, then it is important what you`re eating. You want to have some kind of vegetable, some kind of protein.

BECK: Well, I mean, we`re not going to feed our kids Cheetos. Let me ask you this.

NEUMARK-SZTAINER: Exactly. And I agree with you that -- the main thing that we want to do, you know, is to get people to sit down at a meal together. Usually, teenagers are going to eat healthier when they eat with their families than when they eat on their own.

BECK: You said -- you said that you found a connection -- I found it really interesting. The family that we just -- the two families who we profiled, one of them had a hard time sitting down and at the table and it didn`t mean anything. And that was the family, the Stell family were the ones sitting at bar stools, not around a table. And your research shows there`s a huge difference.

NEUMARK-SZTAINER: Well, that actually was not based on my research. That was based on an article that came out in "The Boston Globe". Our research looked at whether or not families ate together. And when families eat together, children are less likely to use substances, they have higher grades in school, they engage in fewer eating disordered behaviors, and they eat healthier diets. I don`t know if it makes a difference if they`re sitting around a table or sitting at a stool.

What we found is that there`s a huge difference in what families look like. Some families are eating together and having a conversation with the candle lit. Some are eating together and there may be a television on in the background.

The most disturbing situation is when teenagers are not eating with their families, and they`re eating in their bedrooms with the television.

BECK: Yes. Let me ask you this because, you know, some of the things that I`ve done made changes in my family and, you know, one of them is like the, you know, we honor the Sabbath on Sundays and it really made a difference. They hated it at first.

Real quick. We only have about 20 seconds. Your kids may hate it, but you really feel that this is going to make a significant difference in your family?

NEUMARK-SZTAINER: I also don`t think -- I think it will make a significant difference, and I think your children will love it. It will take a little bit, but we eat together. We eat together Friday nights, and my children look forward to that time. I encourage parents to think about it and don`t think your children are going to hate this.

BECK: Got it. You know, I found the same thing on Sundays with my kids. They didn`t like it at first, but then we -- they love it now. Dianne, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Bye-bye.

NEUMARK-SZTAINER: You`re welcome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. Time to check out the buzz in Houston, Texas, with Pat Gray, radio host 950 KPRC. Pat, long weekend. Down in Texas I would imagine the topics were barbecue, immigration and Enron.

PAT GRAY, RADIO HOST: Enron like crazy. Yes, Enron is almost as hot for us as global warming.

BECK: All right. Is anybody even talking about Enron out in Houston?

GRAY: No. We talked about it for maybe a day. Really, half a day.

BECK: Yes. You just don`t care. You hate mongers down there.

GRAY: Just don`t care.

BECK: What is the -- what is the big topic?

GRAY: Well, we spent the week last week talking about Congressman Ted Poe, Second Congressional District and his comments on the House floor.

BECK: This is not -- this is something that people really need to listen to. I haven`t heard these comments everywhere. Listen up. Let`s play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TED POE, TEXAS: Mr. Speaker, the United States is under attack. And like December 7, 1941, we are asleep on a Sunday morning. We are being invaded, we are being colonized. And there are insurgents from the nation of Mexico and their allies further south.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Holy cow. I mean, this guy is -- have you heard anybody say anything like that?

GRAY: No. I haven`t. And I had him on the show last week. I told him, "Congressman Poe, I can`t believe you said that."

And he said, "Why not? It`s the truth."

BECK: I mean, when you -- hang on a second. When you think of insurgents, when you think of invasion, you don`t necessarily think of the people who are coming across the border to get a job at a palette place in Houston.

GRAY: Well, you do when there`s 20 million of them. You know?

BECK: Well, I -- because we have 20 million jobs for them and free healthcare.

GRAY: It`s maybe some place between that and what Tony Snow said last week. On Friday, when he compared illegal immigration to getting a speeding ticket. And once you paid the speeding ticket, why, you`re no longer a speeder.

BECK: Hang on just a second. I can`t believe -- I mean, Pat, you and I have been friends forever. I know you. You`re -- I mean, you are a hate monger. You hate all colors other than white or is -- have you -- I mean, I got a -- I know I got a tan this weekend. I was out in the sun. Do you hate me more than you did...

GRAY: Yes, I do.

BECK: That`s what I thought. You and I go back a long time. I know -- I know your heart and know you as a person. However, when you say, you know, you agree with invasion I kind of can see the point here. I think when you watch these -- when you watch these rallies where they`re holding up signs that say, "This is our country." I`m with you.

GRAY: Right.

BECK: When you go into Tony Snow, really, what did he say that was so wrong? Tony Snow is right. We treat it like it`s a speeding ticket.

GRAY: Well, to me, it`s a little more serious than that. And I think the problem`s a little bit bigger than that. We kind of kicked around an analogy on the air this morning.

It`s like showing up at a crowded movie theater where there`s 200 people, and half of the movie theater audience sneaked into the show. And then, maybe 30 minutes into the movie, the usher comes in and says, "Hey, everybody who saw the first, um, we know that half of you sneaked into the theater, but everybody who saw the first half an hour of the movie, we`re going to just let you stay and watch the entire movie." And because...

BECK: But that`s not -- you know what? That`s not necessarily a problem for the people in the theater. That`s a problem with the theater itself. I think Tony Snow can say it`s akin to a parking ticket because that`s the way we take it right now.

Pat, I`ve to run. But I`ve got to tell you, I wonder if you`d have this same attitude if there were a bunch of Swedish super models coming over and building IKEAs.

GRAY: yes, I would.

BECK: I know you would. Thanks a lot, Pat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right, it was a tough weekend in Iraq. And I hope you paused for at least a minute to honor our troops yesterday, really remember them.

I hope also that you didn`t let the news of the investigation into the alleged massacre of two dozen Iraqi civilians at Haditha color your appreciation for their sacrifice.

You know, our soldiers aren`t saints. They`re really just a reflection of us; they`re part of us; and none of us are perfect.

If it turns out that a couple of Marines lost it in a Sunni stronghold northwest of Baghdad and killed innocent civilians, they`re going to face criminal charges, as they should. The key word here is "if."

But not to Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha. What a nightmare this guy is! This is what he said when the story first broke. Are you ready?

"There was no firefight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Wow. You know, when Abu Ghraib, that story first broke, I was one of the only conservatives on talk radio to take a stand against what happened. I didn`t say that it was, you know, some sort of a college festival. I hammered the troops that were involved on that, and I was hammered in return by my listeners for it.

And what I said at the time was, "If they did it, there is no excuse." But I also said at the time we shouldn`t jump to any conclusions. First, let`s find out the facts.

It`s because I`m a big supporter of our troops -- 99.99 percent of whom are fighting every day with honor and dignity and courage -- that, if this happened, it`s an embarrassment and an abomination, and I will personally be at the foot of their cross with the nails and drive them into it if they did it. But, please, let`s first find out if it really happened.

Retired Brigadier General David Grange, he served our country for 30 years as an Army ranger. He`s a Green Beret, member of Delta Force, and finally commanding general of the Big Red One. That`s the First Infantry Division.

General, what do you think? What`s your gut tell you on this?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think two points you brought up are very significant. One is we don`t if they`re guilty. And you need to let the justice system work, the military justice system produce the results before we prejudge these Marines.

The other piece is 99 percent, if not more, aren`t involved in these type of things anyway. I mean, the majority of troopers do good things; this is the most respectful Army in the world.

BECK: I just saw a story on the news -- I think actually it might have been in that HBO documentary, where a bunch of our soldiers shot up, and all they were doing was handing out candy to children. How come that never gets any publicity?

GRANGE: Well, either does opening schools, and soccer fields, and these other types of things. You know, just like if the highway traffic goes well on the interstate all day long, no one`s going to report on that. They`re only going to report if a school bus crashes and a lot of kids are hurt.

BECK: If I read...

GRANGE: And it`s not the thing you report.

BECK: Right. If I read another editorial on this saying, "This is another, you know, Vietnam, here it is, we`re starting again," and I see us go down this same road that we went down in Vietnam, I`m going to lose my mind.

What does this do to the morale of our troops who are over there doing good, and then to have somebody like Murtha come out and say, "You know, they`re just fatigued, but they killed people in cold blood"?

GRANGE: Well, this is not another Vietnam. And it`s all going to rely on the will of the American people to finish this mission that we`re on, and that depends on balanced media coverage.

And if you make comments out of the box before, again, the investigation`s complete or you just report the foreign blood -- you know, if it burns, it leads -- then that`s the kind of attitude the American people are going to have. You must have a balanced reporting.

BECK: You know, he said -- and it`s so interesting that he said, you know, our troops are under stress, et cetera, et cetera, and, you know, they killed people, you know, in cold blood. It really intrigues me that he can put an umbrella over all of our troops and try to make them all look like they were involved in something as horrific as this.

I can`t imagine what this will do to our troops, if this did happen. I mean, I got to believe that the troops were as outraged by Abu Ghraib as we were.

GRANGE: More so. I mean, this really bothers professional soldiers, Marines more than anything else. It bothers me as a veteran, one that`s retired. And that`s what really gets the morale down on these soldiers overseas more than anything, more than resources, more than getting hot food at night, is the comments made at home negative to their mission accomplishment.

BECK: Isn`t it really akin to the way prisoners feel about child molesters in prison? You know, they get into prison and the rest of those prisoners just want to tear them apart. I would think that, if I were a soldier and somebody was, you know, just a psycho, I`d go crazy on that person. I just want that person away for all time, as a soldier.

GRANGE: Well, that`s exactly right. And part of the issue is you have all of these good things that are being done: providing freedom, providing quality of life, providing service, soldiers going out of their way to protect civilians on a battlefield.

Yet you have a very small percentage that sometimes abuses that. It`s not correct. We don`t condone it, but what it does, it discredits all the good work that`s been done prior to that.

BECK: If you had John Murtha sitting in front of you -- I mean, I`ve got a lot I`d like to say to him. If you had him sitting in front of you one on one, what would you say to him?

GRANGE: Well, first of all, I would say, having been a commanding general of an infantry division, having general court-martial authority that goes with that rank, you never prejudge a soldier accused of something until once the system -- the judicial system went its course. You just don`t do that. And I think it`s wrong.

And a second thing I would ask would be, "I`m hoping that you`re not pushing this prejudgment because it supports the withdrawal of troops early from Iraq."

BECK: Yes. I don`t know how we could possibly get into a situation, General, where we would pull our troops out, tell people, "Hey, this is worth dying for; this is worth killing people," and then, halfway through, change our mind and say, "Oh, by the way, you know, we`ve changed our mind. It really wasn`t worth dying for, and it really wasn`t worth killing people."

I think we do the kind of damage that we did in Vietnam. General, thank you so much. I appreciate your time and your service, sir.

GRANGE: My pleasure.

BECK: You bet.

All right. Let`s go "Straight to Hill" now, Erica Hill. She is the anchor of "PRIME NEWS" on Headline News.

Hello, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, Glenn.

BECK: Oh, I don`t know about you, but I had all kinds of decorations up this weekend for Brangelina`s baby.

HILL: You`re pretty excited. Did you do it for Gwen Stefani`s baby, too, I mean...

BECK: Oh, really? Yes, we`ll be celebrating that maybe tonight.

HILL: OK, good. I`m glad to know you`re celebrating all of them.

And, you know, we`re going to lighten things up a little now with some of the news, starting off with your favorite story from the weekend, the birth, of course, of Brangelina`s baby. And now we`re learning, to celebrate the birth of their daughter, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are donating more than $300,000 to help kids in Namibia. That`s, of course, where little Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt was born on Saturday.

BECK: You know, here`s how uninformed I am. What`s the name of this country again?

HILL: Namibia?

BECK: I thought it was Nambia. I didn`t even know there was a country named Namibia.

HILL: Am I going to get in trouble now?

BECK: No, I didn`t even know.

HILL: Why don`t we just talk about the money they`re donating, OK?

BECK: Right, oh, OK. Donating money, yes.

HILL: Just in case. OK, $300,000 is going to go to two hospitals in impoverished areas of the country. Another $15,000 is going to be used for school and a community center.

BECK: Oh, that`s really -- you know, that`s nice of them.

HILL: It is.

BECK: You know, congratulations. I will tell you, when I heard that she has a c-section, I don`t know if that`s true or she just had a tummy tuck, but when I heard that she had a c-section...

HILL: I hadn`t heard that. I don`t know.

BECK: Well, that`s what I heard.

HILL: I heard Gwen Stefani did. I don`t know.

BECK: The last place I want her to have any kind of surgery done is in "Nanibia"?

HILL: Now, see, how can you say that, since you don`t even know where it is?

BECK: Well, you`re right.

HILL: Then you don`t know anything about it.

BECK: No, when I think of health care, I think, "Let`s go right straight to Africa." Next story, please.

(LAUGHTER)

HILL: All right. Moving on, from the world`s sexiest couple now, to sexual desire. I love it when you hand me these stories, by the way.

It turns out it`s all in the genes. We`re talking the biological kind. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem say sexual desire or a lack thereof, likely genetic, not psychological.

BECK: There you go.

HILL: There you go. And they say, if that`s the case, they say that drugs could be used to maybe alter someone`s sexual desire.

BECK: There`s all kinds of slipping into new genes or slipping out of genes jokes, but I`m going to let you work on that on your own time.

HILL: OK, yes, I`m going to leave those alone.

BECK: OK, good.

HILL: OK, let`s leave all the sex behind for now, shall we?

BECK: Yes.

HILL: OK. This one -- I have to tell you, I saw this in the paper this morning and I thought, "You`ve got to be kidding me. This is terrible." Turns out pollution and poison ivy, very good buddies.

BECK: Hmm.

HILL: Yes, the itch-inducing plant is expected to get bigger, grow bigger, more painful, as carbon dioxide levels rise. According to researchers at Duke and Harvard...

BECK: Damn that Buick!

HILL: Nice work. We`ll blame it all on you. Actually, it`s the CO2. It`s the carbon dioxide in the air. When there are larger levels of it, poison ivy grows three times larger and produces more of the chemical that causes skin rashes.

BECK: Oh, my gosh. You know, I`ve got to tell you...

HILL: There goes your summer.

BECK: ... I`m reading Michael Crichton`s new book. And I`ve got to tell you: Sure, I know it`s "The Da Vinci Code" of, you know, global warming, but it`s just -- I`m taking a look at global warming in a whole, new light. I`m actually going to talk a little bit about this tomorrow on the radio program. And then I`m going to go see the Al Gore movie and I`m...

HILL: I was going to say, next thing you know you`ll have Al Gore on your show.

BECK: No, no, no. I`m going to the other direction, unfortunately.

HILL: Hell will freeze over.

BECK: Thanks a lot. Appreciate it, Erica. See you tomorrow.

HILL: See you tomorrow.

BECK: Bye-bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: You know, many men have a problem every year on their birthday that their wife will give them a gift that she thinks is good for them instead of the one that they want. I never have that problem. Tania, honey, I love that gift you give me every year.

Jim, on tonight`s episode of "According to Jim," has the same thing. The big difference is here -- let`s just say, between Jim and me, his character is a fictional character and a guy`s guy. I`m real and a wimp.

Jim Belushi is the star of the ABC sitcom "According to Jim." Not only will he back for a sixth season...

JIM BELUSHI, COMEDIAN: Sixth.

BECK: But he`s out with a new book which honestly, Jim, makes me feel even worse about myself. It`s "Real Men Don`t Apologize." And, you know, I`m finding myself always apologizing.

BELUSHI: Yes, you shouldn`t be apologizing, Glenn. I mean, it started off, really, this interview apologizing for that pink shirt that you`re wearing, all right?

BECK: It`s fuchsia, all right?

BELUSHI: Oh, is it fuchsia? Apologize for actually knowing the word "fuchsia," OK?

BECK: All right.

BELUSHI: Or periwinkle blue.

BECK: Sure. Oh, you like the sweater, too. Yes, you like the sweater, too. So tell me about the book. When should guys apologize?

BELUSHI: Well, you know, it`s really kind of a tongue-in-cheek self- help book, but it has an extension of a lot of the attitudes in "According to Jim," where, you know, there`s a real man and there`s a real woman, opposed to a moron as a man and a woman who`s mean.

BECK: Sure, sure.

BELUSHI: And I mean never apologize for being a man. I mean, you should apologize for things that obviously are -- if you create a victim situation or verbal abuse or all that stuff. I mean, this is kind of a...

BECK: Look at you. You are so...

BELUSHI: Well, I don`t want anyone to...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: You`re afraid you`re going to have to apologize. You`re playing the P.C. game.

BELUSHI: No, no, I just don`t want women to -- some women are saying, "What do you mean, real men don`t apologize?" But when they read the book, they actually love it, because it really does honor women and it tells men how to man up a little bit for these women.

BECK: What a load of crap this is.

BELUSHI: That is not crap.

BECK: That is total crap.

BELUSHI: You haven`t read the book.

BECK: You know it, and I know it.

BELUSHI: It does honor women. It has great respect for the power that women have and that we have to really kind of have some strength and have some backbone.

BECK: I think I`m more of a guy than you are.

BELUSHI: You? What?

BECK: I think I`m more of a guy than you are.

BELUSHI: You know what? Did you even take the quiz in the book, Glenn?

BECK: No, I didn`t take the quiz.

BELUSHI: Well, you know what? I`m going to look through this fine CNN library and see if I can find it.

BECK: Oh, I wonder -- oh, my gosh.

BELUSHI: Well, look at this. "Real Men Don`t Apologize" in your library.

BECK: Who would have guessed that? It`s crazy.

BELUSHI: It`s great. CNN has a fine library, fine publications. I`ll read a little quiz for you out of the book.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: Yes.

BELUSHI: OK. Here. Answer this, Glenn.

BECK: Yes.

BELUSHI: Your friend and his wife are having a baby boy. She wants to name him Tanner.

BECK: Tanner.

BELUSHI: You: a, ask him if he needs to borrow a testicle until his wife lets him have his back; congratulate him; buy the boy books on choreography and fashion design; nod sadly and suggest some nicknames for the kid, Spike, Nails and Bronco should be among them; slap your friend and tell him he`s a father, his job is to raise the boy to be a man. Tanner as a last name is fine. Tanner as a job is fine. Tanner as a first name sucks.

BECK: All right. How good is the friend?

(LAUGHTER)

If it was a good friend, I`d go with the first one. Grow a set.

BELUSHI: There you go.

BECK: Yes.

BELUSHI: Good answer. That`s a good answer. That`s actually the answer.

BECK: See, there you go. Is that the answer?

BELUSHI: See, you passed the first real man test.

BECK: I`ve got the Jim Belushi seal of approval that I`m a real man. Let me just change gears here, and I`d like to welcome America to Hi, Alcoholics, Corner. I`m an alcoholic. I mean, just, whew, in recovery currently.

BELUSHI: Yes.

BECK: And, you are -- I mean, let`s just -- I`ll tell you what. Can we just -- let`s just use first names here, so we don`t blow anybody`s anonymity.

BELUSHI: Yes.

BECK: But you were -- you had a problem for a long time.

BELUSHI: No, not at all.

BECK: No?

(LAUGHTER)

BELUSHI: I don`t know where you`re seeing that. What are you talking about?

BECK: What happened? When was your low point? When did you say, "I got to turn it around"?

BELUSHI: After the second divorce. I finally decided that, you know what, the first one was her fault, and then the second one is my fault. So what`s really going on here with me and women and relationships?

BECK: Right.

BELUSHI: And I spent the last 10, 15 years just searching for -- doing some self-search and just searching for answers of who I am as a man and how I am in relation to women and the community around me.

And a lot of the attitudes that I`ve discovered through the men`s readings that I`ve done or men`s groups that I`ve been involved with or all different kinds of organizations, I`ve put a lot of those attitudes in "According to Jim," and discovered some very funny differences between men and women. And...

BECK: Like what? What have you found? It`s...

BELUSHI: Well, I find that women...

BECK: It`s based in reality.

BELUSHI: Well, I find that women are -- look, I asked one guy. He was married 50 years. I said, "How did you do it?" He said, look, he said, "I let my wife make all the little decisions and I make all the big decisions." And I said, "What do you mean little decisions?" He goes, "You know, little decisions, like where we`re going to live, how many children we`re going to have, what kind of car we`re going to drive, who`s going to spend the money."

And I said, "Well, what are the big decisions that you make?" And he says, well, the big decisions like whether we should let China into the U.N. You know, are the Cubs really going to pull it out this summer? So, I mean, the differences between men and women, the capabilities of women are so massive and men are just kind of single-focused.

BECK: I will tell you that I find any guy who says that, you know, "Hey, I wear the pants around the house. I`m the wearer of the pants in the family," they`re liars, out and out liars.

BELUSHI: Well, I think that women should at least give the illusion that men are wearing the pants in the family.

BECK: No, no, I appreciate that. But you know what? But it is. If you really have it down with a relationship, you know that, if she`s happy, you`re happy. If she`s miserable, you`re miserable. I don`t know if it works the same way with women. But as a guy who...

BELUSHI: Yes, but how do you make a woman happy? How do you keep her happy? That`s what some of the tips in the book are.

BECK: Jewelry.

BELUSHI: Jewelry is the first answer.

BECK: I found jewelry. You got another one? You have more answers than one?

BELUSHI: Well...

BECK: Are they less expensive?

BELUSHI: Well, shoes. You can come down a little bit, shoes. I mean, women love shoes because, for the rest of their lives, from the ankle down, they will always look like Cindy Crawford. That`s why they like shoes.

BECK: Oh, that`s beautiful. Best of luck to you on your TV show.

BELUSHI: Thanks.

BECK: It`s fabulous. I mean, I had respect for people who had TV shows, and then I realized they give them out like candy. I`ve got one.

BELUSHI: Yes, you`ve got one. But if you`re getting to have one with a pink, fuchsia pink shirt, then anybody can have one.

BECK: All right. All right. Thanks a lot. Best of luck to you.

BELUSHI: Thanks for your support.

BECK: You bet. Bye-bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: I mean, OK, I did play hooky from the radio show today and I got a lot of mail about it. "Hey, Glenn, where were you on the radio show today? Too many root beers on Memorial Day? Is everything OK? Brent, in South Jersey."

Brent, yes, everything is OK. I took a fun, little trip to the hospital last night at about 11:00, and, you know, I don`t want to bore you with my medical chart, but, rest assured -- or for many of you my apologies -- I`m still alive.

You know, I didn`t get out of there until about 3:00 in the morning, so I would have been a complete waste on the radio today, which really wouldn`t have been much different than most days. But my potential death didn`t stop insiders on the message boards at GlennBeck.com from starting a thread called "What`s Wrong with Glenn? New rampant speculation."

Their ideas? One, my head exploded due to the immigration debate. Two, I was trying to teach my son, Raphe, baseball and took one too many in the, quote, "mommy and daddy button." Subtle, guys. And, of course, I missed the radio show because of a pudding explosion.

Thanks, no, seriously, for your insincere concern. And, you know, coming off that eat-a-thon that is Memorial Day, there were also lots of e- mails on our Scared Skinny Program, where you set a goal for your weight loss, send us an embarrassing photo of yourself. Then, if you miss your goal, we show the pics on national TV, on our Web site, and "Fusion" magazine.

I thought we were providing a service, but Katherine writes in, "Hi, I was just interested in what exactly you`re going to do with that new competition, Scared Skinny. It would seem that you thought that you actually believed these things."

And let me take them one by one. "First one, fat people don`t receive adequate humiliation for looking different." I`m not forcing anybody to be involved, you know? People are able to choose whether they think the fear of humiliation is helpful or hurtful.

"Two, shaming will result in permanent weight loss." Well, I mean, you know, try to get them to lose weight, whether it`s permanent or not, is up to the individual.

Three, "Diets work if you try hard enough and ridicule is a great incentive." Well, we`ll see if ridicule is a great incentive. And that`s the purpose of the contest. And, yes, diets do work, if you try hard enough. In fact, that`s the only way diets do work.

And her fourth point, "People endure anything to be on television." Yes, I think my point is proven here.

You can e-mail me at GlennBeck@CNN.com. We`ll see you tomorrow. Jim Belushi will be our guest, you sick, twisted freak. See you on the radio tomorrow.

END