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Glenn Beck
War Gamer Discusses Tactics with North Korea; Missile Defense System Making Progress; Special Needs Woman Reveals More Abuse Allegations
Aired July 06, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: They say that Kim Jong-Il is starving his people. They say that Kim Jong-Il personally ordered the bombing of Korean Flight 858. They say that Kim Jong-Il would like to start World War III. They`re right. Kim Jong-Il, president for life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m Kim Jong-Il, and I don`t have to approve anything. I`m crazy. Can`t you tell by my hair?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, HOST: It`s going to be -- it`s going to be one of those days, I just know it. I know that by the end of the show, blood`s just going to be spurting out of my eye. You know why I know this? Because we`re starting with North Korea.
Today, they publicly acknowledged for the very first time that it had tested missiles -- no -- and they vowed to continue launching them, threatening to, quote, "take stronger physical actions" against the opponents of the tests. And I`m guessing that`s not giving free haircuts to anybody that objects.
On top of that, our good pals Russia and China are now opposed to U.N. sanctions against North Korea. Wonder what`s up with that? Thanks, guys.
But don`t worry, while the seeds of World War III were being planted today. President Bush spent yesterday at Dunkin` Donuts in Virginia. Swear to you, that`s what he was doing.
You know the truly terrifying thing about this whole scenario is -- didn`t you think when we were going through the Cold War that our parents - - they had, like, the answers. They had it down. Either that, or they were better bluffers than I am. Because now I get this "Daddy, do you think we`re going to be vaporized by North Korea?"
"I don`t know. Could be. I don`t know."
But there`s actually -- there`s just a few things that I do know, and here they are. One, we can`t allow North Korea to have weapons of mass destruction. Two, Kim Jong-Il, completely untrustworthy. Three, U.N. resolutions, they`re a joke. They`re not going to work. Four, getting in bed with evil, crazy people never ends well.
And if you don`t believe me, just try to go back in the memory blanks to the boiling of the bunny in what was the name of that movie with Michael Douglas? You know the one. Yes, "Fatal Attraction. Thanks, Kevin.
Here`s one think that I don`t know. Yes. I have no idea what we`re supposed to do. How is this all going to play out, left in the hands of real experts. Jim Carafano is a guy who actually war-gamed scenarios.
I mean, Jim, you really -- it was a war game. You sat down and you played one country and the other guy played the other country?
JIM CARAFANO, PH.D., SENIOR FELLOW, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Yes, nobody hangs -- wants to hang around at cocktail parties with me.
BECK: This is -- I`ve got to tell you, this is like a 7-year-old`s dream come true job.
CARAFANO: We used to do this all the time in the Cold War. It sounds like a game, but it`s serious stuff. You`re trying to figure out how the enemy will react.
BECK: Which was more frightening: war gaming during the Cold War or war gaming now with people like Iran and North Korea?
CARAFANO: It`s much scarier now. When you think back to the Cold War, that`s like -- kind of like your classic gun fight, two guys high noon in the street, you know. They`re staring each other down. That`s what we did with the Soviets. Everybody knew the rules, and everybody knew what would happen if they blinked.
Now, what we did is we said OK, let`s assume North Korea gets nuclear weapons. Japan, South Korea, they`re not going to stand by. They`re going to get nuclear weapons, too. So let`s assume everybody has nuclear weapons. So now it kind of looks like the gun fight at the OK Corral with everybody shooting in every direction.
What happens when they have them? And what we found is you always wind up having nuclear war.
BECK: OK. Let me just -- I appreciate that. Let me just go over here in a second. I didn`t really -- OK. In fact, Elli. Could you just play something? Just play that little...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: And now something to take your mind off what he just said.
BECK: Look at the little chickies. Look at the chicks. Bock, bock, bock. OK, back to the interview.
ANNOUNCER: This has been something to take your mind off what he just said.
(END VIDEO CLIP0
BECK: All right. What is the good news?
CARAFANO: Then what we did is we introduced missile defenses into the war game, and we gave missile defenses to our friends, and we actually found out that that made things a lot more stable.
BECK: I`ve got to tell you. I`m not as worried about North Korea having a missile and shooting it off to us as some of these nut jobs. I mean, Iran has a missile or a nuke. They`re just going to call somebody up and say, "Hey, want to take our nuke out for a spin?" They`ll give it to some other nut job who will take it in a boat off one of our shores, won`t they?
CARAFANO: Well, you know, it`s funny you say that. One of the things we did is a lot of the players were younger people that weren`t even alive during the Cold War, and they played the game. And they thought you could actually do the kind of things you said. You can fire one nuke as a warning or, you know, smuggle a nuke or something.
And those of us who lived through the Cold War, we understood how the rules are played. And when somebody would fire one nuke, I would nuke their entire country. And they`d go, "Oh, my God. Why did you do that?"
And the answer is, you guys don`t understand. Nuclear weapons aren`t to be used. These things are about deterrence. The only way deterrence works if you`re serious. So if somebody -- if somebody thinks they`re going to use a nuclear weapon, they have to understand the next day their country is going to be glass.
BECK: So how -- how likely is it that vaporization is a part of our child`s life?
CARAFANO: Probably not much. First of all, we have to remember, North Korea has yet to demonstrate they can shoot a missile that could actually hit anything. They did a test in `98. It actually didn`t work. They did a test here for a minute, and it fell into the ocean.
So the first thing that happened, they actually get a missile that can go somewhere, and then they have to figure out to put a nuke on it and then they got to get it through the missile defenses, so -- and then they`ve got to say after I shoot my five missiles or whatever, what am I going to do about the 150,000 American missiles that are going to come?
BECK: If they would really actually care about that? But I think the guys in, for instance, Iran are just nuts enough that they want to go meet Allah soon at any time. They`ll wait another 12 minutes.
CARAFANO: I`ll tell you, the guys in North Korea, they`re just -- they`re Tony Soprano.
BECK: You know what? The thing I like about Tony Soprano is he does care about dying. I don`t think the nut jobs in the Middle East do. Jim, thanks a lot.
CARAFANO: Thanks for having me.
BECK: Apparently, the Pentagon activated a missile-defense shield yesterday in response to North Korea`s missile launches. I didn`t even know we had those freaking things. Honestly, I don`t even know how it works, or even if it works when doomsday happens.
John Luddy is an expert on this. How long have we had this?
JOHN LUDDY, PRESIDENT, VECTOR SOLUTIONS: Hi, Glenn.
BECK: Hi.
LUDDY: We have in place nor about 11 interceptors in Alaska and in California. And it`s part of a system that we`ve been developing for several years, and we`re continuing to develop it, and while we`re developing it, we have said, because it`s got some basic capability, that we`re going to declare this system operational and be able to use it in the case of an emergency.
BECK: Do we know what operational means? I mean, even if it`s 20 percent effective, that`s 20 percent out of a hundred missiles. That`s 20 that aren`t hitting Nebraska.
LUDDY: That`s the logic of this. While we continue to develop the system, it`s nowhere near where we want it to be.
BECK: Right.
LUDDY: We`re continuing to work it over the next few years. We know that it has some potential, and you`d be crazy not to throw anything you had up against an incoming missile. So that`s the thinking.
BECK: Bush is -- you know, everybody was making fun of Bush right after 9/11 and said, oh, the world has changed, and he seemed to be the guy who said yes. It has changed, and there`s going to be one nut job with one missile, and he`s going to aim it at Los Angeles, and nobody listened to him.
LUDDY: Listen, you know, the argument has always been that the threat isn`t going to come on a missile. It`s going to come on a ship that`s sailed into the harbor. And so my argument, the argument a lot of people make is why not defend against all of it if you can?
BECK: Right.
LUDDY: Right now, the first options that a president has would be very limited if North Korea actually launched a missile. The first option really wouldn`t be an option. You`d wait to see where it landed, and the second option would be, as Jim was saying, decide whether or not to launch a retaliatory strike and kill millions of innocent North Koreans.
BECK: Right.
LUDDY: The thinking -- the logic of missile defense is there ought to be some other alternative in there that gives us a chance to actually defeat the missile.
BECK: It makes me feel better that we -- that we actually are moving forward on this, and we actually have something in place. When I heard that we had activated something I thought that was great, although I do have a couple of other ideas. I mean, do we have -- do we have the photo? I`ve worked this one up myself.
This is -- yes. See, there`s the United States, and we put it in like a snow globe. I don`t know where we get the snow globe or how we do it, but we make a giant snow globe and the benefit of this, not only stops the missiles from coming in, air conditioned.
LUDDY: Yes. The problem is global warming, Glenn. It`s never going to work.
BECK: Is that what the problem is? The Patriot Missile, how different is the Patriot Missile technology from what we`re trying to develop on a missile shield?
LUDDY: Very different. The Patriot Missile is being modernized and developed. It`s being deployed. It`s a very effective system against short range missiles very close to their target.
What we`re trying to do with the ground base missile defense system, the one I described in Alaska, is intercept out over the ocean, not wait for the last few seconds but during a period of a minute or two or several minutes, really, try to intercept it out over the ocean.
BECK: You know, that`s a good safety tip. And let`s get it over the ocean, not over a city. John, thanks a lot.
Mark my words, while everybody was looking up in the sky saying look, it was a space ship, no, it wasn`t, it was the stealth. Whatever we say we have now we`re at least 10 years ahead of that. Rest well, America.
Back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: When it comes to Kim Jong-Il, I don`t think he has a death wish. He loves life too much. He loves his Mercedes. He loves his Swedish super models. He loves his movies. He`s digging being the head guy. So him with nuclear weapons, there is some deterrent. You can`t let him have them, but I don`t know how you`re going to stop him at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: I want to update you on a story that we`ve been following very closely, the story of Kalie McArthur, a young woman, now 20, who is an adult with special needs. She has an I.Q. of about 50. She has pretty much stopped at the age of 4.
She was assaulted in September 2004 at Rampart High School in Colorado, assaulted by a 15-year-old boy who was assigned as a peer trainer, a boy who had been suspended 20 times the previous year and wasn`t screened or trained by the school.
Making this horrific situation even worse, the school "expert" said the assault was pleasurable to Kalie and refused to even mediate a civil lawsuit, one that hadn`t been lodged until they could get no action as parents.
The story gets even worse. As Kalie`s mother, Cindy Starr, is with us to explain this may not have been the first time Kalie was assaulted at school.
Cindy, she joins us over the phone from Alaska.
Tell me why you think this might have happened before to your daughter.
CINDY STARR, MOTHER OF KALIE MCARTHUR: Well, when Kalie was assaulted in September of 2004 by the time, because she`s mentally, you know, challenged, by the time the counselor took her through the programming to get her to be able to talk about the assault it was December, because she took her through a program called Good Touch, Bad Touch, and Secret Touch, where they talk about things such as being hit and secret touch and all that.
So in December of 2004 when she actually finally talked about the assault -- talked about the assault with her counselor, Kalie talked about it having gone on for several weeks and maybe 10 days and got up -- she said the boys would take her upstairs to this room. They would hit her and poke her.
She cleaned the floor of the cafeteria with a broom stick with a tennis ball on the end of it to get the scuff marks off. So she would talk about how they would poke that stick, you know, in places it didn`t belong and how they would hit her with the tennis ball.
And I`m -- you know, she like we`ve said is mentally challenged and is like a 3-year-old, and 3-year-olds don`t talk about people poking them with sticks in their private parts and hitting them with tennis balls.
BECK: Cindy, hang on just a second. Because we`re seeing video now of Kalie, and you sent us a video tape of Kalie just saying hi to everybody, and I just want everybody to just meet Kalie, America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KALIE MCARTHUR, SPECIAL NEEDS ADULT: Hello, everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: She just seems like such a sweetheart.
STARR: She`s sweet and innocent and trusting and loves everybody.
BECK: So when you talk to the principal, what did they say?
STARR: Well, what happened was -- so this is in December. And we were, of course, you know, Kalie had named some boys and their names and their skin color, and we`re like wow this was going on for several weeks. No wonder she`s so upset by it. Besides it happened, but it`s been going on for several weeks.
And we called the principal to let him know the counselor called the police department to report that there was more abuse accusations. And the principal said, "Well, I didn`t really hear that story."
I said, "Well, it just came out, and we`re really concerned. You have some more perpetrators on your campus. You need to investigate that, and he said, "Well, I`ll contact my campus police officer and have him follow up on it." But we never heard from them again, so we don`t know what happened with it. And I honestly don`t they think followed up with it.
BECK: Cindy, we`ve got to -- we`ve got to run, but we are going to come back to this story. We`re going to continue to follow. America, I am sorry to say that there is much more to this story. And we will talk to you again soon Cindy, all right?
STARR: Thank you for having me.
BECK: I want you to know that we have contacted the school, Rampart High School. We have yet to even receive a response from them. They haven`t called us. They haven`t written. Nothing from these people.
And I`ve got to tell you, I`m torn, because I wish I lived in this community but if I did it would mean that my daughters would be going to this school. If I lived in this community I would personally be calling the school and demanding some fricking answers from them and not from an attorney. I`d like to look at the principal eye to eye and find out what`s going on in this school.
We will continue to push. I wonder if there are people in the community that are already doing that, as well. I do have a promise for everybody at Rampart High. We are not finished with this story. Not by a long shot.
And I just got news right before I went on the air. Unfortunately, this is not the only school that this is happening in. And I have to tell you that the quick way to hell, the quick way to hell is to stand by, idly by and do nothing when the most vulnerable among us are going through things like this. We`ll continue in a minute.
Mike Paranzino is an attorney and founder of Throw Away the Key, a group that works to educate and to energize the public on crime issues.
There are a ton of these stories out there. Kalie`s abuser, the one that they nailed, two weeks. Two weeks is what this guy faced. What is up with this?
MIKE PARANZINO, THROW AWAY THE KEY: Disgraceful, and it points to the problems in our juvenile justice system. It`s all focused on protecting the offender, if you can believe that, at the expense of the past victims and the victims that will follow.
Two weeks? What was the signal we just sent to that teen sex offender? It was a green light to do it again, because two weeks is a joke, just like the 20 suspensions he endured. He obviously knows that there`s no real discipline at his school. So he is clearly out of control and, unfortunately, there will probably be additional victims down the road.
BECK: So you have a student at Rampart High. What do you do as a parent? What would you do?
PARANZINO: I`d pull my kids out of the school, to tell you the truth, but they have to raise heat is what they have to do. They have to have politicians involved. They have to let the state lawmakers know and the county lawmakers know their jobs are on the line if things don`t change.
Because as you can see, this school, their position is going to be bury it, don`t talk about it, try to get a confidentiality order in the case, which is one of the things they`re trying and just try to -- try to wait it out and not make the changes that need to be made.
BECK: Hang on just a second. Daryn (ph), who is in our control room, who is the producer on this segment, I want you to find the mayor of this town. I want you to find the politicians of this town. If you can`t get a phone call back or an e-mail back from the fricking school, we`ll go over their heads and find out. So Throw Away the Key is what exactly?
PARANZINO: We try to educate the public and lawmakers that longer prison sentences are the safest way and best way to protect our community. And ThrowAwaytheKey.org, people can join our movement and so we can keep these things...
BECK: Mike, I appreciate it. Thank you very much for your work. I`m sure we will, unfortunately, be talking to you again. In my world, one strike and you`re out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: So I think the fearless leader of the sane people in southern California is Bill Handel. And when you take a look at this guy you`re going to say wow, that`s sad. From KFI-AM 640, my very good friend Bill Handel -- Bill.
BILL HANDEL, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hey, Glenn, how are you?
BECK: Good. I know you`re going to hammer me, because I know you don`t like conspiracies, but Ken Lay, he`s in a freezer with Walt Disney, isn`t he?
HANDEL: No, he`s not. This is God`s retribution. Someone had said this may have even have been a polite suicide...
BECK: Yes.
HANDEL: ... where a lot of people are very, very disappointed. I think the story here is not just Ken Lay, of course, dying. And thereby cutting off -- all the criminal aspects of the case is done.
BECK: Right.
HANDEL: So restitution and anything the court could order is gone.
BECK: Well, here`s the thing. Here`s the thing. You`re an attorney, and that`s why I wanted to talk to you about this. In the -- in the eyes of the law, he`s now not guilty, and he wasn`t even indicted in the eyes of the law now?
HANDEL: Well, I mean, technically that`s the case. I mean, he was convicted. There`s no question it`s going to go down as a conviction, but what ends up happening if you can no longer work on your appeal because you`re unable to -- because maybe you`re dead, as in this case...
BECK: Right.
HANDEL: ... then what happens is the case disappears. A criminal case dies with the death of the defendant, no matter at what stage that case is at.
BECK: Right. And nobody really cares about any of this. If the guy was totally penniless, nobody would care. But he wasn`t penniless. So now the question is what happens to the money?
HANDEL: OK. Let`s talk about the money. First of all, he claims he`s in debt $250,000. Let`s start with that. Even the federal prosecutors who argued he had a ton of money, we`re looking at about $8 million in assets. And a lot of that was already earmarked for his criminal defense. So even assuming he had $4 or $5 million left...
BECK: Well, $8 million, that`s chump change.
HANDEL: You`ve got hundreds, thousands of shareholders and retires of Enron. They`re all going to ask for a piece -- where it`s going to go.
BECK: You can`t tell me that there`s -- you can`t tell me that there`s not a dirt bag attorney like you that would go after the $8 million?
HANDEL: In a heartbeat, and do it on a contingency and ask for 40 or 50 percent, I might add.
BECK: That`s exactly right.
HANDEL: There you go.
BECK: So now he can -- it`s my understanding that -- let`s just say it was a convenient suicide or, you know, whatever it looked like a heart attack.
HANDEL: Right.
BECK: He could still get -- assuming that he had a big insurance policy, he could still get that money, most likely.
HANDEL: What ends up happening is, let`s say he has a massive insurance policy. It goes to his estate. Unless it goes directly to a beneficiary. If it goes to his wife, that`s untouchable. If it goes to his kids they`re not going to get that. But if it goes to his estate...
BECK: Wait, who`s not going to get it? The kids.
HANDEL: The kids would. You`re not going to see either the shareholder suit of the retires...
BECK: Right.
HANDEL: ... who were screwed by Ken Lay and his fraudulent actions and statements and behavior. All you`re going to see is what he has and what he has left in his estate that could be gotten after by either a shareholder suit or simply a retiree, a pension holder of Enron that can go after it.
BECK: All right. I only have 10 seconds.
HANDEL: Yes.
BECK: So this is really a yes or no. Last night I asked Erica Hill, I said, if you were facing prison you would do what I think he did. Let`s go to a ski slope and just have sex until you have a heart attack?
HANDEL: Exactly. He got -- he got the better end of this deal.
BECK: Yes, he really did. Bill, thanks a lot.
HANDEL: Take care, Glenn.
BECK: Bill Handel, from KFI-AM 640 in Los Angeles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: I mean this sincerely in a psychotic, jokey sort of way. I think our country is in for a wild ride the next 25 years. I think things are going to change dramatically. They`re not going to remain the same.
And unless our politicians really wake up, I think that we could be headed for some really tough days. Because they`re not listening to Americans. They`re not listening to us anymore. They`re not responding to us.
You know, I`ve got to tell you. I mean, I know -- I mean, look at the shirt I was wearing. I`m a rodeo clown. I get it. But I just got off the road from a couple of weeks, and where -- I did a comedy show in front of, what, 25,000 people over a two-week period.
And I could sense something from people. And that is the Democrats and the Republicans, they no longer speak for Americans, either party. People are sick of politics, and they`re sick of politicians that are not loyal to the people, they`re loyal to their party.
It`s like Joe Lieberman. I now live in Connecticut, and Joe Lieberman -- I mean, look, I generally vote Republican, but I voted for Joe Lieberman before. He`s a good, decent, honorable man. I don`t agree with him on a lot of stuff, but he at least stands up for what he believes in.
And the Democrats are running from him like he`s got the Ebola virus. How about the parties start pledging not their allegiance to the party line, but their allegiance back to the people? I told you last night about the third verse of "America the Beautiful." Let me just give to you again.
"O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved." Where are those people now? You know, where are the Democrats who more than self or more than party, they love their country? Where are the Republicans like that? I`m tired of the parties.
You know what? The people who just listen to and agree with whatever it is that the guy has his name underneath and has a little D or a little R, I don`t want -- who cares the D or the R? I propose an H after your name for the Human Party. That`s what we need to have. The Human Party.
And here`s the platform for my new Human Party. One, do the right thing. Number two, could you please start looking at the issues through the eyes of your children and not the eyes of your party? Three, your country is just as important as your fricking district, man. If the country`s on fire, or in the case was, underwater, let`s not build a bridge to fricking nowhere?
Four, we`re not always going to agree. And that`s OK. It`s like Joe Lieberman. I voted for Joe Lieberman. There`s a lot of stuff I vehemently disagree with, but I know he`s a decent, honest, honorable man. And the big building blocks I agree with him on.
Number five -- and by the way, that`s good enough for me. Number five, it might be a little harsh, but I say death penalty to any politician who commissions a focus. Oh, yes. Let`s go to Doug Bailey. He`s one of the founders of Unity `08. And this is a really unique -- Doug, I`ve got to be honest with you, I don`t know if it will work. But you`re saying there should be a presidential ticket with the top guy from one party and the vice-president from another?
DOUG BAILEY, FOUNDER, UNITY `08: Yes, a unity ticket, Glenn? By the way, where can I sign up for your Human Party? I`m ready.
BECK: We`ll exchange e-mails. Because, you know what? What brought me to Unity `08 -- I`ve been watching you guys for a month, but really what -- I think you have a winner if Joe Lieberman would be run out of the Democratic Party and becomes an I, he says he`s still a Democratic even if he has to run as an independent. It`s just that his party abandoned him.
I think John McCain could make the same case about the Republicans. I`m not a John McCain supporter, by any stretch of the imagination. But you put those two people together, I believe that`s a winning ticket.
BAILEY: Unity `08 has two very interesting and transforming ideas. And, frankly, our politics needs some transformation.
BECK: Yes.
BAILEY: One is to put a unity ticket together, a Democrat and a Republican running as a ticket, one for president, one for vice-president, whatever the order. And secondly, to let an online convention of the American people as delegates pick that Unity ticket in their own online convention in the spring of 2008.
BECK: This sounds so great. I mean, it does. I mean, it`s like, "Everybody have a lollipop." But do you really think it could work?
BAILEY: Yes. And the reason, Glenn, that we think that it can work is very much what you were saying. The American people have had it up to here or here.
BECK: No, no, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I agree with that. I really think America is ready for a third party -- a non-nuts Ross Perot. I really believe that.
BAILEY: Correct.
BECK: And the Unity Party makes an awful lot of sense. My question is, would it really work as far as this? You get somebody like John McCain and Joe Lieberman, both parties are going to be pissed at those guys. How do you get Congress to back anything that these guys are trying to get through?
BAILEY: Well, once you elect a Unity ticket for president and vice- president, the Congress will recognize -- it`s something the Congress is pretty good at. They recognize election results and pay attention to them. And what a Unity ticket can do, unlike any administration that we`ve had recently, is to bring to Washington a cabinet of doers.
Both parties, doers. And you have a president and a vice-president of different parties who can speak to the leadership of both parties in the Congress and get them talking together, talking with each other.
BECK: It amazes me how these guys are focused on, you know, a flag burning amendment or a gay marriage amendment, where both of them they know is not going to happen instead of the things like -- what are we going to do for oil? How with we going to win the war?
They don`t do any of that crap. How about sealing the borders, the places where people actually live? They`re not doing any of it. They`re just doing these feel-good...
BAILEY: The soaring debt, the international energy crisis, energy independence, education, health care. You name it. There are crucial issues. And the thing, Glenn, is that the American people understand that there are crucial issues confronting this country, and that`s why, for the first time, I will plead guilty to having looked at an awful lot of polls. And for the first time, one party goes down, the other party does not go up.
BECK: Yes, I know. They both go down. Doug, I`ve got to run. Is it Unity08.org?
BAILEY: Unity08.com. And come and sign the declaration of independence.
BECK: Right. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it, Doug.
BAILEY: Thank you, Glenn.
BAILEY: Go "Straight to Hill," Erica Hill, the anchor of "Prime News" now on "Headline News."
Hello, Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hello. How are you? Fair to midland (ph)? You`re not having a good day?
BECK: No, I actually am. It`s just there`s a lot of heavy issues going on.
HILL: There are. And we actually have some kind of heavy stories in the news. But if you can hold through two of them...
BECK: I`d like a little chocolate, please.
HILL: A little bit of chocolate, please, sir?
BECK: A little bit of chocolate?
HILL: Please, sir. I want some more.
BECK: Please?
HILL: All right. Oliver. Good musical. Anyways, I think we should do the news now.
BECK: Throw in the, "I`m smarter than you, I know what fricking Broadway show it`s from."
HILL: Listen, I was a knife dancer in "Oliver," OK? I had a line
BECK: Were you? You were a knife dancer? So I could throw knives at you?
HILL: No, no. I danced in the, "Knives. Knives to ground." You know? And I had one line.
BECK: Are you only wearing knives?
HILL: I had one line. I got to say, "But what about Fagen?"
BECK: What about Fagen? More, please. All right. Go ahead. Give me the really nasty stories.
HILL: Enough about that. An Army lieutenant who refused to go to Iraq because he believes the war there is illegal could now be headed to jail instead.
BECK: Stop, stop. Do I have to hear this story? Does it have a happy ending?
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: Are they charging him?
HILL: He`s been charged on three counts. One of them is conduct unbecoming an officer.
BECK: There`s a little bit of chocolate there for me. Thank you. All right, next story?
HILL: Moving on, then. A chilling new video is actually surfacing, today. It`s from one of the suicide bombers who launched last year`s subway attacks in London. And it aired on the Arab language network Al Jazeera, airing today, which is, of course, the eve of the anniversary of those attacks which killed 52 people.
BECK: I love Al Jazeera. It`s my favorite network.
HILL: I`m not surprised.
BECK: No, it`s great. If I ever want a good beheading, I just go right to Al Jazeera. Because I think they`re fair and balanced. I`m sorry, I`ve got crap in my throat.
HILL: Oh, I hate it when that happens.
BECK: Next story. You`ve promised chocolate.
HILL: Chocolate. Well, it`s not quite chocolate, but it`s people in underwear. How`s that?
BECK: Are they hot or fat?
HILL: Well, I`m going to let you be the judge of that.
BECK: Wait, wait. Is it me in underwear or you in underwear?
HILL: Oh, honey, trust me. You don`t want to see me in underwear.
BECK: Oh, much more than you want to see me in underwear.
HILL: Here`s what it is. You know the annual running of the bulls? Everybody knows about this in Pamplona, Spain. Well, it actually starts tomorrow, the official running of the bulls. But taking the course for a little run early on were some animal rights activists. They actually took to the streets on Tuesday to the course. There`s a picture of them there. They ran it nearly naked, in the undies, to protest what they call the cruel treatment of animals.
BECK: First of all, whose treating the animals? I think the bulls goring idiots is a good thing for the animals. If you`re so stupid that you`re going to run in front of a bull with horns, I think that bull wants to gore you. I think this is a happy day for the bulls. The second thing is, I wish we could get the protestors and the bulls in the same run. Then we really would have a nice bowl of chocolate.
Thanks, babe. And I mean the "babe" thing.
HILL: See you tomorrow.
BECK: No, I do. I mean that.
HILL: OK.
BECK: Babe. Love you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: What does the American dream mean to you? If you would Google it, you`ll come up with 27,700,000 answers. But if you add them all up, it basically it comes down to this. With hard work, talent, and a little bit of luck, you can achieve just about anything in this country.
Tonight, I want you to meet a guy who`s absolute living proof of that. He`s made it to the top. But what makes his story so special is the journey that he took to get there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Achieving the American agreement really isn`t easy. Case in point, Chris Gardner. Today, he`s the chief executive of a multi-million dollar brokerage firm with offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City. Here he is in his office in Chicago. His desk actually the tail wing of a jet airliner.
But success didn`t always come easy for Gardner. He grew up in Milwaukee, the son of a single mother who often wasn`t there for him.
CHRIS GARDNER, AUTHOR, "PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS": Growing up in the city itself was a beautiful thing. Everyone had jobs, but we were all poor.
BECK: Joining the Navy was his way out. Later, he worked as a medical supply salesman, supporting his wife and young son. Then, fate intervened.
GARDNER: Walking over to my car, I see this guy circling the parking lot in this gorgeous red Ferrari looking for a place to park. And I struck a deal with him. "You could have my parking place, but you`ve got to tell me how you do what you do." Those were the two questions that started my pursuit of a career on Wall Street.
BECK: But Gardner`s pursuit of Wall Street hit some serious roadblocks. After doing some jail time for unpaid parking tickets, he found that his wife had disappeared, taking their son with her.
GARDNER: Them having them taken away, that was the most painful thing in the world to me. So when she brought him back to me, there was no doubt we`re going to be together. We might not know where we`re going, we might not know where we`re going to live, where we`re going to sleep or where we`re going to eat, but we`re going to be together.
BECK: In fact, for almost a year, Gardner and his 2-year-old son Chris, Jr., were homeless. While working hard to become a broker by day, at night, Gardner and Chris, Jr., slept in shelters, under his office desk, and even in the bathroom of a train station. But all the while, father and son never gave up hope.
GARDNER: The big motivation was to have my child, but also to fulfill part of the child in me that wanted to break the cycle of men that were not there for their children.
BECK: Gardner was finally able to reach his goal. He tells us all about his journey in a new book, "Pursuit of Happiness." He also tours the country giving motivational speeches. And come December, we`ll see his story come to life on the big screen with the role of Chris Gardner played by none other than Will Smith.
Now is the time to reflect on all of his hardships. Gardener says if there was one thing in his life that he could take back it would be, well, nothing.
GARDNER: I firmly believe, I do, you change one thing in your life and that affects everything else that happens after that. So Maya Angelou once said in response to a similar question, "I wouldn`t change anything on my journey, no."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BECK: From Chicago, tonight`s real American, Chris Gardner.
Chris, I have to tell you, I was whining to my father, who`s watching the show -- Hi, Dad -- and this is about 15 years ago. I was whining to him and I said, "Geez, you know, I`ve got so many things going wrong in my life." This was when I was an alcoholic and I was broke and everything else.
And he said, "Yes, you know what, you are right. Boy, you know what? Tonight, son, make a list of all the bad things that have happened to you in your life. And I started with my mother`s suicide and everything, all the way down. I got about ten on the list and I realized, "Wow, wait a minute. If that hadn`t have happened, I wouldn`t be here, I wouldn`t be here." I mean, you hit the nail right on the head. You can`t change anything in your life.
GARDNER: Not a thing. Not a thing.
BECK: You can change only the way you react to it.
GARDNER: And your perception of it. People have asked me many, many times about the homelessness experience. True, we were homeless, but we were never hopeless. That`s a whole different ballgame. Glenn, I had just started my career on Wall Street. I had nothing but upside. It couldn`t have gotten any worse. I had nothing but upside.
BECK: Chris, I have to tell you, we just started this TV show. I don`t even know -- we`ve been on the air for eight weeks now, I think. And one of the things that I promised myself that we would do on this show is try to show some of the hope.
I am such a believer in the future of America. If I can do what I`m doing, you can do what you want to do. And it kills me how many bad stories you see all the time and how many people are always saying, "Oh, you can never make it," or they`re peddling misery. And I`m finding story after story like yours where all you have to do is just apply yourself.
GARDNER: Glenn, you`ve got to look for those stories. You and I will probably agree that bad news is going to sell more papers than good news.
BECK: Yes, I know.
GARDNER: But I see it all around me. And perhaps it`s because I choose to look for it, Glenn, and I`m open to it.
BECK: What do you say to people, white, black, doesn`t matter what color -- but I mean I hear a lot of poverty pimps that`ll say, "You are being held back." And I don`t care what color you are. What do you say to those people? If anybody was held back, you were. You were homeless.
GARDNER: And had every excuse in the world to just throw in the towel right there, OK? Could have become -- could have hidden in alcohol, drugs or anything else. But made a conscious choice and decision, Glenn. And to answer your question as directly as possible, what do I say to those people who find themselves in similar situations to the ones you and I were in?
BECK: Yes?
GARDNER: The cavalry ain`t coming.
BECK: Real quick, did you buy the Ferrari? Did you ever get the Ferrari that you saw?
GARDNER: I got the Ferrari and got rid of it. You know what you find out, Glenn? When you get toys, you don`t have time.
BECK: That`s great. That`s great. I understand you bought it from someone famous.
GARDNER: Yes, well, I didn`t buy it because he was famous, I bought it because he was tall and there was enough room in the car for both of us.
BECK: That`s right. Michael Jordan, if I`m not mistaken.
GARDNER: Yes, yes.
BECK: Chris, thanks. Best of luck to you, sir.
GARDNER: Thank you, Glenn. Look forward to seeing you soon.
BECK: You bet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: All right. This is a segment called, "Ask Glenn," where people send thousands of questions -- I ain`t kidding -- and I then answer about 1/100 of a percent of them on the air. And that`s the sort of dedication that I have to you, the viewer.
Randy in Denver writes, "Hey, Glenn, two questions. Number one, did you get nominated for any Emmys?" Oh, yes. Thanks. "And number two, since the answer is undoubtedly no, do you at least get to vote? -- Randy, Denver, Colorado."
Hey, Randy, no, I wasn`t nominated or noticed. And no, I don`t have a vote, yet. Although I can understand you thinking that if -- I mean, if you look at the nominations, I can see Glenn should have been in on that. Especially with my favorite show, "24," leading the way with 12 nods, including best drama series.
It`s going up against "House," which I also love, "Grey`s Anatomy," which everybody else seems to love, "Sopranos," which I used to love, and "The West Wing," which no one has either loved or watched in about five years.
On the comedy side, there`s "Arrested Development," great show, cancelled, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," a 9/11 conspiracy theorist Charlie Sheen, his show, "Two and a Half Men," "The Office," and a "Scrubs" show that was almost canceled after last season.
But the more I look at all the other awards, the more I`m seeing a trend, because that`s who I am. Lots of people who have appeared on this show? Nominated. And I would like to say one thing to all of them now one thing. "You`re welcome."
Yes, it`s our first annual "You`re Welcome" awards here, and leading off is Jean Smart, who was nominated for best supporting actress, although not for this touching scene on my show. She got it for some work about -- I don`t know -- some president or something. I don`t know.
Then there`s Denis Leary, who was nominated for best actor in a drama series for "Rescue Me," and also for an underrated category, most realistic marital rape, which is quaint. Then there`s Gregory Itzin, back from our very first show, nominated for best supporting actor in a drama series on "24," also as the worst president alive, where he`s expected to slightly edge out Jimmy Carter. Unfortunately, not nominated.
Not nominated, Richard Simmons, who finished second to me last year for most flamboyant outfits. And, of course, Mr. Fabio. I mean, this guy was completely robbed in the chase for most likely to be spokesperson for a product that`s most likely to be butter. So there it is.
We`ll see you tomorrow. You can email me at Glennbeck@CNN.com.
END