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Glenn Beck

Could Bogus Stadium Threat Really Happen?; Shocking Details of New Orleans Murder

Aired October 19, 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: Coming up, the recent terror threat targeting NFL stadiums, is that a hoax, or should we treat it seriously?
Plus, the final installment of our weeklong series "Porn: America`s Addiction". Tonight, we take on child porn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Tonight`s episode is brought to you by hockey. If you`re afraid of getting blown up at a football game this weekend, why not come to a professional hockey game? Hockey, it`s not just for Canadians anymore; it`s for sports fans who don`t want to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: A message on the web site "The Friend Society" titled "New Attack on America: Be Afraid," said that dirty bombs were going to be detonated at seven National Football League stadiums this weekend.

The web site also said a worldwide civil war would break out, and that a bin Laden video would be released. And it would promise to bring about an "American Hiroshima."

The Department of Homeland Security immediately dismissed the threat. And the FBI is currently investigating. They have found a young man in Wisconsin. We don`t have any more details than that, but we will continue to follow it.

Now, maybe this guy was just a confused teen. Maybe he was upset that the Green Bay Packers are 1 and 4 this season, I don`t know, but here is the point tonight. I absolutely do not believe that this particular threat was legitimate in any way. But I do believe that this scenario is a viable one. Here`s how I got there.

The first clue that this was all a hoax was the fact that it appeared on an English-language web site. If a terrorist was going to attack, why would they make a specific threat with dates and locations?

Also, why would they do it in English? Correct me if I`m wrong, but I really don`t recall any bin Laden blog entries on FaceBook.com leading up to 9/11.

But even if this threat was posted by a pimply-faced geek in Milwaukee, I`ve got to say, a future attack could look eerily similar to this, and we should treat it somewhat seriously. Here`s why.

It won`t be too difficult for terrorists to get their hands on a dirty bomb. If detonated in an open-air stadium, not only would it kill many of the people inside but the radiation would be able to drift to surrounding areas. That would absolutely cripple our economy. Some estimates say that a dirty bomb attack in Los Angeles would cost upwards of $34 billion. Now multiply that by seven cities.

And God forbid, anything like this ever happens, how many of us would feel comfortable going to the World Series just next week, or even a movie? The after effect to our economy would be devastating.

But most importantly, we need to take this seriously because the threat itself is correct. It could potentially lead to a global civil war. Here`s why.

It is all part of my perfect storm theory. If a cataclysmic effect were to occur, like seven bombs in seven NFL stadiums, the dominos that I have laid out in the last few months on this program would begin to fall, and they would fall quickly.

The Muslim extremists who have been lying in wait in Europe will rise up and wage war. It`s on the verge already. In fact in France, the interior ministry, they said that nearly 2,500 police officers have been wounded this year alone. And that the police are "in a state of civil war," and that`s a quote, with Muslims.

Have you ever heard that anywhere else? No. Why? Because Europe is in full-fledged PC denial mode, and so we are. A war is already going on, but it is a silent war that nobody wants to deal with in the neighborhoods. It`s only going to get worse, and as our allies in Europe are distracted with their civil war, then we then in America will stand alone.

Then something like this NFL thing happens. While we`re cleaning out the dead bodies out of stadiums, extremists everywhere will make their move. The dominos will begin to fall. Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, they will sense our weakness, and they will pounce.

So, while this particular threat is not legit, the scenario itself is incredibly horrifying, perfectly reasonable and real. Here is what I know tonight.

We`re going to wake up on Monday morning and our stadiums are still going to be intact. But that doesn`t mean that everything is OK. We need to wake up to who our enemies are, or we`re going to be on the ropes like the rest of the world. We are in danger of losing our footing as a culture and as a way of life, not just a country. We need to understand how quickly the world could fall into total chaos.

Here`s what I don`t know. Is the country, is the rest of the world, prepared? On 9/11, we woke up. But it seems to me like we`ve fallen back to sleep again.

BECK: Bob Baer is a former CIA operative and author of several books on the CIA and the Middle East.

Bob, where do I have it wrong?

BOB BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Glenn, you don`t have it wrong at all. I don`t believe in this NFL threat. It`s too much trouble getting a bomb into a stadium.

But on the other hand, and the Europeans are aware of this, the European police are. These people are preparing attacks across western capitals across the world.

Let`s take one scenario that would work very well. You fill up a truck with ammonium nitrate. It`s just fertilizer. Cesium, which can be bought at hospitals. Park it on Fifth Avenue a couple days before Christmas. You can close down New York City, and it costs you a couple thousand dollars to do it.

BECK: Bob, how...

BAER: These people are getting...

BECK: Bob, how long before we become Israel? The scenario that you just lined up, when I was in Israel, I went to them all. It was incredible just to get in the parking lot, let alone the mall. They`re checking everything. How long before we take those steps? We are always behind. We know it`s coming.

BAER: We can`t conceptualize that we`re at war. Every time there`s violence in the Middle East, it tends to come west, Europe and the United States. It`s inevitable. We saw this in the `80s and we saw it in the `90s. We are going to get to a point -- this is the worst case scenario, I have to admit.

We could get to the point where we`re going to have to protect our malls. We certainly should be keeping trucks from going under buildings and trucks being inspected in major cities.

BECK: You say that dirty bomb, you can get cesium at a hospital, et cetera, et cetera. If dirty bombs are so easy, how come we`ve never seen one used before?

BAER: Don`t say never. This is the thing about 9/11. We said, well, it can happen here. They`ve been talking about hijacking airplanes for 10 years. Maybe it will take them 10 more years to actually put a dirty bomb together. When we predict things like this, it`s not always if it`s going to happen, it`s a question of when.

BECK: And the scenario that I lined up at the open of the show, I mean, I think it`s perfectly plausible. What scares me is I remember what it was like on Monday, September 10. Everybody thought we were invincible. On the 11th, we immediately went, "Oh, my gosh, look how fragile we are."

When the next attack happens, it`s just going to happen so fast, our world is going to change overnight.

What does the world look like if we hit seven NFL stadiums over the weekend? What does Monday look like?

BAER: Let`s take seven malls Christmas time this year. Monday you`re going to have the American people outraged. They`re going to be demanding the government do something. The question is, will they do the right thing? But you will have Americans demanding that things change.

BECK: We have a new manual out, that we`re going to talk about here in just a little while. It is a new manual for the people that apparently are living in our communities all around the world, and it is from al Qaeda. And they`re telling us -- or telling them, exactly what he they need to do and don`t do. You`ll be with us here on that in a second.

Do you believe that we have a ton of sleeper cells here now? Do we have people plotting here in America? And if so, how come we`re not on their trail, or are we?

BAER: The FBI tells me the biggest danger right now is the recruitment of suicide bombers inside American prisons. They`re going to come out, and they`re going to be joining this jihadist movement, and that`s our major problem right now.

BECK: OK. And what is our -- what is the thing that -- and this is the thing that really bothers me about the way our war is right now, is we haven`t really gotten -- we`ve gotten the instruction to get some duct tape, put it on your windows, please. What are the things that we can actively do as citizens to -- to move forward in the right way? What do we as citizens, what can we do?

BAER: Can I touch a third rail of American politics?

BECK: Sure.

BAER: We have to figure out who`s inside this country and who`s coming in. We have to do something about immigration from a security standpoint.

BECK: But see, you know...

BAER: We need to know.

BECK: That is the one thing that we all say to each other. Everybody in America, except those in Washington, know that. What is it that we can do, the regular Joe?

BAER: You do what the Israelis do, stay out of crowded places during holidays. I hate to say it.

BECK: But that`s so fatalistic. I want to do something positive. You know, I guess -- you know what? I guess it comes down to the election. Vote for the people who really get it.

Bob, we`ll be back here in about 20 minutes to talk about al Qaeda`s new how-to manual. But I`m sure you know, that whole border thing, we don`t have to worry about that.

We know that the bomb scare, the bomb threat against the stadiums was completely a hoax, right? Now all we need is the government to step up and just remind us, everything`s fine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: And now a message from the Department of Homeland Security.

Recently unsubstantiated threats have been made against our country. Have no fear. Thanks to our diligent efforts, America is more secure than ever. By focusing on border security, we`re making sure that any and all outside threats to our nation will be stopped at the border pronto -- I mean, right away.

Because without safe and secure borders, anything is possible. Someone can smuggle in a dirty bomb, maybe some anthrax, perhaps a little weapons grade plutonium. Man, we`re really screwed, aren`t we?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Si, senor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Coming up, a murder-suicide in New Orleans. Some of the details are so bizarre, you`re going to think that they were made up. Tragically, not the case.

Also, a tragedy of a different sort. The Mills-McCartney divorce gets uglier with accusations of physical abuse.

And the final chapter in our series on "Porn: America`s addiction". Child porn tonight. Don`t miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I was in college, I became involved in Internet pornography. And the comments, oh, you can pay off your student loans. You`ll be able to -- you know, be out of debt. You`re not going to need any more student loans.

BECK: As a guy who just put his daughter into college, and knowing how vulnerable you are when you first go out on your own, and to see people who you know could be preying on your daughters. You know, it`s easy to say, hey, they are 20. They`re of age. They`re 19. Really?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: My daughter, man. Coming up later, we`ll conclude our porn series. Just as 125 people were arrested in 22 states in a child pornography sting. Much more on that later.

But first, a shocking and horrible story out of New Orleans this week. If you`re squeamish, or there are small kids in the room, please change the channel for a couple of minutes.

A man named Zackery Bowen apparently killed his girlfriend. Her name was Addie Hall, completely dismembered her, and then proceed to bake her arms and legs in the oven, even put seasoning on them, boiled her head on the stove. Chopped up carrots and potatoes next to it, as the police found it.

The rest of her body parts were found in the refrigerator in the apartment, except for the hands and feet, which were in another pot on the top of the stove.

This whole sick scene was located in the French Quarter above a voodoo shop. This monster then committed suicide by jumping off the roof of a hotel. When they found him, he had a suicide note which directed police to the scene of the crime and gave a full rundown on what he had done.

What makes this story even more bizarre is that just a year ago, Addie and Zackery seemed like a happy couple who refused to leave New Orleans during hurricane Katrina. They were even profiled in "The New York Times".

Jeff Crouere, he`s a local talk and radio host from New Orleans.

Jeff, what the heck happened here?

JEFF CROUERE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hi, Glenn.

Basically it was a case of a couple who survived Katrina but didn`t survive post Katrina. It was a relationship gone bad. And Zack Bowen just went crazy.

Addie Hall was going to kick him out of the apartment. He had been cheating on her. That sort of brought the relationship to a head and brought about this incredibly violent response.

BECK: I have to tell you, you don`t -- you don`t -- if someone is kicking you out of the apartment, your first step is not to cut them up, throw some seasoning on them and cook them. There had to be something deeper.

CROUERE: Right.

BECK: Is it true this guy was in Afghanistan and in Iraq? Is that possible that that played any role?

CROUERE: He told his friends that he had served in Bosnia and in Iraq. And he said that he had a dark past in the military that he didn`t go into. I don`t know whether he did or not, but he was a psychologically disturbed guy. We know that. He initially strangled her.

Then in deciding what to do with the body, decided to cut her up. And then two weeks later couldn`t live with the guilt and flung himself off of a balcony. What a lot -- what a lot of the people are saying in the French Quarter is, this is a case of a deranged lunatic, but it`s not indicative of what`s going on in the French Quarter.

BECK: I`ve got to tell you, man, it spooks -- I find New Orleans a spooky place in the first place. But you know, you`ve got a guy living above a voodoo shop. I mean, it`s not really sending a good, happy message about New Orleans. You know?

CROUERE: It sends an awful message. It really does. And who know what kind of background. But two things need to be pointed out. Neither one of these folks were from New Orleans. They were people that had moved there very recently.

Also, crime is a problem in New Orleans. I`m not going to come on this show and deny it.

BECK: No!

CROUERE: But within the French Quarter, within that little area where most tourists go, it`s actually one of the safest areas in the city of New Orleans.

BECK: What`s amazing to me is, they were one of two of only 100 people that remained, and they were out picking things up and trying to bring things back. These guys were -- were there through the tough times. Then they lived without power and lights forever.

CROUERE: Exactly. You`re exactly right. And they survived this horrific hurricane. Everyone else left. This small little band stayed. And what`s amazing to me is they could get through that but something cracked in this guy, in this traumatic period.

But let me also point out, Glenn, in this post-Katrina time, suicides are up here in the city. There`s stress all over the place. The recovery is not going well. There`s a lack of leadership on all levels.

BECK: No! Again, in New Orleans, a lack of leadership? No!

CROUERE: Yes. I`m sorry to tell you that, Glenn.

BECK: Yes, that comes as a shock to me and the rest of America, quite frankly.

Last thing, and I don`t know if this is true, I have heard that there were security cameras that caught his suicide on tape, that it shows him up on the roof walking back and forth, trying to gather the courage to get to the ledge. And then he steps back and then he does it again. He steps back and does it again. Is that true?

CROUERE: That is exactly true. And I`m sure that video will be shown one day. But it shows that this guy didn`t have the courage at the end to carry through with his suicide plans. His suicide note was found on his person, though, the next day when his body was discovered. But I mean, it`s just a grisly ending to an incredibly grisly story.

BECK: Jeff, best of luck to you and everybody down in New Orleans. Appreciate it.

Back in a minute.

CROUERE: Thanks, Glenn.

BECK: You bet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Every day, you can hear my radio program on stations all across the country, including 1210 AM-WPHT in Philadelphia. And if you can`t find an affiliate in your area, you can listen online on my web site, GlennBeck.com.

Now, Roe Conn is on, WLS 890 AM.

Roe, did you see the story today about Paul McCartney and his soon-to- be ex?

ROE CONN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Yes, I did.

BECK: How much -- how much of this story do you believe?

CONN: I believe none of it. None of it.

BECK: Really?

CONN: I have the allegations right here. We have to be clear because everybody is threatening to sue everybody else right now. Just imagine this. This is Sir Paul McCartney. He was a Beatle, "When I`m 64." He wrote all of the sappy songs with the Beatle. Right? She claims that he stabbed her with a wine glass, pushed her into a bathtub, and then...

BECK: Pushed her in a bathtub while she was pregnant.

CONN: While she was pregnant on one leg, remember.

BECK: Right.

CONN: Because she only has one leg. Don`t get me started.

BECK: I mean, this story is -- anyway, go ahead.

CONN: And, then -- listen to this, demanded that she stopped breastfeeding, claiming, "Those are my breasts."

BECK: Right.

CONN: I don`t see that.

BECK: You know, I will tell you that -- I mean, I obviously know how he meant it, but I don`t want to think of Paul McCartney`s breasts. I know how he meant it.

And you know what, Roe, I`ve got to tell you, I don`t know what Paul McCartney is like at all, but I can hear a guy saying that. I can hear a scumbag guy saying that. Am I wrong?

CONN: Glenn, have you said it?

BECK: No, I have not. No, I have not said it.

CONN: You`ve got little kids at home. Be honest. Come on.

BECK: You know why I haven`t said it, because my wife would kick my butt. That`s why.

CONN: Here`s the interesting thing, actually, this could cost her $70 million. Because there`s been a gag order on this in England. I`m sorry, 70 million pounds, which is $450 trillion U.S. And they claim that now her lawyers, because they have divulged this, may be in violation of that gag order.

Now, when she was in Chicago a couple of years ago, she did an interview here in which she blames to have invented frozen yogurt. And I remember after that interview I thought, there`s something about this woman that doesn`t seem right.

BECK: Right.

CONN: I don`t know what it is.

BECK: I will tell you the charges that she leveled were pretty darn pacific.

CONN: Yes.

BECK: And if they`re not true, boy, really bad stuff.

CONN: Yes. Well, a wine glass -- I don`t know. If you break a wine glass, are you immediately going to lunge at your wife, even if you`re angry at her? Does that make any sense?

BECK: I mean, if you`re Paul McCartney, and you fight dirty, but it`s an upper crust fight. It`s a fight with a knight.

CONN: Doesn`t Sir Paul have people who do that for him?

BECK: I would imagine if you had that kind of money. Real quick, do we have anything on the story of the stingray attacking?

CONN: Yes.

BECK: This is when animals attack. We`ve only got 30 seconds.

CONN: Yes, this is very strange. This is in Florida, Ft. Lauderdale. String ray jumps into a boat and stabs an 81-year-old man. Zoologists say this is very, very, very unusual. This is very weird. Never, ever happened.

Now, I think that this is a Republican plot, Glenn, to try to take the heat off of Mark Foley.

BECK: Right, right. Well, I can see that, that the Republicans are at it yet again. Damn this administration!

CONN: Of course.

BECK: Roe from Chicago, WLS 890 AM, thank you very much.

CONN: Thanks, buddy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. Welcome to "The Real Story." This is where we try to cut through the media spin to figure out why a story is actually important to you.

ABC News reporting a story today that Diane Sawyer recently met face to face with a high-ranking North Korean general and was told that, quote, "War will be inevitable," end quote. That, of course, immediately became the big headline.

But the real story tonight is that the general said something else in that same interview, something that nobody is really paying any attention to, and they should. The last paragraph of the ABC news story quotes the general as saying that he has a message for President Bush. Quote: "He keeps talking about North Korea as an unacceptable government that makes its own people hungry. We would ask him to please stop making these bad comments on our nation," end quote.

Let`s see here. Follow the logic with me. If you`re concerned that the American media shouldn`t be talking about your people starving, why would you bring it up with ABC News? I have a theory. Hear me out for a second. Maybe because North Korea is simply using their own people as a pawn in what they think is a global chess match over their nuclear program.

Listen to this. Experts are predicting that the people of North Korea will face a long, cold winter of food shortages this year and, with 37 percent of the children under six already chronically malnourished, the situation could be as dire as it was in the 1990s when as many as 2 million people starved to death. Now, as a percentage of the population, that would be exactly the same as 26 million Americans starving to death in 1995.

So, in light of all of that, what why would Kim Jong Il do what he did last year? He told the U.N. last year and all of the other foreign organizations to stop food aid and immediately leave the country; that resulted this year in another 4 million people going hungry. And now, after the missile launches, the nuclear tests, South Korea has stopped providing aid. China`s aid is down 60 percent from last year. That means even more people will suffer from hunger this winter.

I tell you all of this because I believe that North Korea is keeping their people hungry in an effort to win the world`s sympathy to minimalize the response to their nuclear tests. What other plausible reason could you find for kicking out all of the organizations that are there to help, then, less than year later, testing a bomb where you know it would force your major food suppliers in China and South Korea to cut off and force even more shortages?

With a starving population, Kim Jong Il can play the sympathy card on one hand, while pushing forward with his real goal of a full nuclear arsenal on the other. But, please, don`t buy into the propaganda. The recent U.N. resolution specifically excludes food in sanctions, and the U.S. has provided $1.1 billion in aid to North Korea over the last 10 years alone, with most of that going for food.

We would love to help them. So would the U.N. But their leader won`t let us. He doesn`t care about his own people; he`s hoping that we do.

Next, at the top of the show, we told you about the new threat to NFL stadiums that was posted on a Web site yesterday. Like me, most people believed that it was an empty threat and the FBI somehow or another would investigate and find out it had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. We found a guy in Milwaukee who apparently has no terrorist ties. Well, looks like we were right.

But the real story is that people who do have terrorist ties and who are capable of acts like this are already here. They`re living among us. They know a lot more about how to blend in then at least I would have thought, and they would have never been blogging about their plots.

How do I know? Because yesterday, 152-page Al Qaeda manual that covers everything from the history of American intelligence operations to the proper use of cell phones in terrorist operations was made public. It is called "The Myth of Delusion." It`s got a chapter -- in fact, it has chapter after chapter on topics like the history of our intelligence agencies, how to buy untraceable cell phone chips, how to pick out an American spy, what words you should avoid when talking on the phone because they`re likely to be flagged by our satellites. Overall, it is an unbelievably comprehensive manual that leaves little doubt that its intended readers don`t just live overseas.

Bob Baer, former CIA field officer, back with us. Bob, "Myth of Delusion," what exactly does that mean?

BOB BAER, FORMER CIA FIELD OFFICER: What they`re saying is, jihadists are saying, "We can take on the United States. Now is the time to attack. We can beat the FBI, and we can beat the CIA, and here`s how to do it. Stay off the telephone."

BECK: Go ahead.

BAER: "Stay off the telephone. Get yourself in self-contained cells, and here are the formulas for making bombs. Go hit the United States."

BECK: OK. What is in this manual that may be surprising? I know they say -- and this is frightening to me -- and this is one reason why I`m sure the government said this NFL thing is a fraud, because it says go off- grid. Don`t use cell phones; don`t use any of this stuff. What else is in there?

BAER: Well, cell phones are very important. What they`re saying is, "Don`t call back to Pakistan or to Afghanistan for instructions, because the National Security Agency is going to intercept your phone call. They`re going to pick out key words. They`ve done it before. The 9/11 hijackers were brought to justice largely thanks to cell phones. Let`s don`t make these mistakes. Here`s how you do it."

What we`re looking at is a very professional manual. Now, there`s a lot of drivel in there, a lot of political drivel, but they are still hitting home, disciplined, self-contained cells, and we can beat the United States.

BECK: You know, and I haven`t read the whole manual, but I did get an executive summary on it. And I will tell you that the thing that struck me was: These aren`t cave-dwellers. These guys are really, really sharp.

I mean, there`s whole parts in here -- they`re talking about Echelon, which used to be a super-secret spy satellite where we can listen in on phone calls that picks out key words. These guys really have it down.

BAER: Look, Glenn, one day one of these guys is going to blow themselves up, as I`ve said, in a mall, and we`re going to look at his cell phone. There`s not going to be a single call to another Muslim group, to Afghanistan or Pakistan, anywhere. He`s going to completely come out of the blue. He could be a convert to Islam. We have no way to discover these people right now.

BECK: Is this manual -- is part of the reason this manual is out and it`s posted, because this is the first time they`ve entered the digital age like this with a manual -- is this so you don`t have to travel to Pakistan and be trained? This is kind of a, you know, Evelyn Wood School at home?

BAER: Glenn, it`s Jihad U has gone on the Internet. You know, do your instruction by correspondence. You don`t need to fly back to see bin Laden like the 9/11 hijackers do. Just stay where you are and kill people.

BECK: Is it possible -- please tell me yes -- that we have people like you used to be that are hacking into servers, and at least viewing the log files, and seeing who`s doing there or planting some kind of tracking device so we can see who`s getting this manual, and following them to other sites?

BAER: Glenn, a lot of my ex-colleagues are in these sites all the time, and what they`re saying is these guys are getting better and better and better, to the point where it`s going to become nearly impossible to catch them, because as we improve, they are catching up and surpassing us in technology.

BECK: Bob, thank you. Unfortunately, I also saw in the manual that it`s not only catching up in technology, they`re unplugging from technology, as well. Bob, thanks.

BAER: Off the grid.

BECK: Yes, that`s "The Real Story" tonight. If you would like to read more about this or if you found a real story on your own that you`d like to tell us about, please visit glennbeck.com and click on "The Real Story" button.

Now let`s go "Straight to Hill" with Erica Hill, the anchor of "PRIME NEWS" on Headline News. Erica, I hear Mark Foley named names today?

ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Yes, reportedly naming the priest who he says fondled him. And we`re hearing from the priest, as well, who admits he fondled Mark Foley when the Florida Republican was a teen, but insists it was not abuse because Foley -- and we`re quoting here -- "seemed to like it."

Today, the "Sarasota Herald Press" reported the priest, Anthony Mercieca -- he lives on an island near Malta now -- had a sexual encounter with Foley when he was 12 or 13. Mercieca though says, while he did fondle Foley, the relationship wasn`t sexual. The paper, though, is standing by its story.

BECK: Unbelievable. You know, in a minute -- by the way, I`ve missed the whole sauna thing with Father O`Brien (ph) growing up, and I`m thankful for that. Thank you, Father.

We have a segment coming up next -- it`s our final piece in our porn series this week, and we`re talking a little bit about child porn.

HILL: Oh, so scary.

BECK: Wait until you hear the scumbags that we nailed yesterday.

HILL: Wasn`t that terrible?

BECK: It`s one of the worst stories I`ve ever heard.

HILL: I agree. It`s disgusting.

BECK: And we will follow it with our final segment in our porn series. Please don`t miss it, coming up next. Thanks, Erica.

HILL: Thanks, Glenn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Yesterday, 125 people were arrested for subscribing to a Web site that featured infants as young as 6 months old involved in sodomy and bondage. It is the latest example of what is a disturbing increase in not only the popularity of child porn, but also in our country`s willingness to accept all types of pornography. What is happening to us?

Once upon a time, porn was relegated to -- I remember the movie theater down the street in my hometown. It was around the corner in an alley, and you didn`t even want to park your car in front of it. It was sleazy. It was the kind of place that people were ashamed to admit that they would go into. Now, porn has blended right into the mainstream, and it`s far more dangerous than any of us realize.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK (voice-over): It`s not so much that porn has changed; it`s that we have changed how we feel about porn. Americans have developed an X- rated attitude, blending entertainment, fashion and music with blatant sex and nudity. "Girls Gone Wild," these videos specialize in turning college girls into sex objects.

Clothing labels, like Porn Star, marketed as an alternative clothing that`s in demand among today`s risk-taking Gen-X and -Y crowd, are available in malls all across America. You see, porn has somehow become cool.

Paris Hilton has a sex tape on the market and a best-selling book for teens. The scariest part: Porn has become so ingrained in our daily lives that we don`t even notice it anymore. What was once considered raunchy is now considered sexy.

Sharon Mitchell is a former porn star-turned-therapist. Her fear is that teens today are blurring the lines between pornography and sex.

SHARON MITCHELL, THERAPIST: There is a real danger in watching this type of rough sex and thinking that it`s normal sex. Some of this stuff is so shocking and it`s done simply for shock value that it`s not necessarily titillating but it`s almost like you can`t take your eyes off it, because it`s so unbelievable.

This is severe trauma on the body. And for a young person to witness that, they can very easily think, "Is this what all sex is like?"

BECK: But it isn`t only shock value porn that`s invading our computers. You see, thanks to Web cams and digital movie cameras, now anyone can be a porn star. And with over 15 billion pages of Internet porn, it`s a virtual breeding ground for amateur pornographers.

Anyone can set up from the privacy of their own bedroom, inviting voyeurism into their own home, with no fear of judgment. What`s worse: The largest group of people viewing Internet porn are kids 12 to 17.

MITCHELL: For a young adult and their perception of what type of sex they see, if they log onto the Internet or they`re getting some DVD things that are downloaded from some of the companies, they can really be mistaken. So you`re now looking at people with multiple partners, choking, spitting, things that are very degrading toward women, calling this woman a whore, rape scenes.

And, yes, these are depictions in pornography, they`re fantasies, but how is a young person supposed to tell the difference if they`re logging on? They can say, "Is this normal sex?" And that to me is the concern, because where else do you have to compare it to? It`s just not the great place to get good sexual advice, while watching pornography.

BECK: The abundance of porn adds to the danger. The most frightening part is that we are so oversaturated by pornography we may fail to recognize just how dangerous the consequences may be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: You know, we see this kind of stuff, and we listen to the music -- have you listened to the music that your kids are listening to? Do you see the Porn Star t-shirts for our kids? We have sexualized our children, and then we wonder and we`re shocked by people who are turned on by 14- year-olds.

Kurt Eichenwald exposed child pornography in a series for "The New York Times." He`s now a senior writer for "Conde Nast Portfolio."

Kurt, 125 people arrested and busted in this porn ring that is just disgusting. It seems to me, though, that we`re missing something. Maybe are we going the wrong direction here? Is there somebody else we should be going after?

KURT EICHENWALD, SENIOR WRITER, "CONDE NAST PORTFOLIO": Well, the people that we should be going after, the ones that we should be focusing on -- and actually, we are now finally starting to focus on -- are the facilitators. And by that, I mean this business doesn`t work without money. This business doesn`t work without Web hosts. This business doesn`t work without people providing the upstream broadband capacity that is necessary. And each and every one of those entities is a business, a business that is making money off of the exploitation of children.

BECK: OK. So give me a credible company that is making money off of child porn knowingly? Do you have anybody?

EICHENWALD: Every time I`ve come across people who are knowingly making money off of child porn, I`ve written about it, and they`ve immediately gotten out of the business. There are those that are getting - - and it`s not quite as direct as that always. There are some times it`s more indirect. For example, there are predator Web sites where adults who are sexually attracted to children go to have conversations with each other.

BECK: Oh, well, that`s -- I mean, I got to tell you, that`s MySpace, isn`t it?

EICHENWALD: No, MySpace is where they go to hunt for children. There are other sites where they go to talk to each other, where they talk about their desire to get to a child. They look for tips and suggestions. They talk about their encounters to children.

And some of the -- two of the more prominent sites in that field, if you trace them upstream, the company that is providing the broadband capacity for these sites to exist is Verizon.

BECK: Holy cow.

EICHENWALD: Verizon is getting out of the business. They`ve notified these sites -- they`ve become very, very prominent. They`ve notified these sites that they`re not going to provide that capacity anymore.

BECK: You know, it`s so amazing, because we`ve been doing a series on porn, and we`re doing, you know, a little child porn here right now, but all week we`ve been doing this. And if I have heard one person phone in or write in that said, you know, "It`s my free speech," I`ve heard it from a million people this week.

We have somehow or another twisted free speech into a way to where -- I don`t think this is what we were talking about. You have a right to do this, but you have a responsibility.

EICHENWALD: People have to understand that there is a huge distinction between pornography, where they may want to make their free speech arguments, and child pornography. Child pornography is the visual depiction of child abuse; it is the visual depiction of child exploitation. These are not people...

BECK: But you know what, Kurt? You`ve got people who are clearly -- you go to BarelyLegal.com. I mean, we`re a society that is pushing "Barely Legal."

EICHENWALD: We are sexualizing our children. There`s no doubt about that.

BECK: We are. Kurt, thank you very much for all the work you do, and thanks for being on the program tonight.

EICHENWALD: Thanks for having me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Let`s go to the e-mail. This one comes in from Andrew in Pennsylvania. He says, "Glenn, I have been married for almost four years. I have been almost divorced twice because of porn and what it did to me. Notice I said twice. I was caught once, and I still didn`t stop. Yes, it was a conscious choice to start viewing porn, a choice I made when I was 14. It was a conscious choice to stop, too, both times. I have to actively work at each and every day. Married couples don`t use porn; men use porn so they can forget they`re married."

Man, I`ve got to tell you, we`ve been hammered with e-mails from people who are going through this kind of thing throughout the series this week. It`s a problem that nobody really wants to talk about, but it is not just guys being guys. It`s far more serious than that, and it is absolutely deadly to marriages.

Speaking of poorly produced amateur video, we have a new video mail in today. Video mail, so you know, is basically your chance to tape yourself ranting about the show or any topic and send it into us. Then, we replay the video you shot on your $60 cell phone and put it on national TV using billions of dollars of satellite technology and equipment.

Today`s edition comes from Ed in Alabama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED IN ALABAMA: Hi, Glenn. We decided to come up with an award for you. It seems as though there`s something that you wear as a badge of honor. And if we give you this award, we won`t have to hear about it in every one of your broadcasts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Wait a minute. I don`t think I wear my alcoholism as a badge, Ed. But thanks. You know, just proof that I never, ever think that I`m holier than thou, one thing I have been really good at in my life is emptying very large bottles of Jack Daniels. But with that experience has come a pretty good understanding of addiction and, more importantly, the excuses used to hide it.

Sorry, Ed, now I`m talking about it again, thanks to you. But thanks for taking the time for making the sticker, Ed. Appreciate it.

You can send me your video mail by going to CNN.com/Glenn. Keep it short and we`ll do our best to play it as long as the production quality is, you know, OK. CGI and surround sound are encouraged.

Tomorrow on the radio, moron trivia. Back here tomorrow night, you sick, twisted freak.

END