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Glenn Beck

Seeds of Holy War Planted in Europe?; Gridlock Coming to Congress?

Aired October 23, 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, Iran issues a threat to Europe. Is the perfect storm headed our way?
Plus, the election is 15 days away. Can the Republicans possibly win? That`s next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Tonight`s episode is brought to you by the European Tourism Board. This fall, take your family to Europe and see the Eiffel Tower, the Coliseum and Big Ben before they get burned to the ground by nut jobs. Come to Europe before it`s too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Well, tonight, if you want to see our future, I want you to take a look at what`s going on in Europe right now. In France, in England, in Russia, other major countries, the forces of radical Islam and political correctness have conspired to slowly gain power and influence. And the continent is on the precipice of civil war. We very well could be next.

Here is the point tonight. The perfect storm that I`ve been talking about for a while on this program is gaining strength. In Europe and all around the world, the storm clouds are gathering, and the forecast isn`t calling for an awful lot of sunshine, unless we stop the wave of political correctness. If we don`t, we will someday wake to a vastly different and horrifying world.

Here`s how I got there. An article this weekend with the headline "French Police Face Permanent Intifada", described how French police officers are still engaged in a perpetual violent conflict in Muslim neighborhoods. These are the same areas where the violent riots broke out last year.

And before people start saying, "Oh, the police are just hassling immigrants," listen to this. Yesterday, a gang of about 30 mask-wearing youths forced passengers out of a bus onto a suburb street just outside of Paris. They set the bus on fire, then called the firefighters. Firefighters arrived, came to the rescue. They were stoned on the scene.

This is not an isolated crime. This is a calculated, well-organized act of terror, and it is happening every day.

Hear this: over 2,500 policemen have been attacked in France in the last six months alone. Many reports say that during these attacks, chants of "Allah akbar" can be heard. What a surprise.

This is not just happening in France. In England, where soon 20 percent of the population will be Muslim, anger and violence are simmering just beneath the surface.

Trevor Phillips, he`s the British chairperson of the Commission for Racial Equality, which if I may translate from bull crap to English, means "the guy who has to keep the Muslims happy," said that their country`s recent debate over the Muslim headdress has risked sparking fire on the streets.

People who dare condemn Islam for treating women as second-class citizens, and who speak out against female Muslim honor killings, are receiving death threats. Fear and rage on both sides are everywhere.

If you read any of the papers this weekend, you would have seen the same story repeating itself in different countries. But not a lot of people are tying them together, and they are happening from the equator to the Arctic Circle.

It is becoming very clear the seeds for a holy war have been planted in Europe, and political correctness is the water which has helped it to grow. Radical Muslims see the European fields as white and ready for harvest.

If it is happening there, it will happen here. I`ve told you before, and President Bush has also said the same thing: these things are all connected.

Here`s how all of these seemingly isolated incidents are tied together. Not only our president has a weekly radio address, but the president of Iran, President Ahmadinejad, has a weekly radio address. This last weekend, he said this. Pay attention to the translation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have advised the Europeans that the Americans are far away, but you are the neighbors of the nations in this region. We inform you that the nations are like an ocean that is welling up, and if a storm begins, the dimensions will not stay limited to Palestine, and you may get hurt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: What a -- what a friendly, neighborly reminder. Even he`s using the perfect storm analogy now.

In November, we`re going to be taking an in-depth look at this kind of thing in a special called "Exposed: The Extremist Agenda". Until then, I pray things aren`t going to get worse, but my gut tells me we are creeping towards it day by day.

Here`s what I know tonight. In their effort to never offend anyone and to promote everybody`s culture as just as great as everybody else`s, Europe is now finding itself surrounded by a deadly enemy that is embedded in their own ranks. Paris is literally on fire, and soon, London and Moscow will follow.

It may be only a matter of time before it happens in Detroit, New York and Chicago. We could be on the verge of a global religious civil war. And we must pay attention.

I also know that Osama bin Laden is not the leader of this movement. President Ahmadinejad is an opportunist, and he is quietly positioning himself as the leader of what he sees as a worldwide Islamic nation. He is planning and he is plotting as we speak. His tentacles have started to spread all across the globe.

Here`s what I don`t know. How long does Europe have until a flashpoint happens? We no longer have an ally in the war on terror, because they`ll be too busy fighting in their own cities.

Robert Spencer, he`s from Jihad Watch and author of "The Truth About Muhammad".

How long do we have before we see, and do you think we see guerilla warfare in the streets of Europe, Robert?

ROBERT SPENCER, AUTHOR, "THE TRUTH ABOUT MUHAMMAD": You know, Glenn, I think it`s already happening, really, with hundreds of cars being torched in Paris every night. And as you pointed out rocks being thrown at police and other government officials who tried to stop it.

This has already been happening. It`s been happening for a year now.

BECK: Right.

SPENCER: And so it`s really just a matter of when are the European authorities going to stand up and do something about it?

BECK: Yes, but you know, this is all blamed on, well, they`re not being, you know, taken seriously for the best jobs, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. This is being construed into some sort of, well, people just hate them, because they`re different or because of their race. And that`s bull crap.

SPENCER: Of course, it is.

BECK: This is not just happening in France. It is happening in one of the most tolerant nations on the planet. It is -- it`s happening in the Netherlands. Denmark, Sweden, is it not?

SPENCER: Yes, and you know, really, the European authorities are reaping what they`ve sewn for a generation, for 30 years now, a generation, because actually they`ve entered into a series of agreements with the Arab League starting in 1973 with the oil crisis to ensure a steady oil supply, and they agreed to encourage Muslim integration into Europe, but with no assimilation. They would allow them to form, effectively, self-governing enclaves that were separate from and did not consider themselves to be subject to the European authorities.

So now they`re seeing that these groups, these enclaves have grown so that they`re threatening the state itself, and really, it`s something that they should have foreseen a long time ago.

BECK: Well, they are -- if I`m not mistaken, they`re also, it seems, almost strategic the way they have they have -- that they`ve surrounded some of the cities in Europe.

SPENCER: Yes.

BECK: I mean, these suburbs are all around the city. And their clerics are telling them, you don`t have to answer to European law, because European law has nothing to do with Allah.

SPENCER: That`s right. And Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, prophesized that Constantinople would fall to the Muslims, which it did in 1453, and that Rome would follow. And you have modern Muslim spokesmen in Europe saying that now that is at hand, and not only Rome, but the other capitals of Europe, as well.

BECK: There was a story in the "New York Times" yesterday. I mean, I kept turning page after page after page in the front section of the `Times" yesterday, and I don`t know if anybody else drew these connections, but it was happening in every country.

And this story -- there were two stories out of Moscow, and they were disturbing, because they not only showed the, as the times described it anti-immigrant movements, because of the Northern African and Arab migrants that were moving in. Instead of saying the Muslim extremists, they were talking about how the people are starting to rise up and say enough of this.

SPENCER: Yes.

BECK: Does this influence the Le Pen Movement, the extreme radicals on the other side, the neo-Nazis, the Le Pens, et cetera, or other groups, and are you going to see those people start to really gain power?

SPENCER: Yes, they already have. Le Pen had a very strong showing in the last French presidential election. And you know, it`s unfortunate. This is an indication, the rise of parties like Le Pens and the British National Party and so on. They`re an indication that the mainstream has abdicated on this issue when they should have been standing up and dealing with it.

And so people of goodwill who are not racists and not bigots and hate mongers, they have nowhere else to turn.

BECK: Right.

SPENCER: And it`s really something that shows the failing of the mainstream parties in Europe.

BECK: Robert, Ahmadinejad I don`t think has -- he hasn`t orchestrated this. This guy, as I see him, he is an incredible opportunist.

SPENCER: Yes, he is.

BECK: And I believe that people are looking, the extremist Muslims are looking for a leader to create a global state for them. Do you believe that he is that guy? That he is going to find a way to unite them all behind one common banner?

SPENCER: He`s certainly trying. Now, he has one big handicap in that he`s a Shiite, and the Sunni majority will not take kindly to that. But that`s actually why he has been making such an amazing series of genocidal statements about Israel. Nothing rallies the Sunnis better than that and positions him as the leader of both groups, the Sunnis and the Shiites.

BECK: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Robert, thank you.

Now, one short year later, President Ahmadinejad has gone from relative obscurity, to being the guy voted most likely to trigger Armageddon. But give him some credit. With all that he has accomplished, he still has not forgotten about the little people at home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Now it`s time to play "Know Your Dictator".

Under the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, women have been segregated from men in all of the following, except: A, city parks; B, school buses; C, elevators; or D, public stonings.

The correct answer: public stonings. In Iran, women are actually encouraged to participate alongside men during stonings. Who says Iran isn`t a progressive country?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is GLENN BECK.

BECK: Sad, isn`t it?

Coming up, everybody is expecting it, but what happens if the Democrats gain control of Congress? Will it be a nightmare of hearings and accusations, or will Congress actually get anything done? We`ll figure it out.

Also, outrage down south. Two U.S. border agents going to prison for doing their jobs. They shoot a drug runner, and they`re the ones going to jail. One of them speaks out tonight.

And "Made in America", we`ll talk to actor John Ratzenberger, Cliff from "Cheers", about why America is really the land of opportunity. Don`t miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Have I missed something on Barack Obama? Have I missed -- maybe -- you know what, maybe I`ve missed the tribulation period, because it`s almost like Jesus has come back as Barack Obama. Has anybody else noticed this?

I don`t know what I have missed. It`s like I went to sleepy sleep for a while and woke up and everybody is moving boxes for Barack Obama into the White House.

Well, he gave that great speech at the convention a few years ago. Well, yes, I know, but what exactly has he done in the Senate? Did I tell you about the speech he gave a couple of years ago? Was that a great speech or what?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: It`s so true. And with 15 days left to go to the election, everybody is so geared up that just the mere mention of someone running for president two years from now is like throwing red meat to a pack of junk yard dogs.

I personally think that maybe we should concentrate on this one, and the next two weeks. I mean, there`s enough fun for all of us, right? A bunch of Iraq war polls probably going to be released. I can`t wait to see how poorly we`re doing. And then a few scandals will mysteriously leak out. That`s great. Just to swing all those last-minute undecided voters to make sure that they just stay home.

But while everybody is busy trying to figure out how many seats the Republicans might lose, I`m already thinking about November 8. That`s the day when the rest of the nation will wake up with me and realize that neither party is going to have enough of a majority to get anything done.

That means no more immigration reform. Like that was going to happen anyway. No Social Security reform, no Medicare reform. That, my friend, is what the politicians in Washington like to call gridlock. Look it up. It`s not much fun for either party.

Mike Allen now is the "TIME" magazine White House correspondent.

Mike, how much...

MIKE ALLEN, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Hello.

BECK: How are you, sir?

ALLEN: Fantastic.

BECK: How much trouble are we in with these clowns in Washington? Are we going to get anything done if either party wins? Can we get anything done?

ALLEN: Yes, these clowns in Washington. You definitely have to narrow that down. But as far as what the parties will do, I think you`re right. And Glenn, don`t forget that a do-nothing Congress is not necessarily a bad thing. There`s a lot of your viewers who will tell you that...

BECK: I am with you on that.

ALLEN: ... that is not necessarily something to worry about about.

BECK: Except, Mike, for this one thing. That we are -- you know, look, I know who I am. I am a -- I`m a nut job. I am, you know -- I`m a stupid cable host with a radio show, so I -- I have perspective.

ALLEN: And the Christmas tour. Don`t forget the Christmas tour.

BECK: And thank you very much. Have you got your tickets yet? The thing is, Mike, is that I -- I happen to believe that we are facing some of the biggest crises that we have ever faced as nation.

ALLEN: Yes.

BECK: And we have to have people come together and start looking at the real enemy and not at each other as an enemy.

ALLEN: Yes, well, Glenn, that`s a very astute point. And I think you`re going to hear the president and his people talking a lot about this in coming days.

Glenn, it`s the president`s theory that, win or lose, the day after election day, that`s the chance when they will best have the opportunity to get something done on, as you mention, entitlements like Social Security, Medicare, Medicare. The `08 fever won`t be in full pitch yet.

And the pitch that Republicans are going to make to Democrats about why they should work with the president on doing something transformational to save these programs is, A, perhaps there is some Democrat running for president in `08 who wants to look like they can get things done.

BECK: Yes.

ALLEN: B, Glenn, if there`s a market for bi-partisanship that you`re talking about here. Some Democrat is going to rush to fill that void.

And C, the most practical argument they`re going to make is if Democrats want money in the future to spend on all of the stuff they love to spend money on, they`re going to have to fix these programs. Because otherwise, all the money is going to go directly into transfer payments. Politicians aren`t going to be able to give it away.

BECK: OK. And last night on CBS, did you see "60 Minutes" last night?

ALLEN: Yes, I did.

BECK: Amazing interview with Nancy Pelosi. Listen to what she said about the Iraq war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA: The issue is the war that they got us into. If the president wants to say the war in Iraq is part of the war on terror, he`s not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: How does somebody who could be the speaker, who could be one of the real leaders, not understand the war in Iraq, when you have Osama bin Laden saying it is the center of World war III and President Tom, President Ahmadinejad, saying the same thing? How can they miss that piece?

ALLEN: Well, Glenn, I know you`re trying to be provocative here, but you well know that Democrats, they gave this...

BECK: Trying to be honest, Mike.

ALLEN: Democrats argue that you cannot use Iraq and the war on terror interchangeably. Nancy Pelosi`s argument here is that the job should have been finished first in Afghanistan.

BECK: Right.

ALLEN: Now Republicans go on the tell you that the United States will be safer in the long run if terrorism is diffused in places like Iraq. And you`re right about the statements that terrorist leaders have made.

But the idea is to hit Republicans where they live, which is the war on terror. And Republicans will tell you that Iraq is part of something that will be a generations` long struggle.

BECK: Right.

ALLEN: And George Bush has put the tools in place to win it over the long run.

BECK: OK, Mike, I`d love to have you back. I want to talk a little bit about hitting them where they live. How about the economy. We`ll do that maybe on a later date. Thank you so much.

ALLEN: Thank you, Glenn. Glad to come back.

BECK: You bet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. Brace yourself, America. I am about to blow your mind.

Listen up. I have discovered political ads are often full of inaccuracies and bold-faced lies. No, I know it`s shocking. Thankfully, the good folks at FactCheck.org are a nonpartisan group, and they`re dedicated to literally checking the facts in candidate television ads.

Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to show you on this program, some of the most amazing commercials that they have found so you can see how far they really veer from being reality television.

First up is from the Senate race in New Jersey. This ad, run by a Democrat, Bob Menendez, about his opponent, Republican incumbent Tom Kean.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Casinos are one of the most highly regulated industries in New Jersey, so to limit their influence over lawmakers, it`s illegal for state legislators to take money from casinos.

But there`s always someone who will try and find a way around the law, like Tom Kean Jr. Did the law prohibiting state legislators from taking casino money stop Tom Kean Jr.? No. Tom Kean Jr. took thousands from gaming interests and funneled the money into his U.S. Senate campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: This ad is laughable. The ad states that Senator Kean found a way around the law that prohibits state legislators from taking casino monies from their campaigns.

Actually, what New Jersey law prohibits is accepting casino money when running for state office. Kean`s actions as a federal candidate are perfectly legal. And while Kean has accepted contributions from gaming interests -- he took them from political action committees, which you know, may not be commendable, but it ain`t illegal either.

Next up, the Republicans and their shot. In this commercial, Republican House candidate Vernon Robinson accuses North Carolina Democrat Brad Miller of voting to spend money studying the human body instead of body armor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of congressman would try to deny our soldiers the body armor they need to save their lives? Well, the answer is your congressman, Brad Miller. That`s right, Brad Miller did not vote for the appropriation to pay for improved body armor for our troops.

But Brad Miller has no trouble spending the money. He`d just rather spend it on sex. That`s right. Instead of spending money on sickle cell research, Brad Miller voted to spend your money to study the sex lives of Vietnamese prostitutes in San Francisco. Instead of spending money on cancer research, Brad Miller spent your money to study the masturbation habits of old men.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. Not only is that ad untrue, it`s a little creepy, as well. Brad Miller did miss a vote in 2003 that included appropriations for body armor, but that`s only because he was on a plane going to visit the troops personally in Iraq.

Most importantly, by the time the 2003 vote was in question, the Pentagon was already using existing funds to buy every piece of body armor that suppliers could even produce.

And when it comes to the sex studies, Representative Miller didn`t vote to fund them. He simply didn`t remove their funding. Instead, Representative Miller and 46 of his Republican pals chose to keep politics out of the scientific peer review process that the National Institute of Health uses to sanction the research of this, you know, adult nature. Isn`t that exactly what Democrats would want?

That`s essential to remember during this election season. Political ads are just that. They are advertising. And every night, we will bring you more of the distortion and the lies.

Up next, the real story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Let`s go to Saturday. Alberto Fernandez, U.S. director of public diplomacy at the State Department, sat down with our very good friends at Al-Jazeera Television for an interview about the war in Iraq. Oh, this doesn`t sound good. Here`s a little taste of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERTO FERNANDEZ, STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL (through translator): History will decide what role the U.S. played and, God willing, we tried to do our best in Iraq. But I think there is a big possibility for extreme criticism and because undoubtedly there was arrogance and stupidity from the United States in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Hey, Alberto, let me give you the benefit of the doubt and just assume that you don`t really understand the whole concept of satellite TV that, you know, lets your boss see back here in the United States your comments on television. Unfortunately, it was his boss that was stuck trying to explain it to reporters and explain it, oh, yes, they did.

Since Alberto was speaking eloquently in Arabic, the creative geniuses over at the State Department decided to use the "he was misquoted" tactic. It kind of fell apart once the actual transcript was released. So they went to Plan B, otherwise known as the Mel Gibson defense. That`s where you tell people, sure, he said it, but he didn`t -- misspoke.

Yes, definitely sounded like he had absolutely no idea what he was talk about, didn`t it? Yes, but maybe he was drunk. That`s it, he was drunk.

The real story is that this war is as much of a war of words, pictures and public relations as it is of bullets and bombs, maybe even more so. Alberto Fernandez or anybody else who goes on a network like Al-Jazeera and speaks to the Arab world about their government being arrogant is not a patriot. And the subsequent lies and excuses to try to cover up and -- it just makes it worse and makes you someone that I have no choice but to view as an enemy of the state!

Oh, I`m sorry. I didn`t mean to say that. I meant I completely believe him, and he should keep his job forever.

Next, the White House announced on Friday that President Bush is going to meet with the president-elect of Mexico in a couple of weeks. In a statement announcing the visit, they say that the two will, quote -- see if anything is missing here -- they`re going to discuss a "range of global, regional and bilateral issues, including competitiveness, free trade, economic growth, security in north America." I can`t think of anything else we could talk about.

Has anybody else noticed the one thing not mentioned here? And I grew up in an alcoholic family. I kind of recognize the signs of the disease. The real story is there is an 800-pound gorilla in the room, and her name is Illegal Immigration. Anybody want to recognize it? What do you say?

Now today, instead of talking about the typical illegal immigration issues, I want to update you on a story about two U.S. Border Patrol agents that I first brought you a few weeks back. In early 2005, they were in pursuit of an illegal immigrant who was also suspected to be a Mexican drug smuggler. When the suspect suddenly ditched his van near a canal and began to flee on foot, Agent Ramos, who was behind his partner, hears gunshots up ahead, sees his partner down, laying there on the ground, and through the dust sees the suspect turn around with what looks like a gun.

Ramos fires at him; the suspect flees. Now the two agents head back to the road and search the van. Inside of the van, 743 pounds of marijuana. Two weeks later, the Department of Homeland Security investigator tracked down the drug smuggler in Mexico -- whew, good thing - - and then offered him full immunity in exchange for testifying against the Border Patrol agents who shot at him.

It turns out the poor smuggler had been hit by Agent Ramos` bullet. Damn him. By March of this year, the agents had been convicted on felony charges, including assault with serious bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon. Last Thursday, they were finally sentenced. Are you ready for this? Agent Ramos, an agent who last year was nominated for Border Patrol agent of the year, was sentenced to 11 years in prison. His partner got 12.

Do you remember last week another high-profile sentencing that happened? Lynne Stewart, an attorney convicted of helping her terrorist client communicate with the extremist followers from prison, she was given a whopping 28 months. What kind of system do we have in place here in America where someone who actively puts our lives at risk gets over two years, while people actively working to serve and protect us gets five times more?

Border agent Ignacio Ramos and his attorney, Mary Stillinger, join us now.

Agent Ramos, do you regret signing on to serve your country at this point?

IGNACIO RAMOS, BORDER PATROL AGENT: Not at all. I`m still proud of what I did and the job I did.

BECK: How do you...

RAMOS: It was something I always wanted to do.

BECK: How do you live with this? How do you not snap at night when you think, "Here I am, serving my country. I shoot a drug smuggler in the butt"? Someone from his camp -- it was his mother, if I`m mistaken -- calls some, I think, rat or mole here in our own agency, calls up and says, "Hey, you just shot my son, the drug smuggler," and they come after you. How do you live with that?

RAMOS: Well, it`s been hard to cope with it, as far as my family goes. It`s been hard to deal with, financially, emotionally, physically. I mean, my wife`s started to develop health issues, as well as my father- in-law. It`s just been so involved in, you know, thinking about this day in and day out that it`s starting to take its toll in a lot of ways.

BECK: Mary, you`re working for an appeal right now, and you have affidavits from three of the jurors that say they were duped. Tell me that story.

MARY STILLINGER, RAMOS` DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Glenn, three of the jurors have come forward and signed affidavits under oath saying that they were given bad information about whether or not they could result in a hung jury. Of course, a hung jury is a jury that is not unanimous.

Now, these three jurors were holding out for not guilty verdicts for Agent Ramos and, I think, Agent Compean, also. They were told by the foreman of the jury that they could not have a hung jury, that Judge Cardone would not accept a hung jury. They understood that as some other information the foreman of the jury had.

So based on that misinformation, they saw when they were in the minority they couldn`t convince the majority. They ended up changing their votes to guilty, but it wasn`t because they wanted to vote guilty. It was because they did not understand they had the option of hanging.

BECK: Agent Ramos, you know, I just saw a report from Homeland Security that said our Border Patrol agents are outgunned, they`re outmanned. We have drug smugglers using bazookas -- not kidding -- on the border. Now we slap you and put you in jail for standing up against the drug smuggler. How much danger are our border agents in now because of this verdict?

RAMOS: I think it puts them in a lot of danger. Hopefully, it won`t make agents second guess using their gun if they have to, because that definitely would put their lives in even more danger than what it already is. It`s a very dangerous place out there on the border, and much more so than people realize.

BECK: Mary, are there any public officials stepping up? Is there anyone with a spine in Congress that`s stepping up, anybody in Washington who wants to help?

STILLINGER: There are congressmen that have come forward. And I hate to give you the list, because I`m sure I`ll leave somebody off. I know Congressman Poe from Texas, Congressman Jones from North Carolina have been the most vocal supporters.

BECK: Is there anything anyone can do on this at this point?

STILLINGER: That`s the question. At this point of time, Congress can`t intervene in a case. I`m hoping that there will be some change to the gun charge statute that was brought against these men, because that`s a statute that was meant to go after criminals who carry guns, not law enforcement officers that carry guns, and that`s the charge that has a 10- year mandatory sentence. I`m hoping they`ll change that statute.

BECK: I will tell you guys, Agent Ramos, you know, I find it just offensive how our system of justice has treated you and your partner in this. And I wish you the best, and thank you for your service.

RAMOS: Well, thank you very much. Thank you for your support.

BECK: That`s "The Real Story" tonight. If you`d 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.

Let`s go "Straight to the Hill" with Erica Hill, the anchor of "PRIME NEWS" on Headline News.

Hello, Erica.

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

BECK: The story that is coming out of Denver, I don`t know if I buy it.

HILL: It`s wild. For folks at home who aren`t familiar with it, a guy who they`ve been calling Amnesia Al now identified. His name is Jeffrey Ingram. His fiancee saw him on TV. He`s actually from Olympia, Washington. He went missing in early September, never showed up for a scheduled visit to his future mother-in-law`s. I knew you`d have something to say about that one.

BECK: No, I`m just saying...

HILL: For the record, I love both of my mothers-in-law. I just want to get that out there.

BECK: I do, too. I do, too. I`m just saying.

HILL: Well, four days later -- so he doesn`t show up, right -- four days later, he ends up in Denver, wandering the streets, doesn`t know who he is. Doctors diagnose him with this rare form of amnesia. Eventually, they put him on TV. He`s saying, "Look, somebody help. Tell me who I am." The fiancee sees him, but still a lot of questions about how he got there, and it`s not the first time it`s happened to him, either.

BECK: Now that he remembers who he is and he missed the mother-in-law visit, is he asking for somebody else to club him over to head and make him forget again or do we know?

HILL: He`s in big trouble now.

BECK: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: See you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Madonna, the father of the boy that she just adopted has added a fresh new twist to the saga, saying he never intended on his son being adopted by Madonna. He says, I can`t read or write, so I relied on the government officials and what they told me. And they told me the papers said Madonna would look after the child the way the orphanage planned to, educate him, and then he would come back to me.

He has no common sense. First of all, he`s expecting the government to be truthful with him. You`re in Africa. We can`t expect that in the greatest nation in the world. You expect that from the government in Africa? Come on.

When are you planning on getting him back? How exactly would that work? "Hey, son, I know you`re 31 now, but it`s time for you to come back home." Couldn`t one of the four normal actors in Hollywood adopt this kid? Couldn`t we get Tom Hanks to step to the plate?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: You know, before I got sober, my life was an awful lot like the TV show "Cheers," but instead of drinking, you know, beer in a fun bar with a bunch of friends, I`d be drinking Mad Dog alone in my basement. Not so good.

For over a decade, John Ratzenberger played the lovable know-it-all Cliff Clavin on the hit TV series "Cheers." Now he`s the author of a new book. It`s called, "We`ve Got it Made in America: A Common Man`s Salute to an Uncommon Country."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: De Tocqueville said at one point, when he traveled the country, he said, "America is great, because America is good," and you have...

JOHN RATZENBERGER, AUTHOR, "WE`VE GOT IT MADE IN AMERICA": Still.

BECK: And you have come to the same conclusion?

RATZENBERGER: Oh, absolutely. When you look at history, we`re the only country in the history of history that`s ever gone to war, conquered another nation, used our own money to rebuild that nation, and then give it back.

BECK: Right.

RATZENBERGER: Portugal didn`t do it. Spain didn`t do it. England, Italy, Greece, Phoenicians, nobody else has done it except us. We`re essentially good.

BECK: So now you are traveling -- you have traveled the country.

RATZENBERGER: Well, since I was 18, I`ve been traveling the world, yes.

BECK: What is it -- because, you know, I travel. I do these stage shows twice a year, and I visit 20 different cities just in a quick four- week period, and...

RATZENBERGER: Yes, I heard you were a good tap dancer.

BECK: Very good. And so I get this sense from people -- you can just -- America just feels different when you actually get a chance to cross the country and talk to people. You can feel the difference.

RATZENBERGER: Yes.

BECK: What have you found? What is the thing that most strikes you, traveling the country?

RATZENBERGER: Well, a lot of people in L.A. and New York don`t know that the rest of the country is there.

(LAUGHTER)

BECK: I think they do. They`re just disgusted by it.

RATZENBERGER: I don`t know what it is, but that`s -- it is the heartland for a reason. It`s called the heartland. But what I`ve found across the country -- and I think I knew this growing up, but I never really crystallized it, because I grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, just down the pike here. It`s a factory town. My mom worked in a factory; my dad was a truck driver.

And I always had a sense that the manual arts have always taken precedence over the fine arts. And I realized that there is no exception to that rule. You can`t name a fine art that is not dependent on a manual art. Someone`s got to build a guitar before Bruce Springsteen can go to work, right? You know, someone had to build a ceiling before Michelangelo could go to work.

But across the country, we`re losing those skills. There`s no more shop courses. There`s no more home ec courses. So therefore, common sense goes. If common sense goes, well, we don`t have any industries. We don`t have any workers. The average age of a factory worker now is 52 years old. After the baby boomers have gone, that`s pretty much it.

BECK: You know, I was at a mall with my wife a couple of weeks ago, and somebody -- we were all having a bad experience with an elevator. And somebody got in and they were just nasty. And I finally said to them, "We`re all having a bad day with the elevator. You know, relax." Are you concerned at all that we are not sharing experiences anymore, that it`s just all about the individual, it`s not about the we, it`s about the I?

RATZENBERGER: Right. I actually have a couple of chapters in the book about that. And my theory is that it came out of the Woodstock generation, with the Eastern philosophies, because it`s all about me, how I feel, my inner self. It`s not about service. The Judeo-Christian ethic is serve other people.

I don`t think you`re going to find a lot of Buddhist hospitals around. You know, they`re usually Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, because that ethos is all about service. It`s all about other people. And the other, that New Age philosophy is how I feel, and it`s all about me, and I`m the most important.

BECK: I get so many calls from people on the radio show, and they say, "OK, I understand the problem. But how am I supposed to fix it? I feel so small and so insignificant." And it`s really not about politics.

RATZENBERGER: No, not at all.

BECK: It`s about -- my answer is, fix the family. I think that`s the same kind of answer you have.

RATZENBERGER: Absolutely. Put the kids in the sandbox. Don`t put the kids in front of a TV or computer for their entertainment. I mean, one of the things that happens is...

BECK: Well, unless it`s this show. Then they can watch...

RATZENBERGER: I actually -- because people accuse me of that, because I put an on/off switch on our cable when my kids were growing up outside. And they didn`t know it. And I took a switch...

BECK: Really?

RATZENBERGER: ... yes, because I didn`t want to be the bad guy all the time, so I blamed it on the cable guy. And my daughter read that piece in the book for the first time, and she calls me, "Dad, you`re a brat. You`re a brat, Dad." She`s in high school, a senior in high school. And she said, "That`s why everybody else had cable and we didn`t."

BECK: That`s so funny.

RATZENBERGER: But both of my kids got along great, because we`d go four or five weeks. I`d say, "I don`t know. The cable guy is supposed to be here. It probably broke down." And then I`d just go turn it back on, and voila.

BECK: Right. You watch. Your kids are going to do that to their kids.

RATZENBERGER: Oh, she`s already said she would.

BECK: John, thank you very much. What a pleasure.

RATZENBERGER: Yes. Thank you, Glenn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right, let`s get right to the e-mail. Walt from Long Island says, "Hey, Glenn, I can`t get through one television show right now without being bombarded with political attack ads. When are these people going to stop bickering and do something?"

Yes, it does seem like it`s getting a smidge out of control, doesn`t it? We showed you some of the Nancy Pelosi interview from "60 Minutes" and how both parties to varying degrees focus on winning rather more than actually doing what`s right and helping the nation win.

During a segment that showed how Pelosi is trying to make herself more palatable to a moderate audience by suppressing more liberal views on topics like gay marriage, we saw this. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here she is in cowboy boots in Minnesota farm country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So have you been to Minnesota before?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Oh, a million times.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... where she had not one pork chop on a stick...

PELOSI: This is delicious.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... but two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I mean, I can`t take it. "I might not agree with her on them gays gettin` hitched, but now that I see she eats pig on a stick, I reckon I`m voting for Democrats!" How stupid do these people think we actually are? It shouldn`t really be, you know, whether you look comfortable at the fair with meat on a stick, yet somehow or another it always turns into that, a series of photo-ops followed by pointless bickering.

I want to show you some congressional video from the other day. Watch this. This is -- hey, there you see -- there`s Nancy Pelosi, and over there is Mark Foley. Whoa, wait a minute, isn`t that Howard Dean? And there`s Halliburton. He`s about ready to throw it.

All right, stop it. This is a bunch of teenagers having a fight at a bowling alley. But, really, can you tell the difference?

Tom in Tampa writes, "Glenn, I heard you talking about the new Lexus commercial today, and I must have the answers on how that thing works. They ran that commercial incessantly during football, and then it was on Yahoo all day today. I have to own it; it is important to my character and my soul."

This car was the big talk of the radio studios today. We have to show you the video of this thing parallel parking itself. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I bet you`ve never seen a car virtually park itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: This is incredible. Now, not only can it do this, it has an eight-speed automatic transmission, GPS that`s tied into traffic reports, and apparently cruise control that senses how far away you are from the car in front of you.

Now, normally I would tell you that possessions can`t buy you happiness, but I think this one will. It`s worth a whirl. If you want to send me an e-mail or, hey, Lexus -- I`m not above taking a free car -- feel free to e-mail to me, GlennBeck@CNN.com. We`ll see you tomorrow from the White House on the radio, you sick, twisted freak.

END