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Glenn Beck

Goodbye Idol, Hello Fame?; Massachusetts Immigration Raid; Sharpton Interview

Aired March 09, 2007 - 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 hot, naked girl may have gotten voted off "American Idol," but will she be more famous than ever? Yes.
Plus, more details on that shocking illegal immigration raid near Boston, that and more, next.

ANNOUNCER: Tonight`s episode is brought to you by "American Idol`s" new "Barbadoll." Pants and talent not included.

BECK: OK, if you`re anything like me, you don`t think that "American Idol" is important. Right you are, except tonight. Here`s the point.

Don`t teach your kids to become a doctor or a lawyer. Why do that? The new American dream is to become a thug or a whore. Yes, here`s how I got there. In spite of the fact that her voice sounds like, oh, a couple of mice making love in a sock, Internet sensation Antonella Barba got voted off "American Idol" last night and, like the rest of America, she was shocked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN SEACREST, HOST, "AMERICAN IDOL": America voted. Antonella, the journey ends for you tonight. Stephanie, you are into the top 12.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I don`t know why she was so upset. Antonella`s practically a household name now. And, granted, it`s not because of her singing, it`s because of the pictures of her on the toilet, but still, why the long face? Don`t you understand? This is great. In today`s America, you don`t actually have to do anything to become famous.

No, you don`t have to study, you don`t have to go to work and become on expert on anything. You don`t even have to like build anything of value ever. All you have to do in America today is walk around in a short skirt with no underpants on and flash your daisy. That`s it.

And if that doesn`t work, get a job in a bar, wait for an old man to wheel in, flirt with him until he buys you a new set of, you know, and then become a drug-addled loser, die, and have the entire world celebrate you, oh, oh, and then you can have every has-been celebrity in Hollywood claim to be the father of your baby. God bless America!

Oh, I`m channeling Kate Smith, I love this new America. This is what our founding fathers had intended, right? No.

It is pretty clear in America today the pursuit of happiness now means fame and fortune. Our kids are being taught by the media and, quite honestly, by us, their parents, to pursue fame and fortune at any cost. I believe we are just as responsible as parents.

It seems now that every parent tells their kid, "Great job," oh, great job. Every time they crap in their pants, great job. Empty praise is as addictive as heroin. We cannot keep telling our children that they`re number one when they`re number 412.

Sometimes your kids suck. Sometimes they lose. If you keep telling your kids that they`re the best, even when they haven`t accomplished jack, they`re going to be hooked on it. Then they`ll go to any length to get their fix, even if it requires self-destruction.

You couple this with a growing addiction for praise and the technology of YouTube, you add in dozens of magazines and TV shows hungry for any kind of cheap and sleazy content, and you have the mess we`re in today. Global fascination with Britney Spears shaving her head, more media coverage for Anna Nicole Smith`s funeral for Gerald Ford, and a young girl becoming famous, not because of her talent, but because she was lying naked in a bunch of rose petals. Fame, fortune, at any cost, it`s the new American dream.

Here`s what I know tonight. I was a guy who bottomed out when I was 30. Man, I was a wreck. Lost my family, lost all my money, everything. I thought for a long time that happiness could only be found in money, in fame, in success. All these things are totally empty. They`re meaningless if they are your ultimate goals.

They`re not ultimate goals. Even though I`m on the radio and television, I`ve got to tell you, I`ve thought about this a million times. If I die tomorrow, I`m not even an answer to a trivia question, except perhaps if the question, who was the clown that had that show after "Nancy Grace"? And you know what? Nobody at the table playing that game will even remember my name.

The only thing in life that is truly valuable is our family, our word, and our honor. Unfortunately, these things don`t have value in America. We`re not passing that lesson onto our kids. We`re too busy giving our kids prizes for punctuality.

Here`s what I don`t know. In today`s society, how do you convince a kid to not spread their legs and take pictures? It worked for Antonella Barba, Paris Hilton, and so many others. It`s a much faster and easier way to fame and fortune than actually working hard and creating something great.

Jeff Gardere, he`s a clinical psychologist, and Tia Brown is senior editor of "InTouch Weekly." Let me start with you, Tia. She actually won last night. She was kicked off the show, but she won, didn`t she?

TIA BROWN, "INTOUCH WEEKLY": Well, I don`t think a lot of people feel like she won. I think a lot of people realize that Antonella was or is a very beautiful girl, but she wasn`t the best singer. And I think that it`s great that she was actually voted off, in the sense that people are not rewarding her beauty and not rewarding the fact that she`s now almost famous for nothing because of those pictures on the Internet. So, no, I don`t think she one.

BECK: But isn`t that -- I mean, I was thinking about this today. Paris Hilton was a pivot point for us, wasn`t she?

BROWN: I definitely agree. I think that Paris and, even if you want to go as far back as the Osbournes and Anna Nicole Smith, reality TV really changed the dynamic of what fame meant. Before, fame was attached to a talent, a skill, you know, something of great worth, and now it`s not.

BECK: OK.

Jeff, convince America that she lost. I mean, she lost the talent competition, but she didn`t really lose. She`s famous now. She will parlay this into something.

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, I agree with you. She didn`t lose. I think she was the big winner because now they`re going to parlay this into, well, here`s another person that didn`t win "American Idol," but maybe she`ll go on and win a Grammy or an Oscar or something else. And this is just part of just getting as much publicity as possible. And here we are, once again, reinforcing not a lot of talent.

BECK: If she were ugly, would this have played out at all?

GARDERE: I don`t think so. When Frenchie, for example, her pictures came out, that was something that was a hot blip for the moment, and nothing against Frenchie, but, you know, she wasn`t considered as beautiful as Antonella Barba, who, by the way, is cute, but she ain`t all that. Please, don`t get me started.

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it is because she fits that ideal. And I think where she will lose, Glenn and Tia, is when at some point she realizes that she`s going to become the butt of a lot of jokes for showing her butt.

BECK: You know, I have to tell you, both of you, help me out on this. If I were Paris Hilton -- and it kind of goes to my theory that a lot of the people in Hollywood, the real celebrities, not the Meryl Streeps of the world that actually have talent, but the hot it people in Hollywood, I think they`re miserable, because they`re nothing. They have built nothing of value. And how do you get to the end of your life and not pull your car into the garage and close the door if you haven`t done anything of value?

BROWN: Well, I think you have two different types of celebrities. You have people, again, who are talent-driven. And I think someone like a Meryl Streep or a Scarlett Johansson or a Jessica Alba, they`re not necessarily jealous of Paris Hilton, because Paris and people like Paris and Anna Nicole, they wanted fame.

These other people who are talent-based wanted to be acclaimed for their talent. So I don`t see them vying in that sense. I think that the real sad thing is that a lot of girls who see that people are rewarded for fame and see that, you know, you have access to money, and power, and people look up to you, those are the people who really lose out.

BECK: Well, Tia, I mean, you know, I don`t mean to put you on the spot here, but, I mean, in your heart of hearts, you must know it. The ones who are seeking fame, they`re the ones that get on the front page of your magazine.

BROWN: Definitely, I agree. I think that celebrities make a choice about what type of lifestyle they want to live. And once you make over $10 million, this is my saying, your life is open to the public, if you do that project base. However, you have some celebrities who like to hang out at the hot spots, who like to have their photographs taken, who want to be seen, and you have others who don`t. And there`s really like a strong line of demarcation that determines what type of life you live.

BECK: Jeff, girl power, girl power. We had -- I mean, these feminists, everything that really was supposedly behind the women`s movement of, you know, empowering women, it`s all been peed away, has it not? I mean, there`s really -- it`s turned into sex. Women are just as -- I don`t know -- used just as much for sex, but this time they allow it to happen. They`re encouraging it to happen. They`re using sex for power.

GARDERE: Well, I think, with the women`s movement, which was so necessary -- my god, I think a lot of that has become a travesty, because now there are some women who believe being equal means acting like a jerk or like a sex object, just like men wanted to treat women as sex objects.

Now we`re free to harass, as men do. Now we`re free to have as much sex as men like to do. And I don`t think that was the whole purpose of the women`s movement. Of course, I`m not a woman, and I can`t speak for them, but I am afraid for them, psychologically, that they have now been convinced that the only way to make it is to have the brain power, but it`s also about the sexuality, and we in the media and we in society are reinforcing that.

BECK: OK. Jeff...

GARDERE: And you did with your video, when you said, Hey, listen, girls gone mild -- you know, they`re saying, hey, listen, if we`re just a doctor, that`s not enough. Now we`ve got to be a sexy doctor.

BECK: OK. Tia, Jeff, thanks a lot. You know, what Jeff was just talking about is before we went on the air, we played a little thing, because I`ve got a theory. We should start celebrating girls behaving not so badly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Want to see girls acting like you`ve never seen them before? Then pick up a copy of "Girls Gone Mild." You`ll get girl- on-girl medical care.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don`t want you to eat too much before the stress test.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Girls out on the street caught red-handed helping others. And, brace yourself, in the flesh, girls actually testifying before Senate subcommittees.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it`s more of a multidisciplinary team, as I mentioned in my oral testimony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Girls Gone Mild," you won`t believe your eyes. OK, you probably will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is GLENN BECK.

BECK: Coming up, over 300 illegal immigrants busted in a raid in a Massachusetts factory, but the state is telling the feds, "Back off."

Plus, criticizing government in Moscow becoming the leading cause of death in Russia. I`ll explain in tonight`s "Real Story."

And godfather of soul James Brown, ow, dead on Christmas, still not in the ground.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Where do you think we are at 2025, the border? Let`s just say that no fence is ever built, that we just continue the hemorrhaging in the border. It`s a frickin` avalanche, and we`re standing right under the ice shelf with clowns that are yodeling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, look at this. I can hear myself under this ice shelf. Hello?

BECK: Really you shouldn`t do this underneath this ice shelf. It`s all about to collapse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I`m sure you`ve seen the chaotic images resulting from Tuesday`s immigration raid that detained over 300 employees, most of them women, from a Massachusetts leather company. The company, by the way, has won more than $91 million in U.S. military contracts and is located just south of that lovely sanctuary city I mentioned the other day, Cambridge.

While people were horrified by the stranded children, I was also a little horrified by the state and federal governments not working with each other on one of the nation`s most important issues. While the federal government was trying to whisk away the illegal mothers, the state government was fighting to keep them in Massachusetts.

Here`s what Governor Deval Patrick had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DEVAL PATRICK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I want to be clear that the commonwealth had no role in the criminal investigation or immigration enforcement action taken by the federal government in New Bedford, other than our efforts in advance to ask them to scale back the heavy-handed nature of this approach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Unbelievable. No role, really? It sounds like an indictment on you. Shouldn`t you have a role in fighting illegal immigration in your state?

Joining me now is Marc Raimondi. He is the spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Marc, first of all, congratulations on this bust. What the heck happened?

MARC RAIMONDI, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: Glenn, thanks for having me. First and foremost, I want to point out that, regardless of the erroneous news reports, there was not one child that was stranded from this operation. In fact, I just spoke to DSS again, and they`re not aware of any child that has been left in a risky or inadequate situation, nor have they had to put a single child in foster care. So I just want to get that straight off the bat.

BECK: Then let me pursue this with the moms then first. You didn`t leave the children alone. The moms were reunited right away, right, with their kids?

RAIMONDI: Well, based on the interviews that we had with the detainees, we`ve released 35 in New Bedford right away for humanitarian purposes, and subsequently we`ve released about 35.

BECK: OK. I mean, help me out, Marc, here. I`m on your side. I really am. But why wouldn`t we have just picked up the kids and brought the kids with mom to put them on a plane and send them away?

RAIMONDI: Well, again, we`re committed to insuring that we work very closely with our state and our state partners on this to ensure that there are no children left in inadequate settings.

BECK: OK. The governor gets on and says he had no part of this. Shouldn`t the governor have some role in this? Shouldn`t the state be looking at a company that is engaged in what I believe is modern-day slavery?

RAIMONDI: OK. Well, in fact, this was an 11-month criminal investigation, and we coordinated very closely with our federal, state, and local counterparts, to include the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety, to include the Massachusetts Department of Social Services. So we did coordinate quite closely.

BECK: OK. And the conditions that these people were working in, I -- correct me if I`m wrong, there`s a reason why Americans won`t take a lot of these jobs. Tell me about the condition of this particular leather company.

RAIMONDI: Right. Well, the conditions were not something I would want to spend a lot of time in, I can tell you that.

BECK: Can you elaborate on that?

RAIMONDI: Well, there was -- according to the criminal complaint, there was fines if employees were a minute late. They were fined for 15 minutes. If they spent more than two minutes in a bathroom, they would be fined or fired on a second offense. They weren`t allowed to talk to each other during their shifts.

But all of that is clearly stated in the criminal complaint. The conditions I saw were less than what I would want to spend a lot of time in.

BECK: So, Marc, how come -- you know, all these damned bleeding hearts who are saying, "Oh, jeez, we care about people," they`re putting them in this condition. And what`s going to happen to the -- what`s going to happen to the owners of this company? And by the way, what`s the name of this company?

RAIMONDI: It`s MBI Incorporated.

BECK: What`s going to happen to the owners of these people, this company?

RAIMONDI: Well, the owner was arrested on criminal charges, as were three of the managers, and there was also another criminal arrest of a fraudulent document vendor. What was happening, according to the criminal complaint, was the managers would send an illegal alien over to a document vendor to get fraudulent documents, and all of that is clearly stated.

BECK: How long do you think -- how long can they be in jail for that?

RAIMONDI: Well, according to -- I believe that, if they`re found guilty, they face considerable prison time and fines.

BECK: Marc, keep up the good work. Never give up. Don`t let these buttheads up in Massachusetts slow you down.

RAIMONDI: Thank you.

BECK: Coming up, why criticizing the Kremlin can be hazardous to your health, very hazardous, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Soldiers make the ultimate commitment. In return, the very least they deserve is our care for them when they return home from duty. Sadly, it`s not always the case. Those who look to the Army`s Walter Reed Medical Center got stuck in -- I mean, it`s an understatement to say shoddy housing. They were forced to battle excessive red tape -- only the government knows how to do this -- just to get simple treatment.

It`s a situation the military brass and those in Congress, they`re now beginning to wonder, is Walter Reed the worst offender, or is this just the first? Brian McGough is an Iraq war veteran, also former Walter Reed patient. And Kayla Williams is his wife, also an Iraqi war veteran.

Let me start with this. Both of you, thank you very much for your service. And, Brian, what was the experience in Walter Reed that you went through?

BRIAN MCGOUGH, FORMER WALTER REED PATIENT: My experience at Walter Reed was -- I got injured in Iraq in October of 2003, medevaced to Germany, then to Walter Reed. While I was an inpatient at Walter Reed, it was great care. They took very good care of me. They made sure I was all right. Nurses were always coming around to check on me. Doctors always in the room, making sure as I was all right.

But as soon as I become an outpatient, I was on my own. There was an attitude of, "We fixed you. Now it`s your responsibility to figure out who the doctors are, who you have to see."

BECK: Kayla, what was the worst experience as a wife?

KAYLA WILLIAMS, FORMER ARMY SERGEANT: For me what I thought was most horrifying was that, when they released him from Walter Reed, they just sent him back to his unit at Fort Campbell, and he was still in the early stages of recovery. He had a traumatic brain injury, so there were a lot of things that he just couldn`t manage on his own. They sent him back to his regular unit who couldn`t take care of him, so his unit told him to stay home. And he just self-medicated with alcohol for 10 months while he just languished and had no treatment, no sort of recovery, no rehabilitation. And that was horrifying to watch.

BECK: They`re sending people to where they are being watched by other patients, true or not?

MCGOUGH: That is true. And if you`re a leader in a leadership position before you get hurt, when you get sent to the hospital, you still have that same rank. So when you`re in the medical holding company, they figure, well, hey, you`re here. You`re a leader. We can make you watch other soldiers.

BECK: Let me play devil`s advocate. In a way, I have seen many reports where they say, you know, the patients that are there at Walter Reed say it is the same camaraderie, we are still a team, we`re still a unit, and they`re still helping each other. Can you make the case that that`s a good thing in any way?

MCGOUGH: It`s a good thing if that`s not your main responsibility. Your main responsibility while you`re at the hospital is to get better so you can go back to your own unit and be a leader. You`re not supposed to be a leader; you`re supposed to be healing yourself so you can be a leader somewhere else.

BECK: Kayla, did you actually have to bring pictures in to prove that Brian served in Iraq?

WILLIAMS: No, we never had to do that, but it was extremely frustrating while he was at Fort Campbell that nobody seemed interested in trying to help or able to help. And then (OFF-MIKE) the proper care to be told, oh, we lost his paperwork, oh, sorry, we lost his paperwork again. Can you fill that form out again? Over and over.

BECK: I don`t know about anybody else, but it makes me want to enjoy the wonders that is government health care and universal health care. They`ve made a lot of changes. They`re talking about it now in Congress. Do you think this can be fixed?

MCGOUGH: It`s only going to be fixed if they don`t do the one- or two-person thing. They have to look at all of the leadership.

BECK: OK, Brian, Kayla, thank you very much. "The Real Story" is up next, and you don`t want to miss it tonight, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Tonight`s "Real Story" begins with a question. If one of your co-workers was accused of murder but never convicted, would you treat them differently? OK, now what if they were accused of two murders, or four, or 10 brutal murders, but never, ever convicted? Would you still trust them? Not me.

At what point do simple, unproven accusations start to become more than just isolated incidents or empty allegations? That is the question that I hope our government is asking when it comes to President Putin in Russia.

This guy always seems to be the thick -- in the thick of the smoke but never actually in the fire. You may have heard the news today about an American doctor and her daughter who were poisoned with thallium while in Moscow. Well, we`re still trying to, you know, find the motive in this case, but at least they have the benefit of still being alive. You can`t say the same thing about a lot of other people who have been in Moscow lately.

My question is, why? Why are so many reporters and government critics showing up dead? And why should anyone believe their deaths are anything more than a coincidence?

Here`s why: because, in Russia, murder has become the law. "The Real Story" is the Russian parliament, at direct request or some might say demand of the Kremlin, recently passed a law permitting the killing of, quote, "enemies of the Russian regime abroad." Enemies of the regime? Wow, that kind of sounds vague. You know, it also kinds of sound like sanctioned assassination, which is exactly what it is.

In July 2003, an investigative reporter who was exposing tax evasion among people connected to the government died of, quote, "an allergic reaction." Although there have been times that I thought I`d sneeze my head of, never actually died from it. Incidentally, never explained what the reporter was allergic to. Could have been poison. That`s what his family believes, family believes it was poison.

About a year later, former vice premier of Chechnya gunned down in Moscow before he could provide information to the editor of "Forbes" in Russia about a high-level corruption among powerful Russian businessmen with ties to the government. A couple weeks later, the Russian "Forbes" editor himself was also shot and killed.

Last September, the deputy chief of Russia`s central bank, who was spearheading reforms that Putin was against, killed in broad daylight as he left a soccer match.

And just one month later, Anna Politkovskaya -- she was an investigative reporter who was an outspoken critic of Putin -- was shot and killed in her own apartment. Now, not coincidentally, she had also been good friends with the investigative reporter who died of the "allergic reaction."

Now, I know this gets really complicated, so let me just show you a little trail of blood graphic here to make it easier to follow. Up next is Alexander Litvinenko. Now, he is the former Russian spy who was poisoned to death with polonium and accused Putin of it right from his death bed. Litvinenko was investigating Anna`s murder just before he was killed. Wow, that`s quite a coincidence there, I mean, three people connected to each other.

Then we have Paul Joyal. He`s a Soviet intelligence expert who went on "Dateline" just a couple of weeks ago to talk about Litvinenko`s murder. Here`s a small part of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL JOYAL, CRITIC OF VLADIMIR PUTIN: You have a whole series of cases where journalists have been murdered, people being told to muzzle their criticism of the government. This is a pattern; it`s a pattern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Four days after that aired, Joyal was shot in the groin in his own driveway here in the United States in Maryland. Police say it was just a robbery. Unfortunately for that theory, nothing seems to be missing. Oh, and did I mention that Joyal was a good friend of Litvinenko`s? Yes, connection number four.

Finally, last Friday, Ivan Safronov was another Russian reporter critical of the government. He died after conveniently falling out of a fifth-story window. How many times has that happened to you and your friends? His colleagues say he was murdered because he was working on a story about Russian arms deals to Syria and Iran.

Vladimir Putin may never be convicted of a darn thing, but this I know: He is trying to send a message to his enemies. And, like it or not, it is being delivered loud and clear. The question is: Are we one of his enemies?

Dmitry Sidorov is the D.C. bureau chief of the Russian newspaper "Kommersant." He is also a colleague of the reporter who supposedly fell out of the fifth-story window.

Dmitry, an accident?

DMITRY SIDOROV, D.C. BUREAU CHIEF, KOMMERSANT PUBLISHING: How are you? Well, I doubt it; I sincerely doubt it. Based on the information I`m receiving from Moscow, from different sources -- and definitely I don`t want to name the names, because I`m a little bit afraid to put those people in danger -- but, according to the information, there`s a good chance that Ivan Safronov was killed.

BECK: OK. What was he working on?

SIDOROV: Again, based on what I know -- and, again, I work and live in D.C., and he was doing his investigative reporting from Moscow and some Arab countries, as far as I understand -- he was working on the weapon deals between Moscow and Tehran and Damascus.

BECK: This is starting to shape up like a "Sopranos" episode, and Putin is Tony Soprano.

SIDOROV: Well, sort of. I will really agree with you. It`s kind of --the trend is very scary. And I should say that, basically, if anybody is capable of proving ties between the high-ranking Kremlin government officials and all these assassinations, that would be quite a discovery.

BECK: Well, Tony Soprano knows about all the hits.

SIDOROV: I hope he does.

(LAUGHTER)

BECK: Do you think Putin -- I mean, is Putin the guy behind this?

SIDOROV: Well, it`s very difficult to say. We may assume a lot of things, but the problem is, first of all, when -- I heard you talking about all these assassinations that took place in Russia in about two years.

BECK: Accidents and allergic reactions.

SIDOROV: Well, allergic reactions, right, right. Bring me my medicine, please. Yes. Now, the point is here, first of all, I doubt that anyone in Russia can rely on what`s called transparent investigation, again, because all previous cases, the way those cases were investigated didn`t build any confidence in those people who are busy trying to figure out what`s going on.

The other thing is, normally -- and, again, I`m not trying to talk about President Putin, although I would love to -- but, still, you know, there are a lot of people who know me over there. But in any case, I think that, if there`s murder for hire, and if intelligence services in any country do decide to go after certain people, either outside or inside the country, definitely there should be an ultimate authority to give a green light for them to do that.

BECK: What does this mean for us? What does the future look like for the United States and the world? What are they doing? What are they building?

SIDOROV: Well, you guys, I mean, it seems to me that you`re following this very good expression, "The future is so bright that I better wear shades."

BECK: I don`t know what that means, except it`s really scary.

SIDOROV: It is. It is. It`s scary to be in the dark. It`s scary not to do anything about it. It`s scary to pretend that nothing is going on.

BECK: Joyal said this, "A message has been communicated to anyone who wants to speak out against the Kremlin. If you do, no matter who you are, where you are, we`ll find you, we`ll silence you in the most horrible way possible."

SIDOROV: And they proved that they are quite capable of doing that.

BECK: Dmitry, best of luck to you.

SIDOROV: Thank you very much.

BECK: Stay safe, my friend.

SIDOROV: OK, I will.

BECK: All right. That`s "The Real Story" tonight. If you want to read more on it, go to glennbeck.com.

Up next, why nude Internet photos have some calling "American Idol" racist. My friend, Reverend Al Sharpton, joins me next. Don`t miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: All these global warming experts, the U.N. has come out, PETA has come out and said you do more damage eating meat than you do with your car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to be the ones who come up with the TerraPass buying your carbon footprint out, your meat footprint...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: What is your meat footprint?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and I want a steak with a footprint in it.

BECK: Or a steak that really looks like a steak but is shaped like a foot. Love that. Was is your meat footprint?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Don`t miss the radio show tomorrow.

Now, just when you thought it was safe to watch TV and look at nudie pictures on the Internet, claims of racism are being brought against "American Idol." They dumped, in 2003, Frenchie Davis, who`s black. She was appearing in lingerie sites or shots posted on a Web site, daddyslittlegirl.com. Sounds classy.

This season, however, they allowed Antonella Barba. She is white. They said she could continue competing after equally racy photos appeared of her online. Now, if that`s not enough to satisfy your need for celebrity scandals, even Anna Nicole Smith gave James Brown a run for his money.

The godfather of soul still holds the record for being famous, dead and unburied. The hardest working man in show business quit on Christmas Day, but he is still above ground. He was in his house for a while. The DNA samples are being collected to sort out several paternity claims made against James Brown since his death.

Joining me now to talk about all of this and so much more -- see, look, you look like you`re not happy.

THE REVEREND AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I`m listening to you.

BECK: Oh, are you saying you`re not happy when you listen to me?

SHARPTON: I`m being cautious. I`ll just put it that. How are you doing?

BECK: Very good. OK, let`s start with "American Idol," because I thought of you this morning. I heard that. I heard Rosie O`Donnell, because she knows race issues, she immediately said, "Oh, it`s race."

SHARPTON: She said it was race and weight, to be fair. And they`re not equal pictures. I happened to have Frenchie on my syndicated radio show. Frenchie had some pictures done in lingerie that she told the judges about, and they removed her off the show. I think it was the second episode.

You can hardly say these are lingerie pictures of this girl. I mean, if she had lingerie on, I don`t think it would be an issue. There are -- I think she had some flower petals on one. That might have been the most clothed she was.

So the question is the standard. I mean, believe me, we in the civil rights movement don`t get up every morning trying to find out what`s going on "American Idol," but since others have raised it as an issue, the question is whether there`s one standard that`s applied equally.

BECK: And I agree with you, that there is -- I mean, I just don`t think that -- she should have been booted off this time around. I mean, it`s a family show, et cetera, et cetera. However, I think what they`re trying to say is the standard is, if you sell them to -- if you take photos of you and sell them, but these were released by her friends. You buy that?

SHARPTON: Well, but I think that Frenchie`s defense was they happened five years before the contest, she had no way of knowing she`d be on "American Idol." She was 19 years old, and this girl`s friends did it. I mean, it`s kind of hard to say you`re going to have a standard on whether you sold or didn`t sell something. Either something is acceptable family- wise or it`s not.

BECK: Do you believe -- I have to be very careful, because I asked a woman this last week and got into a lot of trouble -- do you believe that there`s ever, it`s ever a good idea for women to take pictures like this of themselves?

SHARPTON: Of?

BECK: Of themselves like this?

SHARPTON: No, I mean, because, even if it`s done in the privacy -- I mean, you have guys that say it`s just between you and I -- there`s a public record.

BECK: Right.

SHARPTON: I have two daughters. I would tell them never to take those kinds of pictures. A picture is what it is; it`s to make a permanent record. And that can always be used against you. And I think that it`s very dangerous for women to do that, or men, for that matter.

BECK: Yes. Thank goodness you said that. Otherwise I would have had to say, just to be fair, I would have had to say, "I`ve got a camera, so you can come on over to my place, and I`ll take pictures," and that would have been disturbing with you.

SHARPTON: Very, very.

BECK: OK. James Brown, I read that he was not buried like three weeks ago, and I couldn`t believe it. What is happening?

SHARPTON: Well, first of all, there`s been a lot of misinformation. James Brown was never in his house.

BECK: I read that he was in an air-conditioned room.

SHARPTON: Well, I eulogized him at all three funerals.

BECK: Three funerals?

SHARPTON: We had a service in Augusta, the private service in South Carolina, and the public service at the Apollo in New York.

BECK: I mean, that guy goes out in style, man.

SHARPTON: Well, he should. He changed the style of the world. He deserved that. His legacy is undeniable.

And the family has been between these legal cases, between those that were responsible for his money, his huge estate, his huge catalogue, to where I must say -- and I`m proud of this -- that his six children said, look, we`re tired of this. The people that should have made sure that he was taken care of, insurance, others that haven`t done it, they put their own money together, and they`re getting ready to have him entombed.

He`s never been in the house in an air-conditioned room. That`s a lie. The funeral director has had charge of his body, which he would have had anywhere, as a mausoleum was built, and now his own children, who said, "He taught us how to be self-reliant," despite the fact that he left millions, and there`s a fight over the millions, "We care about our father," and they`re going to have him entombed.

I`m going down to do it in a matter of days, not weeks. But the shame of it is they have to do it out of their own pocket while everyone else is arguing over his estate.

BECK: That`s ridiculous.

SHARPTON: The pride of it is that the kids that he had is doing what James Brown would have wanted to do, and that is use what you got to get what you want, and what they want is the dignity and integrity of their father protected. And I think they should be saluted for that.

BECK: Truly, it was shameful with Anna Nicole, and it`s shameful here. Put the -- I mean, can we show some respect? Put the people in the ground.

SHARPTON: Well, I think that, you know, when people are gone, you see who really loves them. And I think that when people are more concerned about what is going to happen to their stuff that what happens to them, it speaks for themselves.

I think that there`s some -- and I`m glad that all of the parties have agreed to this entombment -- and that the kids have stepped forward and put their money where their mouth is. James Brown`s legacy should be what we`re talking about, not who`s going to control what he left.

BECK: So I have to ask you, because I read the story about Strom Thurmond, and I thought, "Wow, what a bad day for Al Sharpton."

SHARPTON: Well, I think it -- it`s not a bad day. I think, in many ways, you know, the story is that his ancestors owned mine.

BECK: Yes.

SHARPTON: I`ve not taken a DNA test.

BECK: Are you going to?

SHARPTON: I don`t know. The issue to me is not whether or not there was sex.

BECK: That would be weird.

SHARPTON: The issue is ownership. When I can say my great- grandfather was property, I mean...

BECK: But you knew that, didn`t you?

SHARPTON: Yes, but I did not know when or where. I went two days ago to the actual site where a lot of the plantation was maintained by providence, this guy that bought it, just loves to maintain stuff.

BECK: What would you say to Strom Thurmond if he were alive today?

SHARPTON: Well, I did say, that he was wrong. You know, people talk about...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: But it wouldn`t have -- I couldn`t imagine knowing that guy was the guy whose family owned...

(CROSSTALK)

SHARPTON: Well, of course, that adds salt to the wound. But you know what amazes me, is the press says that he moderated his segregationist views in his older age. Well, when did he denounce it? I`ve never seen Strom Thurmond say, "I was wrong, I`m going to do what I can correct it." I mean, the media, you guys, sanitize anything. It`s ridiculous.

BECK: I have to tell you, because you know I love you, but I disagree with almost everything you say. There`s part of me, a sick part of me, that would just love to see you two related in DNA.

SHARPTON: Well, at least you said it was a sick part of you, and I understand that -- may you be healed one day, Glenn.

BECK: Thank you, sir.

SHARPTON: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right, let`s do the clip of the day. Here it is. All right, this is a squirrel, apparently a little intoxicated, fermented fruit, or at least that`s what he wants you to believe. Either way, lesson to be learned that never climb and drive or drink and -- anyway.

OK, here`s the latest on Scooter Libby. He was found guilty on four charges, including obstruction of an investigation and perjury. I think you know how I feel on this one: stupid.

Look, I mean, the worst this guy did was -- or he told a small lie in a case where no crime took place. Perjury in context, not a big deal.

You have to look at it from this aspect. He might have lied, but he did it to protect himself, his job and his family. You know, it had absolutely nothing to do with his job performance. All of this testimony happened when he could have been getting back to work for the American people, and I`ve got to tell you something, I believe this is a battle.

I mean, when you look at the very people that are involved in this, you know, they popped up in other settings. I mean, the great story here for anybody willing to find it, write about it and explain it, is -- this is a vast left-wing conspiracy. It`s been conspiring against Scooter Libby since the day Dick Cheney announced he was running for vice president.

Sound familiar? Yes, kind of making me feel like I`m in some sort of weird Howard Dean fantasy world. I`m a conservative, but I try to be consistent. You know, I just rehashed all the arguments that I heard back in the `90s defending Bill Clinton; I`m hearing them now from the Republicans, but not from the Democrats.

Remember all the people that, you know, defending Scooter Libby, they should be the opposite, shouldn`t they? Perjury is a big deal to me. It was in the `90s. It still is today, even though a Republican did it. I don`t have any allegiance to these weasels who lie under oath.

Shame on the Democrats and the Republicans for switching sides on the same story. It`s weird, isn`t it?

We`ll see you tomorrow. From New York, good night.

END