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Glenn Beck

Identifying Convicted Sexual Predators; Catching a Mugger

Aired March 16, 2007 - 19:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, HOST: Tonight, Rosie O`Donnell defending 9/11 master mind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad? Oh, yes, apparently, terrorists are people, too.

ROSIE O`DONNELL, CO-HOST, ABC`S "THE VIEW": They`re been treating them like animals, Elisabeth.

BECK: And just when you thought it was over, the saga of Anna Nicole marches on. Will today`s custody hearing finally tell us once and for all who`s your daddy?

Plus, those six imams, thrown off the plane for suspicious behavior? Well, surprise, surprise, they`re now suing the airline. And if they have their way, the skies may be getting a whole lot less safe soon.

Tonight, honest questions on these stories and more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: On Fridays, we like to try things a little differently on this program, mainly because I`m sleepy by the end of the week.

Questions on the big stories with a panel tonight. We`ve got Dave Glover from 97.1 FM Talk in St. Louis; Ashleigh Banfield from Court TV; and joining us via satellite from Washington D.C., the host of CNN`s "RELIABLE SOURCES," Howard Kurtz.

I want to start with some footage that just -- blood shot out of my eyes when I saw this. "The View" with Rosie O`Donnell. She was defending the mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad. Watch this video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: And I think the man has been in custody of the American government in secret CIA torture prisons in Guantanamo Bay, where torture is accepted and allowed, and he finally is the guy who admits to doing everything.

They finally found the guy. It`s not that guy bin Laden. It`s this guy they`ve had since `93. Look. This is the picture they`ve released of him. Doesn`t he look healthy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. We`re going to just try to open this up for a free for all, but I want to start with you, Ashleigh. I found more venom for the United States government than for the guy who perpetrated 9/11 on this country from Rosie O`Donnell.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, COURT TV: I don`t know. I didn`t take it that way, funny. I actually took it to be -- what`s our system? What do we stand for here in America? Don`t we have the No. 1 system of jurisprudence? I think we do. I love it here.

When I hear kinks in the system like secret proceedings, I start to think of what it was like when I was visiting Iran and what it was like when I was in Iraq and the places that we don`t like and we don`t respect because they don`t have a system that we respect.

And that`s what I got the sense that that`s what Rosie was saying. Not so much that she likes Khalid Shaikh Mohammad. Who does?

BECK: Was she --there was no contempt. Howard, did you hear any contempt for -- for Khalid Shaikh Mohammad?

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Not a syllable. I mean, I don`t have any problem with Rosie O`Donnell questioning why, after three years in custody, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad suddenly confesses to every crime going back to the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby.

I mean, mainstream journalists have raised these questions, too, as they have questioned the treatment of detainees under this administration.

But she seemed a lot more concerned with his well being than the United States. And after all, this is a guy, even if he`s exaggerating these confessions, who is sworn to kill Americans in cold blood. So I was really disturbed by it.

BECK: I personally agree. We talked about this last night. You know, I think this is legacy building on this guy`s part. I mean, he is playing to the Middle East.

Let me play the second piece of tape here from Rosie O`Donnell. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: He has apparently admitted to over 29 things that he says that he was solely responsible for. He did this confession while he`s at Guantanamo.

He was arrested and put in the care of the United States in March 2003. He was then in a secret CIA prison. And then he was brought to Guantanamo. And then he confessed without reporters being present and without privy to a lawyer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: When do -- when does anybody have reporters present at a confession?

And I -- Dave, I mean, I don`t know about you, but there is -- I`m not for torture, unless it is deemed as something that actually works. Torture doesn`t work.

You know, I`m a big fan of "24". If, you know, you`ve got a nuke going off and we`ve got 25 minutes, I`m going to pull your fingernails out if I have to, if I think it`s going to get you to talk.

On this guy in particular, I don`t necessarily need to get any information out. The world knew this guy was a dirt bag before we even caught him. At this point, if you want to pull all the hair off his back, then hot glue it back on and tear it off again, I`m OK with that.

DAVE GLOVER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Yes. The way I took what she was saying is we really have no clue whether this is the right guy of not, as if we`d gone and pulled him out of a taxi in Cleveland and tortured him for three years and made him confess, as if we`d just pulled him out of thin air. And that`s the way I took it.

If she`d have said thank God he`s off the streets and than God he`ll never harm another American, but really, you have to do X, Y and Z. It would have -- may have made more sense to me, even though I may disagree with X, Y and Z if we really did that or not.

BECK: See, here`s the problem, actually, that I have. Is I don`t -- look, I don`t agree with a darn word Rosie O`Donnell ever says, and I -- I celebrate her right to say it.

However, there is contempt here. There is -- there is this -- there is this feeling that I get from Rosie O`Donnell and some people like her, not all people but some people like her, that they trust our government at the bottom of the -- the government is the last thing that they trust.

And I got news for you. I don`t trust the -- I don`t trust Congress. I don`t trust George Bush. I don`t trust a lot of people in our government, but I trust them more than a guy that we pulled out of a freaking cave.

BANFIELD: I don`t think you`re going to hear Rosie O`Donnell liking Khalid Shaikh Mohammad. I don`t think for a minute she`s going to ever say on the air that she respects this guy or likes this guy. Again, I think maybe I got a different read on all of this.

And I can`t stress enough from all the time I spent overseas how loud the volume is over there of our coverage. And so when these kinds of things are aired overseas. I`m not saying Rosie`s comments. I`m saying the comments and the developments in Guantanamo. They are so much louder there than they are here.

I think if you walk out in the street here and ask anybody who Khalid Shaikh Mohammad is, a lot of people will say they won`t know. You ask overseas, they are following every moment of these proceedings. And what`s dangerous is that they don`t respect the way that we are prosecuting.

I work for Court TV. I watch our system every single day and, look, I may not agree with some of the things that happen in our courts, but I love the way it works. It`s the best system in the world.

And unfortunately, when it comes to Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and the treatment of him, I haven`t seen it mirror our pristine system.

BECK: Gosh. I think if we had Himmler and pulled Himmler off the street, I don`t think we`d be giving him the treatment that we`re giving this guy. I think it would have been a lot worse.

Howard, do you think the Rosie O`Donnells of the world or, for that matter, the mes of this world is good or a bad thing for television news?

KURTZ: Well, certainly good thing for "The View". I mean, she has brought so much controversy to that program. And here we are talking about it again. She`s helped the ratings.

And that doesn`t mean I agree with what she`s saying, but for years "The View" was kind of off the radar screen, and she has brought it back.

But I have to agree with you on one point, and that is clearly, she is so furious at the Bush administration that it`s coloring everything she says. She assumes this guy was tortured. Maybe he was. I don`t know. She doesn`t know. You don`t know.

And I also think that we, you know, there`s reason to be skeptical that the Bush administration did have secret CIA prisons they didn`t tell anybody about until my newspaper, "The Washington Post", exposed that.

But you can`t let your emotions about the administration be -- so overwhelm you that you have any sympathy for people who are sworn to commit terrorist acts.

BANFIELD: I love the fact that this is being talked about in daytime TV, because forever all we`ve ever had are these soap operas and just mind mush.

And here we are with many women at home who are working mothers like me. I`m about to take maternity leave. And I want to be able to watch television during the day and actually learn something and hear some great debate and great conversation, something political, too, rather than just who loves who and who`s zooming who. I think it`s great this has made its way onto "The View".

GLOVER: I would like -- I agree with that. I would like to hear that. But I don`t think that Rosie O`Donnell is that. I think Rosie O`Donnell`s either one step slightly above or one step slightly below soap operas when she`s just -- I mean, let`s -- I`ll give my opinion.

Face facts. You may disagree. Some people like Rosie. Some people think she`s funny. But Rosie wouldn`t be a millionaire if she weren`t obnoxious and outrageous.

BANFIELD: Opinionated.

GLOVER: Obnoxious. Obnoxious.

BANFIELD: Opinionated.

KURTZ: Outrageous.

GLOVER: Obnoxious.

If she said it quietly no one care or listen. We wouldn`t be here talking about it.

BECK: Let`s go -- let`s go to Anna Nicole quickly before we take a break. Anna Nicole, why do we care about Anna Nicole?

BANFIELD: Two things.

BECK: Yes.

GLOVER: Boobs.

BANFIELD: Boobs. I mean, she`s beautiful. There are pictures that go with this story that you cannot turn away from, no matter how you slice it.

The problem is, is while it`s a great story to dabble in, we shouldn`t be all consumed as a country. I like -- I like the legal aspects of this story. I work for Court TV. So of course, I love the domino effect within the legal system and I like that we`re learning from things from it.

BECK: We`re not learning anything.

BANFIELD: Are you kidding me?

BECK: Nobody`s watching this to learn anything. Howard?

BANFIELD: We are so learning.

BECK: What are we learning?

BANFIELD: We`re learning about probate. We`re learning about estates, wills and trusts.

BECK: Nobody is learning about probate or estates.

BANFIELD: I think they have. I think they have.

BECK: No.

KURTZ: This is all about media -- this is all about media exploitation. Most people in the country have a casual interest in this story.

But there`s a small hard core, people are obsessed with all things Anna Nicole, and cable television is pandering to them night after night by putting up those pictures that Ashleigh talks about and beating this thing into the ground.

She`s dead. It`s really sad. She was a C-list celebrity. And I don`t think there is a level of interest that supports this constant looping of all these Anna Nicole pictures.

BECK: I couldn`t disagree with you anymore. We`re looking for brain candy in America, unfortunately.

Howard, thanks.

Coming up, more honest questions. Six imams kicked off a U.S. Airways flight last fall. They filed a suit this week against the airline and the passengers.

Like they say in New York, you see something, say something. But now you might get sued.

And what would the Gipper do? The GOP without a clear cut presidential candidate. Are we looking at the end of the Reagan revolution or merely the beginning?

Plus, an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at military combat search and rescue teams putting their lives on the line. Behind enemy lines. You don`t want to miss it, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Ronald Reagan would be crying his eyes out. But that`s not the story in "TIME" magazine. The story in "TIME" magazine is the message of conservatives, dead.

It`s not. It`s been lost on the people in power. It has not been lost in America. We still eat and breathe and live it every single day. I believe it now more than ever.

But you only hear it when you`re in the heartland. The message has to go mainstream. Unfortunately, nobody`s going to let you do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: We`re back with honest questions in our roundtable today. Ashleigh Banfield from Court TV is here. Roland Martin, a CNN contributor, and Dave Glover from 97.1 FM in St. Louis.

Here`s the story that people have been following for awhile about the six imams. They were on that plane in Minneapolis. They were flying to Phoenix, Arizona.

They were allegedly screaming "Allah akbar" -- I`ve heard that that wasn`t true -- before takeoff. Then they changed their seats, some say, to the ones the 9/11 hijackers had.

Now they`re now suing U.S. Airways. Do they have a case -- Dave?

GLOVER: Well, here`s the thing about our system, is as Ashleigh was saying before, they have every right in the world to bring the case. The jury will hear the evidence. If they have been wronged, then they`ll be compensated.

But the real issue here is let`s assume what they said is true. That`s the real argument here. If what they`re being accused of didn`t happen, it`s not an issue. They`ll win the case.

But assume what they have been accused of is true, then I say they made the right decision. That the law, the judge, the jury should stand behind the decision the crew mad, because it`s more important to protect the public than to protect a person or individual from feeling offended.

BECK: OK. Hang on. Let`s get the facts. Let`s tone the facts down. Because the "Allah akbar" thing, I`ve heard that is not true. So let me give you the facts they say it. This is my understanding of it.

That they were switching seats because one of them was, you know, I don`t know, a U.S. Air gold card holder or something like that. And he was in first class, and he asked if he could -- if he could upgrade a friend or two.

One was upgraded. The other one, I think, was blind, and so they had to sit someplace else. So they were switching seats, but it was all innocent, according to them.

They did ask for seatbelt extenders, but none of them were fat enough for a seat belt extender.

And they say they didn`t make any comments on Iraq or anything else, but they were praying at the airport -- Roland.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Look. Any time I get on a plane, I`m praying, as well. So I`m always trying to do that, as well.

I think people have to understand that there are certain customs of folks who are Muslim. And so when we don`t understand that, all of a sudden, we say, hey, what`s happening? These Muslim guys are on the ground, bowing down. They`re praying. That`s a part of their custom.

If you had six Christians in a circle holding hands, praying to Jesus, would we be offended? No. And keep in mind...

BECK: I don`t know any American -- hang on. I don`t know anybody that is offended by any Muslim. I don`t know -- I`m not saying that there`s not. But I don`t know anybody who`s -- who`s reasonable at all that is offended by Muslims. I don`t know anybody who`s reasonable at all that is offended by Muslims praying.

However, if you`re an airport and you`re praying, that`s the first thing that Americans say, OK. Wait a minute. Hang on. Muslims praying. Let`s just watch. OK. Good. And if there would have been no other incident, I can guarantee you that nobody would have said anything. Maybe stupid people would have. But the airline would have said, "You`re an idiot."

However, then you get on the plane and everybody is watching. You remember the first time you flew after 9/11? Everybody`s watching, OK? A group of Muslims over here.

Let`s be adults enough to be able to say the bad guys we`re fighting right now are Muslim extremists. So I mean, you can`t be blind to that. Then they start switching seats, which is exactly -- they were together. But they`re not sitting together and switching seats. That makes people nervous.

Then they were asking for seat belt extenders. Anybody who is on the plane who understands what`s going on on 9/11 knows that seat belt extenders now can be used as a weapon. I mean, aren`t these things reasonable to point out, Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: I think it`s reasonable. I do. And I`m one of those people who was stuck downtown covered in the dust of 9/11. So when I fly, I watch. I`m careful.

I`ve also been to Israel, where everyone is vigilant about everything, because they live this stuff every day. So this is their new world. Of course we all have rights, and of course we all have to be respectful.

But I think most people, if not every person in this country knows that six Christians didn`t overtake planes on 9/11. And so, six Christians praying beforehand probably wouldn`t raise an eyebrow.

I think people are nervous. They`re panicky. They have every right to raise a concern. And, like you mentioned, it will be a jury who decides what is reasonable.

MARTIN: But Ashleigh, the issue is not necessarily them raising the point. We have precautions in place.

BANFIELD: They`re being sued for raising a point.

MARTIN: Ashleigh, Ashleigh, we are searching people. The pilot certainly has the right to be able to inspect someone. They did that.

But what do you say? Remove them from our plane, put them on somebody else`s plane and have another set of paranoid passengers? So what are we playing, airplane hopscotch?

BANFIELD: I have to be honest with you.

BECK: Yes. Absolutely.

BANFIELD: I never thought before 9/11 I would say this, but since I have lived through 9/11, I now watch everyone`s behavior. I am very careful living and working in New York City.

And when I see unusual behavior that mimics some of the behavior from 9/11, I will speak out. I will say something...

BECK: Ashleigh...

BANFIELD: ... and some people have been taken off planes for less.

BECK: Yes.

MARTIN: So a group of people change seats...

BANFIELD: People are taken off planes for drinking too much.

BECK: No, people -- no, people didn`t just change seats. They were Muslims. They were praying. They were changing seats.

MARTIN: They were Americans.

BECK: Excuse me. They were also asking for seat belt extenders.

You don`t have to just say, if you -- you know, you don`t ever target someone because they`re Muslim, or because they`re praying or because they have asked for seat belt extenders or because they have changed their seats. But if you`ve got a series of things, that`s not racial profiling. That is not profiling. That is a series.

BANFIELD: Yes, it is. It`s a profile...

BECK: You`re a moron if you don`t point those things out and ask questions.

GLOVER: I am absolutely going to take the same behavior of a group of Middle Eastern Muslims and the behavior of a bunch of freckled-faced Baptists of Oklahoma and I`m going to view it differently. And as soon as a bunch of radical Methodists bring a plane down, then I`ll start looking...

BECK: Let me tell you something.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: Hang on. If I`ve got a guy -- if I`ve got a guy who looks like Dave -- Ashleigh back me up. You can`t see, Roland. But if I`ve got a guy who looks like Dave.

MARTIN: I see him.

BECK: You see him. You`re in a biker bar area. It`s in the middle of the night. And he comes walking down. Do you immediately think, "Oh, I`m completely safe"? Or do you think, "OK, I`ve got to keep my eye on this guy"?

BANFIELD: I look at everybody.

BECK: You look at a guy like that three or four times.

BANFIELD: He didn`t look a guy like Timothy McVeigh, who looked like Opie. That`s not unusual.

BECK: I understand.

MARTIN: You still didn`t (ph).

BANFIELD: Now I think we do. I think that`s where you`re wrong.

BECK: That`s one guy. Excuse me. Roland.

MARTIN: As somebody that`s been profiled, trust me. I have a different perspective on it.

BECK: All right. CNN`s Roland Martin, thank you very much.

Coming up, our troops fight to protect our freedom. They need an elite force of men and women who protect them. You`ll meet them next. Don`t miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan rode the wave of conservative revolution all the way to the White House. In fact, he rode that horse. He whipped that horse.

Now we`ve cycled through George H.W. Bush, the hee-haw years of Bill Clinton, two terms of George W. Bush. Is the conservative movement hurting? Or has it been abandoned altogether?

Division on the Iraq war, scandals, corruption, lack of true leaders in the Republican Party on the ropes in 2007. Can they get it back in time for the 2008 election?

Back now with Court TV`s Ashleigh Banfield, radio host Dave Glover.

Dave, conservatives. Conservative movement. Is it dead or is it actually what won -- won the election for the Democrats?

GLOVER: I think the latter. I think that every party, every person, every group evolves and changes. It has to. I think that the Republicans look nothing like the Republicans looked in 1985.

The Democrats certainly don`t look like they looked in 1965 when my mom and dad were driving shut-ins to the polls to vote.

So I think they`re both in flux. I think they need to be in flux, because I think they`re both wrong. I think -- I have never seen both parties at a time when they`re each so disappointing for so many different reasons.

BECK: They`re the same party. Are they not the same party? They are the same party.

BANFIELD: I don`t see that.

BECK: The face of them is. The heart of them is not. I don`t know where the Republican heart is anymore. The Republicans, they`re not conservatives.

But the heart of the Democrat, the heart of the Democrat is liberal. But the face of the Democrats, what won the election, was conservative.

Let`s stop spending so much money. Let`s not be scumbags in office. Hello?

BANFIELD: I tend to think that it`s really the war that`s overshadowed so many of the other issues that you mentioned off the top. And I think that that`s something that a lot of people have hitched their wagons, saying who do I support? Why do I support it? Is it right or wrong?

And so when you have that kind of an albatross hanging around your neck, because let`s be honest, the coverage is not good. It`s not going well. Constantly -- I wonder why. But I mean, you know what? Things aren`t going -- we`ve 3,000 dead kids right now.

BECK: Three thousand? It`s four years this weekend. Show me the war of this size in the history of the planet.

BANFIELD: I know. But you know what? A lot of those have better pretenses for going to war. And I think a lot of people are saying why 3,000? If we could -- if we could qualify why, then it would be OK because that`s a sacrifice for your country.

BECK: Well, that would require -- that would require a commander in chief that could express that.

BANFIELD: But a useless sacrifice to your country is what so many people are so upset about.

BECK: You know what? Hang on. Hang on. Couldn`t disagree. Why do you think Rudy Giuliani is leading the polls? Do you think he`s soft on the war? Rudy Giuliani is an iron fist.

BANFIELD: Softer than McCain, and I think McCain is suffering tremendously because of his stance on the war.

BECK: Do you think that Rudy Giuliani would be softer on this war?

GLOVER: No. And I don`t think if we caught Osama bin Laden tomorrow, then the whole tide turned in the next six months, that it would save the Republican Party or bring the conservative movement back to where it used to be.

I think it`s just so many different things. You have 10 percent on one side, 10 percent on the other. And the 80 percenters, as I call them, are lost. They don`t care. They don`t like anyone. They`re looking for someone to step out and lead them.

BECK: Yes, "TIME" magazine has Ronald Reagan weeping on the cover, and I think he would be, because where are the Republicans? Where are they? Where are the conservative values? They`re with the liberals right now, at least in show.

Thanks to Dave Glover from 97.1 FM Talk in St. Louis. And also Court TV`s Ashleigh Banfield, who`s hosting a special program this Monday, "Disorder in the Court 2".

Up next, "The Real Story" on special license plates for child molesters. Back in a flash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Ohio lawmakers have proposed legislation that would force convicted sex offenders to be identified by a fluorescent green license plate on their cars. Good. Critics say the plan could unfairly brand people with a scarlet letter. Cry me a river.

The real story is, if we say we`re serious about protecting people against sexual predators, especially our children, then you`ve got to do whatever you have to do, including getting creative and using a solution like the one suggested here in Ohio. If it were up to me, oh, I`d tattoo a giant barcode on the forehead of every convicted sex crime scumbag out there so I can check them in and out of the neighborhoods like groceries.

I want to know where they are, who they are and, more importantly, I want them to know I`m watching them.

This license plate idea is not a scarlet letter. I`ll have to go back and check my Hawthorne, but I believe the letter was "A" for adultery, not "R" for child rapist. I know all about the mark of the beast, and I don`t want to hear any nonsense about Nazi Germany and the Jews being forced to wear yellow stars, either. Those comparisons don`t even come close to applying. If you don`t know the difference between a Jew in Nazi Germany and a child predator in your neighborhood, then you need to wear the letter "S" for stupid.

The rate of sex crime repeat offenders is much, much higher than any other criminal. These freaks do not usually stop. This is a case where the safety of our children and the public has got to come first. Compassion should not come at the cost of our children.

How many kids have to be raped, and tortured, and killed by dangerous monsters before we finally start worrying about the rights of the victims and protecting our families and not protecting convicted criminals? How many more John Coueys and John Mark Karrs do we have to read about before we treat sex crimes and child molestations like the epidemic and plagues that they are?

Ohio already forces convicted DUI offenders to have a little yellow license plate on their car. That`s great, sure, but Ohio, honestly. Which would you rather know about? The guy who has had too many at happy hour or the guy who preys on women and children using sex and violence to defile, degrade and destroy lives?

Kevin Coughlin, he`s an Ohio state senator. Do you think this is going to actually pass?

KEVIN COUGHLIN, OHIO STATE SENATOR: I think it has a very good shot. We have a large number of sex offender bills that have been introduced, and they`re going to be rolled together as a package, and I think this is going to be part of it.

BECK: OK. Who`s actually really against this?

COUGHLIN: Well, we`ve been hearing from groups like the ACLU and other civil liberties organizations.

BECK: I mean like real people that are against this.

COUGHLIN: Well, you know, there are some real people who think that it perhaps is overkill, but once they think about the issue and they hear the high rates of recidivism for these people -- 46 percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics -- 46 percent of rapists -- I`m sorry, rapists will commit their crimes at a rate of 46 percent again. Other sex crimes, 41 percent.

And that is way out of whack with the rest of the criminals. And as long as those rates remain that high, you`re right, we have a right to protect our families and our communities by providing information.

BECK: OK. The one argument I have heard about, heard on this, that I can at least see the other side, and that is vigilantism, I mean, people coming up and being just vigilantes and saying, hey, you know, child rapist, et cetera, et cetera. But doesn`t that make the case for changing the law and put these people in jail, child rapists, I`m speaking about, permanently?

COUGHLIN: Well, we are. And we`ve established a life sentence for people that rape children under the age of 13, from the range of 14 to 17, it`s 25 years.

BECK: Good for you.

COUGHLIN: But the fact is that we, under our justice system -- first of all, we have people that were convicted under the old laws that are going to be coming out into our community.

And, second, we have people who plead down to lower offenses. Our judges and our prosecutors like to have that flexibility and that discretion so that they can get convictions. And often you`ll have an offender who committed one crime but ends up pleading to another and ends up in prison for a shorter duration of time and then back out in our community.

We`ve tried to tighten that down in our laws, but, in reality, it happens and these offenders end up back with us.

BECK: All right, and this is not a retroactive law.

COUGHLIN: No.

BECK: I mean, if you`ve already been convicted, you don`t get the plates. This is just new offenders?

COUGHLIN: That`s right.

BECK: OK. Have you thought about the upside? I mean, for anybody who is watching and might be, you know, in this category, would get the plate, I`ve thought of an upside for you. Your kid will never say, "Dad, can I borrow the car?" I`m just saying.

Good luck, Senator. Appreciate it.

COUGHLIN: Thanks.

BECK: You bet.

You`ve probably seen this video by now, but I want you to take another look. This is the cowardly, low-life scumbag that smacked that 101-year- old woman, stole $33 and her house keys, then punches her again, knocking her down knocked her and her walker to the ground. He`s still on the loose.

The real story tonight is, dude, not only is there a special place in Hell for punks like you, but I`d say there`s a special place in jail, as well, a punishment that we should dole out specifically to those who prey on the weak and the defenseless. This video has been shown to every uniformed officer in New York City. Dozens of detectives have been assigned to the case.

You know, I`ve got to tell you, I`m a passionate supporter of the police, especially New York`s finest, but I`ve got to tell you, there`s a part of me, small part of me, that hopes an angry mob finds this guy. I know, I know, that`s not what Jesus would do, but Jesus doesn`t have his own talk show at night, does he? And if he did, he`d probably be on a network, not cable.

Here in New York City, this video is on TV every five minutes. There is a manhunt going on, and it ain`t just the cops doing the hunting. Many people believe this guy doesn`t need jail. He needs justice, you know, with a big baseball bat or something, really bad feelings about this guy in New York City.

For your own protection, you might want to turn yourself in soon.

Police also believe this same guy attacked an 85-year-old woman after he robbed the 101-year-old. That master heist got him another $32 bucks and the woman`s wedding band.

This case has inspired lawmakers in the New York State Senate to propose making it a felony to assault anyone older than 70. Currently those assaults are misdemeanors, punishable by no more than a year in jail. Does that seem like enough to you?

Pathetic cowards like this who specifically target the elderly and the weakest among us should receive a punishment that matches the true horrors of the crime. Vito Colucci, Jr., he`s a private detector formerly with the Connecticut Police Department, it`s good to know a guy named Vito is on this case.

VITO COLUCCI, PRIVATE DETECTIVE: Well, Glenn, a bunch of Vitos should get this guy, I`ll tell you, a bunch of Vito Coluccis, I`ll tell you that much.

BECK: Right.

COLUCCI: You know, let me say this, Glenn. All the years I was a cop, I worked narcotics, I worked undercover, organized crime. All those things I did, every time I see this video, I flinch, OK? A 101-year-old woman. My father is 95, and I know how fragile the bones are of these people. This is about as low as you can get, I`m telling you.

BECK: Vito, you know what is amazing? Did you see the interview with the 85-year-old woman? She is so sweet, and she said, "I hope they can find him and reform him because then, you know, there would be one less bad guy," and I`m like reform him?

COLUCCI: Well, she`s a devout Christian woman.

BECK: God bless her.

COLUCCI: She said she was going to pray for him. And the other one, 101, just wants to get back to church.

You know, but, you know, what`s going to happen on this? They increased the reward now to $29,000. That`s big. The TV stations need to keep saying that; it needs to be put on the front page of the paper. There is people or peoples out there that know who did this.

BECK: So why does it take a reward? I mean, it was $18,000; now you say it`s to 28,000. Who cashes in that? I mean, who knows about this crime and then says, "Wait a minute, they might be offering more"?

COLUCCI: Glenn, believe me, I`ve seen it over and over again. Somebody is going to turn their own uncle in. Someone is going to say my next door neighbor has that same unique color bicycle, OK?

All the cops, like you said before, they know this. They`re going to be looking. A rookie cop might solve this, seeing this bike behind a building some place, very unique color. And you want hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of leads to come in. You don`t want to feel "I don`t want to call the police"...

BECK: Oh, they`re coming in.

COLUCCI: ... "because this may not be important." All you need is the one, Glenn. This will be solved. I don`t have a doubt. Somebody is going to turn this guy in for $29,000, believe me.

BECK: So, Vito, this is where my profound respect for the cops come in, and I mean this sincerely. Because, you know, I`m a tough talker, but I`m a law guy. I don`t want anybody to kick the crap out of him. But if I were a cop, it would be really hard to capture this guy and not kick the crap out of him. You know what I mean?

COLUCCI: Well, if this was an episode of "Law & Order," you would see them beating him up, OK? Now, they have to be professional on this. Number one, this is a great collar, this is a great arrest. This will go into their file forever. This is the number-one enemy right now of the state, so you have to be professional.

On the other hand, Glenn, you`re saying to yourself -- believe me, I`ve been there -- take a swing at me. Resist me, OK? But they`re going to handle themselves professionally unless this guy tries to go punching them. I doubt it, because usually these type of people are cowards. They`re looking for old ladies to hit, Glenn.

BECK: May I play devil`s advocate? And I feel awful even saying this, because honestly my heart breaks every time I see this, and I see that woman just getting punched over and over again.

But we have -- I mean, New York is a big town. There`s a lot of bad crime that`s going on now in New York City. We`ve got murderers on the loose. How come this one -- I know why this one is getting all of the attention, because of the video and everybody`s heart breaks -- but is this the best way we should be spending our time?

COLUCCI: Well, you mean showing this over and over again?

BECK: No. I mean, this is a real manhunt. You just said he`s the number-one enemy in New York City, not really in the grand scheme of things.

COLUCCI: Well, you`re right. I mean, they`re not -- believe me. This is a great police department. They`re not going to put other things on the shelf. They`re reading this at every lineup. Everyone has a picture. While cops are walking the beat, they`re going to continually show this picture to somebody.

Work is going to continue on, but they really want to grab this guy, you know, because the public is scared. You`ve got people in that building, in the neighborhood, in the whole block, and miles and miles thinking this guy is going to strike at any time. So it`s a very unique thing, and you want to grab this guy.

BECK: Go get him, NYPD.

Thanks, Vito. That is "The Real Story" tonight. And if you would like to read more about this or if you`ve found a "Real Story" of your own that you`d like to tell us about, please visit glennbeck.com and click on "The Real Story" button. Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: "New York Times" took on Al Gore, said that he`s manufacturing some things, kind of twisting things, kind of blowing them out of proportion. When I first heard this story yesterday, I thought to myself, "Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Everybody dance!" OK. Let`s not go crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Next week, we begin our exclusive series that will take you inside the world of combat search and rescue. This is special operations men and women who go behind enemy lines under fire to save the lives of our soldiers.

This is the very first time our special correspondent Alex Quade was able to convince the secretive elite units to go on camera to share their stories from the front lines. You will not see this stuff anywhere else, all next week. Here`s a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX QUADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When this happens...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An U.S. helicopter is down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A military helicopter has crashed in the country`s southeast side.

QUADE: ... these U.S. troops are the first to go in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is recovery operation going on.

QUADE: They face the same hostile threat which brought the aircrafts down. They are combat search and rescue men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of this is geared towards getting back one person.

QUADE: Under fire, ready for any situation, like these. Ground rescue. Downed air crew, looking for cover, isolated in the middle of a war zone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you guys threatened right now?

QUADE: Desperate for rescue, before enemy insurgents find them first. Training based on the real thing in Iraq and Afghanistan, urban rescue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m right in the middle of an urban area where there`s obviously enemy.

QUADE: Wizzo, a backseater in an F-16, will deploy. Tonight, he plays survivor, shot down on to a building.

(on screen): Does it bring it any closer to home that, hey, you`re going over there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Makes me think hard and long about it.

QUADE: Jolly arrives. That`s a helicopter team and the (INAUDIBLE) or pararescue men, like Mark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. When you`re looking at a 22,000-pound aircraft hovering within six inches of its position...

QUADE: They could be blown off the roof, or PJ Kyle says, get shot at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s very vulnerable. Everyone and the mom is going to come out and they want to, you know, take pop shots at you. You`ve got to be fast, you`ve got to be quick, and you`ve got be -- you know, know what you are doing.

QUADE: The same for water rescue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would have thought, when we left for the war, that we`d be doing water rescues in the desert? But the PJs train for that stuff.

QUADE: In a C-130, the PJs tell me they train constantly based on these war realities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`ve got to make sure that, no matter what the winds are, you`re going to be able to get to the target or to the survivor that you`re going after.

QUADE: PJ Nate explains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Errors as little as five, 10, 15 degrees means that we don`t make it, especially in the water. If we don`t make it to the survivor, you know, we could be 100, 200, 300 meters apart. And in the middle of a raging storm, you`re never going to get to them. That will be the last time you saw him, was when you got out of the airplane.

QUADE: Which brings us to Murphy`s Law, behind enemy lines. The PJs mission? Extract injured special operatives after an IED attack. But then...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pull back. Fall back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pull back.

QUADE: ... contact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s game on. Real life scenario, we would be laying lead down range.

QUADE: Smoke means enemy fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you`re not nervous, there`s something wrong. That`s when Murphy comes and gets you.

QUADE: Things change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that a new heading over there to the left? They`re shifting left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Murphy`s Law takes over and things can go bad really fast.

QUADE: But they risk all so that others may live. The PJs` medical expertise is what they`re known for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It can get really hectic in the back of the helicopter. You know, you`re trying to do the correct thing, the best thing for the patients. If need be, you know, we might take a hit ourselves, and that`s just part of the job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re putting their lives on the line in very, very tough situations, you know, obviously and in combat situations. They don`t worry about that. They worry about getting the individual saved and returned back home.

QUADE: So the next time you see this...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are just getting word in to CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another marine helicopter, a CH46, made an emergency landing.

QUADE: You`ll know why they train for everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone`s having their worst day. We need to be having our best day.

QUADE: Combat search and rescue men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re not in it to be on camera. We`re not in it for the thank yous. We do it because, in our hearts, it`s the right thing to do.

QUADE: So that others may live.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bottom line, is they`re coming home.

QUADE: Alex Quade for GLENN BECK, Avon Park Air Force Range, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUADE: Special ops all next week. We`ll bring you more of this exclusive look at combat search and rescue, 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here. Don`t miss it, all next week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, clearly, global warming is in the news this week. I`ve sent my radio producer, Steve "Stu" Burguiere out to talk about the latest on this unseasonably warm weather all around the globe.

Stu, how are you?

STU BURGUIERE, GLENN BECK CORRESPONDENT: Glenn, I`m great. Unfortunately, the climate is not. You may have heard that the warmest winter on record was recorded and reported today around the world, since the beginning of time. And that is sort of measurement that`s it`s shocking climatologists around the world.

As you know, they`ve been predicting, because of manmade greenhouse gases, that it could get warmer and warmer. As we go on for the past 100 years, maybe as high as 6 degrees, and it`s just devastating, as you can see right now to the New York City area.

BECK: It is unseasonable all around the globe, you know? I understand that the tulips are starting to...

BURGUIERE: Yes. The tulips. It`s been devastating. In fact, Glenn, if I could -- there`s been mass scientific evidence, as well as circumstantial evidence that`s going on around the globe. In fact, could I quote from a newspaper if that would be OK?

BECK: You may, yes.

BURGUIERE: This is fascinating. From the "Charred Illminster News," a gardener named Dorothy Buckfield (ph), she`s 84 years old, and has been gardening by herself out in her garden for many, many years.

BECK: Is that a Zamboni machine behind you?

BURGUIERE: It`s a little maintenance machine here, Glenn. It`s helping...

BECK: So, anyway, the gardener was what?

BURGUIERE: She`s 84 years old, and she says, you know, she saw tulips for the first time blooming in February. If I may quote here, Glenn, this is just -- it`s devastating. Quote, "I saw them yesterday," and I thought, quote, "Gosh," end quote, and then end the first quote, as well. This is what people are dealing with, and it`s these people and their cars that are doing it. It`s these people and their automobiles and the house gases that are making this such a devastating climate.

Glenn, right now, we`re a week before spring and, normally, we`re all the way up to 17 degrees now. And normally, it should only be 15.9.

BECK: OK. Good. Well, keep an eye on this for us. And if you don`t mind, Stu, just hang out there in Central Park and we`ll check back with you Monday or so, all right?

BURGUIERE: What was that, Glenn? I`m sorry. I didn`t...

BECK: We`ll check back with you again. Thank you so much for being out on the scene where it is very, very warm, obviously. Global warming is taking its toll on the city this weekend. Stay safe.

We will see you Monday. Don`t miss Monday`s broadcast on radio or television. A lot of amazing things with the anti-war demonstrations that are going on this weekend. We`ll be watching and reporting from New York. Good night.

END