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Glenn Beck

Cindy Sheehan Calls it Quits; Rosie Opines on Her Blog; University of Colorado Professor Still Trying to Fire Ward Churchill

Aired May 29, 2007 - 19:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, Cindy Sheehan calls it quits. How both parties have betrayed all Americans and now forced America`s most famous antiwar protestor to throw in the towel.

Plus, has Rosie finally lost her mind?

ROSIE O`DONNELL, COMEDIAN: I`m against us being a bully.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, in that case, cheers.

BECK: She may be gone from "The View", but the insanity lingers on.

And Miss USA takes a fall and recovers just in time for some good old- fashioned Mexican hospitality.

RACHEL SMITH, MISS USA: Buenos noches, Mexico.

BECK: All this and more tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: I`ve got quite a show for you tonight. I`ve got a lot to say about what happened in Mexico. Stand by for that.

First, let me start with anti-war activist and friend of brutal dictators Cindy Sheehan. She`s announced that she`s walking away from the peace movement.

In a written statement, released over the weekend, Sheehan says her son died in vain and that she`s disillusioned by the failure of the Democrats to bring an end to the war.

Here`s the point tonight. You know what? I disagree with almost everything Cindy Sheehan has ever said, but in this case, she`s got it right. And here`s how I got there.

One of the things that Cindy Sheehan said in her online diary was this: the peace movement, quote, "often puts personal egos above peace and human life."

Over the last year, Cindy Sheehan began to realize that she was merely a tool for the Democratic Party, a puppet that they could, you know, trot out from time to time to show their liberal colors to the base in order just to get elected. It`s the same thing for Michael Moore, and the list goes on and on and on.

When a party gets what they want out of these people, they jettison them. Cindy, welcome to the wham, bam, thank you ma`am world of political opportunism that we conservatives have fallen victim to in the last couple of years. We realized that we were being useful idiots for the Republican Party, until some of us finally said, "You know, enough."

Cindy Sheehan`s biggest mistake was that she actually believed in something. That`s just not done in Washington and most of America now. She believed in a cause and in politicians. Those two don`t usually mix.

Now while I may not agree with her stance on the war or of the meaning of her son`s death, I can respect her, because she`s somebody who stood by her values and at least is consistent.

The difference between Cindy Sheehan and the Democrats is that, while Cindy Sheehan is anti-war, the Democrats merely claim to be. They`re not as much anti-war as they are pro-winning elections.

The really sad thing is, is that I think we`ve gone from a two-party system here in America to a one-party system. One spineless, wishy-washy party that will do or say anything to anyone in order to stay in power. I call them the Republicrats.

So here`s what I know tonight. Cindy Sheehan and I may disagree on politics, but in this case we actually agree on principle. America is not divided in the way the Democrats and the Republicans want us to believe. We`re not divided by our parties.

You know, we need to stop identifying ourselves as Republicans and Democrats and start identifying ourselves as Americans. We don`t hate each other. We`re only divided by and from our leaders, because that`s the way they want it.

Here`s what I don`t know. Will all the other useful idiots out there wake up and realize that you`re being duped?

Joining me now is Larry Sabato. He is the director for the center -- Center of Politics at the University of Virginia. And Peter Fenn, Democratic strategist and former advisor to Al Gore.

Let me start with you, Larry. You say that she is not a pawn, wasn`t being used by the Democrats.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER OF POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: I agree with that. Look, Glenn, I listened to what you said. That is way too cynical. And I`m an independent. I don`t...

BECK: Really?

SABATO: No, it`s way too cynical. I don`t identify with either party, but there are very real differences between Republicans and Democrats on Iraq and everything else.

And what just happened is perfectly representative of what the American people themselves created. They elected a Republican president. They elected a Democratic Congress, and naturally, they can`t agree about Iraq or much of anything else.

BECK: Peter, am I too much of a cynic?

PETER FENN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You are pretty cynical today, Glenn, I have to tell you.

BECK: Yes.

FENN: You do -- you know what you do is you hit on a couple of good points, however, and I think that is that it is really important for people to state their beliefs, to get out there, not to become a pawn or a tool of anybody.

And I`m not sure she really was a pawn or a tool of the Democrats. Of course, the Democrats liked it when she set up camp in Crawford, Texas. And, you know, the Republicans liked it when she was perceived as being too extreme, too far out, you know, too way out there, and they could say, "Oh, she`s just some crazy mother."

But, you know, I think the bottom line here is we need folks who aren`t afraid to go with their principles, to state what they believe. And she really has sacrificed a lot of her personal life for this.

BECK: You know what? She really has. I mean, I again -- I disagree with so much she says, especially this -- the way she views her son`s death, that he died in vain. I mean, that`s just -- it`s so -- it`s so horrible.

However, here`s where I think you both are wrong when you say I`m cynical.

The Democrats don`t want to end the war, or they`d end the freaking war and they`d have a spine and they`d stand up for it. The polls show that people want the war ended, OK? I believe that Americans don`t want the war ended. They want to win the war or end it.

The Republicans say they`ll win the war, but they`re not fighting to win. That`s -- neither of them want to actually solve this problem.

SABATO: Glenn, Glenn, let me interrupt here. Look, the Democrats don`t have the votes. That`s why they couldn`t pass the resolution. The House is closely divided. The Senate is very closely divided.

The votes aren`t there, because you have, oh, 30 or so blue dog Democrats in the House and several moderate conservative Democrats in the Senate. They`re not going to vote to cut off funding to the troops.

It`s a -- it`s a question of the division that exists in Congress. It`s not that the Democrats don`t want to end the war. They do.

FENN: You know, I think that`s true, Glenn. I mean, the other point here I think is that the -- folks like Cindy Sheehan, the Democrats have pushed very hard.

And I think what you`re going to see is it`s too bad she`s getting out. Because I think what`s going to happen here is, you know, she`s winning some battles. She`s losing some battles. Democrats are winning some battles and losing.

But by September, we`re going to see a change. This president has already signaled it. He said if they don`t want us there, we`re going to pull out. He`s talked about getting troops down below 100,000 by early next year. He`s saying that -- that we`re going to try negotiating with Iran and Syria now.

I mean, you can see the handwriting on this wall. This war, as you say, they`re not ready to put in hundreds of thousands of troops to fight this thing. The only other option is pull out.

BECK: Yes. Well, you know, I have -- I have family members over in the Middle East, and I got a call from my nephew this weekend. And he said -- he actually said to me, "Could you please send food?"

And I said, "What?"

And he said, "We`re to a point where we`re rationing food."

I can`t believe that here we are in the most powerful, the richest nation on the planet, and this is the way we treat our troops? And I blame it on both parties in Congress. I think it`s an abomination the way we`re fighting this.

FENN: And one of the things, I think -- and we rationed flak jackets. I mean, when the previous secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, says you go to war with what you`ve got, that was a pathetic statement, I think. And both Republicans and Democrats should agree with that.

And you know, the one thing I think Larry is right about here is that the Democrats have never failed to support funds for these troops. But the problem that they`re getting into now is funds for what? For more guys dying? For a failed policy? For not having enough troops over there to do the job, as some of the journalists say?

BECK: I`ve got to tell you, Peter, I think that what our problem is, Americans -- Americans are pissed at Congress on both sides. They`re angry at the president.

SABATO: Right.

BECK: Because when we went in, look, Americans are not losers. We don`t like losing. We have faith that we can do whatever it is we set our mind to. But nobody set their mind to actually winning this thing. And that`s the problem. I think that`s where America is. Is that cynical or is that true?

FENN: Maybe define victory. I`ll let Larry jump in here. They didn`t define victory. They didn`t say what victory really was.

SABATO: Well, let me add this, and Peter mentioned it. Glenn, I think you`re going to be a lot happier in September. I don`t think President Bush understands what`s coming in September, but he will.

It doesn`t matter what General Petraeus says. He has a shot coming among Republican troops in the House and the Senate. I mean, members of the House and the Senate. They`re going to be going to him, and they`re going to tell him very bluntly, "Half of all troops out by November `08, period, or you lose our votes, even for..."

BECK: I have to tell you, America is going to have one rude awakening with this mess. And when it really comes home to roost, we are in big trouble.

Gary, Peter, thanks a lot.

Coming up, now that Cindy Sheehan is no longer the mayor of Crazytown, has Rosie O`Donnell taken her place?

Then, some of us had our mind on slightly more important matters, like how we`d function if a nuke went off in the middle of Washington, D.C. Might be a good idea to plan ahead. The president and the government has planned ahead. But you haven`t heard word one about it. It`s tonight`s "Real Story".

And an international incident in Mexico City last night. Jeers, protests and a virtual melee as Miss USA eats it on the catwalk. Don`t miss the fallout. I mean, so to speak.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. Coming up, two years after his outrageous comparisons of 9/11 victims to the Nazis, Ward Churchill is still employed at the University of Colorado. But not for long, if the president of that institution has his way. He`ll be with us in just a minute.

But first, it`s now official. I now have some extra TiVo space, as Rosie O`Donnell will not be returning to "The View". This morning, Barbara Walters, the show`s creator, and I believe the world`s oldest woman, had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, ABC`S "THE VIEW": I`d like to make it very clear, and then we`ll go on with our hot topic, that Rosie was never fired, and there was no -- there was no desire to have her leave the show. We wanted to have her stay. In the beginning, it was her decision to leave the show, because her representatives and ABC could not come to terms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Well, by now you`ve seen last week`s catfight between Rosie O`Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. You know, I think we can all agree that the liberal-conservative shouting matches haven`t done anything to bridge the political divide in the country but instead have mostly humiliated Rosie, Elisabeth, ABC, Barbara Walters, "The View". I mean, I could go on.

Their last bout went on for ten minutes. I can`t even begin to imagine how much ten minutes of air -- network air time is worth. And now Rosie has decided that, due to the on-air scuffle, she`d rather sit out the last three weeks of her contract.

Instead, she`s now posting her rambling, confused ideas on her video blog on her web site. And if you want to see when it looks like when a media creature starts to unravel, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: I was really just, like, a foster kid for a year. I came, and, you know, we considered adoption, but I didn`t really fit into the family. And now it was time for the foster kid to go back home.

But when I saw the split screen, that`s when I knew it was over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Weird, funny. And Rosie O`Donnell is an easy target, and I`ve done my fair share, especially with the thing on her hair and everything. But I`m not going to.

You watch this video, and -- and many others like it on her site. And it`s like watching a car accident in slow motion. I think she`s becoming unhinged. And at some point, crazy is going to turn from silly to scary. And maybe we`re there already.

Tia Brown is a senior editor for "In Touch Weekly, so you know, you know she`s going to play nice.

Hi, Tia.

TIA BROWN, SENIOR EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Thanks for the introduction.

BECK: Sure. You don`t think she`s on the edge?

T. BROWN: I don`t think she`s on the edge. I just think Rosie is in a position where she can say and do what she wants and she does.

BECK: OK. So when she says the government took down World Trade Center No. 7, that`s not a sign of maybe being a little unhinged?

T. BROWN: Well, I think it -- I think that there`s a problem with separating your personal views and your professional views. And Rosie is in a position, because of her job, where they mesh. And...

BECK: Yes, but so am I. I mean, but look, you don`t -- I mean, she seems to be really, really angry. And I don`t know what happened to the queen of nice, but she`s either -- she was either lying to us then or she`s becoming unglued now. I mean, I don`t know what her real personality is, but she seems very angry.

T. BROWN: Well -- well, Rosie`s former personality was an actress and a comedian. And now she`s a television personality.

BECK: I know, but she was a...

T. BROWN: And her views are much more open. And when she had the Rosie show, she was appealing to a different demographic.

BECK: So she`s playing the victim card. I mean, in that last clip we just saw, she was saying, you know, "I was like a foster child. Just poor little me." This woman is a bully. She is...

T. BROWN: I definitely think she felt attacked and abandoned on "The View". She felt like they should be sisters in some way, and because they had different -- different viewpoints, that they didn`t stand together. And she acted like Elisabeth betrayed her.

BECK: But do you think Elisabeth betrayed her? I mean, here`s what she said. She said that, you know, an outrageous claim, that there are 630,000 dead in Iraq, which only comes from the left of the left. I mean, whack job left says that. Six hundred and thirty-thousand dead.

Then she said, you tell me, who is the terrorist? Well, who does she mean, George Bush, the troops? Who is she claiming the terrorist is that killed all those people?

T. BROWN: I think she definitely backed Elisabeth in the corner by making her have to kind of humanize her. She wanted Elisabeth to say, yes, you know, you made these comments, but I know you as a person. And I know that you weren`t trying to say that these soldiers, who are the sons and daughters of, you know, everyone who`s not only in our audience but who are our friends and who are our fellow Americans are bad people, that we hold the government responsible.

And what Elisabeth did not want to do was say, "I have to justify or explain your comments."

And I think that both perspectives were fair. I think that, you know, it was unfair in some -- to a certain extent of Rosie to expect for Elisabeth to come to her defense for a political stance that she did not agree with.

BECK: You know, Tia, I`m interested to see who ABC puts on now.

T. BROWN: It`s going to be very hard, yes.

BECK: Well, for one thing, I mean, I think we`re going down a path now. "The View" used to be, you know, smart women, smart topics, blah, blah, blah. And -- and now, now that the crazy -- the Crazytown train is on the tracks, they`re going to look for somebody that`s more outrageous or at least as outrageous.

And it`s like this with every reality show. It starts out like, OK, look at that. And then it just goes crazy.

T. BROWN: I think "The View" will definitely have a problem. Because initially, the whole point of the show was to have these regular women who came from different perspectives of life to talk about what it`s like to be an American and what it`s like to be a woman and to have it from all of these different angles.

Then you have Rosie O`Donnell come and kind of boost the ratings with her outrageous personality and her strong viewpoints but also because she is a celebrity. And now they`re looking for someone else to kind of fill that gap.

Now, when they were auditioning the different people, something that we saw frequently is like there were a lot of comedians. You can`t have Joy, who`s a comedian, and two other women as a comedian who are all from the same kind of perspectives giving "The View", you know? So it would change the entire purpose of the show.

BECK: It`s going to be a train wreck.

Thanks, Tia.

Coming up, why more government officials are preparing for the worst. A nuclear fallout, the plans for the Capitol direct from the White House. Now why on earth would anybody have a problem with this? Guess what they do? Details in tonight`s "Real Story".

Then the Miss Universe pageant. Something I have never talked about, nor have I watched. However, I`ve got to talk about it tonight because of the way our good friends in Mexico have treated Miss USA. The story and the video, looped over and over and over again, I`m sure, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: There is an epidemic raging across college campuses in this country. If you have a kid in school, you know what I`m talking about. Studies have shown that professors are overwhelmingly liberal, and their political agendas are front and center in the classroom, with no concern for real diversity of thought.

The patient zero for this epidemic may be the University of Colorado`s Ward Churchill. He`s the guy who compared those who died in the Twin Tower attacks on 9/11 to the Nazis. He referred to them as little Eichmanns.

His job has been protected by the tenure system, but he might finally be out of luck. The University of Colorado president has recommended his firing and not a minute too soon. It`s been two years.

I`m joined now by Professor Churchill`s employer, the president of the University of Colorado, Hank Brown.

Mr. Brown, you have recommended that he be fired. Why has it taken two years?

HANK BROWN, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: The process that`s laid out for tenured faculty members is a long one. This will take over two years as we go forward. We`ve revised it somewhat, but those new revisions, that new process we`ve done won`t apply to Professor Churchill.

BECK: So how -- so how many more years of trying to fire this guy are there?

H. BROWN: Well, we`re at a point where the faculty -- the faculty committee that`s been reviewing this will have another look at this matter, make comments. And then the question will either go to the board or be resolved without his dismissal. But hopefully, within the next two months, we`ll have a final decision.

BECK: OK. And then -- and then if you do fire him, it will go to court, because he says he`ll sue you because of, you know, his freedom of speech rights.

But you say in a letter that -- that has been leaked to the press that it has nothing to do with his freedom of speech, had nothing to do with calling people little Eichmanns. It has everything to do that he`s plagiarized, he has falsified history. Is that right?

H. BROWN: We`ve had three different faculty committees look at his research. It`s very clear from all of them that he`s falsified his research, that he`s fabricated evidence that he`s put in his writings. And our action is solely related to the falsification of his research, not his views.

BECK: OK. I have heard, because I just put a daughter in college and somebody told me -- they said, "Anything that ends in `Studies`, avoid it like a plague, because that`s just -- that`s nothing but just a little Petrie dish of liberal activism."

H. BROWN: It`s a little difficult to avoid courses called "Studies" in universities these days.

BECK: I don`t know. I`ll take math. No math studies, just math. The idea of tenure, insane? I mean, I`m torn on it, because I want people to be able to say the outrageous, get people to think, challenge, you know, especially in science and really everything.

But you -- you get into a place where it`s just Crazytown.

H. BROWN: There`s a strong commitment at the university to give that freedom of speech to people and honor it in depth, and the reason this went forward had nothing to do with his views.

On the other hand, we don`t think that the Paris Hilton kind of defense makes sense. The reality is just because you`re a celebrity doesn`t mean you can falsify your research, doesn`t mean that you can misperform in other areas. It`s not a get out of the jail free card.

BECK: Mr. Brown, thank you very much and good luck. We hope to have some news from you in the next couple of months.

Coming up, major 21st century war raging right now. It`s happening in eastern Europe, and nobody is even noticing about it. And Vladimir Putin is involved. "The Real Story", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, I know how we`re supposed to treat illegals from Mexico here in the U.S., but how do they treat legals from the U.S. in Mexico? The answer is going to hack you off. Miss USA could probably answer that question. We`ll share the details with you in just a second.

But first, 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, I don`t know, actually important to you.

Last week, I told you about a plan that was being developed by a joint team from Harvard and Stanford Universities that would help prepare the government for when and if a terrorist set off a nuclear attack here in America. The real story is, President Bush is already on this case. He has taken decisive action by issuing a formal national security directive ordering federal agencies to prepare for a, quote, "decapitating nuclear attack."

The thinking during the Cold War was that, if Russia were to launch an attack on us, we`d have notice of minutes to hours as the missiles were being fuelled and launched. And, during that time, emergency continuity plans could be put into motion. Well, that was the 1960s.

In today`s world, where a Hiroshima-sized nuclear bomb could be exploded by a terrorist organization -- boom, like that -- within our own borders with no notice, we would have no time to react. It is terrifying, but true. As a result, President Bush has a new security directive that is preparing for the unexpected by emphasizing geographic dispersion of leadership, staff, infrastructure, so the government can continue to function in the aftermath of such a catastrophe.

What is most frightening about the possible nuclear attack by terrorists is that this is the only show where anybody is really talking about this. Congress didn`t even want to touch this. Tragically, and maybe to our collective detriment, this is a buried story. Rest assured, however, when the commander-in-chief starts talking about a decapitating attack on our country, that means the government knows full well that it`s not a matter of if, but when something like this happens. They are preparing, and so should you.

Now, speaking of a decapitating attack, the "Real Story" is, in today`s wired world, it doesn`t necessarily take bullets or bombs to bring a nation to its knees. For instance, ever heard of the nation Estonia? Yes, I know I know it, but I`m not really sure where it is. But that`s not really important.

Long story short, the Estonians removed a Soviet-era statue of a war hero from a park, and that got all the Russians all upset. And so what did the Russians do? Did they protest in the streets, organize a march? No, it looks like the Russian government launched a cyberwar against the Estonians, who, as it turns out, do almost everything online. They vote, they file their taxes, they shop, they pay for their parking meters online. To them, being free means being online.

Well, the Russians` month-long cyber assault did way more damage than tanks or soldiers could have done. It shut down their entire digital infrastructure. They clogged the Web sites of the president, the prime minister, parliament, other government agencies. They crippled the biggest bank, several daily newspapers. News came to a halt. Other than vaporizing, you know, a city with a nuclear attack, there isn`t much more devastating than this. This is what war could like in the new millennium.

And even though the Estonians rely pretty heavily on this Internet thing I keep hearing about, can you imagine a similar attack on our digital life here in America? No communication technology, no access to banks or records of any kind? No eBay? Oh, the humanity.

This scenario is a lot like what fans of "24" saw -- I think the season before last -- when they set off an EMP device that shuts down everything electronic, kind of the same thing. Any plan to safeguard our national security has to take in the digital life of America, as well.

Allen Wilson, he is an expert in risk management, cybersecurity. Allen, they think now, because they`ve traced it all the way up to Vladimir Putin`s office. They say they weren`t involved. You actually believe it was Russian kids that were involved.

ALLEN WILSON, VP OF RESEARCH, SECUREWORKS: I do. That`s right, Glenn. We`ve basically seen thousands of computers involved in this attack. It just so happens that one of them was associated with the Russian government, so there`s been some speculation as far as the Russian government`s involvement in this. But we haven`t really seen anything beyond speculation to substantiate that claim.

BECK: OK, but this is -- I mean, they were using servers all over the world. This was a massive, coordinated attack.

WILSON: That`s correct. These types of what they call distributed denial of service attacks involve using thousands, sometimes tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide that could be anything from the bank that you do business with to your parent`s home PC that are compromised and, without their knowing, used basically as zombies or launch pads in these types of global attacks.

BECK: OK. So if you were to go online and you wanted to do some banking or whatever, you want to just even do e-mail, what it would have said is, when you went to the Web site, it would have just said, "Access denied" or "Server not available"?

WILSON: If you were trying to access a Web site in Estonia, for instance?

BECK: Yes.

WILSON: Yes, basically, the pipes that service Estonia became so clogged due to the volume of attack traffic there that services were unavailable.

BECK: So what would that mean to us? If somebody -- because somebody has got to be thinking about crippling us technologically. I mean, if you cripple the United States technologically or economically, we`re in the Stone Age, and we have fewer skills than those who are already living in the Stone Age. What kind of damage would it do to us in a real-world scenario? How vulnerable are we?

WILSON: These attacks are actually fairly commonplace in today`s Internet threat environment. If you remember back in February 8th of 2000, there were attacks against eBay, Yahoo, CNN, Amazon, and other very popular sites out there. They experienced the same type of denial of service, and those attacks were traced back to a single individual.

BECK: But that`s not going to cripple us. And it had to be a lot bigger than that in Estonia, right? I mean, this went on for a month in Estonia.

WILSON: Yes, if you look at the types of Web sites that were attacked in Estonia, these are Web sites that aren`t large multimedia sites or sites that are used to serving a lot of content. These are relatively low- bandwidth sites as it is, compared to the some of the attacks that were launched against some of the large multimedia sites here. So, in a way, you could say they`re comparable. As the technology advances, certainly the attackers get more sophisticated, as do the defenses.

BECK: And are we -- you know, I found it very interesting that we sent people over to Estonia -- the whole world, I mean, this wasn`t the U.N. running in with the blue helmets. This was the elite of the elite in the cyber world, everybody running to their defense. Is that because we want to learn how to protect ourselves from this and how to fix it quickly?

WILSON: I think that it`s because the response that we`ve seen, the global response, really, from all the security response teams around the world in helping Estonia are really the way that you respond to these types of attacks. You need to deploy the resources outside of your own organization to defend against these attacks and track them back and shut them down.

BECK: OK, thanks so much. That is "The Real Story" tonight. If you want to read more about this or if you`ve found a "Real Story" of your own, please tell us about it. Go to glennbeck.com, and click on "The Real Story" button. Back in a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: So here it is, the global warming song.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): Please don`t melt our glaciers.

BECK: Stop. I don`t think I can. All right, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): Please don`t melt our glaciers. Please don`t kill us all.

BECK: Stop. No, I can`t. I can`t.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): Please don`t destroy our atmosphere. The sun will kill us all.

BECK: Stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: The sun will kill us all.

All right, so last night I was eating a pint of Graeter`s ice cream from Ohio, the best ice cream in the planet, watching the Miss Universe pageant. OK, I`ve never watched the Miss Universe pageant. I wouldn`t be caught dead. I was eating the ice cream, however. This morning when I got up, I was watching the news, and I saw a piece of video from Miss USA. I want you to look at this, what happened last night.

OK, unfortunately, she fell, Miss USA, then composed herself, and managed to make it into the top five. This was not the part of the video that was interesting to me. She replaced Miss Mexico in the top five, and this really hacked off the hometown crowd of Mexico City. They responded by showering her with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... USA...

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I`ve got to tell you, I find it unbelievably ironic that the people in Mexico were getting upset for an American taking the job of a Mexican. You know what I`m saying there?

Now, I want to share something else that happened to me over the weekend. I was having a conversation with my daughter, and she was telling me that she`s really hacked off because she`s having to stay in school two weeks later than normal because she has to take a state exam. Apparently, she has to stay in because everybody needs to take the test at exactly the same time. Otherwise, everybody will cheat and share the answers. That`s what the state thinks. She told me that cheating is so rampant in her high school it`s almost expected.

I was going to tell her, well, it will get better in college, but, no, it doesn`t. Apparently, that is not the case. CollegeHumor.com has just released a survey, in which it says 60 percent of college kids have cheated, 60 percent. God bless America, huh?

Joining me now to go over this poll is Streeter Seidell. And he is a front page editor of CollegeHumor.com.

Streeter, here`s what I found fascinating.

STREETER SEIDELL, COLLEGEHUMOR.COM: Hi.

BECK: Schools with an honor code, 67 percent cheat. Schools without an honor code, 41 percent cheat. Religious students are more likely to cheat, 65 percent, than those who are not religious, 58 percent. What does that tell you?

SEIDELL: Well, Glenn, I really don`t know what it tells me. I guess, with regards to the religion thing, perhaps on the long list of things that will wind you up in Hell, cheating on a little test might not be that big a deal. So it could be overlooked, or perhaps they`re using our Web site as kind of a sound board. You know, it`s an anonymous survey. Perhaps they felt more comfortable telling the truth there, because they know that, you know, we wouldn`t narc...

BECK: You`re not going to rat them out. The top three cheating schools are?

SEIDELL: Ball State, Appalachian State, and Penn State. So congratulations to all three of you.

BECK: What`s the one that cheats the least?

SEIDELL: According to our results, Ohio State came towards the bottom, I think with 42 percent.

BECK: It`s the Graeter`s ice cream that does it to you.

SEIDELL: Maybe it is.

BECK: And how is it that people -- my daughter was just telling me -- it`s so weird that we had this conversation yesterday, and now I`m talking to you. She said the teachers in her school -- she`s in high school -- she said they don`t even pay attention. She said everybody is on their cell phones, and they`re text messaging, and she said, "You can hear it," and they do nothing about it.

SEIDELL: Kids are brazen these days. I mean, our world is filled with so much ambient noise, cell phones going off, that even I think teachers probably don`t even pay attention to that noise anymore. And, you know, Texas Instruments, I don`t know if your daughter is involved in this at all, but TI-83 calculator has done wonders for the cheating student.

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: I mean, listen to you. I mean, here you are doing a commercial. And by the way, kids, if you`d like to cheat, here`s the calculator.

SEIDELL: Do you mind if I put on my Texas Instrument hat right now? They`re going to pay me.

BECK: Holy cow. So what is the most surprising thing you learned from this survey?

SEIDELL: I think it was honestly the religion thing. No matter how many times I ran over it in my head, I couldn`t make sense of it. Everything else, you know, lined up with kind of what I thought it would be, except, you know, the overall -- I thought it would be higher than the 61 percent we polled.

BECK: Really? I thought that was extraordinarily high. The thing I found -- because I`m with you on the religion thing. I don`t get it. I don`t understand it. However, I also saw this, and this does make sense. Those who cheat in school are 2.5 times more likely to cheat on their spouse.

SEIDELL: Well, not spouse. I don`t think a lot of the people we polled are married. But girlfriend, yes.

BECK: Well, relationships as they get older.

SEIDELL: Right, yes. You know, it kind of makes sense. I guess one maybe encourages the other, and it just proliferates, and that`s where we are.

BECK: OK. Streeter, thanks a lot.

SEIDELL: Thank you.

BECK: All right, time to talk about some people who are actually doing some good for, you know, other people. Matt and Jessica Flannery, they found a way to turn one small charitable donation into a much bigger idea, and they`re today "CNN Heroes."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA FLANNERY, CO-FOUNDER, KIVA.ORG: My name is Jessica Flannery. I`m co-founder of Kiva.org.

MATT FLANNERY, CO-FOUNDER, KIVA.ORG: I`m Matt Flannery, co-founder and CEO of Kiva.org.

J. FLANNERY: We connect people through lending for poverty alleviation.

M. FLANNERY: By facilitating loans from people in the developed world to those in the developing world.

J. FLANNERY: At our site, anybody in the world can browse profiles of entrepreneurs and then lend directly to those entrepreneurs.

M. FLANNERY: And get paid back over time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother started getting sick in 1989. With my heart only I could not make it.

M. FLANNERY: I had a savings account. It was sitting there and wasn`t doing anything, and then I saw this opportunity where I could do something useful with it, positive for other people. The cool thing about Kiva is that it`s not a donation. The money is actually yours. When the borrower is finished with their loan, you get it back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I took that loan, I extended my business, and we were able to pay the rent. The way I was before is not the way I am today.

M. FLANNERY: I wasn`t necessarily surprised intellectually by how $25 can really transform somebody`s life in East Africa, but I was surprised in the heart.

People by nature are not selfish. And if you just give them an outlet for expressing their generosity, they will be generous.

J. FLANNERY: If someone out there is overwhelmed, thinking, "What can I do? I`m just one person," that`s all you need to be -- that`s enough to get started.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: You know, over the last few years, I may have said some not-so- kind things about Cindy Sheehan, but I do have a real soft spot for her, somewhere deep inside. And as she steps down as our nation`s number-one anti-warmonger, I felt it only proper to pay tribute.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK (voice-over): While she`s no longer America`s favorite anti-war crusader, Cindy Sheehan`s legacy will no doubt linger on. She left us with such unforgettable memories, the arrests, the arraignments, the bail hearings. Contrary to popular belief, she didn`t crave the attention of the media, which is something she told reporters time and time and time again. And she wasn`t just after stardom or interested in merely hanging out with famous celebrities. In fact, she`d just as soon hang out with ruthless dictators.

Oh, Cindy. You will be remembered, of course, for your eloquence as a public speaker.

CINDY SHEEHAN, WAR PROTESTOR: (INAUDIBLE)

BECK: And, yes, on occasion, she may have had differences with the president, but she always treated him with the utmost respect.

SHEEHAN: ... calling him what he is, the number-one terrorist in the world.

BECK: Cindy taught us so much. She taught us that people who protest the war are actually no different than you and me, you know, for the most part. She taught us that, when you`re on a hunger strike, you`re actually still allowed to drink smoothies. I didn`t know this. And she taught us that selling copies of your autobiography just isn`t as easy as it seems.

But perhaps more than anything, she taught us that during those really slow news cycles, especially when everybody`s away on vacation, there`s always room in the evening news for photo-ops like these, and these, and, yes, even these.

Cindy Sheehan, oh, you will be missed, especially during those last couple of weeks of August.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Actually, for as much as I have disagreed with Cindy Sheehan over the years, and as misguided as I think she is, it is important that each and every one of us speak out on what we believe in this country. It is, after all, our country. It is run by we, the people.

From New York, good night.

END