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Glenn Beck
Will Live Earth Concerts Do More Harm Than Good?; Artist Paints Portraits of Fallen Soldiers; Prison Radio Calms Listeners
Aired July 06, 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, Al Gore prepares to take his global warming slideshow to a concert stage. I`ll tell you why Live Earth can actually do more harm than good to the global warming movement.
Plus, radio behind bars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The station that kicks behind the bricks.
BECK: I`ll take a look at the radio station with a truly captive listening audience.
And keeping the fighting spirit alive. The moving story of one person dedicated to bringing fallen soldiers back to life on canvas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At least it`s a way to say, "Hey, I love you, kiddo."
BECK: All this and more tonight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BECK: Well, hello, America. You`re going to have to forgive me tonight if I seem a little out of sorts. Al Gore was in the building with Larry King last night, and I can still feel his bad mojo all over my studio.
Yes, it is the global warming issue that is rearing its ugly head yet once again. And we have Al`s upcoming Live Earth concerts to thank for it. So here`s the point tonight.
Today, Al Gore and his preaching may be doing more harm for the environmental movement than good, and here`s how I got there.
Whenever someone makes a scientific claim, especially, you know, we`re all going to die in a horrible flood and fire, well, then scientists, other scientists, test the theory and do their own research to determine the validity.
Here`s something you`re just got not going to hear at the Live Earth concerts tomorrow: the inconvenient truth that bad things ain`t that bad. Scientists have now recovered the oldest plant DNA on record. And they have discovered that the earth`s temperature fluctuates a lot more than they`d thought. Hmm.
In ice core samples that are about 115,000 old, scientists have discovered plants that could have only lived if it were warmer then than it is now. Based on that data, the earth`s climate is actually getting colder and not warmer.
They have also found that, between the last ice ages, it was, yes, believe it or not, warmer then than it is now, and the glaciers didn`t melt away and everybody drown in some horrible fire.
That is, if you can believe some rag like "Science" magazine, that weekly peer-reviewed journal with offices in Washington and Cambridge.
Al, the sky doesn`t seem like it`s falling. The worse you say things are, the better they end up being. Crying "wolf" is bad for the planet but great for selling tickets to rock concerts at $348 a pop.
This weekend`s Live Earth is Al`s 24-hour concert event taking place on seven continents, huge stadium shows, every minute of it not only broadcast all around the globe, but also an almost unimaginable drain on the natural resources that Al Gore claims we`re so desperately in need to conserve.
Hey, Al, I don`t know if you know this, but Jon Bon Jovi`s amplifiers don`t run on solar power, yet. Imagine having a "save the whales" benefit where all the concession stands were selling whale burgers and whale McNuggets. That`s about how insane it is to try to raise consciousness about global warming by throwing an international festival that`s run on fossil fuels and electricity.
So tonight, here`s what you need to know about this story. Al Gore did not come down from a mountain with stone tablets chiseled with his wisdom on how to save the planet. Take everything he says with a grain of salt. The science is not settled.
He has the answers to the questions he has decided we should all ask. If you have questions of your own, it`s up to you to educate yourself. Politicians are not prophets, and in the end, it is we, the people, who are responsible for our own fate.
James Taylor is the senior fellow for the environmental policy at Heartland Institute.
James, I got to put this one right out at the very beginning. You are almost a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, are you not?
JAMES TAYLOR, SENIOR FELLOW, HEARTLAND INSTITUTE: Well, that`s what the global warming alarmists of the world would like you to believe. Actually, at the Heartland Institute, we receive less than 5 percent of our budget from energy producers, and we receive more than 95 percent of our budget from energy consumers.
So certainly, if we`re going to skew the science, I think the energy companies better beware, but fortunately, we don`t sell out for money.
BECK: OK. And you know, I have to ask that question, and I think it`s a fair question. I think it`s also fair to ask the people who are pushing the global warming agenda how much they receive from places like the Sierra Club, but that`s a different story.
The movie came out 2005, "An Inconvenient Truth". How much of that movie now is under question?
TAYLOR: Well, virtually every significant assertion that Al Gore makes in that movie has been refuted by sound science.
BECK: Give me -- give me an example.
TAYLOR: Sure. Al Gore mentions Antarctica as being a canary in the coal mine for global warming and shows us pictures of ice caving off the ice sheet, and it leads people to believe that all of Antarctica is melting.
Unfortunately for Al Gore and global warming alarmists, the truth is that Antarctica is in a prolonged cold spell and has been cooling for decades. Indeed, the Antarctic ice sheet is accumulating mass as opposed to losing mass.
If there`s anything that can be said about, say, for example, the musicians in Antarctica this weekend for Live Earth, they`re more likely to show us a picture of a Sasquatch driving an SUV around the South Pole than they are likely to show us a picture of actual global warming occurring in Antarctica.
BECK: The Antarctica thing, because I read about this just a couple of months ago, that is actually accumulating ice on the interior. It`s actually losing ice around the shelves, but they still don`t know why.
They think it`s the winds that are blowing across those ice shelves right at the corner, right? And that was -- wasn`t that in an Ohio study?
TAYLOR: Well, Antarctica, a small portion of the continent, western Antarctica, is getting a little bit warmer. However, the vast majority of the continent, east Antarctica, is getting colder, and the ice sheet is accumulating there.
Al Gore in his movie, of course, points out the West Antarctica Peninsula and doesn`t let us know that this is a cherry-picked, small portion of the continent.
In Greenland, for example, as you mentioned, the interior is accumulating snow mass rather significantly and merely the edges, most particularly along the southwest edge of the continent, are the receding glaciers. And that`s where, of course, we see the stories in the region.
BECK: All right, James. Now go back now and call Halliburton and tell them you`ve done well.
Now, let`s take a deeper look at Al Gore and this rebranding that he has done. Ellen McGirt, she`s a senior writer for "Fast Company" magazine.
Ellen, you wrote a fascinating article that I read. I think I saw it last week, about rebranding. It is amazing. Al Gore has gone from zero to hero. Everybody says that the worst thing ever done was -- was New Coke. I think Al Gore is -- this rebirth and rebranding of him is amazing.
ELLEN MCGIRT, SENIOR WRITER, "FAST COMPANY": Yes, it really is, and it doesn`t matter whether you`re a fan of his or not a fan of his. You absolutely have to look at this few year trajectory and think, wow, he`s really reinvented himself.
And he`s done it in some very public ways, of course, with his environmental activism, but he`s done it sort of behind the scenes.
BECK: How did he -- how did he do it, because when he first lost, he was angry. Everybody -- everybody perceived him as a loser. He gained a lot of weight. He grew a beard. He went into hiding.
And then, all of a sudden, he comes back out and everybody loves him. How did this happen?
MCGIRT: Yes, it`s a conference of a bunch of things and some of it is luck. And even he will say that, you know, some of his endeavors are blossoming at this time, and it`s kind of a lucky coincidence.
One of the first things that he did was he played to his strengths. He -- one of the first jobs he got once he left office was he joined Google as an adviser.
And unlike a lot of other politicians, we`re used to hearing about this. Money and these kinds of positions are certainly a tonic to politicians who are no longer in office, but he really rolled up his sleeves. And he worked very hard and he learned a lot, and he contributed a lot, got some Google stock, which was a terrific way to bump up his wealth.
But he was back in his strength. You know he loves technology. You know he thinks of himself as technological thinker, a technological player.
BECK: Right.
MCGIRT: And now he`s sort of back in that -- in the swing of things. And the other thing that he did was he dusted off the slide show which is - - I`m sure you`ve seen it, because you talk about it so much.
BECK: Yes, I have.
MCGIRT: You know, it`s two hours.
BECK: It`s agonizing.
MCGIRT: And it`s hard to imagine that a two-hour, chewy, data-dense slideshow would be a star-making vehicle. But it captured of spirit of lots of people. Laurie David was one of them. And they persuaded him, and they absolutely persuaded him to make it into a documentary.
BECK: OK. Real quick, if I could, get just a yes or no answer. Do you think, because I`ve seen the glowing pieces where they call him a genius and the smartest man to ever walk the planet, et cetera, et cetera, from places like "The New York Times".
Do you think if Newt Gingrich would have done a slideshow on -- let`s say -- Islamic extremism and really dedicated himself, and really -- do you think he would have had the same kind of success just because -- how much did the media wanting this message help him rebirth?
MCGIRT: I don`t -- I don`t know how to answer that. I can tell you the media didn`t like him for a very long time. He couldn`t get any love from the media until, really, the movie came out and it really became sort of a popular thing.
Newt Gingrich is a great example. I don`t know how his slideshow on Islamic terrorism would go over, but I bet if he did a slideshow on health care, he`d be a big hit. His Center for Health Care Excellence is doing...
BECK: I`m going to talk to him. I`m going to talk to Newt. I`m going to ask him to do that.
MCGIRT: You really should.
BECK: That and the civil war, and we`ll see how popular he becomes.
Ellen, thanks a lot.
MCGIRT: OK.
ELLEN: Much more on Al Gore`s Live Earth tonight at 8 p.m. on CNN. Yes, I`m hosting that, our weeklong special, "We the People", issues that matter, no matter what side of the aisle you`re on. That`s on CNN. Don`t miss it, coming up.
Now, on this show tonight, a remarkable story of a woman who has a special tat talent of keeping the memory of our fallen soldiers alive in an extraordinary way.
Plus, one of the most popular radio stations in the country. An exclusive audience, no competition. I`m glad I`m not working -- sounds kind of like the Fairness Doctrine. I`ll tell you about it coming up.
But first, in case you were still on the fence on whether or not you should -- you should shell out that $348 to see Live Earth in person, maybe this will help -- help you make up your mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Attention, music fans. There`s still plenty of good seats available for Live Earth New York, being held tomorrow in New Jersey. Live Earth New York, a world concert event calling attention to our climate in crisis, takes place at Giants Stadium, located in the heart of New Jersey`s hazardous petrochemical waste corridor. Showtime is at 1. But be sure to leave plenty of extra time for traffic. Smog bellowing, toxin emitting, ozone layer depleting, lung-clogging traffic. (coughs)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: Well, America celebrated her birthday this week. Yes, Fourth of July, time to remember our independence and honor those who fought to achieve it and those who continue to fight to maintain it.
Sometimes, our brave men and women in uniform don`t come home from that fight, but I`m going to introduce you here to a woman that makes sure that they`re not only not forgotten, but they come to life in an extraordinary way. Our thanks to Boyd Huppert in KARE in Minnesota for this incredibly moving tribute.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOYD HUPPERT, KARE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bad news rolled into Northome, Minnesota, on November 17, 2003. It stopped for directions at the post office. Headed east out of town, past the high school and then, bad news turned in the driveway of Arland and Karen Panchot.
ARLAND PANCHOT, LOST SON IN IRAQ: I seen the two soldiers here, and I know what had happened.
HUPPERT: Arland and Karen both knew. Left to tell were the details of how their son Dale had died in Iraq. The Bradley fighting vehicle he was riding in, the hit from the rocket-propelled grenade.
KAREN PANCHOT, LOST SON IN IRAQ: Our son was the third -- third soldier killed from Minnesota.
HUPPERT: And now, three years later, the same rural roads that carried bad news to Northome, in a sense, are bringing Dale Panchot back home.
A. PANCHOT: It`s going to be a surprise when that truck pulls up.
HUPPERT: Eyes would be wider still if they could back up the truck two weeks and somehow see the woman delivering their son.
KAZIAH HANCOCK, PAINTER: Oh, yes. Ooh! Kaziah cooks. She starts cranking, she cooks.
HUPPERT: Colorful as the palette she paints from, Kaziah Hancock shares a ranch with 100 goats at the base of a mountain in Utah.
HANCOCK: I don`t know how political I am. I don`t get into all that crap. I just love freedom, OK?
HUPPERT: Here, 1,200 miles from Northome, Kaziah is enjoying the company of Staff Sergeant Panchot.
HANCOCK: What a sweet guy. I believe he is the guy that would give the shirt off his back.
I really like that one.
HUPPERT: Kaziah is known as an artist with a plan for giving.
HANCOCK (singing): Now that I can dance.
HUPPERT: It started three years ago when a tearful Kaziah painted a portrait of Utah`s first soldier, then kept going.
HANCOCK: I so appreciate good guys.
HUPPERT: Fifty, then 100, now nearly 250 servicemen and women from nearly every state, brought back to life on canvas in Kaziah`s bedroom studio.
HANCOCK: At least it`s a way to say, "Hey, I love you, kiddo. That`s all. That you may never be forgotten."
HUPPERT (on camera): And when their time at the ranch is through, Kaziah Hancock sends them home, painted, framed, packed and shipped.
HANCOCK: OK, sweetie. You get to go home to mama.
HUPPERT: And she will accept not one cent from a soldier`s family.
HANCOCK: "Dear Knowles family, I picked this one because this shows such a wonderful personality. There is a face anyone could love. Love, Kaziah." OK. There`s definitely a lot of love going in that box, too.
HUPPERT: Kaziah can`t begin to estimate the income she has forfeited, painting sons and daughters...
HANCOCK: Beautiful, fine lady.
HUPPERT: ... instead of the landscapes and portraits she normally sells for thousands of dollars.
HANCOCK: Gibbon (ph) James Coburn.
HUPPERT: And all Kaziah has to do is read her mail.
HANCOCK: My Gibbon (ph) is still right here watching over me and my family.
HUPPERT: And her inner banker goes on permanent Memorial Day.
HANCOCK: I just love them. It`s OK. And it`s not this big god- (expletive deleted) sacrifice. It`s not this pain and misery that I have to go through. Hell, I`m not in misery. I`m working for a friend. They`re my buddies. We got a good thing going. This is a partnership. This is a team.
HUPPERT: Tough as a sailor, tender as a mom. Though long ago, a bout with ovarian cancer left Kaziah unable to have children of her own.
HANCOCK: His last name, Panchot.
HUPPERT: Minnesota`s Dale Panchot is just her latest adopted son.
HANCOCK: That is not half bad.
HUPPERT: A relationship that will leave her both happier and sad.
HANCOCK: Because he just should have been a daddy, should have been a husband until he`s 80 years old. That would have been good. I would have so loved if I had painted him.
HUPPERT: Kaziah figured out years ago that an artist can do little to stop a war. Her gift would be the deliveries to the people left to battle at home.
K. PANCHOT: We`re doing it. Want to see it? Oh. That is awesome.
A. PANCHOT: Oh, boy.
K. PANCHOT: Oh, man.
HUPPERT: Arland and Karen Panchot have never met Kaziah...
A. PANCHOT: Well, I`m just going to see what that will look like.
K. PANCHOT: Up there.
HUPPERT: ... probably never will.
K. PANCHOT: May you feel your son`s love every day. God bless you. Love, Kaziah."
HUPPERT: But two parents who can`t pull their eyes off the image of their son...
A. PANCHOT: She even got his...
HUPPERT: ... is proof...
A. PANCHOT: ... crooked tooth in there a little bit.
HUPPERT: ... a hug can extend from Utah all the way to the land of 10,000 stories.
K. PANCHOT: He`s here, you know, and that`s -- that`s important to me.
HUPPERT: Kindness is a virtue. But on a ranch in Utah, compassion is an art.
(MUSIC)
HANCOCK: There is nothing I`ll ever paint that will be more appreciated than that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BECK: Coming up, I`m going to take you to Angola, Louisiana, where you`re going to find one of the most unique radio stations in the country. It`s a gospel station that literally kicks behind the bricks.
Plus, a small under-reported incident in New Hampshire, could raise serious concerns about our relationship with Russia. I`ll explain in tonight`s "Real Story".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: You know, when you listen to the radio it is amazing the odd collection of characters you hear on the air. And I`m appreciative of that; otherwise, I would be out of a job.
But down in Louisiana, they have such a unique radio station that some might call it criminal. If you happen to be down that way, tune in KLSP, 97 -- 91.7 on your FM dial. The music is great, and the deejays there seem to know an awful lot about "records."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIRVORIS SUTTON, A.K.A. DJ SHAQ: Thank you so much for tuning in to KLSP 91.7.
BECK (voice-over): It`s a typical day at KLSP, 91.7 FM, a radio station that caters almost exclusively to an audience made up of the highly-coveted 18- to 45-year-old male demo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Running real good here. I think they`re really good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: KLSP Radio, the station that kicks behind the bricks.
SUTTON: My audience range from athletes to just average guys who just like to lay back in the dorms.
BECK: As general manager of KLSP radio, Burl Cain knows his audience better than just about anybody.
BURL CAIN, WARDEN: They`re murderers, rapists, armed robbers, convicted felons. The average sentence is about 88 years, and there`s 3,200 of them with life sentences.
BECK: Did I mention that Burl Cain is also the warden?
KLSP broadcasts live from the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, making this the only prison in the country with its very own radio station.
As far as business models go, KLSP seems like it can`t miss. There`s a captive audience, more than 5,000 listeners, with no competition from any of those morning zoos or those annoying talk radio stations.
In fact, here it`s pretty much just Christian-themed programming with a wide variety of music. Just no gangsta rap, heavy metal or sleepy elevator music.
CAIN: The kind of music we play reflects our culture and has a very calming effect on them.
SUTTON: We`ll do some jazz. We`ll do some soft R&B. We`ll do some country, some rock, but primarily throughout the week continuously, you`re going to get the gospel.
BECK: And with song requests and shout-outs, KLSP shamelessly caters to its most loyal listeners, the men on Death Row.
SUTTON: We don`t call it Death Row here.
BECK: Oh, sorry, Life Row.
SUTTON: Guys on Life Row are some of the most faithful listeners to the radio station. I mean, a number of them, any given day, I might get anywhere from five to six letters.
What I can play for you?
BECK: And just like their fellow DJs on the outside, when it comes to payday, radio guys never seem to get the respect they deserve.
SUTTON: It`s one of the more higher-paying jobs at 20 cents an hour. It`s probably the highest pay that you can make as an inmate.
In terms of music calming the wrath of an angry beast. I don`t know how true that is, but I do know that music here in Angola has proved to be a mechanism that actually works.
CAIN: It`s going to be cool and we`re just going to keep rocking and rolling.
SUTTON: God bless you and God keep you and thank you for tuning in to KLSP, 91.7 Angola. The next song on air is "I`m So Satisfied".
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BECK: I have the rest of that story coming up at 8 p.m. on CNN. As we continue our weeklong series, "We the People". Make sure you tune in tonight on CNN.
Coming up on this program, an American soldier who lost both legs in Iraq before taking his life back one step at a time. He`ll be with me in just a bit. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: Coming up, there is only one thing worse than the president`s approval rating, and that`s the approval rating of Congress. But not to worry: any news is good news if you just spin it the right way, and I`ll explain in just a bit.
First, welcome to "The Real Story."
You might remember that attack on our troops in Iraq last January where the insurgents posed as American soldiers and infiltrated a government compound and killed five of our troops. At the time, the military officials believed that elements of the Iranian government were involved. Now, we finally have evidence of it.
The military announced today they have been holding a senior Hezbollah operative who has quote, "been working in Iraq as a surrogate for the Iranian Quds Force." End quote.
The operative apparently was a liaison between Iran and the group that carried out the January attack and he helped supply the information gathered by the Iranian Quds Force to the insurgents. In addition, this liaison helped organize groups of 20 to 60 Iraqis, he brought them to camps outside Tehran, trained them and returned them to Iraq to carry out attacks against us.
The military also said today it would be, quote, "hard to imagine that Iran`s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei isn`t fully aware of everything that is going on.
But, you know what, if you watch this program every night, you are not surprised by this. We`ve been telling you this for a while. The "Real Story" is we`ve been saying all along that everything you see going on in Iraq is really about Iran. In fact, before the Iraq War even started, I was telling my radio listeners, this isn`t about weapons of mass destruction, this is about changing the face of the Middle East and surrounding Iran with stable allies like Iraq and Afghanistan and popping the head of that snake.
Unfortunately, our leaders never owned up to that. They never stood in front of you, the American people, and made the case that if we don`t stop Iran in Iraq, then we are going to be fighting a war of World War II proportions.
To give you a little historical analogy, this is like George W. Bush has been telling the American people that actually, we`re just fighting Italy when he knows all along that it`s really Germany that is pulling the strings. Iran is Germany.
People ask me all the time, what is victory in Iraq really look like? How do we know that we`ve even won? To me, it`s pretty simple. We win when the Islamic government of Iran collapses and the Iranian people are finally free to chart their own course.
Peter Brookes is the senior fellow for national security affairs with the Heritage Foundation. Peter, we talked about this. We knew this months ago. Nobody was talking about it then. Nobody`s willing to talk about it now, really. When do we face up to what Iran really is?
PETER BROOKES, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Well, it`s another damning indictment of Iran. The interesting thing here, Glenn, I may have missed it when you said it, this person is Hezbollah which is Lebanese Shia. This is another, this is a friend of Iran that`s working with Iran to train Iraqi militants and operate Iraqi militants not only in Iraq but they are training them alongside the Quds Force in Iran as well.
So it`s not just Iran as we pointed out, it`s also Iran`s friend, Hezbollah, a Shia group in Lebanon that`s helping them.
BECK: Peter, you know and I know that the entire Middle East, I see it, it`s a house of cards or it`s dominos. There are -- Egypt is going to fall, Saudi Arabia is going to fall. All of these things are going to come down because Iran has their fingers in the entire pie, do they not?
BROOKES: Absolutely. Iran hopes to expand, create an arc of influence, an Iranian arc of influence from the Persian Gulf to the eastern Mediterranean. The government in Lebanon right now is under siege by Hezbollah, an Iranian ally. They`re allied with Syria and if you look at the map, you think of it in your mind, you`ve got Iran, you`ve got Iraq, if they can get Iraq to fall, you`ve got Afghanistan, you`ve got Syria, you`ve got Lebanon and all of a sudden you have this crest of influence across the Middle East that belongs to Iran.
BECK: This is what I love, Peter, after this stunning attack where they came in, dressed like us, in our own SUVs, vehicles, you know, shot a bunch of people, steal our soldiers it`s just stunning, it really is a "Remember the Maine!" kind of moment nobody wants to pay attention to. We made the ayatollah promise that they wouldn`t get involved and he did.
BROOKES: Right. He did make that promise but that was after these attacks, Glenn. The quote here is we`re dealing with, this was just January and March.
BECK: I understand that, but I mean, peter, this is what we`re dealing with. We`re dealing with evil people who are saying, we weren`t involved.
BROOKES: I`m not arguing with that. I just want to get the timeline right. I want to get the timeline right. The important thing is we`re dealing with professionals. Hezbollah is on the same level as a terrorist group as al Qaeda in my mind. These are very serious, they`re very professional. That`s the unfortunate part of it. We`ve got to take these guys down in Iraq.
BECK: All right. Peter, and real quick, would you say that the end game is for a global caliphate. A global Islamic government?
BROOKES: Well that`s certainly al Qaeda`s purpose. Iran at the moment wants to dominate the Middle East. They are looking at it. They want to destroy the United States and our presence there and then they want to get at Israel.
BECK: Peter, I tell you what. I want to have you back in the next couple of days. Maybe we can do it tomorrow. I would like to float a theory by you and that is, maybe we should just let them duke it out. Can we talk about that in the coming days?
BROOKES: Absolutely.
BECK: Coming up next, late last week, five Russian men walked into a New Hampshire liquor store, they put down a couple of bottles of Scotch whisky on the counter and then handed over a crisp $100 bill.
Teeny problem with that $100 bill, it was counterfeit and the men knew it. As soon as the clerk took the little pen and marked it and they legalized that the clerk was on to him, they grabbed the $100 bill and ran out of the store.
I tell you this story because of where it happened. It happened in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. That happens to be the town where President Putin landed for his meeting with president bush three days after this incident occurred.
According to police, the Russians who tried to pass the fake money may have been part of Putin`s security detail. Why we don`t know for sure isn`t really clear to me yet, but ask yourself this -- if these were high-level Russian security officials, we`re talking about their Secret Service level, many of whom have diplomatic immunity, what are they doing with counterfeit U.S. currency and why are they trying to pass it off?
"The Real Story" is that I have a sneaking suspicion and this is just suspicion that this counterfeiting can be traced all the way up to Putin himself. From arms and oil deals with everyone from Venezuela to Iran, this guy is in bed with evil.
To the fact that anybody who speaks out against him conveniently seems to wind up with a case of death, Putin has proven himself time and time again that he is no friend of you and me. He`s no friend of the United States. In fact, I believe he is a modern version of our old Cold War enemy.
So, Putin, somehow or another, could he be behind this counterfeiting? Is it possible? No one knows for sure. I don`t believe anybody`s willing to look into it but I do know this -- Putin no longer gets the benefit of the doubt, at least in my book and he shouldn`t in yours.
BECK: Sarah Mendelson, is a senior fellow with the CSIS Russia and Eurasia program. I know I`m asking you to speculate on this, but is this the kind of thing that people like Putin engage in?
SARAH MENDELSON, CSIS FELLOW: Well, I think we have so many facts that we can stick to the facts. The facts are that independent critical television has disappeared from Russia. The fact is that there are hundreds of people who disappeared from southern Russia at the hands of the federal forces. That journalists who investigate these crimes themselves are disappeared and I think that that is the legacy that is particularly worrisome and for President Bush today to talk about President Putin as if he is trustworthy.
BECK: He is a friend and buddy and a pal and, Sarah, I honestly don`t even understand our world anymore. I look at this and here we are with a guy who just last week met with Chavez, he`s meeting with Iran, they`re making all kinds of deals, they`re clearly in some sort of triangle of evil, this is Axis Power here. And we`re playing footsie with him and having lobster and pancakes. What is -- what are we trying to do here?
MENDELSON: Well, let`s not forget also the Kremlin had a P.R. company working for them, and so, if I were the P.R. company, I`d say, score one for us.
That press conference looked like it was exactly what the Kremlin ordered up. I think each side came to the meeting with very different ideas. President Bush is at an all-time low in terms of his political leverage inside but also outside the U.S. and he has not been paying a lot of attention to the Russian relationship and he`s trying to doctor it a bit, maybe even reboot the relationship.
BECK: I don`t even know how or why we would do it. We`re -- it`s like Saudi Arabia, we`re in bed with bad people.
MENDELSON: Well, we need to have a relationship with Russia. The issue is that there is more to Russia than just the Kremlin. And we can talk about that.
BECK: Yeah, I mean, but let me just touch on this. And I`ve only got 30 seconds.
You started with the press has disappeared. Is it not true that there are some parts of the press now where America is being built as the enemy in almost everything down to the weather?
MENDELSON: It`s not just the press. There are comments coming from the Kremlin, from Putin himself and I`m telling you, this message is reaching the young public. We just did a survey as young Russians and they see the United States as enemy number one.
BECK: Sarah, thank you very much. That is "The Real Story" tonight.
Up next, an American soldier who lost both of his legs in Iraq and he is taking his life back one step at a time. Wait until you meet this guy and his wonderful wife.
I`ll explain in just a bit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: Last year I told you about a remarkable couple, Jake and Vanessa Keeslar. Jake lost both of his legs in the Iraq War. It was a year ago last week. Made an incredible sacrifice for us.
It has forced him to re-evaluate his life, his marriage, his dreams. We decided to check in on them and get an update on their already amazing story. It is a story of commitment, inspiration and unconditional love.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECK (voice-over): For Jake and Vanessa Keeslar, this is a defining moment in their lives.
SGT. 1ST CLASS JAKE KEESLAR, U.S. ARMY: This is feeling really good.
BECK: Last year we visited Jake and Vanessa here at the Walter Reed Medical Center, Jake was just fitted for his second prosthetic leg and was taking some of his first steps since the explosion. He had been in Iraq 11 months when his Stryker hit an IED. He survived, but the explosion cost him both his legs. Life is no longer the same for him or for his wife.
J. KEESLAR: I was really upset that I blew it, you know? I mean, that`s what I felt like, is I blew it. So it`s all about taking steps, and I`ll get there again.
BECK: One step at a time, Jake is taking back his life and striving for a normalcy most of us take for granted.
VANESSA KEESLAR, JAKE`S WIFE: When he first got hit, my whole world, our whole world kind of narrowed down to this focused viewpoint and I couldn`t imagine what a year looked like.
BECK: Well, it`s been a year and this is what it looks like. Jake is walking, enjoying the park with his wife and his dog and so much more.
J. KEESLAR: I got back into scuba diving, went out and went skiing up in Aspen. I still need to get on my bike. That`s one of the things I`m looking for. Other than that, I`m pretty much there.
BECK: Jake and Vanessa have a vision and they`re not letting anything stand in their way.
J. KEESLAR: If I have to go in and build me something, I will. If I have to take duct tape and tape up my knee.
V. KEESLAR: Which he`s done.
J. KEESLAR: You just come up on challenges and obstacles that you choose not to keep you back or slow you down.
BECK: This year of recovery has taught them things about each other and their relationship they never anticipated. Some of it wonderful, some of it incredibly hard.
V. KEESLAR: There have been times through this past year where it hasn`t been great at all. But we knew that we wanted it to get back to great. And so, we were going to fight for it.
BECK: And they have so much to fight for. Jake and Vanessa have known each other almost a lifetime. They grew up just a few miles apart in Southern California.
J. KEESLAR: I had a crush on her and we were -- we had a physical science class together and I used to always slip her notes.
BECK: But they weren`t high school sweethearts. As a matter of fact, they were far from it.
J. KEESLAR: She was on one end of the spectrum and I was on the other so ...
V. KEESLAR: I thought he was a dork. I did.
J. KEESLAR: You`re not supposed to say that on camera.
V. KEESLAR: I`m sorry, I did. I thought he was a dork.
J. KEESLAR: If I had a foot I`d kick your .
BECK: It wasn`t until decades later that their friendship blossomed into something more. And Vanessa realized he was the one.
They were married four years ago. The vows they made to each other have taken on new and challenging meanings for both of them. In sickness and in health. They aren`t leaving each other`s sides.
V. KEESLAR: People say, oh, it`s so great that you stayed with him. What? What do you mean? You know, I didn`t marry his legs. He`s the most decent human being on the planet.
J. KEESLAR: She`s been my driving force. I definitely wouldn`t be where I`m at right now without her.
BECK: Jake is now a decorated war veteran, 16 years of service and a Purple Heart given to him by the president himself.
J. KEESLAR: Even if I knew this was going to be the outcome, I still would defend my country. This is something that I chose to do and something I believe in.
BECK: Jake is committed to his country and to his wife. Together, they look forward, optimistic of what the future will bring and grateful that no matter what, they still have each other.
V. KEESLAR: For us, for me, I`m fundamentally grateful every single day for what we have, for how lucky we are.
J. KEESLAR: Trust in each other and believe in each other, and you can pretty much go through everything as long as you`re together, you know, and together means not sitting right next to each other, but in mind, together in your mind and with that, you can go anywhere.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BECK (on camera): From Washington now, Jake and Vanessa join me. I just - - we had you guys up on the set here just last week and we had a chance to talk.
And I was going to say to you at first, Vanessa, are you a little -- are you a little intimidated by, by Jake and his just never giving up, but I have to ask you the same thing, Jake, which one of you guys is the inspiration? Which one of you is the driving force?
V. KEESLAR: He is.
J. KEESLAR: She is.
BECK: A little of both. When one`s down, the other`s up?
J. KEESLAR: Definitely. Definitely. You know, we both push each other and pick each other up.
BECK: How close were you to the edge this year? Have you gotten -- have you gotten to a point to where you thought, I don`t know if I can do it?
J. KEESLAR: No. Never. You know, that`s just not an option. So .
BECK: Vanessa, have you felt that way?
V. KEESLAR: You know, I had that thought five minutes after I got the phone call. Telling me how bad it was. There was that moment of, I don`t -- I don`t know that can I do this.
And I had a girlfriend with me at the time and she looked at me and she said, yeah, you can. She said, you have to. And I looked at her and I said, you know, you`re right. And that`s my option.
And so, there hasn`t been a point other than that brief moment right after I found out. The rest of has just been pushing through it and that there is no other option for us.
BECK: And, Jake, you were just promoted. You just had a promotion.
J. KEESLAR: Yes. I was.
BECK: Congratulations on that.
J. KEESLAR: Thank you.
BECK: You`re building your own legs to rock climb. What`s -- what`s left? What is it that you haven`t done that you want to do?
J. KEESLAR: Ride a motorcycle. Got to get back on my motorcycle.
BECK: You`re a Harley guy, are you not?
J. KEESLAR: I am, yeah.
BECK: And because of no knees and everything else, you have to have it specially modified or is that .
J. KEESLAR: Yeah, I`m trying to figure all that out right now, either electric shift or, you know, moving around is going to be kind of tough and coming to a stop sign is going to be tough, but I`ll figure it out/
BECK: I`ve got to tell you, maybe next year we`ll check in with you again. You`re really, truly an inspiration and it`s an honor to know both of you.
J. KEESLAR: Thank you.
V. KEESLAR: Thank you very much.
We`ll be back in just a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: Well, Congress has been in power now for six months and, I mean, Congress, give yourselves a really big hasn`t because you guys, you have, I mean, unlike that awful do-nothing Congress last year, you have really gotten your act together. I mean, in the first 100 hours alone, you -- you did that minimum wage thing and then -- you solved immigration and health care and that whole thing in Iraq, that`s -- oh, wait a minute, actually, no, you haven`t done any of those.
Well, you know what, actually, Congress` confidence rating is at an all- time low, there`s an accomplishment, all-time, 14 percent. But, you know, I want you to know that I don`t think Congress would ever let a little something like the opinion of the American people get in the way of doing what they feel is best.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Hello, America, we`re Congress and we just like to thank you for the overwhelming show of support you`ve given us as we do the difficult work of the American people in Washington.
According to a recent poll, 100 percent of 14 percent of Americans have confidence in our ability to put the nation on the right track. That`s about 42 million people if you project the number to incorporate all children including infants or 70 percent of 20 percent of Americans of all age.
That kind of support gives us the confidence we need to make decisions that one quarter of more than half of you support.
For example, our comprehensive immigration plan. Which has been enthusiastically received by two-thirds of the square root of 81 percent of Americans.
And that wholehearted backing has been reflected in the polls with 98 divided by open parentheses, one thirteenth times 91 close parentheses percent of regular people like you. It doesn`t take a mathematician to see that Americans love their Congress and we`ll continue to serve and protect the land of the free, the home of the brave and approximately every seventh of American citizens, then of course 100 percent of illegal immigrants.
So, thank you, America, thank you..
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Oh, I`ll be thinking about them while I watch the fireworks show. Really celebrate independence. By the way, if you want to win an iPhone. Sign up for my free daily e-mail news letter. Get all the details at glennbeck.com. We`ll see you at 8:00 on CNN, the mother ship. From New York, good night, America.
END
