Return to Transcripts main page

Glenn Beck

University of Delaware Teaches All Whites Racist; Could Treaty Cost U.S. Sovereignty?

Aired November 01, 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, are all white people racist? A new program at the University of Delaware seems to suggest that the answer is yes, sure are. Is this free exchange of ideas or just another example of campus indoctrination?

As Hillary fumbles on the issue of license for illegals, I`ll talk to former New York mayor, Ed Koch, about why he thinks the plan is ridiculous.

Also, Cuba and China. New drilling buddies? They`re teaming up to drill for oil right off our shores. How long before we`re all driving one of these?

All this and more, tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America.

It comes as no surprise for many of you that our colleges and universities are indoctrinating our children into a radical leftist ideology, some of it, in my opinion, rising to the level of preaching fascism rather than freedom.

Yet another example of this has cropped up over at the University of Delaware, where a school-sanctioned program, conducted not in the classrooms but in the dorms, is being used to, quote, "cultivate both learning and the free exchange of ideas among students." Yes. Ideas like, quote, "All whites are racist."

So here`s "The Point" tonight. We may actually be at a point where a college education does more harm than good. And here`s how I got there.

As you`ll soon be able to read for yourself in my insightful new book, entitled "An Inconvenient Book" -- in stores soon, preorder now at Amazon.com -- boy, this is shameless, isn`t it? The American university system has been taken over by liberal activist professors.

Now, that`s not my opinion. That`s according to a report released earlier this month at a Harvard symposium. College faculty members identify themselves as liberals and vote in Democratic -- for Democratic candidates in far greater numbers than found in the American public at large.

But really, I don`t really care if there are more Democrats on campus than Republicans. At this point they`re almost interchangeable. The problem is there seems to be more pro-socialist, anti-American ideas being fostered in our institutions of higher learning, and they`re going left unchecked.

As tuition-paying parents we`ve got to change that. As Americans we have to change that, especially in light what is -- with what is evidently happening at the University of Delaware.

Try this on for size. As part of the students` free exchange of ideas, the school`s diversity facilitation training manual defines terms like "white people", "race", and "prejudice". Some of those things I have down because I`m a white people, you know what I mean?

But racist surprised me. Apparently, I thought I knew that one, but I was wrong. Let me quote. "The term applies to all white people, i.e. people of European descent, living in the United States. By this definition people of color cannot be racist because as peoples within the U.S. system they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination," end quote.

To add insult to injury, the Foundation for the Individual Rights of Education is reporting that students are required to adopt these definitions as part of their University of Delaware experience.

Now, this is a charge that the university denies. But it does acknowledge that some students were accidentally told that this was mandatory. They`re working on clearing up that little misconception right now.

So tonight, America, here`s what you need to know. This is not an education. This is indoctrination, closer to brainwashing than higher learning. Even suggesting to kids that all whites are racist is prejudiced and disgusting and, quite frankly, racist. There is no room for that kind of thinking anywhere in our society.

An evil, hateful group like the KKK can`t say that all African- Americans are one way, and the University of Delaware certainly can`t say that all whites are another.

A much greater man than I once said, "We need to judge a man by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin." All white people are not racist, and the University of Delaware students deserve better than to be force-fed this self-loathing load of bull crap.

Greg Lukianoff, he is the president for the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education.

Greg, this apparently has been going on for quite some time. But is it true that, at the beginning a couple of years ago, they were gathering up all of this paperwork?

GREG LUKIANOFF, PRESIDENT, FOUNDATION OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS IN EDUCATION: Well, apparently, this has been going on for about four years, but as best we can tell, it`s really amped up in the last year, become much more invasive than ever.

BECK: Right. But were they retrieving the documents in an effort to keep these documents...

LUKIANOFF: Oh, they were trying to actually -- it was amazing. One of the ways we found out about this case was a parent said that he was part of a training -- his son was part of a training program where they gave them some material that the student disagreed with but then demanded all of the materials back.

The University of Delaware`s been trying to keep a lid on this thought reform project for years now.

BECK: OK. Now, the University of Delaware has responded, and they say they`re just trying to open people`s minds.

LUKIANOFF: Yes.

BECK: But they`re asking the -- the R.A.s are coming in and asking, when did you first discover your sexual identity?

LUKIANOFF: Yes. How creepy is that? You have a one-on-one meeting, a mandatory one-on-one meeting with an R.A.

BECK: They say it`s not mandatory.

LUKIANOFF: And that`s nonsense. The thing is everybody should go to TheFIRE.org because this is not an assertion. We actually post -- at this point we have hundreds of pages of documents that show that this is mandatory, this is happening. They are trying to get students to adopt certain beliefs. They`re graded from best to worst, depending on whether they agree with that.

BECK: I will tell you that I looked through some of the documents and I have them posted up on my Web site from the university at GlennBeck.com, and I will tell you that it`s amazing some of the definitions of other things.

But they say they`re into diversity. Have you asked them if it is possible to have one of the R.A.s ask the students when did they accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior?

LUKIANOFF: That`s the most amazing thing. The FIRE`s been trying to explain that the government -- and this is a state-run institution has no right to make anybody adopt any ideology. And they would immediately understand this, the University of Delaware, if it was an ideology they were less comfortable with.

BECK: OK. They said in their response to you that you don`t have a high enough esteem of the students, because it would take a lot more to indoctrinate. I say between just this news that we have this week, between, you know, the penguins saving the -- being saved by the U.N. at the North Pole, G.I. Joe no longer serving in the U.S. military but with the U.N.; you`ve got the breakdown of the family; and then the indoctrination at universities.

There`s no way you can come out the other end believing that America is a good place and that white people are all right. I mean, is there any way to avoid this indoctrination? It`s everywhere.

LUKIANOFF: Well, the amazing thing is they`re trying to claim that it`s voluntary. But their own documents, their own R.A.s have -- they don`t just say mandatory. They say mandatory in all caps, exclamation mark, exclamation mark.

And then you got quizzed on things like what races would you date, when did you discover your sexuality. And this is one of the most pernicious things, is they rate students from best to worst. The one student who said "none of your damn business: got rated, of course, as worst.

BECK: And where does that rating go?

LUKIANOFF: That`s actually been circulated through the entire residence affairs system. It`s published.

BECK: OK. Greg, thanks.

Now, if the University of Delaware was an isolated incident, not so much. Maybe it wouldn`t be so bad. Evan Coyne Maloney, he is a filmmaker and the director of "Indoctrinate U." -- Evan.

EVAN COYNE MALONEY, FILMMAKER: How are you doing?

BECK: OK. Let me play devil`s advocate here. They`re just trying to expand people`s minds. That`s all this is.

MALONEY: Well, if -- if that were the case, then why are they expecting students to come out of this with very specific viewpoints? What they`re doing, as Greg said, they`re actually grading the students based on how well they agree with their curriculum at the end.

And one of the things that Greg didn`t mention, FIRE has on its Web site now a few stories from R.A.s who explained what happened to them if they disagreed with this whole system.

You have R.A.s basically taking notes on the political and philosophical views of students and reporting that to the university. And if the university doesn`t like your perspective on the world, then you`re going to be in trouble.

And this is much worse than classroom indoctrination. This is where the students live. These are the peers. Students are supposed to trust the R.A.s, not suspect that maybe the R.A. is reporting me because I don`t have the right political views.

BECK: I again go back to -- I mean, if you really want diversity -- see, I don`t believe that any society has ever changed and become more diverse or more tolerant. They just change targets.

If they really wanted diversity, wouldn`t they say, you know, "homosexuality is wrong" and then the next day say "homosexuality is right" and discuss both? It`s not about opening people`s minds. It is about training them into a philosophy that the university says is right.

MALONEY: Well, that`s absolutely right. I mean, if they wanted diversity, you would think that a university would be most interested in diversity of ideas.

But it turns out that they`re interested in diversity of appearance, but they want everyone who looks different to adopt all the same points of view. That`s why they`re asking students and they`re grading students based on how well they`ve adopted this ideology.

BECK: Evan, don`t you think that this is one of the main reasons why the professors at Duke just convicted all of the white students? I mean, it was just, "Yes, they did that," and there was nobody that said, "No, it didn`t happen."

MALONEY: That`s absolutely right.

BECK: It`s this kind of diversity training.

MALONEY: You had 88 professors sign a document saying that these students were guilty.

Now, this program at the University of Delaware says that people of color have absolutely no power in society. Well, they had the power, through this D.A. Mike Nifong and through the administration and professors at Duke, to basically railroad three of their own students. So you know, the argument that there`s no power doesn`t make any sense.

The fact is that racism exists among all segments of society. It`s not just limited to white people. And sometimes, as in the case at Duke, white people are the victims of racist attitudes.

BECK: Thanks, Evan.

By the way, I just want to let you know, we did reach out to the University of Delaware, but they weren`t available today. So we had all three people, me and the last two guests, with our diverse opinion.

So now, where am I wrong? If our society and media and colleges keep indoctrinating America`s youth, kids with weak families don`t stand a chance of becoming strong American capitalists. Agree or disagree? Go to CNN.com/Glenn and cast your vote right now.

Coming up, the U.S. Senate is taking it to the seas. The LOST Treaty has passed a committee vote and now goes to the floor. If you don`t know what the LOST Treaty is, it`s the one that kept Ronald Reagan awake at night. It`s your sovereignty at stake. I`ll explain coming up.

And the cost of oil almost 100 bucks a barrel. What does that mean for you paying at the pump?

And who`s pumping off our shores? Coming up, tonight`s "Real Story".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, you`ve probably been too busy following, you know, your life to follow this roller coaster we call the U.S. economy, but so far we`ve got oil closing in on $100 a barrel, gold is at $80 an ounce, the dollar keeps sinking, the housing market is crumbling.

So cutting interest rates, that makes sense, right? Not so much. And I`ll explain in tonight`s "Real Story".

But first, coming soon to a Senate year you, the LOST Treaty. Wow. I mean, look at that. It stands for Law of the Sea Treaty. It must be cool.

No. More accurately, "LOST" refers to what happens to our sovereignty if we ratify it. Basically, we would hand control of about 70 percent of the earth`s surface and the air above it to the U.N.

If you`ve got a problem, don`t worry, the U.N. will be there to arbitrate your dispute. And who wouldn`t want billions of dollars to be funneled to the U.N. with no real control on how they spend it? I mean, what could go wrong? Weren`t they the guys who did that oil-for-food thing? It worked out.

Amazingly, the disaster called the LOST Treaty was passed in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a vote of 17-4 yesterday. Now it goes to the full Senate, where it needs two thirds vote for a final approval before it becomes part of our Constitution.

Many in the Pentagon support it. The president supports it. Much of big business supports it. And it looks like enough senators might be on board to get it through.

But, despite the reports of the contrary, one man did not support it, and that man`s name was Ronald Reagan. He said, and I quote, "No national interest of ours could ever justify handing sovereign control of two-thirds of the earth`s surface to the third world."

One of the four members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to vote against this treaty joins me now, Senator Jim DeMint.

Senator, I cannot believe that this thing still has breath. What is it that people are missing? Or am I wrong on this?

SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Well, Glenn, I think you hit the nail on the head, because this is a sovereignty issue, and Americans are increasingly concerned and, I would say, even alarmed about a Congress, a government that`s willing to give up more of our sovereignty to international groups like the United Nations or world courts.

In this case this is an obscure treaty that very few people have heard about, but it`s been around for over 25 years. As you said, Ronald Reagan refused to sign it, because he didn`t want to submit our -- the United States to a number of countries who would not act in our best interests. And that`s still the case today.

There are a lot of theories about it that sound good, but the fact is, this does give up our sovereignty. It submits us to arbitration with countries that have consistently voted against us in the United Nations, and it would give other countries control about how we operate in our seas, about mineral rights, and even on land-based pollution.

It would give them the ability to tax American companies; for the first time an international body to actually tax American people. There are a lot of reasons not to vote for it.

BECK: I -- I don`t even understand. It also has something in it called the enterprise, where if Exxon wants to go and do some offshore drilling, they have to have two sites -- correct me if I`m wrong. Two sites. They go to the U.N. and they say, "We`d like to drill here and here."

The U.N. says, "OK, well, let us look at it." They come back, Exxon comes back, and the U.N. says, "You can drill in this one. We`re going to use your equipment and your finances. We`re drilling in this site, and we get to keep all the profits." True or false?

DEMINT: Well, the language appears to leave it open to exactly what you just said. There are a lot of loopholes in this language.

The real supporter of this, Glenn, is the Navy, that wants more predictable access to waters around the world. But they failed to read the rest of this long treaty that is filled with legal loopholes.

And the problem we have as the United States is that other countries don`t obey the U.N. and the Law of the Sea Treaty, but we obey the laws, and it tends to put us at a disadvantage.

BECK: OK. Here`s -- here`s the thing. First of all, Iran has already signed on to this. So we`re in good company there. All the Republican candidates for president are all against this, but how many Republicans are in this committee that just voted 17-4? Why aren`t all Republicans -- and quite honestly, all blue dog Democrats also against this?

MALONEY: Well, there`s been a lot of selling going on here in the Congress, particularly among Democrats.

BECK: You can say that again.

MALONEY: But I think the more attention we bring to this and the more outrage we get from the outside, the better chance we have of defeating this thing.

So I appreciate you bringing it to the attention of your viewers. And that`s what we`re trying to do here, those of us who are against it. You know, we`ve got to get about 34 votes in the Senate to stop this. And I think we can do it if we can just get people on the outside to know that, hey, Congress is considering giving up a little bit of our sovereignty again. And I just don`t think the American people are going to swallow it.

BECK: Senator, thank you very much. And I think you said a mouthful when you said there`s a lot of selling going on. They`re selling out our sovereignty every single day in Washington.

Now, just a reminder. Some happy news as we head into the holiday season. It`s time to order your tickets to my Christmas stage show, and it`s nothing like the television show or the radio show. It`s really not.

December dates are available for these nine cities across the country.

It`s a night of storytelling, warmth, a lot of hard laughs. Probably a few minutes of me awkwardly weeping. But it is the search for the real meaning of Christmas. It`s politically incorrect and a lot of fun.

Join me now. You can find it at GlennBeck.com. Check out all the information and order your tickets now.

Coming up, New York Governor Spitzer wants to give driver`s license to illegal aliens. Lawsuit is blocking this plan. And they`re being filed as we speak. I`ve got another guy, the mayor, Ed Koch, who thinks this is a bad idea. We`ll talk to him.

And then we`ll talk about black gold in tonight`s "Real Story". Oil is about to break the $100-a-barrel mark. What does this mean to your wallet? Details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, by now you`ve probably heard everybody talking about New York Governor Eliot Spitzer`s insane plan to give driver`s license to illegal aliens. Spitzer says his plan would actually improve security in New York by identifying the illegals.

What illegal alien is going to sign up for one? It`s a load of bull crap.

Apparently, I`m not alone. Spitzer is now being sued by a number of groups trying to block this insanity. And with me now, someone else who`s opposed to the Spitzer plan, former New York City mayor, Ed Koch.

First of all, mayor, let me start there. The governor said he would give this information and share it with the feds. What illegal alien is going to go in and register and get his picture taken?

ED KOCH, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Well, I`m a supporter of Eliot Spitzer, but I think he`s wrong on this issue, and he should have simply admitted defeat rather than seek what he believes to be a compromise.

But I also believe that the people who are suing him will ultimately prevail, because in this statute that he`s seeking to change by executive order, there is a requirement...

BECK: Yes.

KOCH: ... that you have a Social Security number in order to get a driver`s license. So he`s going to lose.

BECK: Yes. All right. Let me ask you this. Here`s a statement from the Clinton campaign. They said, quote, "Senator Clinton broadly supports measures like the ones being advocated by Governor Spitzer, but there are details that still need to be worked out."

I -- as I read this whole thing, I don`t know what the heck she`s even talking about. Is it...

KOCH: Well, I do.

BECK: Isn`t it a yes or no answer?

KOCH: No. I think you`re being unfair, as many people are. Firstly, I`m a supporter of Hillary. But that`s not why I say this...

BECK: Hang on. Wait, hold it just a second. Mayor.

KOCH: Yes.

BECK: No offense. Are you for his plan or against his plan?

KOCH: No, I`m...

BECK: You started with the answer, no.

KOCH: Would you please give me a chance?

BECK: Yes.

KOCH: I have never had a candidate where I agree with them on everything or they agree with me on everything. I`m opposed to the Spitzer plan. I`m opposed to the amnesty that was supported by McCain and Kennedy and President Bush.

Having said that, people who are on the other side are not evil. They`re just wrong.

BECK: I never said that. I never said that.

KOCH: They`re just wrong.

BECK: I just say -- here`s the -- here`s the question, sir. I`m not saying that they`re evil or, you know, that they`re...

KOCH: What are you saying?

BECK: What I`m saying is don`t -- especially on things that are this important, shouldn`t we just speak to each other...

KOCH: I think he`s...

BECK: Yes or no, it`s wrong. It doesn`t matter that this guy`s on the other side or this woman is on the other side?

KOCH: I -- I believe Hillary made her statement very clear. She supports, in my judgment -- I`m not here to speak for her...

BECK: Sure.

KOCH: ... because I don`t represent the campaign, although I support her. She supported, I believe, the proposal for amnesty in the Senate. She supports in some form the Eliot Spitzer original program...

BECK: OK.

KOCH: ... to provide a driver`s license. I`m opposed to both. But I still love her.

BECK: OK. Let -- let me just ask you this. And I have 30 seconds, so these are yes or no. Hillary couldn`t answer these questions.

KOCH: Yes.

BECK: Jail term for employers that repeatedly, knowingly hire illegal aliens.

KOCH: Absolutely.

BECK: OK. Good. Overstaying your visa, which is now double the problem that it was on 9/11. Yes or no? Jail time.

KOCH: It should be made a crime.

BECK: Crime.

KOCH: It isn`t a crime now.

BECK: See, it`s not that hard to have a conversation with yes or no. Thank you very much, Mayor. I appreciate it.

KOCH: Thank you.

BECK: The American economy is breaking all sorts of records. You might have heard that in the media. What you won`t hear is the "Real Story". These are records we don`t want broken. That`s coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Cuba and China and oil, oh my. I`ve got news for you, America: We ain`t in Kansas anymore. China has a billion-dollar deal with Cuba to explore their offshore oil deposits. And I`ve got to ask, where the hell is our moon shot to get this oil monkey off our back? An answer in just a bit.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story." The Federal Reserve Bank cut interest rates yesterday, and of course Wall Street cheered. How great is this? After all, consumer spending now accounts for over 70 percent of our real domestic product, and they want that gravy train rolling. Go out and spend. Go to the mall, America.

Unfortunately, it`s not that simple. The "Real Story" is, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction or, in this case, consequence. We are living in historic times. We recently set four major new financial records. And despite what you`re hearing from the self- serving financial experts who want you to buy their stocks and take out new loans, these records are all related.

First one, the housing market, it continues to fall apart. Home foreclosures in the third quarter are up 100 percent over last year. Meanwhile, home prices fell another 5 percent. In August, in the 10 largest U.S. cities, that`s the biggest drop in 16 years. We now have eight straight months of falling home prices, and all of that has resulted in fear, fear of banks defaulting, fear of unemployment, fear that millions of people will lose their homes. It`s that fear that drove the rate cut yesterday.

But, unfortunately, as is always, when the government tries to solve a problem, they create another one, and this time no different. Cutting interest rates makes money cheaper. Cheaper money makes people go out and buy more stuff, which means there are too many dollars chasing too few goods. The result is not only the possibility for massive inflation, but also a U.S. dollar that`s in a virtual freefall.

It hit an all-time record low against the euro today. That is record number two. It`s down 40 percent, 40 percent in the last seven years. To people in Europe, your dollar is literally now worth 60 cents, which brings us to oil, which traded at over $96 today, yet another all-time record high.

Now, a lot of people don`t understand the relationship between when the dollar falls and oil, but when the dollar falls, the price of things we import -- which, look around, is almost everything -- goes up, oil no exception. Oil that used to cost us a dollar now costs us at least $1.40 because of our falling dollar.

And, finally, record number four, gold, it`s nearly $800 an ounce, a multi-decade record high, because investors are getting out of the dollar. I told you earlier that the government intervention, like yesterday`s Fed rate, always has a consequence. That consequence is a loss of confidence in America by the rest of the world.

This is what they see. They see our mounting debt personally and with the government, the talk of higher taxes, more spending, and they`re running away from putting their money here and they`re putting it some place else. That only drives the dollar lower, oil prices higher. The Fed starts to panic, which makes them lower the rate. And the whole damn cycle starts all over again.

Peter Schiff is the president of Euro Pacific Capital, the author of "Crash Proof." He`s a financial guy. I`m not. Where did I go wrong, Peter?

PETER SCHIFF, EUROPAC: You haven`t. I mean, you`re one of the few people on television I can listen to talk and not want to throw up. I mean...

BECK: Here`s what I don`t understand, Peter. Most people aren`t feeling it. How does our dollar lose 40 percent, and yet we only have 1 percent inflation?

SCHIFF: Well, here`s the biggest joke. The numbers that the government reported yesterday, the GDP number that Wall Street celebrated, which showed a 3.9 percent growth, in order to get that, the government first takes the nominal GDP and they adjust it by inflation. Now, the inflation rate the government used to adjust the GDP was 0.8 percent. The government is claiming that annualized inflation is running at less than 1 percent. That`s the lowest rate of inflation since Dwight Eisenhower was president.

BECK: But how is that possible?

SCHIFF: It`s not.

BECK: It`s not?

SCHIFF: That`s the point; it`s not possible. It`s false. The government is creating the illusion of economic growth by playing with these numbers.

BECK: Peter, I had dinner last week with a bull. He is an economist, one of the best in the country, and he is a bull. And he said, "One thing I`m really afraid of is the dollar." He said, you know, it could very easily go into a freefall if it doesn`t stop, if the Fed doesn`t stop cutting the rate. What is the magic number? When does the freefall begin? What should we see on value loss in the dollar that we should all go, "Holy cow"?

SCHIFF: Well, I mean, it`s already going down. I mean, you don`t have to go up to Europe. Look at the Canadian dollar. It`s worth $1.06. You know, back in 2000, the average American earned about 70 percent more than the average Canadian. Now they earn about the same.

I mean, this is a huge loss of wealth for Americans relative to everybody else. I think the dollar, in a best-case scenario, is still going to lose about half its value over the next two or three years. Unfortunately...

BECK: Wait, wait, half of where it is now?

SCHIFF: Approximately, maybe 40, 45, because we`ve already lost some. But, you know, during the 1970s, if you go back to between 1972 and 1978, the dollar lost two-thirds of its value during those seven years, and it never got it back. And I think that the dollar is in for another decline similar to the one we had in the 1970s, only this time it could be worse, because the monetary policies are worse, the fiscal problems are worse, we`re in much worse shape economically than we were in the 1970s.

BECK: OK. All right, Peter, thanks.

Now, nothing we talked about is a mystery to the government of other countries. In fact, one of the best-selling books in China right now is called "Currency Wars." Foreign nations, especially countries like -- listen to this list -- China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, understand the best way to get leverage over the big, bad USA is to target us economically. They`re doing it with two big weapons: currency and oil, exactly what we just talked about.

Look around. Everybody on the entire planet is coming together in the hunt for energy. Russia is claiming land in the Arctic. They have deals now with Iran. Cuba and Venezuela are in bed together. China and Venezuela have contracts. And now China has invested a billion dollars in Cuba to help them explore offshore for oil right off the coast of Florida.

I`ve got to tell you, I feel like the people in World War II or right before World War II that were screaming on the rooftops, "Build ships!" Except we shouldn`t build ships. The "Real Story" is we don`t need more aircraft carriers. We need energy.

Take a look at the latest edition of "Fortune 500" list. Of the top 10 largest corporations in the world, five of them are energy companies. They have a combined revenue of $1.3 trillion a year. Where, may I ask, are those companies when it comes to finding our next source of energy? Where are the politicians demanding another moon shot program to find a solution?

Gang, the end of our access to oil is right around the corner, and you know it, and I know it: $100 a barrel is only the beginning. We have two choices. We can wake up, get our heads out of the frickin` sand, and find an answer, or drill in our own waters, not China, or we can let somebody else do it, while we all start teaching our kids how to speak Chinese and Arabic.

Matthew Simmons, he is the chairman of Simmons & Company, the author of "Twilight in the Desert." This guy is the authority on this. I don`t even know where to begin with you, Matthew. Tell me I`m -- tell me that we`re not headed for a massive problem with energy.

MATTHEW SIMMONS, SIMMONS AND COMPANY INTERNATIONAL: I can`t tell you that, because the reality is that our global oil supplies have probably now peaked, while our demand is still insatiably growing. And I think -- one of the things we have to be very careful about in the United States is not getting paranoid about China`s very desperate search to try to diversify its oil supplies. It is unbelievably ironic that they`re basically going to be exploring offshore Florida, while we smugly basically are so proud that we basically haven`t put a drill bit in the Atlantic Ocean since the middle 1970s.

BECK: Matthew, I mean, help me out here. We can`t build nuclear power plants in this country. There`s no drilling offshore. We`re not building any new refineries. They won`t let us get coal. We won`t drill in our own wildlife. We can`t put a wind farm, thanks to Ted Kennedy, off the coast of Cape Cod. Good God, man, how does this not turn into Pearl Harbor at some point?

SIMMONS: Well, even worse. We finally tilted towards a very bad energy product. Corn ethanol is just a travesty. It`s an energy-intensive product. It`s an enormously water-intensive product. It`s a low-quality energy. So I don`t think we basically could have screwed much worse up on energy if we`d basically been the USSR.

BECK: OK. Oil today, $100 a barrel or just about $100 a barrel.

SIMMONS: Yes.

BECK: Most people will watch television today and say, "Well, but I`m not feeling it." When does $100 a barrel or $110 or $120, when does this really become a problem for the consumer? When do they feel four-, five-, six-dollar-a-gallon gasoline?

SIMMONS: Well, you know, I happen to be in London right now. And I come to Europe, and they`ve been paying seven or eight dollars a gallon for their diesel and gasoline for the last couple of years. That`s $300 a barrel.

The other thing I think it`s very important to remember, $100 a barrel has a certain cache sticker shock (ph). It turns out to be 13.4 cents a cup. It`s the cheapest thing we can buy in the world.

BECK: No, I understand.

SIMMONS: What we need to get used to is oil prices need to go way up.

BECK: OK. What I`m asking you, though, sir, is -- I mean, we`re headed towards, they say, a cold winter. But then again, we were headed towards a hurricane season unlike any other.

We`re headed towards a cold winter. There are shortages. Oil is at an all-time high. You`re going to start seeing the impact on the economy because you`ve got to raise them at the pump and you`ve got to raise them for heating prices at home. When does that actually start hitting people?

SIMMONS: I think we have an awful lot of tolerance for prices going higher and higher, because it`s still so cheap, but what we have to worry about, pay careful attention to what happened two days ago in China. Out of the blue, they had diesel and gasoline shortages. And so yesterday someone got shot jumping in front of a line.

We can tolerate high prices, but we`re on the verge of shortages. At some point, we`re going to basically liquidate our stocks down below minimum operating levels, and we don`t have a system in place to ration, and literally within a week we could suck our system dry.

BECK: Matthew, thanks a lot. That`s "The Real Story" tonight.

Now, how do some in this country honor soldiers who make the ultimate sacrifice? By protesting at their funerals. We`ll talk to a father of one hero who sued these morons and won, back in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Why isn`t there a single comedy program on television that is not an assault on my senses as a conservative? You name the show, besides "7th Heaven."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m very flattered.

BECK: Go ahead. Name the shows that are conservative that, you know, speak well of families. Hey, you know what? "Father Knows Best," remember that show?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don`t do a lot of things the way they used to.

BECK: "Father Knows Best." Name one show that is on mainstream, primetime television, where father knows -- not in the name of the show, just where father occasionally knows best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time has a habit of -- run along, princess.

BECK: Yep, I thought so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I really couldn`t think of one.

You don`t get a lot of truth on television. You don`t get a lot of truth in the movies. I think where you get truth, especially in the war on terror, the people who know exactly what`s going on are the thriller writers. Their off-the-record sources, the access to highly confidential information, these guys usually know more than the so-called experts. They`ve got to be right, and a lot of times they`ll spill their guts, too.

My next guest is one of the best thriller writers in the world. He`s done script work for the hit TV show "24." Seven-time "New York Times" best-seller author, jeez, what a show-off. His latest Mitch Rapp thriller is called "Protect and Defend." It`s about an undercover mission to end Iran`s secret nuclear program.

And I`ve got to tell you, I finished it late last night. It is fantastic.

VINCE FLYNN, AUTHOR, "PROTECT AND DEFEND": Thank you.

BECK: Fantastic. Let me just start -- let me start here, because I want to make sure we get into this, because we almost missed it on today`s radio program, and that is you say you have the solution for the Iranian problem.

FLYNN: Well, I don`t want to sound cocky about it. I don`t have a solution.

BECK: Seven-time best-selling author, come on.

FLYNN: Hey, who`s counting? It`s not a solution as much as we`re forced with two options, two roads to take.

BECK: Yes.

FLYNN: One, we do nothing. Ten years from now, Iran ends up with a nuke. This is a country with close ties to Hezbollah, other terrorist groups, bad scenario. Their president right now says, in addition to there being no gay people in his country, Israel should be wiped off the face of the map.

BECK: Sure.

FLYNN: This is a problem for the free world, so we have to do something. Just bombing them? First of all, I don`t think we can take out their entire program, maybe 50 percent to 80 percent of it, which would hurt them, but it would cause a lot of problems. China, Russia, people would really freak out.

So I think to get them to sit down at the table, we need to take an intermediate step to show them how serious we are, and I think the way to do that is the bad cop-bad cop. And they already think Bush and Cheney are cowboys.

And so we go into those Hezbollah training camps in Syria, in the Bekaa Valley. And these are camps run by guys who invented the truck bomb, the guys who hit the Marine barracks in Beirut. We have these guys on our most-wanted list. I think we`re justified in going after them.

BECK: You know, that`s one thing -- I like this about Bush. And, I mean, if Clinton gets in, you know, I want her to do it, too. I want her to go to some of these -- you know, some of these meetings with foreign leaders, and just in the middle of it just kind of go...

FLYNN: Yes.

BECK: And have them think, "Oh, no, she`s got a twitchy eye, she could go at any time." They should.

FLYNN: Exactly. So if we were to just go bomb Iran right now, the international community would be overwhelmingly against us. We couldn`t handle it. Shia and Sunnis would probably unite against us. So the intermediate step is we hit these training camps. They`re going to think, "Well, this is the setup for them coming after us."

BECK: Sure. So in your book, you talk a lot about torture, and it plays a pretty big role. John McCain came out today and says the U.S. doesn`t waterboard and torture. I don`t even know why we would take that off the table. You know, I think we should say, "Oh, we cut people`s fingers off." Even if we don`t, we should never tell people what we do and don`t do.

FLYNN: Correct. And the CIA -- you know, former Director Tenet`s been very good about this. They never go on the record with specifics.

BECK: Of course not.

FLYNN: Again, we talked about this on the radio show, a little bit of a different twist. Somebody should ask Senator McCain, when we captured Sheikh Mohammed over in Pakistan, should we have given him a lawyer? Should we have given him representation, and given him three square meals a day, and a warm bed, or do you think that -- the mastermind of 9/11, by the way -- or do you think that maybe we should have kept him up a little bit and manipulated his diet and his environment, and maybe slapped him around a little bit to get an answer out of him?

BECK: It amazes me, Vince, that you can have eight "New York Times" best-selling books. They`re all dealing with this kind of a genre...

FLYNN: A lot of them before 9/11, by the way.

BECK: And it`s one after another. It`s not you. It`s all of these authors are kind of going down this same road, and yet Hollywood is doing the exact opposite. Has anybody talked to you about -- and would you trust Hollywood to do a Mitch Rapp story?

FLYNN: I`ve talked to other authors about this who`ve had it done, and you basically have to turn it over, and not trust so much as just say, "I wash my hands of it." Are there some people out there that I think would do it justice? Yes. But right now Hollywood`s, they`re not interested in going after Islamic radical fundamentalism. They`re not interested in telling the most important story of our time.

BECK: Does it amaze you that every movie that was made in World War II named the Germans as evil?

FLYNN: Yes.

BECK: And we`re still -- I mean, we still have movies that are being made where the Germans are the bad guys. Tom Cruise is in one.

FLYNN: It boggles the mind how much political correctness has permeated our society, that you can`t go out and take a hard stance against -- you know, Hollywood took a harsh stance against the Catholic Church in the `80s, rightly so in many cases. Do you see them taking a harsh stance against Islamic radical fundamentalism, which, by the way, women have no role in that whole setup?

BECK: OK. Here it is, Vince Flynn. It is a great, great book. Please pick it up and read it, "Protect and Defend" by Vince Flynn. It will be his ninth best-selling book.

Just a quick programming note, make sure you tune in tomorrow night for a full hour of honest questions with comedian and illusionist Penn Jillette. Believe me, this is a show you don`t want to miss.

Coming up, you remember that church that organizes protests outside funerals of our troops? A jury verdict is in now. Let`s just say things didn`t turn out well for the good men of the cloth. That`s coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Finally tonight, Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder had been in Anbar province for less than a month when he died in a tragic accident. His father only hoped for a moment of peace just to bury his son. Instead was assaulted by the insane freaks of the Westboro Baptist Church, who waved signs that read "Thank God for Dead Soldiers." Al Snyder sued for that invasion of privacy, and yesterday a disgusted jury awarded him nearly $11 million for his pain and suffering.

Al Snyder, along with his attorney, Sean Summers, joins me now.

First of all, sir, sorry for your loss. And I can`t tell you -- I talked about this on the radio when it happened. I can`t tell you how sorry I am that you had to go through this during your son`s funeral. My apologies as a grateful American for everything your son did for us and everything that you`ve endured.

Tell me exactly what happened at the funeral, what your reaction was to it.

AL SNYDER, FATHER OF U.S. MARINE KILLED IN IRAQ: Well, basically, what happened, Glenn, was the Westboro freaks, or whatever you want to call them, showed up. I can`t say that I really saw a whole lot the day of the funeral. I saw the signs up in the air, but I couldn`t see what they said.

And at that point, my main focus was to focus on Matt. It was the last time that I was going to have the opportunity to focus on him. And I guess, about an hour after the funeral, I went back to my parents` house. They had like a wake there. And somebody had said to turn on the TV to see the tribute that they had paid to matt.

And when we did, we heard Fred and Shirley flapping their gums and holding their signs. And it was just -- I think I stood there for like five minutes just in shock. I couldn`t believe that anybody could do such a thing, especially in the name...

BECK: Sean, is there a chance that the money actually comes from these guys, or enough -- can this really do damage to this group?

SEAN SUMMERS, ATTORNEY: This can bankrupt them. They had to disclose their financial status for the punitive damages. They disclosed approximately $1 million. The verdict`s for $10.9 million. We can collect the $1 million and put them into bankruptcy with this judgment.

BECK: I just -- Al, if you don`t mind, I`m sorry, we`re out of time. And I would love to do a tribute to your son. I`d love to hear about your son on the radio program. May I ask you to be on the radio program with me tomorrow?

SUMMERS: That would be fine with me, Glenn.

BECK: If you have time, I would just love to be able to -- you finally, you know, closed the chapter on this, and say something nice about your son. I appreciate everything that you`ve done. Congratulations.

From New York, America, good night.

END