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Glenn Beck

San Francisco`s Illegal Crime Policy Questioned; What`s Next for Stock Market?; New Book Blends History and Intrigue

Aired July 01, 2008 - 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, immigration outrage. San Francisco is using taxpayer money to fund a shuttle service for illegal immigrant drug dealers. This story will make blood shoot right out of your eyes.

Plus, Obama is talking about religion. McCain is talking about crime. Can either one of these clowns talk about gas prices?

And the fight against autism. This story will blow you away. One woman`s groundbreaking program to help autistic children live normal lives.

All this and more tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America. If you`re sick and tired of, you know, only talking about how politicians are screwing us in gas prices, then I have good news for you.

Tonight, we`re going to talk about how they`re screwing us on illegal immigration, too. Yes, a gift from me to you.

Latest example comes from -- where else -- the sanctuary city of San Francisco. Despite a massive $338-million budget deficit, officials there have decided, in their pea-sized brain, to help juvenile drug-dealing illegal aliens avoid federal prosecution by flying them home on the taxpayer dime. Here`s "The Point," tonight.

San Francisco, you shouldn`t receive another dime of federal taxpayer money until you stop breaking federal laws. No money for mortgage bailouts. No money for your crumbling highways or school systems. Nothing, nada, if I may, and here`s how I got there.

Americans seem to have a problem with personal responsibility. I don`t know if you`ve noticed that. We all want the benefits, none of the sacrifices or the hard work, but the benefits. We want peace but not war. Plasma TVs but no credit card bills. Huge McMansions but no mortgage. Cheap gas, not a single oil rig in my view.

If you`re in San Francisco, well, they apparently want to be a part of America, but they don`t have to follow all of them those pesky laws. Some of them are tough.

Foreign drug gangs, mainly from Honduras, now actually strategize about how to take advantage of San Francisco`s lollipops and sunshine sanctuary policy. Who would have seen this one coming? Everybody. And here`s how it works.

Step one, you go to San Francisco, and you start dealing crack. Step two, when the police arrest you, you tell them that you`re a juvenile from Honduras who`s in the country illegally, and conveniently, I don`t have any identification.

Step three, the police turn you over to the juvenile court, which then buys you a plane ticket home. I`m not kidding you. No word on if it`s first-class or coach. I hope we`re checking them (ph) to coach.

And finally, step four, you fly back to San Francisco a few weeks later, you have some Rice-a-Roni, and you know, you go back to dealing crack, which apparently is the new San Francisco treat.

It`s just that easy, and it`s happening. In fact, this -- this week alone, eight crack-dealing illegals were put into a group home run by the city, and then days later, somehow or another, magically escaped. I don`t know what happened. Where did I put those drug king pins? I just don`t know.

I don`t know how you solve San Francisco`s illegal immigration crack dealer problem when it seems like all of their politicians must be smoking crack.

So America, here`s what you need to know tonight. We are -- we`re headed towards a political civil war. I think we`re headed towards a real civil war, quite honestly.

San Francisco is putting personal politics above the law and above common sense. And it`s time to say enough is enough. You want to harbor illegal immigrant drug dealers or ban the ROTC from your campuses? Fine, whatever.

You know, there`s really an easy way to do all of that. And I kind of dig it, quite frankly. Along with all the other crazy, anti-American ideas that pop into your pea-sized brains, here it is: you secede. You`ll have plenty of hippies, a great socialist government, and all the crack you could ever want. San Francisco, I`m willing to cut a deal right now.

Joe Russoniello is the U.S. attorney for Northern California.

Joe, your job is to stop this stuff. What the hell is going on?

JOE RUSSONIELLO, U.S. ATTORNEY: Well, there`s never a dull moment here. And that`s for sure. But this really, when you look at the amount of money that we spend on drug enforcement. I mean, and the full play -- crop substitution, interdiction, treatment programs and all the rest. It`s anything that`s open loop, really causes us some heart burn.

We`re used to having criminal defense lawyers or others, apologists in the society talking about legalization of drugs and all of the rest of this. It`s rare that officialdom actually intervenes and interferes with our ability to carry out the law. And that`s exactly what happened here.

BECK: This is beyond...

RUSSONIELLO: ... got us so upset.

BECK: This is beyond, you know, just saying, "Hey, we`re not going to ask or tell if you`re an illegal alien." With the group home thing, this is aiding and abetting.

RUSSONIELLO: Well, I mean, we`re actually trying to help San Francisco with its drug problem. This is not a situation in which we`re asking them to help us with the immigration problem.

And what they`re doing with these -- these gangsters are doing is basically they`re gaming the system. Because they figured out a way. They`ve been doing this for quite a long time. The cops have seen these same people three or four times on the street after they`ve arrested them. And so they know exactly what to do here.

And no one is verifying any of the claims that these guys are making about them being juveniles or about being subjected to harsh treatment when they got here and that their families are being intimidated; if they don`t deal drugs, harm will come to them and so on.

Of course, we`re not -- we`re not given the benefit of any of that information, because the city is not cooperating with federal authorities and asked -- even asking us to identify who these people are.

BECK: Look, here`s the thing. This is what, the chief of San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department actually said. He said buying a plane ticket for these people is actually appropriate, because deporting them would doom them from ever becoming U.S. citizens, thus denying them from ever taking another course.

RUSSONIELLO: Yes, well, you know, you`ve got to wake up and smell the coffee around here sometimes. None of the amnesty programs, none of the immigration reform programs that have been discussed are ever intended to provide any -- any sort of comfort for people who are drug traffickers. There isn`t going to be a line for those people. And so the idea that somehow or another...

BECK: I don`t know.

RUSSONIELLO: ... San Francisco is protecting them from, you know, an eventual application that they may make for citizenship is just -- it`s fatuous. It`s really absurd. It`s not going to happen.

BECK: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I want to point out: dealing crack cocaine, job this American won`t do. Maybe they`ve got a point.

RUSSONIELLO: Well, the fact of the matter is that nobody seriously thinks that anybody who is a twice criminal -- that is in the country illegally and then dealt drugs -- is going to be given any preference in terms of green card citizenship or whatever. So suggesting that they need to protect them so they`ll have that opportunity is really absurd.

BECK: We have amnesty. If you`ve got a problem, you go through the right way.

Joe, let me ask you this. You, you`re a law enforcement. I mean, your -- your guys were out on the street. The cops in San Francisco, good Lord, how do they do it every day and stay sober? What are the cops feeling like? They go out and bust their butt...

RUSSONIELLO: They`re frustrated.

BECK: You bet.

RUSSONIELLO: They`re very frustrated, and all up and down the line of law enforcement, they`re frustrated. Because there is no -- these people have never been in the process. They`ve never been fingerprinted. So nobody even knows what prior record they have.

BECK: Oh, jeez.

RUSSONIELLO: And the so-called privacy that usually envelopes juveniles, they`re using for people that may well be adults. And it`s just really silly.

Look, if these people really are victimized, we have human trafficking task forces here. We have asylum for people who -- who, you know, can make a good case that, if they go back home, they`re going to be subjected to persecution.

But if they don`t bring these people to us, if they`re not in the federal system, we don`t know that there`s any way that we can help them. And the fact that they`re spending $7,000 to send them to San Bernardino to some group home. The money could much better be spent getting them a lawyer who might be able to help them with an asylum application. It would be a lot cheaper and of a lot more benefit, if it was legitimate. All the claims are illegitimate.

BECK: Of course they are. Joe, you do us a favor. You stay in touch with us. We`ll stay in touch with you. Anything we can do to help, you let us know.

I`m going to move now to Kevin Madden. He`s a Republican strategist, former national press secretary for Mitt Romney.

This is nuts, Kevin. And I mean, this is such a huge problem, but it seems like every problem we have right now in the country is enormous, because no politician will actually deal with this.

Now we`re looking at John McCain and Barack Obama. Tell me which one doesn`t -- tell me come one screws us the least.

KEVIN MADDEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I thing it all depends on which one of them you ask.

But look, I think it was very telling about this race right now, is the way that John McCain has -- it`s not that he`s changed his position.

BECK: He has. Yes, he has.

MADDEN: No, I think he changed the way -- I think -- I think he changed the way that he`s talked about it, which has, I think has generated a lot more good will with a lot of Republican voters than it did during those summer months when they put that Senate compromise up on Capitol Hill. And John McCain paid a heavy political price, as did a lot of other Republicans that joined with Democrats to push what essentially a lot of Americans believe was an amnesty bill.

BECK: Hang on. Kevin, I don`t speak politician, but I do speak just a little bit of bull crap. So let me see.

This is -- if I would speak in English, basically what John McCain is saying is, "I need the Hispanic vote, but I also can`t piss of the Republicans. I can`t remind them that `I`m going to screw you when it comes to the border`."

MADDEN: I remember during the campaign when John McCain had supported this -- this amnesty compromise up on the Senate. And a lot of people said, you know, if he just admitted that he was wrong on this and had moved on and instead said, "We have to secure the borders before we ever move to a comprehensive approach," I think a lot of Republicans would forgive him.

And I think that is what he`s done. You saw him go from suddenly saying -- almost sticking the finger of the eye of a lot of conservatives by saying that they were supporting...

BECK: Racist policy.

MADDEN: Right, and also saying that they essentially -- that they supported silent amnesty by not doing something about it. I think that was a very big mistake.

But then you saw him very quickly say, "I got the message." And ultimately, that`s what voters want on this issue. They want to know that you`ve understood their anger, that you hear them when they say that they`re very mad about the way that the border is not being protected and that they want to know the -- that you`re going to listen to them.

BECK: Kevin, you know I love you. Right?

MADDEN: Of course.

BECK: This is bull crap. And you know it is. Who is the guy, what`s the name of the guy on the Hispanic -- wait a minute, Hispanic outreach? Jose what`s his name, he used to be on this show until I just became anemic because of blood shooting out of my eyes.

The guy is for full-fledged open borders, and John McCain uses him as an adviser. Yesterday or the day before, he gave a speech where he talked about, you know, the people that are already hear, the 12 million, how they`re God`s children.

Yes, they are God`s children, but it doesn`t mean we have to have all God`s children here illegally. You know, they found their way into this country. Can`t we -- can`t we just assume if we cut off all of the -- all of the freebies, all of the benefits, all the free jobs, that maybe they might find their way back home.

MADDEN: Look, Glenn, I agree with you that there`s a great deal of risk for John McCain in talking about this issue. He has to remind voters that he cares more about security than he does providing, essentially a blanket amnesty, an indefinite amnesty for a lot of those that broke the law to get here.

So look, there`s a great amount of parallel here for John McCain. But again, I have to -- I have to analyze this rather than advocate John McCain`s position. He`s done a much better job about the way he talks about his position than the way he did during the summer months during the primary.

BECK: See, Kevin, that is the problem. I think that`s where America is so tired. I`m tired. I`m tired of the talk. All of these problems are gigantic. In "The Real Story," we`re going to play a piece in a few minutes that is 30 years of politicians talking about oil. They`re saying the same thing for the last 30 years, and we never see anything happen. We`re done with it.

Kevin, thanks a lot.

MADDEN: Thanks, Glenn.

BECK: Coming up, our fearless presidential candidates are talking. Oh, about things you care about, faith and crime. Important? Yes, sure. Now, if one would talk about what`s happening with the economy because of gas prices.

Back in a minute.

BECK: By the way, just a reminder: tonight`s show is brought to you by the Sleep Number Bed by Select Comfort. Sleep Number, it`s the bed that counts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Oh, yes. Light sweet crude continues to trade at record highs, forcing many commuters to pack themselves into cramped, sweaty trains for the ride to work. Shocker: the government-subsidized ride known as Amtrak can`t handle it, losing lots of money.

Details in tonight`s story you won`t believe.

OK. Let`s talk a little bit about what the politicians are not talking about.

First, we had Obama today talking about faith: "I`m going to hope that we have more faith in this country."

Then we had McCain today. He was talking about crime: "I`m going to hope we have less crime."

Has anybody else noticed that neither of these clowns will actually talk about the big issues that you care about like, oh, I don`t know, what you`re paying for food at the supermarket, how your dollar doesn`t seem to go as far, and for the love of Pete, gas prices?

No, no, faith, crime.

Nouriel Roubini, he is the economics professor at NYU Stern Business School and a chairman of RGEMonitor.com.

Professor, you were on with us, and I don`t even know, a couple months ago, and we had somebody else, you know, a big name sitting next to you, and he`s like, "Oh, no, this is crazy," when we were talking about Wall Street. And you called it a sucker`s rally. Here`s a clip of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOURIEL ROUBINI, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, NYU: The stock market is rising right now. I think it`s a positive to hope that the feds can avoid the recession. The same thing happened in 2001. In a session in March, the stock market went up 18 percent in April and May. It was only in June, people realized that the stock market was going to crash again.

I call it the sucker`s rally, the last leg of a sucker`s run in the stock market. Once we realize that we`re in a recession, the market is going to fall again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: So I`ve been saying -- I`ve been quoting that, that you said that it was going to happen in July. And here we are, in the end of June is actually what you said, historically speaking, and here we are. So now how far does it go down?

ROUBINI: It goes very far into bearish territory. You`ve got to keep what`s happened in 2001, the sucker`s rally. Then once people realize the financial sector`s problems, we`re really now almost in the bearish territory, the correction of 30 percent (ph). That recession stock market falls almost 30 percent.

So expect the progress for the year. The stock market is going to keep falling, not just the financial sector, but the non-financial profits.

BECK: OK. So just try to speak, you know, as clear, just as clear dummy language to me, because I`m not an economist. I`m just a guy who goes into the supermarket and the gas station and sees it.

And I keep seeing things like on the front page of "USA Today," it said stocks lose $2.1 billion or trillion. I can`t even remember. It`s like made-up money. The largest loss of the stock market in any single month since the Great Depression.

Are we headed -- I mean, we keep setting all these records. Are we -- it doesn`t feel like just the worst in the last ten years. How bad is this? Hold my hand.

ROUBINI: Yes. I don`t believe we`re going to end up in a Great Depression. That`s going to extreme. But the consensus right now says it`s going to be just a mild economic fraction, six months. My view of it is it`s going to be something like 12 to 18 months, much more severe than last few recessions.

There are essentially four reasons why it`s going to be worse. One is we`re in the worst housing recession since the Great Depression.

BECK: Right.

ROUBINI: Two, now the financial problem is not just subprime. It`s top (ph) financial systems.

BECK: And it`s global.

ROUBINI: And it`s global. Credit loss is just the U.S. on the dollar.

Three, you have the U.S. consumer shopped out, saving less. They`re burdened by all his shock, falling consumer confidence, falling employment, falling home buyers. So is the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) after this tax rebate is allowed.

And fourth reason is that in the fall, we`re already entering a recession. We`re are at $140, about $4 per gallon. That`s why it`s going to be an additional severe shock to the income of the housing sector. That`s why it`s going to be more severe, more painful.

BECK: OK. We only have less than a minute now. Oil, they say it may be at $170 per barrel. When November, people turn on their heater and they`re burning all of that natural gas, they`re burning all of that oil, then it really hits.

And then right after the election, depending on who wins, both sides really are talking about huge tax increases. How do we -- how do we not continue to get another pound there?

ROUBINI: We have severe fiscal problems and severe economic problems in this economy, whether it`s going to be we have to deal with the energy issues with the fiscal deficit issues, with the Medicare, with health care, with all sorts of issues. We`re under stress (ph) for a long time. We spend more income. Now it`s time to tighten the budget.

BECK: yes. Americans, just so you know, every $19 earned in America, we spend $20. That`s a dollar too much. Thanks.

Now, coming up, politicians are great at empty rhetoric. When it comes to solving, you know, our crushing energy crisis and things like that, they should be really good at convincing us, because they`ve had three decades to practice. Thirty years of broken campaign promises. A review in tonight`s "Real Story."

And up next, the author of an amazing new book. Let`s just say it involves scientists with guns. That doesn`t sound good. It`s next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: What do you get when you mix a top secret covert U.S. agency with autistic children, a dash of evil Russians -- think Stalin-size evil - - a little Mengele in there, and then a slice of ancient history? You get a new novel that I started last night called "The Last Oracle" by veterinary surgeon-turned-writer James Rollins. How did that happen? Who, did I mention, was also recently asked to write the novellization of the new "Indiana Jones" movie.

James, I read your book. I read the first two chapters last night. I have to tell you, very few books that I read do I carry with me all day and say, "I can`t wait to get home to read more of it." Explain, without wrecking anything, explain the plot of this book.

JAMES ROLLINS, "THE LAST ORACLE": OK, well, the book basically deals with a group of Russian scientists that are experimenting with autistic children. Children that have this sort of special talent. They try to augment that talent, and to basically frightening ends.

And three of the most powerful children escape with an American agent, and both Russian forces and U.S. forces start a global hunt for both the children and this agent.

BECK: It -- I mean, the first part starts in ancient Greece, and then it goes into Dr. Mengele, which is just spooky stuff, and then right into the Russians.

I mean, this -- this has everything in a book that I like. It has a good ending. It`s not like -- it`s not like -- because I know it involves -- somebody has told me it involves, like, nuclear energy or something. It`s not a green book, is it? Please?

ROLLINS: Not at all. I mean, at this point, I deal with the nuclear legacy left behind from Soviet-era Russia.

BECK: Right.

ROLLINS: So that`s it. It`s not a nuclear-energy type of story.

BECK: Because I -- you know, I`m just -- I`m tired of the message stuff. And I`m like, "Oh, please, don`t be" -- are you against nuclear power? Or are you just -- you`re fascinated by what happened in Russia with -- because aren`t they putting the Arc of Life -- I love that name; isn`t that spooky -- the Arc of Life over top of Chernobyl?

ROLLINS: Exactly. The number four reactor blew back in 1986. And the Russians basically just sealed it with a big concrete sarcophagus. That`s actually the word they used, sarcophagus.

And it was only meant to last maybe a month, two months, maybe a year, but it`s been 20 years, and it`s beginning to sort of crumble apart. There`s actually 200 tons of uranium still in there. And they`re afraid that it`s going to start to break apart and basically reopen that radiological wound.

BECK: Real quick, Jim, I only have, like, 30 seconds. I just want to ask you, because your autism in this book, et cetera. And we`re going to do a segment here in a couple of minutes on autism. You said that Jefferson, Edison, Ford, were autistic? Is that true?

ROLLINS: There`s -- there`s historical evidence suggesting that, from looking at their biographies, that they potentially had autistic tendencies. And if you actually, like, do a Google search and put in historical figures and autism, there`s a long list of figures in the past that seem to have autistic tendencies. And they`re key figures, key figures of history.

Sort of one of the key parts of the story is a quote I used from Dr. Temple Grant (ph). She`s a veterinarian. She basically stated that, if autism had been eradicated from the face of the earth, mankind would still be socializing in front of a wood fire at the entrance to a cave, because she believes, as do certain historians, that key individuals arise throughout the path that have sort of a unique viewpoint on life and change the course of human history.

BECK: Yes. James, I`m sorry to cut you off. But thank you so much. Really, I can`t wait to get back to read the rest of it tonight. "The Last Oracle."

And we`re going to give you a piece of it in my free e-mail newsletter. You can sign up right now at GlennBeck.com. I don`t know what we`re choosing, but I hope that it`s -- I hope that it`s one from the first couple of chapters. Because believe me, you will go out and buy it on Amazon or bookstores everywhere.

Coming up, all aboard Amtrak for massive taxpayer subsidies. Oh, yes. "The Real Story," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, Senate Majority Leader and now apparently medical doctor Harry Reid says fossil fuels, like coal and oil, make us sick. That`s wild, because Congress has been making me sick lately. Maybe they can write us a prescription for that. Find out a little later.

But first, welcome to "The Real Story."

If you live here in the Northeast, I`m sorry for that. But chances are that the combination of I-95 looking like a parking lot and gas prices looking more like, oh, let`s say a practical joke, probably have convinced a few people to try Amtrak at some point. That`s the train system, you know.

Well, about four seconds after you stepped onto the train, which, of course, was four hours and four seconds after you were supposed to be on the train, you realized, oh, dear God, I have made a horrible, horrible mistake. Well, if that`s you, then at least you weren`t alone.

More people rode the Amtrak in May than every before, and it resulted, get this, in the most revenue that Amtrak has ever made in a single month. That is great news, until you realize the real story is that, unlike, let`s say, any other business in America, Amtrak really isn`t in the market for customers or profits. In fact, they`re not in the market for any kind of profit.

Their spokesman just told "The New York Times" that they`re not set up to make money. Excuse me? They`re "intended to maximize revenues."

Is it just me? You know, if you`re asking yourself, how come, it`s because they`re that weird combination of public and private that makes capitalists like me want to puke.

Despite receiving over $30 billion of your money, handouts from the federal government since they were created in 1971, Amtrak has never had a profitable year, and they never will. They`re not built for that, you know.

They`re well over $3 billion in debt. Many of their train cars haven`t even been updated in 30 years. And they`re so hamstrung by labor contracts and sweetheart deals for politicians that they couldn`t make a profit even if they wanted to, which, of course, they don`t.

According to their spokesperson, Amtrak is "starting to bump up against our own capacity constraints." Boy, I hate when that happens.

I know what you crazy capitalists are thinking. You`re thinking, it`s a train, just put on some more of those 30-year-old cars.

You stupid little person, you. This is Amtrak, the anti-Google. They think like congressmen, not businessmen.

Besides, when the government keeps letting you feed off their teat -- and mine`s getting a little sore -- congressmen -- Congress, by the way, just authorizes another $15 billion for the next five years -- what is your motivation to turn things around? So why do we keep giving Amtrak money?

It`s too important to fail. Uh-huh. Or is it too important to the careers of some of the politicians to fail? And more importantly, could Amtrak be the model that we`re about to follow when our airline, another one too important to fail, begins to fail because of gas prices? Ridiculous prices, horrendous service and disgusting facilities, all conveniently financed by you, the taxpayer.

Ernest Istook is the former chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation.

Ernest, you are the guy -- you had the strings, and even you couldn`t get it to choke off.

ERNEST ISTOOK, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Hey, I tried. I served 14 years in Congress, and now, Glenn, I`m recovering from that. But the problems haven`t gone away.

Amtrak on average has been getting a subsidy maybe in the vicinity of $1.5 billion a year right now. They`re losing money. The more people they carry, the more money they lose.

BECK: How does that -- hang on. I`m trying to understand the physics of that. How do you lose more money when you have more customers?

ISTOOK: Well, because the customers aren`t paying the full cost of their fare. Depending upon, you know, which route it is, the time of day, the customer may be paying half the cost of what it takes to transport them. They may be carrying sometimes as little as 10 percent.

They`re never carrying the entire cost. So, the more people that Amtrak carries, the bigger subsidy they demand from you and me.

BECK: Tell me if this is true, the Sunset Limited which goes, I think, between, where, New Orleans and California, or something like that, it`s cheaper if the taxpayers would buy each of the passengers a first- class airline ticket?

ISTOOK: And they`d get there quicker.

BECK: That`s true?

ISTOOK: Yes, it`s true. But let me tell you about another one.

You`re talking about one that runs from New Orleans to California. There`s also one that runs from Florida to California. And every passenger, every mile, takes a 60 cents subsidy. And it runs about 2,400 miles, OK?

Sixty cents a mile for every passenger. But here`s the trick, Glenn. On the way, it goes through eight states and 39 cities. That`s what happens. Amtrak is an illustration of how people have their votes bought.

BECK: Yes.

ISTOOK: I don`t care how bad the bill is if there`s something in it for me that I can brag about back home.

BECK: Right.

ISTOOK: Amtrak operates in 48 of the lower states, all of them except Montana and South Dakota. And it`s not because they have a lot of traffic in those states. In some of them, you know, they may have a couple of hundred people a day. But that representative in that area says, I have done something for the local people, even though it`s not cost-effective, even though it doesn`t make sense, even though it just adds to our nation debt burden. Still, that seems to be all that some people care about.

BECK: All right.

ISTOOK: Amtrak is past masters (ph) at working the political process.

BECK: Does this scare the crap out of you that we`re talking now about the nationalization possibly of airlines, of our banking and financial sector? We have talked about our oil companies, health care. Good God, almighty, these are the people that are running Amtrak.

Does it scare you at all?

ISTOOK: Sure, that scares me. I mean, when you hear people like Maxine Waters saying let`s have government take over the refineries and the oil companies, yes, that scares me.

When you say, well, maybe the government ought to be controlling air travel, yes. I mean, rail transportation is the most expensive form to the taxpayers in the country.

They had a study that was done by the U.S. Department of Transportation, right? It showed that rail passengers got a $200 subsidy for every 1,000 miles they travel.

BECK: Ernest, thank you very much, man.

ISTOOK: Thanks, Glenn.

BECK: America, let me tell you something. I stopped drinking too soon.

Now, let`s change gears here, kind of.

You combine the high oil price and gas price with the presidential election, and it`s like a perfect little storm. Every politician, you wind them up and they pretend, I`m going to do something for you, the hard- working American family, because that`s what I care about.

Well, tonight, I thought I would give you a little perspective so you don`t get your hopes up. You know, the hope for change. That this time maybe your politician that cares about you might actually do something than just talk.

So, sit back, relax, have a bourbon, some scotch. Maybe grab a torch and sharpen your pitchfork, and watch as we`ve condensed 30 years of empty promises into three depressing minutes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For many Americans there is no more pressing concern than the price of gasoline.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This was a troubling situation 35 years ago. It was an alarming situation 20 years ago. It is a dangerous situation today.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: The president today just spoke about high gas prices. And to listen to the president, you would think that it`s the local gas station that`s the problem. We all know it`s the big oil companies who are causing these massive price increases.

We knew this was going to happen. Prices are now back up over $3 a gallon. If we do nothing, within all too short a time, they`re going to be at $4 a gallon and $5 a gallon.

REP. BRIAN BAIRD (D), WASHINGTON: This is happening in a time of record profits for oil companies and record bonuses for oil company CEOs.

AL GORE, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you believe that it is time for an energy policy that emphasizes natural gas here in the United States which is environmentally superior and creates jobs in this country, then that is what we are offering.

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need a national energy policy focused on the following goals: get off of cheap oil and more nuclear plants, and focus on the use of natural gas, which is cleaner, cheap and abundant.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: There`s going to be a lot of hype about the price increases, but we`re still going to get stuck with it. And we`re still going to pay it. And in the end, it isn`t going to roll back, and nobody is going to do anything.

GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And in some cases, the gulfs and oceans off our shores hold the promise of oil and gas reserves which can make our nation more secure and less dependent on foreign oil.

GARY HART (D), FMR. SENATOR: The hard policy throughout was the policy of this country from 1974 to 1980. And that is to make this nation sufficiently energy secure and sufficiently independent of Persian Gulf oil.

SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D), WEST VIRGINIA: We`re now seeing an administration that is dedicated to dismantling the synthetic fuel programs, cutting down on the Department of Energy, dismantling the conservation programs, and relying almost wholly on increased production of oil in this country.

RONALD REAGAN (R), FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We`re going to have to take whatever is necessary to increase domestic supplies of energy. That is the answer to our problem instead of continuing foreign dependence.

JAMES CARTER (D), FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977. Never.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Somebody do me a favor, will you? I can`t buy one in New York. Send me a pitchfork. I think I need one. And give me another good reason to ever believe one thing these weasels in Washington say about oil.

We may not have pitchforks and torches here in New York, but these days we do have something better. It`s on the Internet. That`s what it`s called. Al Gore invented that thing.

Tomorrow`s free e-mail newsletter, I`m going to include a link to that video that you just saw so you can forward it around to your friends and your family. And yes, your so-called representatives.

Sign up now and you can get that tomorrow in your e-mail news box. It is glennbeck.com.

Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right, time for tonight`s "Real America," brought to you by CSX.

And tonight I wanted to spend an extra bit of time on this because if you`re a parent, there is nothing that you won`t do to help your child. And when your child is diagnosed with a condition like autism, is there a stone that you would leave unturned?

How about if doctors say it`s hopeless? Then what do you do?

Mary Beth Palo (ph), she turned to herself, proving that a mother`s love and determination and intuition can really conquer everything.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK (voice over): Brett Palo (ph) is a lot like most 10-year-olds: energetic, playful, and he doesn`t always listen to his mom. But as nationally ranked diver, Brett (ph) is used to making a splash. Just don`t ask him to do it when the cameras are around.

His behavior, typical. His diving, incredible. His story, well, that`s just unbelievable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When he was born, he was fine. He was progressing very nicely. We really had no issues with him.

Then I think it was around 16 months, in that vicinity, that he ended up getting sick. I guess looking back now, I can see that he progressively just lost language, you know, went into himself.

BECK: By the age of 2, Brett Palo (ph) was diagnosed with autism. He was regressing right before his parents` eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn`t even think about his future at that point. I think I was so focused on not accepting this.

BECK: Mary Beth (ph) was told to put her son in therapy for 25 hours a week. But after a year and a half, Brett (ph) made nose progress. He had no verbal skills, wasn`t sleeping. Meanwhile, his family was living a nightmare.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went to a neurologist up at Stony Brook, and after seeing Brett (ph) for 10 minutes, she told me to institutionalize him. And I just said, "You know what? I`ll do this myself, because nobody else is helping me." And that was really the turning point.

BECK: After watching her son`s behavior day in, day out, something clicked. It seemed Brett (ph) was only happy when he was watching television, so Mary Beth made a television show out of everyday life, taping everyday family activities. Brett (ph) watched the videos intensely. Mary Beth (ph) watched a breakthrough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can still remember it. He was upstairs in his little therapy room with his therapist. And I said to him, "Hey, Brett, what are you doing?" And I was just expecting the usual silence or, you know, maybe I would get a glance, but nothing else. And he did, he looked up at me like I was an idiot and said, "I`m coloring."

BECK: In those two words, Mary Beth (ph) knew she was getting her son back.

Brett`s (ph) imitation of video didn`t stop with home movies. He loved Olympic divers, began to imitate Greg Louganis. Now the 10-year-old boy who Mary Beth (ph) was once told to institutionalize is now a self- taught diving champion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, he talks about his future and what he wants to do. And he talks about getting married. And whoever marries him is going to be one very lucky girl.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Joining me now is Stephanie Thomas. She`s on the board of directors of Watch Me Learn and is a personal friend of Mary Beth (ph), and has witnessed changes in the family firsthand.

First of all, we have no idea what causes autism, and it`s the fastest growing disease in children, right?

STEPHANIE THOMAS, "WATCH ME LEARN": Developmental disorder. It`s the fastest growing developmental disorder in childhood.

BECK: OK.

Is there any -- how many more children have been affected by this? How come I haven`t heard about this?

THOMAS: Well, it is getting more and more prevalent, the information that is coming out of universities that are doing research.

BECK: And all it is -- I mean, it`s imitation, but does it ever -- but then it does somehow or another turn into creation to where they imitate? Are they imitating it first?

THOMAS: You mean on the video?

BECK: No. When the kids are watching...

THOMAS: Yes.

BECK: ... and they`re doing nothing, are they first imitating...

THOMAS: Yes.

BECK: ... and then it becomes creation somehow? A switch just goes on?

THOMAS: Yes, that`s correct. And, you know, a lot of people have been concerned about video-based training for kids with autism because of the concern that they will fall into a pattern of -- it`s called echolalia, and that is the repeating that you`re talking about.

But that`s a typical stage of language development for any child. You know, you`ll see it starts with really gesturing with infants, where they smile, or you smile at them and they smile back, and clapping.

BECK: Right.

THOMAS: And so that`s something that people should not be fearful of, but rather an important step toward language development and socialization.

BECK: OK. So now, you guys are making -- you make videos of everyday things, or you teach families how to do it? Or what exactly...

THOMAS: A little bit of both. We definitely have -- I mean, when we sit down and decide what to do next, the list is endless, because literally some of these children, you have to teach them their life.

You have to teach them to live every day. It`s something as simple as turning a light switch on, is something that we will film and teach. But a parent can, by looking or by watching videos like this and seeing how it`s done...

BECK: Do it themselves in.

THOMAS: Yes. And for a lot of children, they like having the, you know, familiar faces in their home movies.

BECK: Right. Gosh, the things that you must have seen. I mean, it`s -- you know, I think it would be the worst thing to be a doctor and the best thing to be a doctor, especially with children, you know, or working with anything like that, because you would -- it would break your heart, but then you`ll get the best part of it. You get to see massive changes.

THOMAS: Yes, we do. And the most significant advances, or many in autism, have come because of the determination of a parent who has either pushed their doctor to action that, you know, she or he has never taken before, or has taken matters into their own hands. And, you know, for that, it`s a wonderful environment to work in.

BECK: Let me tell you something. If you have a child of special needs -- I have one, and the doctors told me everything that was wrong -- never, ever give up.

That`s tonight`s "Real Story" brought to you by CSX. It`s how tomorrow moves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, finally Harry Reid. He`s the senator from Nevada, and increasingly becoming known for making cringe-worthy statements. He`s also running the Senate, helping lead Congress to those glistening 13 percent approval ratings.

Good job, Harry.

Here`s one of his classic statements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: ... this war is lost, and that the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Yes. Yes. Not only is the war lost, but the surge isn`t doing anything, as evidenced by one day of violence. Remember, Reid said this before the surge was even fully in place.

In the year after this comment, casualties have been dropped by 84 percent, and we just ended the lowest two-month period of violence since the war began. But of course that`s long forgotten for Reid. Media talk about that? What?

Apparently now he`s bringing his brilliance to the world of energy analysis and medicine, with this little tidbit on the Fox Business Channel...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REID: We talk about cost competitiveness, but the one thing we fail to talk about is those costs that you don`t see on the bottom line. That is, coal makes us sick. Oil makes us sick.

It`s global warming. It`s ruining our country. It`s ruining our world.

We`ve got to stop using fossil fuel. We have for generations taken it out of the earth, carbon out of the earth, and put it in the atmosphere. And it`s making us all sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Wow. Is that a serious statement? I mean, did he actually say the one thing we fail to talk about is global warming? Yes, that one always seems to slip by the media, doesn`t it?

But more importantly, when people like Harry Reid are making decisions about our energy, is there any wonder why gas prices are so high? If you really think that they want -- oh, those gas prices are too high, bull crap, not to these people. If you believe that oil is making us sick and "ruining the country and ruining our world," would you try to make it cheaper, especially if you were pushing solar energy and you were the senator from a desert state?

These people think that you`re a child and you can`t stop poisoning yourself. They think that $4, $5, $6 a gallon gas is just the medicine that you might have to take. You might not like the taste, little boy, but it`s for your own good.

Make no mistake, it`s people with this attitude in Congress and the White House that are the reason that you`re paying over $4, some places $5, a gallon. And they ain`t going to change until you change them.

Don`t forget, video transcripts and news available for free in my e- mail newsletter. You can sign up right now at glennbeck.com.

We`ll see you tomorrow night.

From New York, good night, America.

END