Glenn Beck Program, March 16, 2011

Observations

There is a massive void in leadership today.

Californians are buying iodide tablets despite potential health risks.

Glenn showed a video of Reverend Jeremiah Wright preaching and damning capitalism from the pulpit.  At least he is finally admitting the truth.

President Obama’s Lack of Leadership

• The President says he can’t talk about Libya because he has a scheduling conflict.
• Then Glenn showed a video of President Obama filling out his basketball picks for ESPN.
• And then there was the time that he had to coach his daughter’s basketball team because the regular coach had a scheduling conflict.

In Other News

• The Egyptian revolutionaries snubbed Secretary of State Clinton when she visited Cairo.
• The food price jump reported for last month was the biggest since 1974.  
• The President is not worried. 
• They have been working on a response to the Tucson shooting of Representative Gabriel Giffords.
• They see the root cause of the problem as guns.

Gun Policy – Justice Department

“We should focus on sound, effective steps that will keep guns out of the hands of the criminals, fugitives, people with serious mental illness, and others who have no business possessing a gun and who are prohibited by laws on the books from owning a gun…”

The National Rifle Association (NRA) President has refused to join a commission attempting to achieve this goal.

Today we have a President who picks and chooses which laws he will enforce.

Obama on Guns

·        1996 – “Do you support legislation to ban…handguns?”  Survey response by candidate Obama – Yes.

·        2004 – “I am consistently on record and will continue to be on record as opposed to concealed carry.”  From a Chicago Tribune article on Obama’s stand on concealed carry.

·        2004 – As a state senator, Obama voted to uphold local gun-banning laws.  He was also for the criminal prosecution of those who use guns in their own self-defense.

·        2005 – As a senator, Obama voted to ban nearly all rifle ammunition used for hunting and sport shooting.

·        2006 – From his book “Audacity of Hope”

o     “I believe in keeping guns out of the inner cities, and that our leaders must face up in the face of the gun manufacturer’s lobby.”

·        Obama has supported 500 increases in taxes on guns and ammunition.

·        He served on the Board of the Joyce Foundation, a leading funder of anti-gun legislation.

·        He supported a gun ban on gun stores within five miles of schools and parks.  This would effectively close all gun stores with a city’s limits.

Vice President Joe Biden

·        “I’m the guy that wrote the original assault weapons ban that became law.”

Cass Sunsteen, Regulatory Czar

·        Glenn showed a video of Sunsteen from 2007 saying that the Supreme Court has never ruled that the Second Amendment Right applies to individuals.

·        Also, Sunsteen wants to reverse the Constitution from one of negative liberties to one of positive liberties, i.e., the government telling you what you are allowed to do rather than what the government can do.

·        He showed another clip of Sunsteen saying that hunting should be against the law.

·        Huffington Post, March 15^th

o     “Faced with a congress hostile to even slight restrictions of second amendment rights, the Obama administration is exploring potential changes to gun laws that can be secured strictly through executive action…”

·        Glenn’s prediction – Obama will issue an Executive Order on gun control…Look for it.

Glenn suggests that progressives use the change process that is in the Constitution to change it to get what they want.  He notes that even with control of congress, the White House, the news media, education, Hollywood, etc., they can’t convince the people to support their ideas when they are explained to them.  It must be that their idea suck and scare the American people.

The progressives got three major changes to the constitution in one administration – prohibition, the Federal Reserve and the income tax.  The reaction was so great, progressives had to drop that label and start calling themselves something different - liberals.

Bullying/Harassment

• In an attempt to battle bullying, the Department of Education has come up with a re-interpretation of a decades old anti-bullying law. 
• This sounds like Cass Sunsteen’s approach – don’t change the law, just tweak the regulations just a little bit.
• The re-interpretation says…
• “The principals and their schools are legally liable if they fail to monitor students closely enough to curb harassment.  And this means harassment that may occur away from school grounds.”
• Harassment is now being redefined as…
• “…verbal attacks and name calling, graphic and written statements, which may include use of cell phones or the internet…harassment does not have to include intent to harm, be directed at a specific target or involve repeated incidents [but] creates a hostile environment…”  (Oct 25, 2010 DOE Office of Civil Rights
• If harassment is discovered…
• “…The school may need to provide training or other interventions not only for the perpetrators, but also for the larger school community, to ensure that all students, their families, and school staff can recognize harassment.”
• Glenn notes that this means school officials must…
• Listen in on student conversations.
• Monitor the Internet and applications like Facebook for inappropriate entries.
• See also http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/03/16/report-dept-of-education-to-monitor-chatter-facebook/

Glenn showed an anti-harassment video.  It showed one boy punching another.  The boy being punched told the other boy to not continue to punch him.  When he was punched again, he reached over, picked up the boy doing the punching and body slammed him down onto the concrete.  That stopped the harassment.  See the video here à http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/03/16/from-tv-casey-the-punisher/

The Three Little Pigs – Updated

Everyone knows the story of the three little pigs.

• The first pig liked to sing and dance all day so he skimped on his house and built it of straw.
• When the wolf came to his door, he huffed and puffed and blew the house down.
• The second pig was lazy and built his house out of sticks.
• When the wolf came, he huffed and puffed and blew that house down.
• The third pig was a mason and built his house out of bricks and mortar.
• When the wolf came, he huffed and puffed and could not blow the house down.  He tried to get in via the chimney and was caught in a cooking pot and served for dinner.
• The original story was told for hundreds of years as a fable to do the right thing, the hard thing, and prepare so you will survive life’s wolves.  The first two pigs didn’t and were eaten by the wolf.
• Per the original story, there are consequences for a lack of preparation.  This story is a story of preparation.
• The updated version of this story is included in the fourth grade reading textbook.  In this updated version…
• Houses are made from recycled newspapers and aluminum.
• No one is eaten at all.  The first two pigs ran to the third pig’s house to escape the wolf.
• When the wolf came to the third pig’s house, he had a heart attack and the three pigs saved him.  When the wolf recovered, they learned that the huffing and puffing was just because of a miscommunication.
• This version of the story is not about preparation.

Update on Israeli Family Murdered by Terrorists

Terrorists killed the parents and three of the five children in the family several days ago.  The 12-year-old daughter was away at a friend’s house and discovered her family dead when she returned in the morning.  She was interviewed today and said that she intends to be a mother for her sibling.  In Glenn’s eyes, she is a hero.