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GLENN BECK PROGRAM
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
GLENN: Here's what
you just need to know from today's news, from the Associated
Press. Midwest corn boom threatens sea life. This is quite
possibly my favorite story maybe of the month. Jefferson,
Iowa: Because of rising demand for ethanol -- now remember,
ethanol's good. It's good for the environment. It's a
renewable source. We could put ethanol up. It's good.
"Because of the rising demand for ethanol, American farmers
are growing more corn than anytime since World War II, and
the sea life in the Gulf of Mexico is paying the price. The
nation's corn crop is fertilized with millions of pounds of
nitrogen-based fertilizer." Nitrogen-based fertilizer, isn't
nitrogen-based fertilizer crap? Just, I'm just saying. "When
that nitrogen runs off the fields in corn belt states, it
makes its way to the Mississippi River and eventually pours
into the Gulf where it contributes to a growing dead zone, a
7900 square mile patch so depleted of oxygen that fish,
crabs and shrimp suffocate. The dead zone was discovered in
1985 and has grown fairly steadily since then, forcing
fishermen to venture further and further out to the sea to
find their catch. For decades fertilizer has been considered
the prime cause of the lifeless spot. With demand of corn
booming, some researchers feel the dead zone will expand
rapidly with the devastating consequence. We may be coming
close to a tipping point," says Matt Rota, a director of
resource program for the New Orleans-based Gulf Restoration
Network, an environmental group. The Gulf ecosystem might
change or collapse as opposed to just being impacted.
Environmentalists had hoped to cut nitrogen runoff by
encouraging farmers to apply less fertilizer and establish
buffers along the waterways but demand for corn-based fuel
additive ethanol has driven up the price for the crop which
is selling at about $4 a bushel, up from a little more than
$2 in 2002. That enticed American farmers, mostly in Iowa,
Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota to plant
more than 93 million acres of corn in 2007, the most since
1944. They substituted corn for other crops and made use of
land not previously used in cultivation.
Got it? So our
solution has now caused another problem. This is exactly why
I say the solution to global warming is to do nothing. Don't
do anything. Government, get out of the way. Let the public
-- first of all, ethanol is not the answer. Ethanol takes
80% of the energy, 80% of a gallon of gas to produce a
gallon of gas. How stupid is that? What are we thinking?
We'll be the only society in history to burn up our food
supply. Just so stupid.
Here's another thing. I love this. The arrogance of
scientists. It has been 50 years since the first scientists
first created DNA in a test tube, stitching ordinary
chemical ingredients together to make life's most
extraordinary molecule. Until recently, however, even the
most sophisticated laboratories could only make a small
snippet of DNA. An extra gene or two to be inserted into
corn plants, for example, to help the plants ward off
insects or tolerate drought. Now researchers are poised to
cross a dramatic barrier, the creation of life, driven by a
completely artificial DNA. This is according to the
Washington Post. Scientists in Maryland have already built
the world's first entirely handcrafted chromosome, a large
looping strand of DNA made from scratch in a laboratory,
containing all the instructions a microbe needs to live and
reproduce. In the coming year they hope to transplant it
into a cell where it's expected to boot up to life itself.
Like software downloaded from the Internet. Well, let me go
with that software downloaded from the Internet. I'm sure
there's never anything destructive in any kind of flawed
software that you just download from the Internet and put
into a cell or a system and boot it up. What are we
thinking? I would personally like to buy every scientist a
ticket to go ahead and see "I Am Legend." May I? I saw the
beginning of that thing and then I slept for part of it and
then I saw the end of it. Let me tell you something. The
scariest part about I Am Legend is that's exactly how it
will happen. The scientists that are like, oh, gee. I mean,
life, there was no intelligent design there. I mean, "look
at us. We're designing life and there's no intelligence in
here (laughing.)".
I mean, so they go and design life. In "I Am Legend," what
they do is they cure cancer. Design something that will cure
cancer. No, that's at the very beginning. It's in the first
two minutes. Not even -- it's before the title. "We've cured
cancer." Look at us. Whoa." So what you are saying is, yes,
we finally found a cure for cancer. They created life that
will eat cancer. Unfortunately in the movie it turns you
into a vampire. Now, I'm pretty sure we'll create vampires
because you'd have to be a moron to stitch in the fang
chromosome, you know, right into the DNA strand, but is
there any doubt that that's the way we're all going to --
you know, if you know anything about the so-called end
times, whether the end times happen or not, I don't know.
But if you read about them, what is one of the big things?
Plagues. Plagues.
Look what we've got going on. We've got all kinds of nasty
stuff just boiling under the surface already that we can't
control and we want to create new life? Am I the only one
who thinks -- is there a scientist within the sound of my
voice that says, yeah, thinking about that now, that's
probably not a good idea. I mean, we always think that they
-- oh, this one is going to be good. This one's good. Okay,
sure, we've made horrible mistakes, but creating life,
mistake there.
See, if you just think that life just happened, well, then I
guess, you know, you have more intelligence than the
universe did. "That just happened. I'm designing it. So it's
got to be better." The arrogance of science.
(Lobster Gram commercial.)
GLENN: So we'll go to the phones here in a second. Stu, are
you watching the Pat Robertson thing?
STU: Yeah, because the words, you know, get scrolled up on
the screen here in the studio. We have it set like that. So
I'm reading your comments and I just saw you write, unlike
Keith Olbermann, Media Matters doesn't write what I say on
air.
GLENN: I was on with Pat Robertson this morning. I haven't
seen it yet. Does it look all right?
STU: Actually you look hot. I think this is one of your --
this is a good look for you. I like the --
GLENN: Wow.
STU: I mean, is that not what you were asking?
GLENN: No, I --
STU: Well, I mean, I can't deny it. I mean, you look like --
GLENN: Sarah, go on in.
STU: Sarah, come on. Look at this. I think he looks good
today. He looks rested, you know?
GLENN: I got three hours sleep last night, huh?
SARAH: I think you look good all the time.
GLENN: Yeah, see?
STU: It is Christmas bonus week.
GLENN: It is. It's Christmas bonus day.
STU: It is Christmas bonus day.
GLENN: Which explains you now, suspicious.
STU: No way.
GLENN: All of a sudden, you look hot, Glenn.
STU: I don't know what you're talking about. I think you
look good.
GLENN: It was weird about --
STU: Your abs look tight, you know.
GLENN: Okay, stop.
STU: Obviously you've been lifting a little.
GLENN: Dan, you would never do that, would you, on Christmas
bonus day?
DAN: No way. That is a nice tie you picked today, by the
way.
GLENN: Thank you.
DAN: I'm just being honest.
GLENN: My publicist was with me and for some reason I don't
-- I think this is the first time I've ever met him.
STU: Really?
GLENN: Yeah. I didn't even -- I pay the guy like I don't
even know how much and once in a while I'll just call in. Do
you still work for me? He's like, yep. He called last night.
He said, I'd like to go into the Pat Robertson thing and I
said, okay. So I meet him there and afterwards he said, I
was a little uncomfortable with, you know, you saying that,
you know, you pray.
STU: You pray for America every day.
GLENN: "You pray for America." And he was like, I don't -- I
said, it's the 700 Club. If I can't say I pray on the 700
Club, where can you possibly say it? "I don't know. You
should keep that to yourself." All right. I'm going to
disregard that advice. He's better off, he's got a longer
career with me if he doesn't show up. Just don't show up and
you have a better chance of staying on the payroll. "Yeah,
you should -- the prayer thing, I don't know. A lot of
people think that God thing is weird."
STU: It's a trend, you know? Obviously it comes and goes.
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