Anna Nicole Buried in Lavish Ceremony; Could Scientology Have Saved Anna Nicole?
GLENN BECK, HOST: Even in death, Anna Nicole Smith manages to be pretty in pink. I`ll have the details from today`s surreal funeral. Also, is Iran targeting New York City for terrorist attacks? Stand by.</s>ANNOUNCER: Tonight`s episode of "Glenn Beck" is brought to you by PinkCasket.com. I mean, death doesn`t have to be a downer. When you`re choosing your final resting place, be like Anna Nicole Smith and think pink.</s>BECK: You know, I have to tell you, I don`t think I`ve ever seen a life and death as bizarre as Anna Nicole Smith. I don`t think I`ve ever made fun of somebody`s funeral before. It`s weird. Anna Nicole Smith`s body began thawing last night, and a team of undertakers worked around the clock to ensure that she looked like a star for her close-up, Mr. De Mille, at her funeral. She has a tiara and a designer dress, and all the gory details are everywhere. It`s been more than three weeks since she died. We still don`t know the cause of her death, but we know more than we could have ever imagined about this troubled starlet`s life. Here is the point tonight. Anna Nicole Smith lived a life of dramatic excess, and her death was exactly the same. Here`s how I got there. The event planner designed Anna Nicole Smith`s funeral to be something, quoting, "very beautiful, very private, and very over the top." Oh, and very pink. I`ve got to tell you, I said it yesterday. Again, I don`t know why anybody -- I don`t know why Jay Leno or anybody else is paying comedy writers when lines like that are being said for free. We all watched last week as Judge Crybaby ruled that Smith should be buried in the Bahamas next to her son, Daniel. Since that ruling, Anna Nicole`s funeral has turned into a VIP event that makes the Oscars look like a barn dance. Access to Anna Nicole`s decomposing body has been sold like it was a pay per view semi-professional wrestling match, which kind of makes sense, since Hulk Hogan actually attended the funeral. Not kidding. "Entertainment Tonight" bought the exclusive video rights to the church memorial service. A British news agency bought the exclusive photo rights to the burial. And even the owners of the church property are cashing in, charging $5,000 for every satellite dish in their parking lot and $2,000 for every still photographer. Yes, nothing really says reverence for the dead like a funeral with a cover charge. As for the guest list, all of the parties involved, Anna Nicole`s pimp lawyer, Howard K. Stern, her estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, Larry Birkhead, the Kato Kaelin of the production, were each given nine tickets to the private graveside ceremony. You know, I don`t mean to come off as holier than thou. I`ve been talking about this story just like everybody else has. You know, I haven`t been setting my TiVo to catch all the coverage. But I am strangely fascinated by this circus. But when does our curiosity turn from the normal to the morbid? Have we crossed that line yet? How can we make sure we never lose sight of our priorities? It`s been something we`ve been struggling in the news business for a while. I mean, you know, there is that little thing about the war in Iraq going on, the terrorist threat from Iran, illegal immigration. You know, stuff that actually impacts our life long after Anna Nicole is finally, hopefully resting in peace. So here`s what I know tonight. As I sat and watched Anna Nicole`s funeral procession being broadcast live on every channel, I couldn`t help but get a little angry. We`re almost a month into the celebration of a dead drug-addled centerfield, yet young men and women go off to fight in the Middle East each and every day, and they`re still alive and there`s no real coverage on that. Say what you will, but I believe that Anna Nicole Smith wasted her life and her time here. She`s being treated like a -- like a head of state. Instead let`s try giving praise and respect and attention to those who truly deserve it, brave young -- young men and women who risk their life for something, not some white trash junkie who threw her life away for nothing. Here`s what I don`t know. When will this spectacle actually end? It ain`t over now. There are so many answers that need to be answered -- so many questions that need to be answered. There`s Anna Nicole`s cause of death. The paternity. Is anybody paying attention to that? And whether the father and child will receive the half billion dollars from Smith`s second ex-husband, who`s also dead and now, I believe, is in her hands in an urn in her coffin. Wendy Murphy, a former prosecutor, now at New England School of Law, and Ashleigh Banfield of Court TV join me now. Wendy, let me start with you. I got up this morning, and I actually was feeling good that she`s finally being put in the ground. Let`s show some respect. And then I heard that the father of her dead son is now trying to get the body of her son exhumed and moved to Texas?</s>WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: You know, I didn`t watch any of this at all today, because I intentionally didn`t want to be in that class of scoundrels you described in your monologue. But in terms of this exhumation, all it makes me think of, Glenn, is that who ever touched this woman is going to file an action someplace. For what purpose? So they can get a little bit of the cash. They`re all looking for a payoff. Oh, dismiss your claim and we`ll give you a little bit of money. That is, in fact, some of what we`ve heard has already been going on. Virgie Arthur, drop your appeal and we`ll let you visit the baby. And what you said really sums up the essence of the problem from one end of this case to the other. It is all about the commodification of this human being and greed, greed, greed. I don`t want to talk about it anymore, unless and until it becomes a homicide investigation. Then I want to talk about it a lot, because that is something we should care about.</s>BECK: OK. So Ashleigh, let me go back to do you believe this with the father, that he`s using his dead son`s body to cash in?</s>ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, COURT TV: I don`t know if that`s the case. He may have teamed up with Virgie Arthur, because apparently she had some intentions of trying to finagle the system in the Bahamas to try to get guardianship of the baby, establish next of kinship to Daniel, exhume Daniel and thereby have the right to one day exhume Anna Nicole. I think the issue here, though, is it could be a homicide investigation. We`re still waiting on an inquest on Daniel`s death. It`s scheduled for three weeks. And they`ve actually said in the Bahamas, if you can believe it, sorry to be the bearer of this news, that they may consider exhuming Daniel for that.</s>BECK: Oh, my gosh. This story just -- I mean, it can`t get any worse.</s>BANFIELD: But you know, Glenn? Legally speaking, I hate to say this, it has been a wonderful lesson for a lot of people. We don`t wedge ourselves into probate courts to find out what`s been going on and how they actually operate and how they work and how certain judges behave. So in a way, you know, I`m sorry to say, but it was Anna Nicole that brought it to us. We did get an unfortunate lesson across this country in how a lot of these legal proceedings work.</s>BECK: So Wendy, the judge, Judge Crybaby, or what was his name?</s>MURPHY: Judge Seidlin.</s>BECK: Seidlin. He actually said, well, she wanted to be buried next to the son. So if they exhume the body does that turn that over? If they move the son to Texas?</s>MURPHY: Yes. You know what? I actually -- if I could find an objective person who actually cared about this woman, I would probably, if I could be Judge Solomon instead of Judge Crybaby...</s>BECK: Yes.</s>MURPHY: ... and we really need one like that. I would probably allow an exhumation, even if, you know -- even if it really isn`t technically legal. I would want an exhumation, because Daniel died in the Bahamas completely by accident. Everyone who loved him can`t go and see his body or visit his grave site or do whatever it is that they do in the Bahamas. So I would want him to be exhumed. And then if we talk about Anna Nicole`s intentions to be buried next to her son, she can be buried next to him in the correct place, where they both deserve to be buried. What I`m worried about, Glenn, is I don`t think anybody has the political will, the gumption, or the wherewithal to put, you know, the sort of concerns about these people as human beings above the money interests, which are now in the hands of the Bahamian law enforcement and judicial officials. And I really don`t think they give one hoot about anything you said.</s>BECK: OK. Well, let me ask you this. Has anybody, have either of you heard this speculation, that there is a money deal being made with Birkhead?</s>MURPHY: Yes. Have you heard that? I don`t know if Ashleigh has heard that. But go ahead, Ashleigh, if you`ve heard that.</s>BANFIELD: The only money deal, if we want to term it that way, would be some kind of a settlement. And actually it comes of making Larry Birkhead look a bit more favorable. Because the discussions so far -- they`ve been rumored, not confirmed -- is that the settlement discussion between Stern and Birkhead is that "You take the baby, Birkhead; I keep control of the estate."</s>MURPHY: That doesn`t make Larry Birkhead look better. It makes them both look like scoundrels.</s>BECK: I`ve got to tell you. I...</s>BANFIELD: The baby without the money?</s>BECK: Oh, no.</s>MURPHY: Access to the child and the child`s inheritance makes them better?</s>BECK: You know what? You can have all the money in the world and you can be -- look at Anna Nicole. I would rather have that child with somebody who says, "I don`t want any of your money. I want nothing to do with it. I just want the child." I agree with you, Ashleigh. Thank you very much. Wendy, thanks. Ashleigh. Quick programming note here. On Monday we`re doing our show from the secular Islam summit in Florida. Please, do not miss this show. I have told you that I`ve been looking for the Muslims who are trying to take back their religion from the radicals. Monday I will introduce you to some of these good people, and their lives are in danger. Please watch Monday`s show. Coming up, the NYPD says Iranian operatives were scouting potential targets across New York City as far back as 2003. Why is it coming out now? We`ll get some answers from a top cop. Plus, plans for the NAFTA superhighway may be back in high gear. I`ll tell you why this puts our security in serious danger in tonight`s "Real Story". And Al Gore loves to preach about environmentalism. Too bad he`s doing it currently from a 22-room mansion that uses ten times the electricity of the average American home. I`ll have the inconvenient truth behind Al Gore`s giant carbon footprint. Coming up.