Category Archives: Bill Moyers Archive

Bill Moyers NOW On The Mistreatment Of Shrub War Veterans: Case Study – The Stiffler Family

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This story aired on NOW With Bill Moyers on November 7, 2003.
This clip is exerpted from the complete feature, “Coming Home,” which was Produced by Dan Klein, features correspondent David Brancaccio, and was Edited by Amanda Zindman.


Jason Stiffler was manning a watch tower in Afghanistan when it fell out from under him. It’s still unclear whether it was an engineering failure, an attack, or friendly fire. Whatever the cause, he fell 25 feet and suffered seizures at the scene and eventually went into a coma. He suffered serious spinal cord injuries and other injuries. He was quadraplegic for some time after the accident, eventually regained limited use of his legs after months of physical therapy, although it still causes him great pain to move.
A year ago October, he was released from the hospital and placed on the Army’s temporary duty list, which meant he was now eligible for medical care and payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Stifflers say they waited for promised phone call from the VA that never came. With his physical and mental condition deteriorating, Jason visited the regional VA hospital in Ft. Wayne, which had no record of him and was only able to offer limited assistance and care.
As David Brancaccio puts it: “Jason Stiffler, badly wounded veteran of America’s War On Terror, was on his own.”
Background on the complete video of the segment:
This story focuses on several families whose fathers put their lives on the line to go fight in Iraq, and were injured in combat. Upon returning home, they were given little or no medical or financial support whatsoever, and were told to seek handouts to get by.
Excerpt from David Brancaccio’s introduction:

..another young vet from the 101st airborne came home to a different kind of reception, one that was to leave him and his family nearly destitute.
Jason Stiffler followed a boyhood dream into the army at the age of 18. He was eager to defend his country. In return, he assumed it would take care of him.
“It was part of the agreement that we made on March 23, 01, when I signed up. I specifically remember that day because it was the first thing I asked. ‘If anything happens to me, will I be taken care of?’ Oh yeah, yeah, just sign right here.”…
“There was a timeframe when I wasn’t getting paid nothing.” (Stiffler)
“How did you make ends meet during that time?” (Brancaccio)
“You know what they told us? ‘Churches,’ ‘family,’ ‘friends,’ ‘welfare.'” (Stiffler)

Here’s some technical information about getting quicktime going to watch these movies.
The Story Of The Stiffler Family (Small – 10 MB)



Bill Moyers NOW On The Mistreatment Of Shrub War Veterans

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This story aired on NOW With Bill Moyers on November 7, 2003.
This story, “Coming Home,” was Produced by Dan Klein and features correspondent David Brancaccio. It was Edited by Amanda Zindman.
This story focuses on several families whose fathers put their lives on the line to go fight in Iraq, and were injured in combat. Upon returning home, they were given little or no medical or financial support whatsoever, and were told to seek handouts to get by.
This is available in one big 38 MB clip and in three smaller clips for easier downloading off small connections. I’ve also transcribed portions and am including some info with the pictures.
I’ve also put up some clips of one of the families, the Stifflers, that was featured in this segment.
Here’s some technical information about getting quicktime going to watch these movies.
Bill Moyers On Mistreated Vets – Complete (Small – 38 MB)
Bill Moyers On Mistreated Vets – Part 1 of 3 (Small – 12 MB)
Bill Moyers On Mistreated Vets – Part 2 of 3 (Small – 16 MB)
Bill Moyers On Mistreated Vets – Part 3 of 3 (Small – 11 MB)
Excerpt from Bill Moyers’ introduction:

“In Iraq, for every soldier killed, 7 are wounded. 1,300 since May 1st. That’s twice as many as were wounded during the war itself. The New Republic reports that nearly every night, under the cover of darkness, ambulences meet C-17 and C-141 transport planes flying into Andrews airforce base to ferry the wounded to military facilities. The government hasn’t wanted us to see them, but that’s beginning to change as the numbers mount and as journalists keep insisting on knowing who are these wounded and what’s happening to them.”















Bill Moyers: Our Democracy is in Danger of Being Paralyzed

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I just started reading this myself, but I’m about to go to dinner and I didn’t want to risk forgetting to get this up tonight. So here it is.
Update 10/14/03 – recordings of this speech are now available. I’ve also re-archived them here.
(Thanks, Mark!)
Bill Moyers’ Keynote Address to the National Conference on Media Reform

that the very concept of media is insulting to some of us within the press who find ourselves lumped in with so many disparate elements, as if everyone with a pen, a microphone, a camera, or just a loud voice were all one and the same.

Comcast Not Living Up To Its Community Broadcasting Obligations?

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This is from the August 22, 2003 program of
NOW With Bill Moyers.
Some time ago, Comcast bought out AT&Ts cable franchise. In San Jose, the Comcast buyout of AT&T Broadband meant that the Community Production Facilities budget would be cut from 39 million to 13 million (if that). The City of San Jose is suing** Comcast is suing the City of San Jose, and future of community broadcasting for the entire country could be at stake. Whatever Comcast can get away with in San Jose (or not) is likely to ripple across the country.
One of my fellow graduate students at SFSU, William Lowry, an attorney for the firm that is representing the City of San Jose, is interviewed in the piece.
**Update: Bill informed me today that it is actually Comcast suing the City of San Jose. I’m going to get some more details from him soon to explain more of the details about this case, which are quite complicated (but nevertheless, absolutely critical to the future of public broadcasting as we know it in this country).
Bill Moyers NOW On City of Comcast v. San Jose- Complete (Small – 31 MB)
Bill Moyers NOW On City of Comcast v. San Jose – Part 1 of 2 (Small – 15 MB)
Bill Moyers NOW On City of Comcast v. San Jose – Part 2 of 2 (Small – 17 MB)


William Lowry (below)

Bill Moyers Interviews Bob Herbert Of The NY Times About The Tulia, Texas Travesty

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Here’s an excellent story by Bill Moyers about the Tulia, Texas travesty from the August 22, 2003 NOW With Bill Moyers program. He interviews NY Times columnist Bob Herbert about how he came across the case and eventually helped prove the innocence of over 35 people that had been framed by undercover cop Tom Coleman.
Bill Moyers NOW On The Tulia, Texas Travesty – Complete (Small – 29 MB)
Bill Moyers NOW On The Tulia, Texas Travesty – Part 1 of 2 (Small – 14 MB)
Bill Moyers NOW On The Tulia, Texas Travesty – Part 2 of 2 (Small – 16 MB)







David Cole On Bill Moyers NOW

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Here’s an interview from the August 22, 2003 program
NOW With Bill Moyers with Georgetown University Professor David Cole about the subject of his new book Enemy Aliens. Cole discusses Ashcroft and what’s wrong with the Patriot Act and imposing restrictions on immigrants as a result of 911. Host Ju Ju Chang goes out of her way to play Devil’s advocate, if you ask me. (Not that anyone did 🙂
David Cole On Bill Moyers NOW – Complete (Small – 27 MB)
David Cole On Bill Moyers NOW – Part 1 of 2 (Small – 14 MB)
David Cole On Bill Moyers NOW – Part 2 of 2 (Small – 13 MB)













Update On Iraq From BBC Correspondent Caroline Hawley On NOW With Bill Moyers

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This is from the August 22, 2003 program of
NOW With Bill Moyers.
I’ve provided a “complete” version and a version in two smaller parts (in case you’re on a slow connection).

Caroline Hawley From Iraq – Complete (Small – 20 MB)
Caroline Hawley From Iraq – Part 1 of 2 (Small – 10 MB)

Caroline Hawley From Iraq – Part 2 of 2 (Small – 10 MB)



Republicans Voting With Their Consciences And Their Constituencies — The Scoop On Overturning The FCC’s New Media Ownership Rules

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This is the show that aired July 25, 2003 at 10:00 pm PST.
Bill Moyers NOW did a great story Friday night (July 25, 2003) about what’s been going on over on Capitol Hill the last two weeks regarding the FCC’s New Media Ownership Rules. Rep. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Rep Zack Wamp (R-TN) are three of the many Republicans that have decided to go against the wishes of the White House and voted 400 to 21 in favor of reversing the new rules. Rep. David Obey (D-WI) was the Congressman who created the Bill that was passed last week by the House.
Bill Moyers NOW – Changing Channels – ALL (Small – 25 MB)
Bill Moyers NOW – Changing Channels – Part 1 of 2 (Small – 13 MB)
Bill Moyers NOW – Changing Channels – Part 2 of 2 (Small – 13 MB)
Credits:
Senior Washington Correspondent: Roberta Baskin.
Producer: Katie Pitra
Editor: Alison Amron
I transcribed this from the video:

The forces in favor of big media were gathering. Just hours before the vote on Obey’s Amendment, seventy General Managers from television stations owned by the four networks met for breakfast on Capitol Hill. They had been recruited by their parent companies to come to Washington and lobby congress to support the FCC. Curiously, with all these TV executives in one room, only our camera was there to record it.
And down in the halls, the Republican Congressman were being pressured to support the new FCC rule change. Especially from their own leadership.
“I was heading for an elevator that Chairman Billy Tauzin was getting on. I sneaked around the corner and went down three flights of stairs to avoid the elevator ride with Chairman Tauzin, because he would’ve had me boxed in that elevator and I was able to stand my ground and vote my conscience without, face to face, having the kind of pressure that he would have exerted.” — Rep Zack Wamp (R-TN).
“I didn’t get elected here so I can be a potted plant and I don’t really care what the White House thinks about some of these issues. My conscience is what I will report to when I reach the end of my days. Not to anybody downtown.” — Frank Wolf.














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Bill Moyers NOW: Jeb Bush, St. Joe and the Florida Panhandle

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Bill Moyers NOW is one of the finest news programs on American television today. I realize that’s not saying much these days, but it’s still true. I feel that it is such an incredible program that consistently covers some of the most important public policy issues going on today, that I’ve decided to make it a priority to bring some of these stories to you.
First stop, Florida, where Jeb Bush has been misusing his influence as governor to assist the St. Joe company in using American tax dollars to fund the overzealous development and premature demise of the Florida panhandle.
St. Joe Company is the largest landowner in Florida. Over the last few years, St. Joe has been making the transition from a lumber company to a major land developer. According to the Bill Moyers segment, St. Joe is undertaking so many projects at one time, there aren’t enough State and Federal agency staff in existence to properly oversee the projects. Florida’s solution thus far has been to proceed with the development without the proper oversight. This approach, of course, has many obvious disadvantages.
It’s a bad enough situation that this company is developing the Florida Panhandle’s wilderness at such an alarming rate, and with no supervision, but one would hope, at the very least, that the company is paying for such development on its own. Guess again. Thanks to Jeb Bush, state and federal money is being earmarked to fund a new airport, roads and other private developments that will benefit no one but the St. Joe corporation.
Jeb not only wants to allow St. Joe to continue developing Florida with the same minimal oversight. He’s taking things a step further by allocating Federal and State funds for St. Joe’s private developments. He’s used political pressure on his end to push through the restricting of public beaches, state highways and wilderness areas in order to help St. Joe prepare for the vast numbers of inhabitants it plans to import into the area.
One of most shocking changes was the redistricting of over 27 miles of what used to be public state beaches — traded in for two — count ’em two (2) — access points to the beach in between the private beaches. The golf courses and resorts being built won’t serve any of the residents already living in the area because they will probably be too inexpensive for the average resident to make use of.
Author Carl Hiaasen (Striptease, Tourist Season, Basket Case) has taken on the St. Joe company in a fight to protect the wilderness and the public’s access to it. One of main changes that St. Joe has been making is changing the name of the area from “The Florida Panhandle” to “The Great Florida Northwest.” Hiaasen has written an editorial addressing this issue.
Here is a complete version of the story in “Small” format, and partial clip of the last two thirds or so in Hi-res.
St. Joe and the Florida Panhandle – Part 1 of 3 (Small – 11 MB)
St. Joe and the Florida Panhandle – Part 2 of 3 (Small – 16 MB)
St. Joe and the Florida Panhandle – Part 3 of 3 (Small – 11 MB)
St. Joe and the Florida Panhandle – Partial (Hi-res – 242 MB)

The Nation On Bill Moyers’s Controversial Speech

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Bill Moyers’s Presidential Address
By John Nichols for The Nation.

Recalling the populism and old-school progressivism of the era in which William Jennings Bryan stirred the Democratic National Convention of 1896 to enter into the great struggle between privilege and democracy — and to spontaneously nominate the young Nebraskan for president — journalist and former presidential aide Bill Moyers delivered a call to arms against “government of, by and for the ruling corporate class.”
Condemning “the unholy alliance between government and wealth” and the compassionate conservative spin that tries to make “the rape of America sound like a consensual date,” Moyers charged that “rightwing wrecking crews” assembled by the Bush Administration and its Congressional allies were out to bankrupt government. Then, he said, they would privatize public services in order to enrich the corporate interests that fund campaigns and provide golden parachutes to pliable politicians. If unchecked, Moyers warned, the result of these machinations will be the dismantling of “every last brick of the social contract.”
“I think this is a deliberate, intentional destruction of the United States of America,” said Moyers, as he called for the progressives gathered in Washington — and for their allies across the United States — to organize not merely in defense of social and economic justice but in order to preserve democracy itself. Paraphrasing the words of Abraham Lincoln as the 16th president rallied the nation to battle against slavery, Moyers declared, “our nation can no more survive as half democracy and half oligarchy than it could survive half slave and half free.”

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