San Antonio College Library

This program with Bill Moyers focuses on what we can do to repair the U.S. economy. A business executive explains why his company closed its factories in the U.S. and moved manufacturing operations to Mexico. Among those who discuss potential solutions to problems facing the American economy are Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect; Henry Nau, author of The Myth of America's Decline; and Patricia Saiki, head of the Small Business Administration....

It began with flu-like symptoms, but within a few days progressed in severity until patients began dying in droves. Emergency rooms were overrun, and hysteria had enveloped the metropolis. What was the cause of the ghastly plague? In this program-part one of a hypothetical scenario-ABC News anchor Ted Koppel delivers three successive reports, tracking the advance of a fictional biological attack over its first six days as the medical community scrambled...

Can the U.S. afford to reform its healthcare system? Can it afford not to, with 46 million Americans lacking health insurance and millions more underinsured? This Fred Friendly Seminar explores the dilemmas and urgently needed policy decisions surrounding what has become, literally, a life-or-death issue. NYU law professor Arthur Miller guides a team of high-profile panelists through a series of hypothetical case studies--focusing on a middle-aged...

Following World War II, the parks were overwhelmed as visitation reached 62 million people a year. This final episode describes how a billion-dollar campaign, Mission 66, was created to build facilities and infrastructure to accommodate the growing flood of visitors. Biologist Adolph Murie introduced the revolutionary notion that predatory animals deserved the same protection as other wildlife. In Florida, Lancelot Jones, grandson of a slave, sold...

Do Americans still hold certain truths to be self-evident? Do all human beings possess inalienable rights endowed by their creator? Are all lives of equal value? And if so, how do those core beliefs translate into public policy on issues such as healthcare, poverty, abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia? This program explores what the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin called a "consistent ethic of life," explaining how it might be used as a framework...

America's healthcare system frequently leaves patients feeling shortchanged, while physicians are forced to overdose on paperwork and managed care companies are helpless to cap their soaring costs. What is the future of this system, as the tidal wave of Baby Boomers surges toward retirement? This program analyzes the symptoms of America's healthcare ills and suggests a prescription for potential cure. Experts include Professor Uwe Reinhardt, of Princeton...

As headlines trumpet cases of children becoming?lost??and in some cases, dying?while in the care of the state or when the state does not act promptly to take custody, child welfare policies have come under intense questioning. But the answers are not simple. This award-winning Fred Friendly Seminar is presented in collaboration with the Institute for Child and Family Policy at Columbia University. Moderated by Dateline NBC correspondent John Hockenberry,...

When it comes to situations involving life and death, the United States is strongly polarized. Liberals commonly support the legality of abortion as a private matter of personal choice but condemn the death penalty as inhumane, while conservatives often support execution as a form of justice but denounce abortion as legalized murder. How did these points of view become a part of the ideologies of the left and the right? This program traces the development...

While politicians grapple with reforming welfare, those who receive benefits worry about how welfare reform will affect their lives. Critics of welfare argue that it has created a psychology of dependency, and that it is rife with fraud and abuse. This program traces the history of welfare beginning with the Depression, then examines the complex issues involved in reforming it. Experts discuss various reform plans within the context of who is likely...

One government service after another has been turned over to private business for a profit. In this program, Bill Moyers Journal and Expose: America's Investigative Reports examine a whistleblower's tale of military housing contracts gone awry as Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Eric Nalder reveals what happens when one private contractor drops the ball. In addition, Bill Moyers talks with New York Governor David Paterson about how states are coping...