♪ ♪ good evening, thank you for

joining us. almost forgotten in the war of words over the government shutdown and the debt ceiling was the law that sparked the fight in the first place, the affordable care act what we know as obamacare and today the president did not get in a question about had been policy but for advocates and opponents, a fundamental element of the program remains in focus which is, to work, obamacare has to sign up a number of people and the campaign to win people over has taken some nasty turns and we have more now on both efforts with a cause that there may next be images that will you find disturbing. >> oh, i see that you chose to sign up for obamacare. >> yes, it is my first time here. >> change into a gown, the doctor will see you soon. >> when you thought that the battle over obamacare could not get nastier, just consider this.

this video was posted on youtube along with another featuring a young man assumed to be getting a prostate exam. >> is this necessary? >> we'll look to make this quick. >> the videos were not made by farout fringe groups, instead they are part of a campaign meant to frighten young people into not buying health insurance as obamacare needs 3 million, healthier people to sign up for coverage to offset the cost of insuring older, sicker ones because, without them, obamacare would have a hard time succeeding and if you surf the web you will come across videos aimed at those in their twenties and thirties and there are many who argue with the pocket book issue, there are music videos. ♪ your hours get cut and your income goes down and your premiums up ♪ >> reporter: and there are self-styled newscasts equating obamacare with socialism.

>> this provision forces american companies to sell thins cheaper than otherwise, the high cost of ensuring unfortunate circumstances is passed along to everyone else. >> reporter: the group making those uncle sam videos has ties to the billionaire coke brothers who have been known for spending onive causes and generation opportunity plans to sponsor parties and tailgates at universities across the country. and the white house has been making an effort of its own to reach young people, including reminding them of an easy way to get insurance. >> now young adults can stay on their parents plan until they turn 26. >> reporter: the white house though is concerned their efforts may not be enough and so it is looking to help sell obamacare to younger americans. >> they have a history of making topical, hopefully funny political videos and it is cool because they are fans of ours. >> reporter: funny or die is a comedy website visited by over

4 million a month and he earlier this month including jennifer hudson and another comedian, amy poeler, met with president barack obama. >> we were inspired to help out because all of us can relate to being up and coming or aspiring writers directors, producers, actors and you never get health insurance because you never have jobs and it is something that hit home for us. >> reporter: and they decided that they could best help by going with what they know: humor. the result? a recent video featuring hudson in a parity of a hit tv show, "scandal." >> i'm here, where are you? >> my past is coming back to haunt me. i had asthma as a kid and my insurance company wants to drop me, something about preexisting conditions. >> reporter: and they say that as many as 15 more videos are planned with funny or die picking up the tab. >> i like a good fight. it is a challenge because other

groups opposed to this are spending a lot of money. >> reporter: and not just the federal government worries about steering others away, like 16 other states, kentucky set up a website of its own called connect. >> the only thing more boring than talking about insurance, it is reading about it and so we released this video. >> reporter: one feature of this video was a group of animated characters that they believe will engage those meant to see this. >> you can identify here with this person saying what is my deduck table, co- -- the deductible, the co-pay. >> reporter: and how difficult is it to go after this group? >> they are consuming a lot of media. they are a distracted audience. they are looking at multiple different screens and so they are tough to get to. i mean, we can reach them but doing it efficiently, it is a

challenge. >> reporter: in the next few months, vanessa will be everywhere in kentucky in new immediate why as well and from facebook to specialized sites like map my run and like the opponents of obamacare, kentucky is working hard to reach the young people face-to-face and no event is too small, or too big, like this bourbon festival. >> you need to connect. it is all a part of the new healthcare law. and we have a website. you can apply through the website or call this number. it is easy. >> reporter: here at this festival we met katie who lives in a nearby town. she is a social worker. >> have you heard of connect? >> i've heard of it. >> reporter: she is exactly the kind of young adult that both sides in the obamacare debate are looking to win over. >> right now i do not have insurance, we have it offered through the company that i work for, it is so expensive, it does

not cover much and every time i get into a car i'm afraid that i will get into an accident or something will happen andly go to the hospital and not have coverage. >> sometimes i think that the young people are more receptive than the older individuals that i have seen as many of them are not informed, because they do not really know what it is and so i think that they are just looking to get more information and they are more eager to get more information. >> reporter: the folks at connect feel that they can help her to find health coverage but raising awareness has been a challenge, because she did not know about it until her mother said something. >> they are looking to get the word out that the affordable had been bill will go into effect. do you feel that you have a handle on that? >> no, i'm supposed to have insurance, i know that, but i have no idea other than that. >> reporter: and as she left, she told us that she was very interested in signing up, a small victory perhaps for the pro obamacare crowd but certainly one that they are happy to have. that report coming to us

from "america tonight" and sara hoy. we invited the president of generation opportunity, the group that made the video to join us tonight but he declined. we wanted to look further into the campaign against obamacare and some very powerful forces behind it and lee fang joins us now. and she spoke of the coke brothers off the top, figures that you had followed extensively in the last few years. just give us an idea of how much of their money has been invested in the anti-obamacare effort? how much are they doing? >> it is hard to answer that question with a direct figure because what the brothers have kind of pioneered, it is a network of dozens of dozens of 501 c investigations that do not need to disclose donors but we know through foundation documents that they've pumped over $50 million into an array of think tanks and what i would call front groups that air

advertisements which do advocacy producing think tanks and lobbying against the law and this multi-facetted effort has gone on since 2009. >> and so generation opportunity is a part of that which you are talking about? >> yes, just a sprawling lobbying campaign. >> u followed some of these other events and these events, they are almost carnival atmospheres, i understand. >> yes, sure. many of these things, the generation opportunity group, forbes, it is hosting pizza parties, tailgates and they are giving out free swag. >> why? >> they do not want to talk about details of the law pause their polling reflects mainstream polling that when you talk about the law americans generally embrace that but if you were to stick to these conspiracy theories, the gynecologist thing or the death penalty theory promulgated not many years ago, people back

off. make it fun, festive like a carnival people will come in sign up and injot cause. >> let me play devil's advocate just a little bit here and say is there something inherently wrong in investing in this kind of anti-obamacare campaign? i mean, clearly their interests are not illegal, what they are doing, just be pervasive. >> sure they have freedom of speech, association, they can get their message out there. what they are doing here at the end of the day, it is very dangerous because they are spreading misinformation and simply lying to people about the law. and this one group, their latest organization, generation opportunity, it has explicitly told young americans that they will be healthier or better off if they do not sign up for health insurance and, you know, for anyway, you know, whether you are young, middlaged or old, if you do not have health insurance and then you get into a major accident or have you a chronic disease, you could be saddled for the rest of your

life with, you know, a crushing amount of debt. >> are they alone in this effort? i mean surely it is not just their money financing these interests. >> well, sure. i mean, the coke brothers have convened these twice-annual gatherings of over 100 different individuals, some of them are millionaires, billionaires, ideological folks, business leaders, lobbyists, many with shared beliefs who have funneled money into a common cause and industry groups attacked the law because they are looking to seek financial gain from harming certain provisions that they see as bad for their business. >> it is very interesting, lee, thank you very much. following the break here, we'll get the latest word on the government shutdown itself and now approaching the debt ceiling as well where the president says that he will go to the table under two conditions. is it enough to bring an end to the government shutout.

it has been eight days and, still, the government shutdown drags on but the door is possibly open now for

negotiation as president barack obama called the house speaker, john boehner, in the hopes of finding a resolution to this stalemate. how far did it go? >> reporter: the day started with promise, we are eight days into the shutdown with eight days to go before the possible debt ceiling default. president barack obama and john boehner after the call had dueling press conferences, the president was out and spent a hour with the reporters and then john boehner came out and then we are right back where we started earlier in the morning, a standoff. >> all i will say is that we're not going to pay a ransom for america paying its bills. that is something that should be non-negotiable and everyone should agree on that and everyone should say that one of the most valuable things that we have, it is america's credit worthiness. >> reporter: and something that the president did, he left the

door open, ajar for a short-term extension of the debt ceiling and said that then he would come back to the table and negotiate but he will not negotiate under a threat and most interpreted that as an opening and john boehner appeared less than a hour later and shut that down. >> the long and short of it is that there will be a negotiation here. we cannot raise the debt ceiling without doing something about what is driving us to borrow more money and to live beyond our means. >> reporter: and so we're right back to where we started at the beginning of the day with no hope in sight. talk to republicans and democrats on capitol hill and no one knows how it will end. in previous standoffs, you could see a light at the end of the tunnel. >> meanwhile, those who work for the government and regular americans have to deal with it as well. more on that in a moment. thank you for this. >> reporter: sure. the debt ceiling crisis is

now nine days away, the federal credit card maxes out on october the 17th and at risk is the u.s.a. defaulting on over over $17 trillion in debt and now we look to digest and explain all of this, john, the president said that there is no businessperson in the world who does not think that this is a big deal but, too, it sounds like there are a number of folks out there not convinced. is it a big deal? and why? >> it is a big deal if the markets think that it is, the issue on october the 17th is that the government has to roll over many billions of dollars on that day and so the issue will find its way into the news in the sense of, will there be a market, buyers as there usually is when the debt rolls over. if there are no buyers on that day, it will be a crisis and an issue for a number of financial markets.

looking back to 2008, a $300 billion rollover is a lot larger than what happened to lehman brothers. >> today there were signs that the market was jittery earlier this afternoon. is it in line given what you would imagine with previous experience? >> actually it has been fairly benign. we have not seen a big sell-off like we saw in 2010-'11 when the market went down 650 points when the sand p rating agency took a downgrade on the u.s. debt. we have not gone that far but today was the first shot over the bow because the market was down, in sand p terms 1.2%, which is now getting into that triple digits, large moves each day and today was the start of that. >> thank you for that. stand by for a moment. i want to introduce john anderson who, of all things, is feeling confused about how he gets into this debate and this discussion but he is a line order cook at the national museum of the american indian, a great place to eat, by the way,

when the museums are open. >> when they are open. >> near the smithsonian but you are here because you represent a voice that we are not hearing a lot of because now we hear that capitol hill is counting on giving back pay to many and you have not been spoken to about this? >> we have not been furlod, we have been laid off, laid off, given a letter, saying that we are laid off and we are able now to collect unemployment and so when the government does make up their decision, we went from being, you know, low-wage payee to no wage. and when they get paid, we are not going to get paid. [ please stand by ] >> if we do not work, we are simply not getting paid.

>> we get paid by the government generally. but the company gets paid. we to not get paid by the government. >> and, mike, you know, you have heard about the negotiations on all of. this the notion that this will be backpay but, really, this reaches far beyond the actual government employee, the one getting a check from uncle sam. >> yes, sure, and it is called a ripple effect, a multiplier effect as there were 800,000 employees in addition to those, like john, who have been furloughed or out and out laid off. >> and so even bringing them back -- >> yes, with the defense department you have over 400,000 people and house voted unanimously, friday, saturday, to give them back pay and today the president said that he would sign that bill and it was held up in the summit but there are no guarantees?

the notion of the multiplier effect, help us to understand john anderson's experience because it moves out and ripples into the rest of the economy as well. >> oh, absolutely. no doubt about that. there is no question that we'll start to see that, the yonger that it goes on. -- the longer that it goes on. and it is an accumulating effect as time goes on. it is a matter of watching the market discount the idea of the earnings fouling off, jobs laying off and all of it will shine through in terms of the stock markets and its pricing. >> and, john, it is not just today or tomorrow, you have bills come due. >> i have bills. i'm not living from paycheck to paycheck, i live from day-to-day, we get paid every week, i will be paid on friday but it will be the last check that i will get and i do not know when i'll get my next check. i have been doing side jobs to make ens meet and still i have

to send my kids to school, phone bills, rent, electric, gas and i do not know where my next dollars are coming from. >> and do you think that the politicians understand? >> i do not think that they understand, not even a little bit. they ask like we're useless pawns in a ego game and, i mean, this is ridiculous. people are out here making life-threatening decisions day to day and they are not deciding should i go to yogam class because i do not know if i will get paid, it is can i send my son to school or should i let him eat first? it is serious decisions. >> and if someone gets sick? >> then you are really in the trash. you do not know what will happen. it is like a whirlwind effect. everyone gets hurt in this. and it is like the little people getting trampled over and there is no one to sit there and then to fight for us, and we're not even being mentioned. all we hear is government

workers, government workers, we are not government workers but still we're affected about i this, seriously. >> yes. and john, when we've spoken about this, you know, this notion that multiplier goes into the communities, for example around the military that might have felt the effects, defense department workers et cetera but talking about the effects it goes to the bottom part of the economy, lowest income workers are those feeling it, as well. >> oh, yes. it will get everywhere. joey, where it starts, if you want to think about it as an economist would, it talks about incomes, john was mentioning the loss of his income, which spreads into consumption which is 70% of the economy and gdp and then it spills back into all of those relying on john's spending and that gets into multiplier effect and so it does

not really matter if it is a military compound or not, it will find a myriad ways of effect and then, on top of that, the stock market is a discounting effect for the future and so immediately it will count all of this going forward and it too will fall apart, which then feeds back into a sense of a loss of confidence, leadership, more lost spending and then more problems in the economy. >> and, vick, do you think that the leaders will hear this? >> the president today said in his news conference saying, yes, the house is sending me bills to open museums, park service and do something about nih and these people who cannot get into the cancer trials when they have serious or desperate medical situations and he said that the house republicans are doing that to take those things that cause outrage among the american people off the table and to john's point. >> as he is saying. >> folks are being used as

symbols, pawns between the two parties and the two ends of pennsylvania avenue. >> and, john, how do you plan? how do you plan for what comes next? >> it is day-to-day. i will do all that i can. i am calling old folks that i knew, where i did home improvement, putting in ceiling fans and fixing leaks, doing what i can right now. it is day-to-day. >> what do you want the politicians to know? >> i want them to know how can they look at us as simple pawns? what are they going to do for the people out here who are struggling day-to-day to helps this country to move? we are the ones who help to feed and cook and clean for these people but they are not looking at that. they just say well, once that person is gone, we can replace them. we're pawns. pawns. >> and your life meanwhile hangs in the balance. and, john, wishing you luck going forward in this, thanks

very much to all of you for joining us. coming up here on "america tonight" immigrations and long lines and why some families are waiting decades for their piece of the american dream. millions who need assistance now. we appreciate you spending time with us tonight. up next is the golden age of hollywood going golden but elsewhere. why l.a.'s mayor has declared a state of emergency for the entertainment industry there. next.

♪ and now a snapshot of stories that are making headlines on "america tonight." a morning scramble at school bus stops in boston after hundreds of school bus drivers walked off of their jobs following contract terms and the police started a shuttle program for the 33,000 stranded students, a federal judge made a return to normal bus roots unlikely. the president has chosen a nominee for the next leader of the federal reserve, currently the vice chair of the central bank, janet yellen who will succeed chairman ben bernanke. the national mall was open for an immigration reform rally

and the march, the police say, ended with 200 arrests including several democratic congressmen charged with crowding and obstruction as well. central to the immigration debate is the 4.3 million people waiting years for family-sponsored visas and as we hear next from los angeles most of them live here in the united states with no jobs, no papers and, in fact, without a country. >> reporter: this old motor home parked on the side of a busy street in los angeles is all that this 33-year-old, alberto, has to call home, spending most of his time alone inside of this camper but on this day his sister came for a visit. alberto asks that we not use his last name for fear of deportation, he like 11 million other immigrants is in this country illegally. >> it is hard because, you know,

everyone, we need opportunity and we need to have a -- a future. >> reporter: alberto, like his sister before him, snuck across the border from mexico, just 12 years old at the time making the journey alone with no money in his pocket, just a phone number and the dream of a better life. >> and did you tell your sister ahead of time that you were planning to cross the border and come into america? >> no. no, i did not. when i called her, it was because i was here already. >> reporter: and you had no idea that he was coming? >> when he showed up there, it was a surprise for me and i got upset at that time because i said why? why you are here? and i did not know what to do. and i had to pay $160. and so -- >> reporter: did you think about sending him back home? >> no. i -- no.

i said, okay, you are going to stay here. >> and, still, life in america, it has not turned out quite like alberto dreamed of all of those years ago, he does not have a real home or papers and so he does not have a job and, because of complications from diabetes, he walks with the help of prosthetics after he lost both legs. and alma became an u.s. citizen by marriage and petitioned for a green card on behalf of her brother, that was 12 years ago and they are still waiting. >> and i feel sad because it has been so long. we are waiting, waiting. and no answers. even we feel like it is our home here. and our family is here. and we wish that we could have a better process. faster. >> reporter: a process that 4.3 million undocumented immigrants across the country

find themselves in waiting for a green card or visa under family sponsored petitions, some of them waiting as long as 30 years. >> every year these backlogs get worse. >> reporter: as an immigration attorney, john manley finds himself stuck in the middle, legally working through a system that he says is broken, while looking to keep hope alive for those families that he represents. >> under the system of today, that is one reason why they call this a broken immigration system, even though this is a defined category, it should be allowed for those who are siblings of u.s. citizens, it is unworkable for certain countries. >> reporter: countries like mexico where the wait-list to get a visa is over 740,000 people long and that list continues to grow by 4500 people a year. in part because of the sheer number of people who want to come into the united states. and the cap placed on the number of green cards or visas which

are being issued each year for mexico. meaning that if someone applies for a family sponsored visa today. >> you are looking at a 164 year wait. >> reporter: and this executive director for the cools for humane rights, says that the long wait times force many to languish in a system tearing families apart. >> we've seen families which have gone homeless and situations where both parents were deported and the children, they end up in foster care and we've seen horrible, horrible situations. and so the system, we talk about it being broken, because it has not functioned as a democracy but some say that these people should not be in this country in the first place, they should stay in their home country and if they do not come here legally to begin with, they should not be here and we have a system that, for certain countries, has an open door policy. the doors are wide open. and so that if you are from

certain countries in europe, from england, from scotland, you can come nmost of -- come in most of the time without a visa but if you are from the caribbean, asian countries, well those doors are shut. >> reporter: at an immigration reform rally in los angeles this past saturday people marched, chanted and demanded change. >> those republicans holding the destiny of 11.5 million people hostage and we want that immigration reform and we're going to continue fighting until we've got it. >> we need a policy to make it easier for families to be together, not harder. if we have a policy which allows people to unite with their families, there should be no wait for anyone. >> reporter: and, still, immigration policy experts say that the wait-list is there by government design.

>> we are still to this day processing people from the amnesty in 1986 and so we let in so many people, yeah, there will be a waiting list. for example, if i went to france and married a french citizen, should i really expect to have my sister and my brother and my adult children all get to, you know, be in on a legal path in france? i would not expect that. but for some reason it has become kind of an entitlement here in the united states. >> reporter: and while immigration reform advocates call on the house to take action, telford says that, bottom line, the reality is that not everyone who was to come to america can. >> we all know that you cannot let in everyone, we let in over 1 million a year legally and so it is not like we're not incredibly generous with the numbers of people coming in to this country. for example, we are incredibly

generous with family-based visas and so, you know, you can bring in your sister, brother, or adult child and those -- but they are a lesser priority, and so this will go to the back of the line. >> reporter: and waiting at the back of the line, that is something that alberto and his sister know all too well. what has the wait been like for you? >> i cannot explain. it has been hard, you know. >> reporter: andand alberto, wod tampa bay lightning easier for you to return home? >> no, no, it is hard. >> why not? >> i can say it again, all my life, it is here, it has been here for, you know, for so many years and i do not know anyone over there, you know? those are people, they already disappear. they do not know me anymore.

i have my family here. >> reporter: and this immigration attorney says that unless the system is reformed, there is little that he can do for families like his clients, alberto and alma. >> to me, it is frustrating to deal with a system that does not want to change and all i can say to them is that you have to keep on waiting. >> reporter: which is what alberto is doing, parked on the side of the road and going nowhere fast anytime soon. >> that report from jennifer london of aljazeera. the policy director for united we dream joins us, and that organization was one of those groups protesting today at the national mall looking to bring attention to the issue of families looking to unite in the case of immigration reform, it will not stop here because you have an agenda actually to move further protests forward. tell us about that. >> yes, sure. i think that the time is 2013. the time is now for members of

congress to deliver a solution that addresses the problems that our immigration community faces, which is family separation and our plan is to continue this at the top of the agenda and make sure that it is not something that can be, you know, excused and for people like the speaker, john boehner, to say that we have a rule or an excuse we cannot move on this and so our plan is to continue our escalation. >> meaning what? >> starting october the 21st, we will be in a 30-day escalation plan in united we dream where youth leaders and parents in the immigrant movement will be involved in escalation tactics. >> what does that mean? >> including civil disobedience. and it may include taking over an office, a key office where we have a target. and that means -- >> a congressional office or what? >> yes meaning that you will go into a member of congress' office, show up, have a specific

demand, do not lose that office and you come back with more people and maybe there is civil disobedience and what members of congress can expect to see in the next few months, from the united we dream perspective, we will be on escalation mode, it is not enough to give us excuses. >> and who will you be targeting? >> representatives in -- specifically members of congress, republican members of congress. 26 members have come out for a pathway of citizenship but that is not enough, we need more leadership from them, for example representative dunham in california and another from florida and others. >> and so you are talking specifically about republican member who is have come out on some level to say that they believe in some path towards your goal. >> absolutely. >> what is your bigger agenda? you mentioned to me earlier that you have a sister who was given

administrative -- in last year's answer to the dream act, she has got the right now to stay in this country as do others. >> other dreamers. >> yes, other dreamers, what do you want now? what is your next move? >> we made a choice this year to fight for our families, making sure that members of our community are not deported for just the reason that they are here in this country that they call home and they are not documented and there is a problem meaning that the system that we have right now it is not working. we saw it earlier. families wait over decades, families that want to go through to use the legal channel, they are waiting in line forever and then you have 11 million people who have no line and so often you hear an argument from those who do not believe in immigration reform saying that dreamers shoe get -- should get to the back of the line but the truth is that there is no line and so we're asking for a

process that would create a line for people to be on, you know, on their way to becoming u.s. citizens of this country. >> and we did hear it in the report of jennifer, the voice of that woman who said, look, this country is incredibly generous in giving opportunity and, indeed some like her sister, you, you have had an opportunity to be on a pathway to more permanent status here and shouldn't that be enough? i mean, how much can the united states handle? >> well, i think we have a broken immigration system, my mom has been undocumented for 15 years, my sister, she has been here since she was five, she is now 20 and she is undocumented and there is no way for them to adjust, to become green card holders or to become legal residents of the united states, that just does not exist. >> and to contribute. >> to continue to contribute because the notion that those who are a part of america today are not contributing because

they lack a nine-digit social security number, that is absurd. >> appreciate you joining us. >> thank you. coming up later tonight, bravery taking the form of a pakistani teen who took a bullet from a organization and she is now a a nobel candidate. >>i'm ali velshi, and this is real money. >>this is america tonight. >>our news coverage, reporting, and documentaries explore, inspire, and reveal more of america's stories. >>i'm here to investigate genetically modified salmon.

♪ ♪ you will probably remember the name here and certainly remember the story of pakistani teen who was shot in the head a year ago for defying the taliban and standing up for the right of young women to be educated, she

is now a published author and the youngest ever nominee for the noble peace prize and recently honored at the united nations. >> malala day is not my day. today is the day for every woman, every boy and every girl who has raised their voice for their rights. let us speak up. let us speak up. let us pick up your books, our pens, which are our most powerful weapons. one time. one teacher. one book. and one pen. that can change the world. education is the only solution. education first. thank you. [ applause ] >> long before she spoke to the

united nations, she was a student at her father's school for girls, she dreamed of becoming a doctor and the taliban outlawed girls' education, she became an activist and then a taliban target and how she came to be known to the taliban, and to the world, had a lot to do with adam who was a "new york times" reporter and produced documentaries of malala and her father going back to 2001 and, adam, thank you for joining us. you've known this family now for some time and you had to reassess your role and reassess what you brought to the attention of the world after your association with this family. can you discuss that a bit? >> yes, for sure. thank you for having me. when i first discovered malala in 2009, at the time she had only a anonymous blog on the bbc

website in her native tongue and i did not know that when i met her. i met her through a pakistani journalist and documentary that i made about here for the "new york times," that was her coming out party it was when her face, her name were first made public and then of course after my anymore was made the pakistani press learned of her and basically when she started to speak to the press, they could not get enough of her. she was poised, articulate, charming, smart. >> she is incredible. incredible. something we found interesting about her, she did not start out wanting to be a political figure, she was wanting to be a doctor originally, she told you? >> yes, exactly. and so when i first met her, her dream was to be a doctor. in the piece that i published this week for the times, the lesson is that her father is the most critical force in her life and he influenced her heavily and then inspired her not to be a doctor but then to take up his hobby, his goal, his passion,

which is politics and to try to have an influence on society that way and he used to tell me that malala is meant for the skies and i have to admit that sometimes i used to role my eyes but he might have been right here. >> yes, really her story is compelling and i know that people will look to your article about that but i have to wonder, since another threat was issued by the taliban today, renewed attention, a back that she will be a peace prize winner, are you concerned about what you did to bring her to the attention of many who would wish to kill her? >> yes, of course, the questions surrounding my -- [ please stand by ] [ audio difficulties are temporary ] >> these are grave and sobering questions. malala and her father had thanked me for giving them a

voice during dark days but there is no denying the fact that, as journalists and as foreign correspondents our jobs are to go to remote places in world and put a spotlight on those things that we believe that the public needs to know about and in doing that, this case is not an anomaly for foreign correspondents, we have to consider if we are putting our sources in danger and sadly, difficultly there is no prescription for these decisions which are done on a case-by-case basis. >> and she and her father are aware of the risks involved in that as well. i'm curious to know if, as a result of all of this, there has been any impact, that you can see on what was supposed to be her signature issue which had to do with girls, with education and the ability for girls to have education. >> that is the issue, malala has become the symbol, the brand but the issue is girls' education

and sadly the situation in pakistan it has not changed much. there is a heightened awareness. but it is more a discussed topic but the situation remains abysmal. i know that numbers are boring but just one country in the world where less kids go to school and that is nigeria and in the area where malala lives, just one in five girls go to school and a number of pakistani journalists who have been in her hometown recently say that still there are many girls afraid to speak out, who live in fear and so i think that there is a bit of a mythology surrounding this malala has inspired every girl to speak up. many of them are still very scared and justifiably. >> that is understandable after hearing her story as well. adam, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. coming up next, be prepared, how this traditional scout motto takes on a new meaning in afghanistan.

here now is an interesting

tidbit, there are more countries now with scouting outfits than in the united nations, afghanistan is one of those struggling to get its fledgling scout program off the ground and one american veteran has restarted the scouts in iraq and now does the same thing in afghanistan in the town of sarobi, now to jennifer glass. >> reporter: afghan boy scouts are helping one town that was devastated by a flood in august. the girls' school still stands but the building is all that is left. and this american has been advising the scouting program in afghanistan for two years, he came to visit the school after the flood. >> the tables were gone, files were gone, tipped over, all of the contents were gone and there was nothing here that was left. >> reporter: this former soviet build factory town also lost many in flash floods and now ten are missing and sarobi is home

to a small boy scout group and they called in keith to help. >> the scouting here in this town is the same as anywhere else in the world, it is community service, giving, it is project before self. >> as the scouts handed out school supplies, girls outside worried that they would not get anything and begged to be let in. >> the scouts have a lot of experience in helping but they've brought the scouts in to give them a sense of the wider world and many of them have not been this far from kabul. >> reporter: and the journey from a former computer executive to helping with scouts started in iraq, ex-vietnam war pilot started there. >> we were in heavy combat over north vietnam, anyway, i was shot down and my wingman followed me in, identified the location where our plane, where

my parachute landed and under extremely heavy fire, extremely heavy fire and risked his life so that there was three pilots rescued that day and my wingman was deserveedly so given the silver star for heroism. >> reporter: and that wingman helped to grow the scout program from eight members to 150,000 but blackie says there are no western scout leaders here, when the u.s. forces withdrew in 2011 the scout troops collapsed and so he focuses on afghan leaders like this. >> if you want to build a country like afghanistan, you need to start with the young people. >> reporter: many of these children here are orphans, have no father, their mothers cannot afford to take care of them and some have no parents at all and scouting will give them a place to belong and in addition to

monthly visits helping them to learn about their national institutions they get a lot of training. >> if i go down, i want to go down next to one of my scouts because i know that i will be well taken care of, that is for sure. >> reporter: and right now there are just 1500 scouts in afghanistan and this boy joined the scouts when he was eight. in 1963, he remembered better days for scouting here but he knows that returning them is going to take time. >> and we could increase the number of scouts to 5,000 but we are not because we are not working on that number right now, we are working on the quality. >> >> reporter: and this event was sponsored in new jersey by the rotary club and a major goal is to convince afghan businesses to support the scouts because, right now, they rely on western funding and security affects all aspects of the program. >> there is very little outing in scouting because we cannot

let them go overnight and we simulate camping in daytime activities but the thought of camping overnight for security reasons, that is something that they will not experience for a number of years. >> reporter: the closest that some of these kids have come to camping, it was this riverside lunch on the way back from delivering school supplies and clearly they enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the city and nearly half of the scouts are girls, quite an achievement in a country where abuse against women remains a national problem and the girls are forced to marry as teens. >> for afghan girls, we are using the burka and staying at home, they can decide what they want. no one is forced to come here. now we have to think about today. the old culture belongs with old types. >> reporter: and she says that becoming a scout, it was her way of showing her country that

there is unity here and that things can change. after all, two things that the taliban once banned, kites and scouting, they are back. >> and that was jennifer glass reporting. that is it for us here on america tonight. remember that if you would like to comment on any stories that you have seen here tonight log onto our website and get the sneak previews of stories we're would being on and join the conversation with us on twitter or at our facebook page. have a good night. ♪