the lasting cost of this dispute has been put at tens of billions of dollars. president obama blamed the congress for self-inflicted economic damage. but tea party lawmakers say they will continue to do whatever it takes to overhaul his signature health care law. newly published documents reveal close ties between the national security agency and the cia when it comes to drones.

former nsa edward snowden shows how closely they cooperate. the world health organization says it considers air pollution a leading cause of cancer. it is the first time dirty air has been labeled a carcinogen. dirty air joins other products such as abs, tobacco and u uv radiation. you can get the latest news on aljazeera.com.

>> i don't fear death at all. death is easy, life is hard. >> good evening and thanks for being with us. i'm joie chen. it's over now, all over but for the blaming and shaming.

in washington much of the focus wan on the win-loss column and a lot of political spin but truth ask often told in numbers. the truth is the shutdown hurt but the nation's economy and the economy of ordinary americans. big picture now, the total loss to the economy, $24 billion, at standard & poor's, another number for us, 4.8 billion is what's called lost economic output. the cost the government continue produce because it furloughed 800,000 workers and a bit of an irony because so much was riding on the debt ceiling, higher interest rates which will add another $114 million to the federal debt. and then there is the cost to the personal worth of ordinary americans. care for kids left without childcare and government contractors who don't get a paycheck from uncle sam directly

but rely on the government for their work. john anderson, we met him after the shutdown started. he works for a government institution and he represents a big part of the american workforce left with a lot of doubt about lawmakers on capitol hill. if there's anything john anderson takes away from these last two weeks he says, it's this: you just can't trust those guys. >> i just shaking my head. it's like this is demoralizing. it's like they don't see me. they see through me. >> a top lunch spots on the national mall, the cafeteria at the national museum of the american indian. he went back to his $10.50 job as soon as he could because he desperately needed to. >> we got two, three weeks, that we're going to have to go without no check, no money. we got to get back and forth

doing work. i spent my last $12 getting me and him back and forth to school. i got here and borrowed $20 from one of my co-workers. >> a single dad, with a 16-year-old at home, he was just making it paycheck to paycheck but 16 days off the job had nothing. >> we had a psat that i couldn't afford, one of the giens guidane counselors gave me a fund. >> anderson watched the news anxiously, looking for any sign, for contract workers. but the shutdown was sealed as he notes by members who never had to worry about their own paychecks. >> a lot of them come down here and eat in our museum. in the cafe. i serve a lot of them.

and they still look at us like we're peons, like we're nothing. no one's listening to us or talking to us. >> we may think as government contractors as middle to high income people for hire but like john anderson have no hope of getting back pay for their unplanned time off. the government workers will. >> we won't get any money. that's money is lost, gone, no one said anything to us about us being reimbursed. i didn't win anything out of this. i lost time, i lost money. >> now back to work, a new round of budget warfare will likely come around early next year. >> that's why i'm looking for a job right now. i like the job, if i can find something on the side, and use this for springboard to do better things, get my name out

there. >> also, on the losing end, welfare recipients in north carolina. that state cut off federally funded welfare checks, leaving 20,000 people, mostly women and children, without benefits. blamed on the shutdown. we turn to loren adler. the committee for a responsible budget, which seems like an oxymoron at this point. big picture when we see the total loss to the economy was $24 billion, explain to me what that means? >> sure. so thanks for having me. and so really that $24 billion is all of the money that was not paid to the 2 million or so federal employees and the contractors during this whole standoff essentially and that is effectively a wasted drain on the economy that we had all these people doing work and we're still going to back pay them but while they weren't being paid these are folks who

didn't go to the movies or the pump that much and they didn't buy the refrigerator and that as an econ speak, a trickle down. that's where you get to $24 billion or all the estimates right around there. >> when we talk about that, that's lost productivity. that is also the loss not only of the money you have to pay these people for not working essentially for 16 days but also the creation of whatever work they would have done. >> exactly. and i think, i mean i think one of the worst effects is the folks like john who will never get paid. it's the contractors and most people when they think of contractors they think of lockheed martin or boeing. but most of the defense contractors where we buy our weapons from, the u.s. government is mandated to buy 50% of their contracts from small employers. so most of the defense contractors aor subcontractors are pretty small companies. without that government check they probably weren't able to

make payroll during this period. that is a whole 20 other people or however many are working at that firm not getting paid. >> john is very aware of the situation and very aware going into next year that we could be looking at this all over again as it were. you know for him, there's no way for him to plan for this. and there's no way really for him to learn from this. but investors, on the other hand, corporate investors are looking at this. and what have they learned from this? >> so i -- i hope on the optimistic side i hope the corporate investors are learning that we do tend to get things done even if it is at 11:59 p.m. but they get more and more scared. the more times we go to the precipice, that's a very scary thing for them. back in 2011 when we had our first big debt limit scare recently, the government accountability center or bipartisan study said it cost

our nation $19 billion. when it comes about controlling the debt, seems a little counterproductive. >> but it tells the investors look they're going to solve this in the end anyway. it is a cynical view but -- >> it is cynical. the more times we do this the less it's costing us. but you see a lot of people scarce. it is one thing for americans who live through this day in and day out but 50% of our debt is held by foreigners and a japanese bond trader sitting there i talked to a lot of people from other countries in europe and they were a lot more concerned, i was trying to convince them that it was a .01% chance we would go past the x date, but they were talking about the crazy issues like the 14th amendment and printing the zero coin -- >> we will see, thank you very much, loren adler for the

committee for a responsible budget. coming up a cybercrack down, are activates too smart for their own good, fight with the feds coming up next.

lats night we introduced you to activists, derrick law starter is part of an online collective known as anonymous, becoming known for its digital came. lo lori jane glih rarvetion reports. >> although the group is called anonymous, it didn't take long to identify the computer savvy individuals who are responsible for taking down a series of corporate websites. in 2010, anonymous launched are attacks against mastercard,

visa. the fbi was able to infiltrate the group with the help of an arrested hacker turned informant. the fbi arrested 16 anonymous members, charged under the 1986 law that crilzed unauthorized access to computers. each charge can carry up to 20 years in prison. the potential punishment doesn't fit the crime. >> how frustrating is the computer fraud and abuse act? >> very frustrating. it's poorly written. >> represents many who have been charged under the faa. >> you could go to a website right now click on a link and the owner decides that they don't want you to be at the website your access is unauthorized, bang, you probably just committed a felony under the cfaa. >> one anonymous member who

ekland represents, the hacktivist. federal officials accused him of hacking into a website to do it. >> what appeared to be a fedex truck but instead it was the swath team. >> the fbi confiscated his computer and questioned him for hours. >> they want to charge me with three felonies, the felony identity theft, aggravated identity theft and taking control of a computer. >> i think he's going to definitely be charged. they haven't submitted it to the grand jury yet. they are looking for people they can make examples of. if you have 25 years in prison but one year of prison into forcibly entering yourself into

a female. that's the message we're sending out. >> pressing ahead with charges against lawstutter. >> listen, activists of the world. >> supporters of anonymous and many of their supporters, raising money for jailed hacktivists, this. >> this government is unrelenting in the oppression and the repression of internet activists want to reveal the truth and democratizing the internet. >> they are so upset about whistle blowing and they're upset because there is a real struggle going first between secrecy and openness. >> they also spoke about the faa. >> the primary weapon,

constantly attack people in congress. thank you very much. >> department of justice and the fbi cybercrime division refused multiple requests for an interview so we reached out to mark rash a retired member of the doj who helped write the legislation. >> why is it important to have the computer fraud and abuse act? >> computer theft, theft of information, those weren't crimes until we passed the specific law making it a crime. so we needed a computer crime statute to deal with the new technologies. >> ultimately you think that the law is doing more harm than good? >> i think by and large it's doing more good the way it is knowledge used. the problem is at the edges. the problem is when we try to use the statute to go after behavior that is not clearly criminal. when we use the statute to go after whistle blowers or

protesters or people who merely embarrass other people. >> rash says hackers who break the law must be willing to face the penalties. >> when you do a denial of service attack on ooh commercial entity or government agency you have taken it upon yourself to violate the law for a civil disobedience purpose. when you do that you run the risk of being arrested. dr. martin luther king engaged in civil disobedience in protest but he was arrestfor it and he was prosecuted for it. >> few hacktivists end up serving decades in jail but quinn norton is a joirnl journao cofercovers anonymous.

one bill introduced by zoe lofgren of california is called aaron's law, developer of rss and reditz. >> he was dieted on four and then they upped it to 13 felony counts. >> you all know what happened next, wikipedia went black. >> schwartz was charged under the cfaa for using an unauthorized computer to download from an online library. saying he intende intended to de to the public. >> co-have been in jail until e-was 76. last time i saw aaron was the wednesday before he died on that friday. i got up and i was working and i got an instant message from

teran who was his partner, she said i am really worried about aaron. >> later that evening ben wickler's phone rang. >> i was changing my baby' babys diaper and i got a phone call from her, cisc 7:06. the world had fallen apart. >> aaron's suicide rocked the online community and created pressure on members of congress. >> we still need to pass aaron's law to stop this from happening the next time. right now if this ends here, you know, the system beat aaron in a way. we need to change the system now. >> for now, though, the bill remains in committee and hacktivists "like" eric

lanstutter remain. >> the grand jury dieted 13 more hacktivists, joie all sorts of people are affected by this, in limbo, wondering what kinds of penalties they are going to be facing. >> what do they think about the group's attempt to fight the law? >> inevitably there are innocent people caught in the cross fire, they say they become victims of a mob mentality. that has caused these hackers to be labeled as bullies. we have heard in the merryville rape case, they actually shut down their websites because they felt bullied. even today those websites are still shut down. but then on the flip side of all of this you have eric, who is

waiting to find out what kind of penalty he's going to be receiving and when we were interviewing him he talked about all sorts of anxiety that he had been feeling about what is going to be feeling. what is the happy medium that can defend against these crimes, protect innocent people but also make sure that the punishment actually does fit the crime? >> we are working in new and uncharted territory. lori jane gliha. thank you. we turn to cindy cohn, the very name frontier foundation suggests that sort of wild west environment that you're working in and what lori jane was referring to. we are in the different area of the law and different considerations. is there a necessity for this as mark rash was saying, and do the benefits outweigh the cause?

>> written at a time before people were beginning to use computers for political statements and some of the ways that they use the computers for political protests and other things now. the law is just overbroad, it doesn't define terms very well and we see it being misused. there are a lot of -- provisions in the computer fraud and abuse act, the way the law was marshal ed against aaron schwartz? for violating terms of service or other agreements on websites, have hurt innovation. they've hurt security researchers and they've hurt ordinary people as well. so the law is ripe for reform. >> let's talk about aaron's law specifically. where does that stand now? >> well aaron's law has been introduced. it is a bipartisan bill,

introduced by zoe lofgren and representative sensen brrvetion. proposals currently being considered by the house, we think there's strong support in the senate. there's a piece of aaron's law that was actually in a separate bill that was passed by the senate a couple of years ago by the senate judiciary committee. so the bill is i think fairly modest. it frankly doesn't go as far as i would like but it would make a huge step forward in terms of bringing the law into kind of what ordinary people would think ought to be illegal and not. and most importantly will really take the penalty scheme and make it a little less crazy. one of the problems that people have is that the law is really disproportionate in its penalties. >> you know i cannot help but think about the edward snowden

disclosures and what that's taught us about the nsa and the kind of gathering there is. and i look at this sort of legislation and i wonder are we looking at the wrong side of the ledger? >> in what way? >> well, just in this, in this environment where the checks and balances are applied in some way, where you know, in the meantime, there are all these indications that the nsa is collecting huge amounts of data and you know we're looking at individuals here. when the nsa is gathering a rather big glut of information it turns out. >> well, i think that's right. i think a little harmonization might make sense. no one wants to live in a world where the government can find one thing about you but if you step out of line one step with your computer you're in jail for 25 years. there's a pretty big disconnect with regards to the rights the

government is legislating for itself in the use of computers and the way the law will respond to people who use computers and protect themselves to hide their identity perhaps is one of the situations in which you can face a cfaa violation. i think both sides of the aisle need to be addressed. stopping the nsa spying since 2006 so i'm on your side too. >> it didn't seem quite fair. i appreciate your analysis on this. ahead on america tonight. time of death, is physician assisted suicide a gift or just a natural? discussion on that is up next.

he is planning to die here. >> i don't fear death at all. i actually you know as they say death is easy. it's life that's hard. >> you were only given a couple of years to live and here you are what ten years later? >> when i was diagnosed i was 44. and at that point the life

expectancy was 3 to 5 years. >> what's it like to get that diagnosis. >> you don't have a lot of choice. you move on. i've had people have to bathe me. i was in bed a long time because of bone disease. i know i have to ask for help. but there comes a point you know it's going to get so bad that you can't do anything for yourself. and so somebody else is keeping you alive or keeping you in existence and for what, three extra weeks? to me i've had seven extra years already. so three weeks is nothing. >> the 54-year-old insurance agent was a driving force behind a new controversial law. earlier this year, underhill lobbied state lawmakers to legalize physician-assisted suicide. >> if this bill passes, if things become too unbearable, i can end my life.

[applause] >> we now lead in an area where other stayed have not gone. >> vermont's governor signed the death with dignity bill into law in may. it allows doctors to prescribe a life-ending pill for people with less than six months to live. >> so this will be the first legislative effort where the governor has had the privilege of signing a bill like this. >> i have no fear that i will ask for the medication. will i get to the point where i will take it or i get so bad i have to take it, i don't know. >> what is it about dying this way that is more comforting to you? >> it is on my terms. >> vermont is now the third state after oregon and washington to legalize physician-assisted suicide. but it is happening in other states. often involving a controversial group operating in the shadows. it's called the final exit network.

>> the difference between me and kevorkian? well, he liked publicity. i think it's a private thing. >> dr. larry eggbert used to be the medical director of the final exit network. he keeps a home in the small baltimore neighborhood. >> so you're not physically doing anything? >> i'm physically doing absolutely nothing. each of these would go to a tank. so you stick it on a tampg. >> in a candid conversation eggbert shows us what he helps people die. modified turkey cooking bags. >> we tell them to go to a party store like toys ar toys r us.

i asked would she be willing someone else use this? >> sbert helped -- eggbert helped many people end their lives. >> she would be giving a gift to somebody else. >> recycle them? >> recycle them. >> last this been used? >> a person died with his head in there. >> what's the process like for the patient? >> the person breathing doesn't feel any pain discomfort at all and they just go to sleep. >> you hold their hand sometimes. >> yes. >> how many times have you held someone's hands through their final moments? >> about 100. it's an honor. do you want to put it on. >> i don't want you to suffocate. >> don't worry about that.

>> dr. eggbert has faced criminal charges. he will help anyone die regardless whether their medical condition is terminal. he is unapologetic. >> i do not think the term, is a reasonable -- i think it's better for a person to say to think about what it is to do with your life. for example, a man has called me up, 94 years old, totally deaf, what, is this living? i don't want to do this anymore. >> he wants to go? >> he wants to go. >> do you think he should have that choice? >> yes, i do. you have the choice right now, you go down, buy a rifle, blow your brains out. you have this right. why shouldn't a physician advise you to do this considerably more dignified. >> someone pulling a helium balloon over their head, that's not dignified. >> but you don't have to do it that way.

you can save up the pills, it's up to you. >> he is pulling balloons over scwung's head, i think it's creepy. >> are leading the charge to withdraw the death with dignity law. >> the only way to make it pretty is to plan it and take a pill for it. and i just don't believe that frankly mother nature is really that cruel. >> how old was your mother when she passed? >> she was 90. really had a good life. >> handy says she's motivated by family experiences. she recently sat by her mother's side as she died a natural dea death. >> what is your option? >> i want the option to die naturally. i don't want an environment

where people are pressured to ending their lives prematurely. >> do you think people want to live? i think people want to live, basically. until they can't live anymore. >> jean mallory was married to vermont's former congressman dick mallory, the moderate republican represented the state in the u.s. house during the 1970s. he then returned to vermont as a leader in state politics. >> dick was legendary in the state. they don't make them like this anymore. >> i think clearly the time has come. >> after being diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer in 2004 mallory and his wife began the effort to bring physician assisted suicide to vermont. >> we just hope it's time for us, that's all. >> but despite their televised appeal early versions of the law failed. dick mallory took his own life

in 2011. >> was a beautiful fall day. and i came home, and found a note on the door. >> do you mind sharing what the note said? >> to jeannie and my family, the time has come. i've done everything that i wanted to do. and i don't -- i didn't regret my life. he knew it was going to be a shock to me. but i feel that this is what people who make the decision go through. they weigh the benefits. and the burdens. he certainly didn't want to put us through watching him become helpless. and he didn't want to be nursed, you know, he was very proud. a proud man. my hugest regret is that i couldn't be with him.

and that's because it was not legal. >> with the new law in vermont, if been underhill chooses physician-assisted suicide he can be surrounded by family at the end. >> i'd much rather go out on the terms that i want to go out, feeling good, being happy, being comfortable, being with the people i love. than lying in bed suffering. and i think it's almost an enlightened position. of not having to suffer at the end. >> the avid baseball fan is now planning for his death. >> initially i thought i'd have a nice meal and watch a red sox game. now i found you had to have five hours between the meal and taking the medicine. maybe i'd have the nice meal, wait five hours, watch the red

sox and fall asleep. >> this is such a gift to people. it is such a gift. they just don't know it yet. >> now, so far, no one in vermont has actually used this new law but it's only been on the books for a couple of months. it is a very different story in oregon. last year 77 people there ended their lives using doctor prescribed medication. that is the most since that oregon law went into effect. but joie that law has been on the books for 15 years now. that right to die movement is very slow, with vermont becoming the third, the was a referendum in massachusetts last year, and even though the polling was very popular, that ended up losing. and there were ads paid for by the catholic church. >> let's talk to somebody who has direct familiarity with the oregon law, marnie wood.

you became involved after your own sister's death. she had a long struggle with lou gehrig's disease. i think do you -- do we all feel that do people have regret, do we have doubt and did you have any regret after? >> no, i certainly did not have any regret after and i'd like to share that my sister nancy, being a resident of oregon, was totally aware of the legislation that existed there. and when she was diagnosed with als, lou gehrig's disease she and i began having very serious conversations. and she said, of course, she knew about the legislation and that would be a choice that she wanted to pursue. and so she did.

>> marnie i'd like to ask you, there is option of the death with dignity legislation, folks there feel as if they would be using this, people could be forced or coerced into going ahead and ending their lives. what do you say about that? >> i feel so strongly that the oregon law allowed us to know exactly what the procedures were, the safeguards, the patient meets with their physician, the physician and the patient have the discussion. the patient makes a choice. and the request, there's time taken between requests. there's verbal requests as well as written requests. the patient sees another doctor. the assessment of mental capacity is done. it's -- i feel so strongly that now, vermont has this, in its

law as well, in oregon, it's worked for 15 years. i really feel that the statistics are there to help us know that there's not been abuse. and a personal journey that i had with my sister, it was not at all something that there was any coercion happening at all. >> adam do you see in this, i mean this is a situation where marnie was able to support her sister through her decision to end her life. do you see this being part of the discussion in other places that is family members being directly involved in the decision? >> absolutely. a lot of people like to have this medication that it's confident -- comforting that it's there in case.

77% ended up using it. a lot of people have the medication, have it there in crais the pain gets too bad but don't end up using it. >> it's not a final option just because you have requested it? >> ben underhill will get that medication if he needs it. still nont sure he will use it. >> thank you both of for being with us here. america tonight will return after the break.

today. today. >> julian as sauj is add meyereded and reviled.

why and what's the impact? plus we're going through a process of this evolution anyway.

>> something went wrong later on. >> brandon bunch had been a member of the crew until a few weeks ago. he reluctantly left the job to spend more time with his family. >> i do everything as a unit. i was close with them.

they're like my brothers. it's hard to explain but when they take your soul, my son was my life. >> david caldwell's son, robert, was just 18 when he started. he asked his dad for a check to cover the initial training. >> that's been the hardest thing for me to bear, that i helped him along, and he really wanted to do this, you know. maybe if i guided him into something else, i wouldn't be talking to you today. >> the last time david saw his son was two nights before the fire. >> we were getting in the car, and before he closed the door, i said, robert, don't be a hero, and he just smiled back to me. he got in his truck, and that's the last thing i said to him.

>> david also lost his son, travis. a metal worker, he's honoring the fallen firefighters in the best way he can. >> i did this design i believe tuesday evening. >> he said he could barely get through engraving travis' name. >> that when it first hit me that they were gone, because their names were down. you know, we need all the names. there was no turning back. >> one letter at a time, he says, he came to terms with his last. >> you can see, you know, the yellow flame coming out of the bottom as the letters were being c cut. david's hope is trying to start a national conversation about how the country deals with wildfires.

>> every accident we've had, there's a reason for this, but in my mind errors were made long before they ever went to the fire. [ bagpipes playing ] >> i think that there's nobody in this country who would disagree with the proposition that we have the most, you know, well-trained wildfire, you know, firefighters probably in the world. the problem with firefighters is they're their own worst advocates, and in a world where they're increasingly going to face impossible, dangerous

situations, they're going to die, and they're going to be injured. we celebrate them as heroes, but we don't ask, you know, should they have been in harm's way like this? >> so heart-breaking. sebastian walker joins us now from san francisco. i know you traveled to many locations where fires are fought across western states over the summer. is there a consensus on how these things should be handled? >> reporter: firstly, irts about acknowledging that there is a serious problem here. i mean, that's something that we heard again and again not just from people personally impacted like those you saw in that clip but also from people that make it their business to really understand this phenomenon and track the costs. i mean, those costs alone are extraordinary. if you think about the money that the forest service is spending on fire suppression and prevention, a decade ago it was something like 3$300 million an these days it's in the billions.

in fact, since 2002 it's averaged at about $3 billion every year. despite all of the money that's being spent, the problem is actually getting worse. the fires are getting bigger and more intense. in fact, since the 1960s the six worst fires that occurred in the u.s. have taken place since 2002, so really something is going wrong, and i think firstly it's about raising awareness that there is a problem here and then thinking how to fix it. >> let's talk more about how to fix it. as you note, these things have gotten bigger, badder, worse long fire seasons as well. what is the solution? >> one of the main reasons is obviously climate change. there's been warmer temperatures and droughts making these forests much more combustible. there are human errors made. that's something we heard from the people we interviewed in the film. the way the land management has been done over the last few decades set the stage for these

fires in some ways. it's actually suppressing fire from forests that have known it as a national occurrence and created this buildup of dry brush and really created a situation where these fires can get much bigger. also it's about development of the wild land and the number of homes built in areas that are prone to fire. that's been massively expanded over the last few years, and really that brings the costs way higher than they've been before. >> it makes it quite difficult. a lot to learn here. you can get all of sebastian's chasing fire investigation on friday night on "fault lines," 9:30 p.m. eastern after "america tonight." coming up here tonight, what's grounding a village in mourning? how families in the west bank are springing new life out of destruction. that's all i have an real

money. victoria azarenko on august 20th, al jazeera america

>> in fact a group peace now says more than 1700 homes have built in occupied land in the

first six months of this year. palestinians have staged weekly protested in response, but have met with violent crackdowns. now families are replanting the tools of violence into more sods life. from the garden of the west bank, here's al jazeera's report. >> reporter: this woman knows all about overcoming grief. four years ago their son was killed during a peaceful protest against the nearby israeli separation wall. now the village honored him with this very unusual garden. planting flowers inside empty tear gas grenades fired by israeli forces during the weekly demonstrations. >> translator: he used to love flowers. i hope he'll always been surrounded by flowers. >> her daughter also died after inhaling tear gas during a protest. but he was killed right here after being hit in the chest by

a tear gas canister. his death was captured on camera. >> translator: i feel he's around me. i feel he's watering the plants when i do. i'm hurting because i lost two children. >> reporter: it's a chance for people to pay their respects. for nonviolent protests, they've been going on for eight years now, and villagers hope with the garden children like these will remember others that gave their lives to the struggle. >> translator: our message to the israeli occupation is supported is that we transform canisters of death into canisters of life with flowers. >> a simple message but one they hope will take root elsewhere, too. >> that report from al jazeera. that's it for us. have a good night.

>> good evening. welcome to al jazeera america. here are the headlines. the government is back in business and the president offered them this message. >> thank you. >> thanks for it is service. welcome back. what you do is important. it matters.