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National Security
5:37 am
Sat October 20, 2012

Wondering About The Cost Of War? We Have Answers

Credit John Moore / Getty Images
Sgt. Ben Roberts (center), recently returned from Afghanistan, speaks with Chick-fil-A manager Michael Sims at a military job fair in Columbia, S.C., in January.
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Originally published on Mon October 22, 2012 3:21 pm

As we approach the presidential election in November, Weekend Edition is seeking your questions about issues and candidates in a segment called Reporter Hotline. This week, our focus is veterans affairs and defense spending.

Paying For War

Question from Sue Hoben of Canton, Conn.: "Why don't we increase taxes when we wage a war? For instance, Iraq and Afghanistan. Surely if national interest is at stake, then we should be willing to pay the price rather than add to the deficit."

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Religion
5:37 am
Sat October 20, 2012

'Mother Of Outcasts' To Be A Saint For Leprosy Work

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Credit Sisters of St. Francis Archive
Mother Marianne Cope (in wheelchair) with other nuns and the women and girls of Bishop Home in Kalaupapa, Hawaii, shortly before her death in 1918.
Credit Heidi Chang for NPR
Gloria Marks, a Hansen's disease patient, has lived in Kalaupapa since 1960.
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Originally published on Mon October 22, 2012 3:21 pm

A German-American nun will become a saint Sunday, nearly a century after her death. Mother Marianne Cope is the second person to be honored in this way for caring for people in Hawaii with leprosy, now known as Hansen's disease.

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World
5:37 am
Sat October 20, 2012

Hopes Raised For Girl Shot By Taliban

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Originally published on Mon October 22, 2012 3:21 pm

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

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Asia
5:37 am
Sat October 20, 2012

Amid Calls For Reform, China Waits For New Leaders

Credit David Gray / Reuters/Landov
Guards stand outside the Xinhua Gate of the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in central Beijing earlier this year. China is preparing for a once-a-decade leadership change amid signs of growing public dissatisfaction.
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Originally published on Mon October 22, 2012 3:21 pm

The slogan "Long Live the Great Communist Party of China" is emblazoned on the wall outside the Beijing compound where the country's leaders live and work.

But now that party is under pressure to change as it prepares for a once-in-a-decade transition of power, which starts at a party congress scheduled to begin Nov. 8.

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Asia
5:37 am
Sat October 20, 2012

An American 'Revolutionary' In China

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Credit Courtesy of Sidney Rittenberg
Mao Zedong signs Sidney Rittenberg's copy of The Little Red Book during a gathering of party leaders in Beijing on May 1, 1967, at the beginning of China's Cultural Revolution.
Credit Courtesy of Sidney Rittenberg
Sidney Rittenberg exhorts a crowd in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to defend Mao Zedong Thought — or Maoism — in December 1966.
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Originally published on Mon October 22, 2012 4:37 pm

Sidney Rittenberg went to China as an American GI at the end of World War II and fell in love with the country. He was discharged as a Chinese translator for the U.S. Army, but decided to stay there.

By the time Rittenberg came back to the United States, more than 30 years later, he had become one of only a few American citizens to join the Chinese Communist Party. He translated English for Chairman Mao Zedong, told off Madame Mao during the Cultural Revolution, and endured 16 years of solitary confinement in Chinese prisons.

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