Religion
3:22 am
Mon April 16, 2012

Christians Debate: Was Jesus For Small Government?

Credit Jacquelyn Martin / AP
House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., with his 2012 budget plan. Ryan cites his Catholic faith in justifying his proposed cuts to social safety-net programs.

Originally published on Mon April 16, 2012 9:45 am

What would Jesus do with the U.S. economy?

That's a matter of fierce debate among Christians — with conservatives promoting a small-government Jesus and liberals seeing Jesus as an advocate for the poor.

After the House passed its budget last month, liberal religious leaders said the Republican plan, which lowered taxes and cut services to the poor, was an affront to the Gospel — and particularly Jesus' command to care for the poor.

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Law
3:20 am
Mon April 16, 2012

Clemens Faces Trial (Again) Over Doping Testimony

Credit Jonathan Ernst / Reuters /Landov
Former Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens stops to sign a baseball as he leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on July 14, 2011, after a judge declared a mistrial in his perjury trial.

Originally published on Mon April 16, 2012 9:06 am

Baseball star Roger Clemens goes on trial for a second time Monday on charges that he lied to a congressional committee about using steroids and human growth hormone. His trial on perjury and obstruction charges last summer ended abruptly when prosecutors mistakenly showed the jury evidence that the judge had ruled inadmissible.

Clemens won a record seven Cy Young awards during his storied pitching career, but prosecutors contend that he used steroids and human growth hormone to prolong that career.

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Shots - Health Blog
3:20 am
Mon April 16, 2012

Deadly 'Choking Game' Comes With Big Risks

Originally published on Wed April 18, 2012 8:48 am

Michele Galloway went looking for her son, Connor, one morning in their Webster, N.C., home to make sure the seventh-grader hadn't overslept.

"I opened the door and I found him," Galloway said. "And he looked like he was standing up beside his bed. And I just said, 'Connor, you're awake.' And then I realized he was not awake."

She looked more closely. "There was a little gap between his feet and the floor," she said. "And I realized, you know, he had a belt around his neck."

The other end of Connor's belt was looped around the top of his bunk bed.

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Around the Nation
3:19 am
Mon April 16, 2012

A Push To Help U.S. Veterans Fight Homelessness

Originally published on Mon April 16, 2012 9:54 am

Last year, the number of homeless U.S. veterans on a given night dropped 12 percent from the year before. But tens of thousands were still on the streets, and more could be joining them as troops return from Afghanistan and Iraq. President Obama has vowed to end veterans' homelessness by 2015.

Homeless No More

James Brown left the Army in 1979. And for most of the next 32 years, he lived on the streets in and around Los Angeles. You might have seen him: the dirty, disheveled guy trying to keep warm in a cardboard box.

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The Two-Way
3:18 am
Mon April 16, 2012

Americans Do Not Walk The Walk, And That's A Growing Problem

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Americans walk less than the citizens of any other industrialized nation, says Tom Vanderbilt. In this file photo from last summer, pedestrians and a cyclist cross the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.

"Americans now walk the least of any industrialized nation in the world," says writer Tom Vanderbilt. To find out why that is, Vanderbilt has been exploring how towns are built, how Americans view walking — and what might be done to get them moving around on their own two feet.

Talking with Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep about what is wrong with Americans' relationship with walking, Vanderbilt says, "The main thing is, we're just not doing enough of it."

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Shots - Health Blog
3:17 am
Mon April 16, 2012

Why Women Suffer More Migraines Than Men

One in four women has had a migraine. And, it turns out, the debilitating headaches affect three times more women than men.

But why?

Decades ago, these headaches were attributed to women's inability to cope with stress, a sort of hysteria. Now experts are starting to figure out the factors that really make a difference.

Today scientists know a migraine is all in your head — but not in that old-fashioned sense. Migraines are biologically based, and they play themselves out as a wave of electrical activity traveling across the brain.

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Programming
10:00 pm
Sun April 15, 2012

Morning Edition Monday, April 16th: Tax Loopholes

NEA Wants Congress to Close Tax Loopholes

The President of the National Education Association, Dr. Dennis Van Roekling, talks about how easy it would be to solve the tax issue if legislators would just close corporate tax loopholes that allow many large corporations to avoid paying any taxes at all. He then talks about how just a few loopholes account for $3 Trillion in uncollected taxes which could be used for education, health care, job creation and to pay down debt. 

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Programming
6:00 pm
Sun April 15, 2012

Today on Local Color

On Sunday's edition, our "Local Color...Live at Landslide" series resumes, with an interview/performance from Asheville performer Lyric. Courtesy Landslide Studio in Asheville.

Our Album Spotlight is from Asheville quintet, Sanctum Sully. We'll spin 3 tracks from their newest release, a bluegrassy affair, titled "Trade Winds."

Your Money
5:36 pm
Sun April 15, 2012

The Tax Man Cometh! But For Whom?

It's that time of year again – tax week.

With the deadline for Americans to file their income taxes looming, there's a good chance you've heard or will hear from politicians, on cable news and on talk radio about those who pay little or no taxes.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has said that we "have a situation in this country where you're nearing 50 percent of people who don't even pay income taxes." There are even those who say that there are nearly 50 percent of Americans who pay no taxes at all.

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News
2:56 pm
Sun April 15, 2012

A Father And Son Go On Their Last 'Odyssey' Together

Credit Andrea Wyner / Travel + Leisure - April 2012
Author Daniel Mendelsohn, left, and his father, Jay, on the Odysseus-inspired cruise.

A few years ago, author, critic, and translator Daniel Mendelsohn was teaching the epic Greek poem The Odyssey when his father decided to take his class.

Jay Mendelsohn, a retired research scientist, wanted to understand his son better, and understand his life's work. When Daniel decided he wanted to retrace one of the most epic journeys of Greek literature, Jay became his travel partner.

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