Talk of the Nation

After the Vatican accused the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, America's largest organization of Catholic nuns, of failing to follow Church doctrine on several controversial issues, the group's president suggested they will not backing down.

Overall, baby boomers are optimistic about their health and future, according to a 2012 survey by The National Council on Aging, United Health Care and USA Today. But many are unsure about how to pay for long-term care, medical bills and other health costs.

Oksana Marafioti spent her childhood touring the Soviet Union with the family band. She is a Gypsy — from an ethnic group dispersed throughout Europe and linked by a language called Roma, or Romani.

In their travels — from the deserts of Mongolia to the Siberian tundra — her family endured intense racism.

"In the USSR ... people would just ... spit on you or hit you as soon as you said you were a Gypsy," she tells NPR's John Donvan.

Transcript

JOHN DONVAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm John Donvan.

The Republican ticket is complete now that Mitt Romney chose Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. NPR's Ken Rudin and Sergio Bustos, of The Miami Herald, discuss what the Ryan pick means for the presidential race.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the 2012 presidential and congressional elections will be the most expensive on record, at an estimated cost of nearly $6 billion. Federal Election Commission Chairman Michael Toner says politicians should spend even more.

NPR's Lynn Neary reads from listener comments on several past programs, including shows about the shortage of primary care physicians, sexual harassment in online gaming and the benefit of study abroad programs.