Morning News
From the Washington Post:
…The toasts were gracious, of course, but also took note of history and the changing nature of an increasingly interconnected world.
"To the future that beckons all of us. Let us answer its call. And let our two great nations realize all the triumphs and achievements that await us," Obama said.
And Singh reciprocated: "Mr. President, your journey to the White House has captured the imagination of millions and millions of people in India. You are an inspiration to all those who cherish the values of democracy, diversity and equal opportunity."
The menu was supervised by guest chef Marcus Samuelsson of New York's Aquavit, which specializes in Swiss cuisine, one of the few facts related to the evening that doesn't seem to symbolize anything. Samuelsson worked with the White House kitchen staff to create predominantly vegetarian dishes, out of respect for Singh, who does not eat meat…
Also on the bill, jazz vocalist and Chicagoan Kurt Elling and another Chicago native, Jennifer Hudson…
Obama told the assembled crowd that he had chosen India for his first state dinner to reflect "the high esteem in which I and the American people hold your wise leadership. It reflects the abiding bonds of respect and friendship between our people, including our friends in the Indian American community who join us here today," the president said. "But above all, your visit, at this pivotal moment in history, speaks to the opportunity before us -- to build the relationship between our nations, born in the last century, into one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century."Then Singh spoke briefly, noting that "India and America are separated by distance, but bound together by the values of democracy, pluralism, rule of law and respect for fundamental human freedoms. Over the years, we have built upon these values and created a partnership that is based upon both principle and pragmatism."
"I've come today to build upon these successes and to strengthen our multifaceted relationship," Singh said…
From the New York Times:
Some of the debtors sitting forlornly in this city’s old stone bankruptcy court have lost a job or gotten divorced. Others have been summoned to face their creditors because they spent mindlessly beyond their means. But all too often these days, they are there merely because they, or their children, got sick.
Wes and Katie Covington, from Smyrna, Tenn., were already in debt from a round of fertility treatments when complications with her pregnancy and surgery on his knee left them with unmanageable bills. For Christine L. Phillips of Order Generic Cialis Online without Prescription Nashville, it was a $10,000 trip to the emergency room after a car wreck, on the heels of costly operations to remove a cyst and repair a damaged nerve.
Jodie and Charlie Mullins of Dickson, Tenn., were making ends meet on his patrolman’s salary until she developed debilitating back pain that required spinal surgery and forced her to quit nursing school. As with many medical bankruptcies, they had health insurance but their policy had a $3,000 deductible and, to their surprise, covered only 80 percent of their costs…
President Obama, in addressing a joint session of Congress in September, called on lawmakers to protect those “who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy.” He added: “These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”
The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, made a similar case on Saturday in a floor speech calling for passage of a measure to open debate on his chamber’s health care bill.
The legislation moving through Congress would attack the problem in numerous ways…
From the Wall Street Journal:
The Obama administration's push to solve the nation's energy problems, a massive federal program that rivals the Manhattan Project, is spurring a once-in-a-generation shift in U.S. science.
The government's multibillion-dollar push into energy research is reinvigorating 17 giant U.S.-funded research facilities, from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory here to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. After many years of flat budgets, these labs are ramping up to develop new electricity sources, trying to build more-efficient cars and addressing climate change…
The Office of Science estimates its bigger budget allowed it to create nearly 1,400 research jobs at the 10 labs it oversees in the fiscal year ending in September, up 11% from the previous year's staffing levels. It estimates it created another 1,400 science jobs at universities. In addition, it says, funds from the Obama administration's stimulus package created hundreds more government lab jobs. As a result, the balance of U.S. science is shading a few degrees -- away from the pure research typically practiced at universities, and toward applied science.
These efforts mark a third wave of spending at national labs such as Oak Ridge, a vast complex of woods and research facilities not far from Knoxville, Tenn. Oak Ridge was one of three labs set up to help build the atomic bomb during World War II. It boomed again during America's energy-independence push in the 1970s...
From Insurance News Net:
Women in business in some ways are harder hit than their male counterparts by the nation's broken health care system, paying more for their own health insurance coverage as they struggle to compete in a tough business climate.
For social worker Melinda Merrill-Maguire, it has meant continuing to work full time for a local social services agency and only part time in the private practice she owns with her domestic partner, Charissa. Her full-time job provides the couple and their 3-year-old son with affordable, comprehensive health care benefits - a necessity that would have been out of reach if they had to purchase coverage on their own.
Those valuable "golden handcuffs" keep her tied to her agency job, she said Friday, and limit her ability to develop her own business. Buying a family insurance policy comparable to the coverage she has now would cost more than $2,000 a month, she said.
Merrill-Maguire was one of a handful of area businesswomen attending a small gathering Friday in support of contentious national health care reform legislation pending in Congress. The event was sponsored by Organizing for America Maine, an offshoot of the Democratic National Committee, and Change That Works, an advocacy group affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.
Shelby Wright of Organizing for America Maine said at the meeting that women at age 25 pay about 45 percent more for comprehensive health coverage than their male counterparts. By age 40, the difference is higher, almost 50 percent, she said, so the decision to purchase health care coverage is even more difficult for women than it is for men…