United States Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu opened the Department of Energy's 2009 Solar Decathlon, a unique student competition on the National Mall that showcased the latest energy efficiency and solar power technologies. Nearly 1,000 students from 20 universities around the world had spent the last two years planning, designing, and building high-efficiency, solar-powered homes.Over ten days, they tested the efficiency and performance of their homes in ten contests that simulated real world use. They did laundry, cooked, and watched TV, just like in any other family home, but all of the electricity and hot water was generated using the sun.The homes were open to the public from the October 9th through the 18th on the National Mall, the entire competition could be followed at www.solardecathlon.gov, and updates posted direct from the teams through Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. Source
A United States House of Representatives Intelligence Committee meeting was abruptly halted when Justice Department officials refused to be sworn in before briefing the lawmakers. The officials had been expected to brief the committee on the Justice Department's review of an internal CIA report on the 2001 shootdown of a plane over Peru that was carrying American missionaries in which two of the passengers were killed. Source
Day260/Oct9th/Friday: The President delivered brief remarks on his winning of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in the Rose Garden of the White House. Barack Obama is the first sitting President of the United States since Woodrow Wilson to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Among the President's remarks:
"I know that throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes. And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action -- a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century.
"We must all do our part to resolve those conflicts that have caused so much pain and hardship over so many years, and that effort must include an unwavering commitment that finally realizes that the rights of all Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security in nations of their own.
"And that's why this award must be shared with everyone who strives for justice and dignity -- for the young woman who marches silently in the streets on behalf of her right to be heard even in the face of beatings and bullets; for the leader imprisoned in her own home because she refuses to abandon her commitment to democracy; for the soldier who sacrificed through tour after tour of duty on behalf of someone half a world away; and for all those men and women across the world who sacrifice their safety and their freedom and sometime their lives for the cause of peace. " Transcript Video
The President met with Senator Jim Webb in the Oval Office of the White House.
The President and U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner met with five Americans who represented millions from across the country who have been hurt by the outdated rules regulating the financial sector. Chairman of the United States Senate's Banking Committee Senator Chris Dodd and Chairman of the United States House of Representatives's Financial Services Committee Congressman Barney Frank also attended the meeting.
The President held an event in the East Room of the White House to call on Americans to stand up to the opponents of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency and urge Congress to act quickly in passing a regulatory reform package by the end of the year. Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner also attended. Among the President's remarks, he said, "In a financial system that's never been more complicated, it has never been more important to have a watchdog function like the one we've proposed. And yet, predictably, a lot of the banks and big financial firms don't like the idea of a consumer agency very much. In fact, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is spending millions on an ad campaign to kill it. You might have seen some of these ads, the ones that claim that local butchers and other small businesses somehow will be harmed by this agency. This is, of course, completely false, and we've made clear that only businesses that offer financial services would be affected by this agency. I don't know how many of your butchers are offering financial services. Transcript Video
The President met with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room of the White House to hear top military officials make their case for tens of thousands of additional troops to target al-Qaida. The session marked the first time Obama has questioned his inner circle specifically about troop levels needed. Source
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