We take a look at a trend in the number of women taking their husband's names; get reactions to Gen. Petraeus' weekend interview; headlines.

Yesterday, Gen. David Petraeus appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" to outline his thoughts on how the U.S.-led coalition can succeed in Afghanistan.

Amidst all the economic doom and gloom, we hear a story of one small buisness that's actually working. Hilary Lanzer is a Takeaway listener and the vice president of sales at Ask Me, Inc., a marketing firm for travel services. She contacted The Takeaway to express frustration with all the negative stories; she shares her experience of launching a company during a recession.

All weekend, we've been asking listeners if they believe that women and men should change their surnames upon marriage. We got dozens of responses from people on both sides of the aisle. We hear some of your takes on this heated subject. Kathryn wrote on The Takeaway website:

"I kept my name.  I was married at age 37 and maybe age had something to do with it. My name was and is part of my identity, so I never considered changing it. I will say that it gets a little confusing when there are children involved, but I am who I am."

We look ahead at this week in news. It's the official beginning of shrimping season in Louisiana; Russia's grain embargo has just taken effect; the Obama administration tries to figure out how to approach mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; a judge's ruling effectively bans planting genetically modified sugar beets; and the Congressional Budget Office will release its budget outlook.

Last week on the program we discussed the idea of making access to food a basic legal right. This idea comes from India, a country that is home to one of the world's largest impoverished populations, with over 421 million of its citizens going hungry. India is now considering making access to food a right enshrined by the constitution. Takeaway listeners tell us whether they believe access to food should be a human and legal right.

On our Facebook page, Kathleen writes:

"Food is absolutely a human right. The fact that not every country can feed all its people right now is irrelevant to food being a human right. Governments - including ours - should be judged according to how quickly and effectively they are working to feed everyone."

This week, when Portia de Rossi filed a petition to change her name to Portia DeGeneres, it got all of us talking about name changes around marriages. Who changes their name when they get married, anyway? A lot of us do, it turns out – 77 to 95 percent of women, at least. But a recent study found that women who change their names are perceived to be worth lower salaries than women who don’t.

If you're married, did you keep your name, take your partner's or take a new name altogether?

The midterm elections are fast-approaching and many of the races are shaping up to be neck-and-neck. The Republicans have to gain 39 seats in the House and ten in the Senate in order to win majorities in both. But with public turnout for midterms usually very low, how much can these elections (or the campaigns leading up to them) help us predict the country's political future?

China’s economy has been steadily growing over the past three decades, bypassing countries like Great Britian, Germany and France. And last night, the country took a major economic leap: China is now the world’s second largest economy, behind only the United States. The milestone was reached after Japan announced a slightly smaller second quarter value than China.

The basketball World Championship is set to begin in Turkey at the end of the month. In an exhibition game this weekend, Team USA handedly defeated France 86-55. The team is playing out without basketball superstars like Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and LeBron James, but there seems to be a new talent on the court: Kevin Durant. We talk with Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin about how the team is shaping up.

In our world where BlackBerries, cell phones, laptop computers and other digital devices rarely provide an escape from constant communication, it's often more difficult to disconnect than stay connected. But, as Matt Richtel writes in today's New York Times, one group of five neuroscientists successfully separated themselves from technology to enter the wilderness and study how the heavy and consistent use of digital devices affect the brain.

One fifth of Pakistan is underwater, and many of the country's residents — reportedly as many as 400,000 — continue to be threatened by the worst flooding in nearly a century. Some of the hardest hit are those in the country's more remote regions, where aid and even information is difficult to deliver. Our partner the BBC has offered a radio service called "Lifeline" that is trying to help reach Pakistanis, offering a call-in for people who need important aid information, and also giving them a forum for telling their own story during the disaster.

In the course of this summer's DIY-Checkup series here on The Takeaway. We've found ways to take control of our health in simple ways.  Kate Dailey, health editor for Newsweek, has been with us the whole way.

A spokesman for Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said that he's demanding that all private security contractors disband in four months. Karzai has said that these companies undermine government security forces, however, it isn't clear that the country would remain secure without them. For more, we're joined by Allison Stanger, author of "One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy." She says that these contractors are "absolutely instrumental to our mission there."