Five NASCAR Drivers Decline President Obama's White House Invitation  —  President Barack Obama will honor NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and the 11 other Chase drivers from last year in a White House ceremony on Wednesday - but nearly half of the 2010 playoff contenders won't be there.

U.S. Showed No Job Growth in August; Rate Stays at 9.1%  —  The economy showed no job growth in August, the first time there has been no increase in net jobs in the United States in 11 months.  —  The flat performance in the job market was down sharply from a revised 85,000 gain of jobs in July …

U.S. Is Set to Sue a Dozen Big Banks Over Mortgages  —  The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold …

Fox News Poll: Perry Overtakes Romney as Top GOP 2012 Pick; Most Say Palin Should Stay Out of Race  —  Even as Texas Gov. Rick Perry moves into the lead as Republican voters' preferred presidential candidate, a Fox News poll released Thursday shows that voters are more likely to view him as …

Obama pulls back proposed smog standards, in victory for business  —  President Obama abruptly pulled back proposed new national smog standards Friday morning, overruling the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to compel states and communities nationwide to reduce local air pollution in the coming years or face federal penalties.

Employers add no net jobs in Aug.; rate unchanged  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers stopped adding jobs in August, an alarming setback for an economy that has struggled to grow and might be at risk of another recession.  —  The government also reported that the unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent.

Regulations, taxes aren't killing small business, owners say  —  WASHINGTON — Politicians and business groups often blame excessive regulation and fear of higher taxes for tepid hiring in the economy.  However, little evidence of that emerged when McClatchy canvassed a random sample of small business owners across the nation.

The Great Recession and Government Failure  —  When comparing the performance of markets to government, markets look pretty darn good.  —  The origins of the financial crisis and the Great Recession are widely attributed to “market failure.”  This refers primarily to the bad loans …

Eric and Irene  —  “Have you left no sense of decency?”  That's the question Joseph Welch famously asked Joseph McCarthy, as the red-baiting demagogue tried to ruin yet another innocent citizen.  And these days, it's the question I find myself wanting to ask Eric Cantor, the House majority leader …

There is something very ugly about this attempt to ghettoise Israeli musicians  —  Last night's protest at the Proms against the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra represented a new low in anti-Israel agitation.  It confirmed that everything and everyone connected with Israel is now looked upon by certain …

GOP leaders stop taking credit for job data  —  When the jobs reports were looking quite good in the early spring, Republican leaders were eager to take credit for the positive numbers they had nothing to do with.  After all, as far as GOP officials were concerned, their mere presence …

Take the chain-emails away from Perry  —  Most folks probably have some conservative friend or relative who sends right-wing chain emails their way.  Hopefully, people know the vast majority of these political myths and urban legends are nonsense.  —  But Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry seems …

Turkey expels Israeli ambassador  —  Ankara follows through on threat to impose independent sanctions on Jerusalem following its refusal to apologize for deadly Marmara raid: Top-level diplomatic staff expelled, key military contracts suspended.  Turkish FM: Time for Israel to pay the price