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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Huntsman's Good Economic Plan  —  Better than anything so far from the GOP Presidential field.  —  Republican Presidential candidate and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is lagging in the polls, but the economic agenda he rolled out this week may start getting him more attention.  And deservedly so.

Road trip!  American student joins rebels in fight for Qaddafi stronghold  —  Chris Jeon, 21, a student at at University of California - Los Angeles, decided to travel to Libya to join the rebels for the last six weeks of his summer vacation.  Here he is surrounded by rebels who are amassing …

Dem senators: Big job loss if transportation bill is not extended  —  Two Democratic senators are warning that 1.8 million jobs could be lost if Congress fails to approve a new transportation bill by Sept. 30.  —  Sens. Tim Johnson (S.D.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.) sent a letter to every senator …

Supercommittee Pits Lobbying Firms' Clients Against One Another  —  The bipartisan congressional supercommittee charged with finding $1.5 trillion in budget savings is leaving Washington lobbying firms in a quandary, seeing their clients pitted against one another in a competition for government cash.

Walsh to skip Obama jobs speech  —  WASHINGTON — House Republican Joe Walsh of Illinois is thumbing his nose at President Obama's speech on jobs before a joint session of Congress on Sept. 8 — by skipping it.  —  Walsh, a tea party-backed freshman from McHenry, issued a statement today saying he'll …