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 …

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.

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 …

Wonkbook: A jobs plan that might actually work  —  House Ways and Means Committee member Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill.Most of Washington's attention is on the jobs plans being announced by President Obama and various Republican presidential candidates.

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 …

Obama: From ‘yes we can’ to ‘it takes time’  —  Obama lowers bar on rhetoric in his campaign speeches  —  When he ran for the presidency in 2008, Barack Obama sprinkled his campaign speeches with ambitious catchphrases such as “the fierce urgency of now” and “yes we can.”

Bloomberg Hid Reason for Deputy's Resignation: Domestic Violence Arrest  —  Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's management style has its hallmarks: unwavering loyalty to aides and a deep distaste for exposing private lives to public scrutiny.  —  So when he described the resignation of a deputy mayor …

CNN Poll: 8 in 10 think we're in a recession  —  Washington (CNN) - Economic fears are not diminishing.  More than eight in 10 Americans think the economy is in another recession, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.  One-third of those surveyed think it's serious.