President Obama repeatedly asked members of Congress to pass the American Jobs Act last week. But when no Democrat filed Obama’s bill after he presented it to Congress, a conservative congressman swiped the name for his own legislation.

The American Jobs Act introduced in the House of Representatives looks quite different from the version President Obama outlined in his speech to Congress. Instead of hiking taxes on working Americans to pay for another stimulus, Rep. Louie Gohmert’s (R-TX) legislation offers a tax cut.

UPDATE: Gohmert’s bill now has a number. It’s HR 2911.

Nearly 80 American soldiers were wounded and two Afghan civilians were killed in a Taliban truck bombing targeting an American base in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said Sunday, a stark reminder that the war in Afghanistan still rages 10 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks against the United States.

The blast, which occurred late Saturday, shaved the facades from shops outside the Combat Outpost Sayed Abad in Wardak province and broke windows in government offices nearby, said Roshana Wardak, a former parliamentarian who runs a clinic in the nearby town of the same name. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Eight wounded civilians were brought to Wardak's clinic, two of them with wounds serious enough that they were sent to Kabul. She said one 3-year-old girl died of her wounds on the way to the clinic.

The attack was carried out by a Taliban suicide bomber who detonated a large bomb inside a truck carrying firewood, NATO said.

An elementary school in Colorado has come under criticism after they lowered the American flag and elevated a Saudi Arabian flag.

The principal at Bauder Elementary School in Fort Collins said they did not mean to disrespect the American flag, according to a report in the Greeley Gazzette.

Principal Brian Carpenter told the newspaper that the American flag was immediately returned to its proper and prominent position at the school.

He explained that other flags are posted around the school to recognize the nationalities of students from other countries.

A photograph showing the raised Saudi flag alongside the lowered American flag was first posted on the Greeley Report, a local blog. It generated lots of local debate.

“We realize this is an extremely sensitive time with us getting close to the 10th anniversary of 9/11," Carpenter told the Gazzette.

Community members are upset after thieves damaged or stole more than 50 American flags in Uniontown, Fayette County.

The flags line several streets for the upcoming Fourth of July celebrations there.

Red stripes spaced with white, 50 stars on a field of blue – it’s a design monumental to Americans – at least to most Americans.

“What they’re doing is just cutting them off the poles and letting them lay on the ground,” said Mike Gaydos, of American Legion Post 57.

Over the past two weeks, officials say more than 50 flags and poles have been stolen or damaged.

Keith Hillings and the local Elks Club place the flags along Gallatin Avenue.

As people in the New Amsterdam Apartments in Marlton prepare for the 4th of July, red, white and blue started popping up around the complex.

That was until a flyer prohibiting the hanging of flags or signs was delivered to mailboxes Friday.

“I was so upset. How can they ban the American flag?” wondered Lois Lawrence.

She’s lived in the complex for 13 years. Her father was in the military and her son-in-law is a deployed marine.

American Express Co. is making its boldest move yet in the prepaid market by introducing a reloadable card that carries almost no fees.

Instead of charging cardholders for activating, reloading or replacing lost cards — standard practice in the prepaid market — the company will make its money on the product primarily from the fees retailers pay when consumers make purchases. Amex's merchant rates traditionally have been higher than those of the other payment networks.

"We thought to ourselves … how could we create a fee-free product and basically make money on the discount rate associated when a customer uses a card at a merchant, either online or offline," Dan Schulman, Amex's group president for enterprise growth, said Monday.

Astros manager Brad Mills has spent time in both leagues and definitely would prefer to stay put. That could change, though, under a realignment plan Major League Baseball is exploring.

MLB is considering a proposal that would have 15 teams in the American League and 15 clubs in the National League. The leagues would not be split into divisions. The top three teams would make the playoffs. The fourth- and fifth-place clubs would be wild cards.

Commissioner Bud Selig’s committee for on-field matters has discussed the change that would take effect in 2012. The Astros would be among the teams considered for switching leagues.

Less than half of African-American men now have full-time jobs, and less than half of all white men will have full-time jobs in 2018, according to post-2000 trends hidden in federal population and workforce data.

There are roughly 14 million people formally labeled as unemployed, but “there’s probably 22 million to 23 million people who are unemployed, mal-employed or underemployed,” said Andrew Sum, an economics professor at Northeastern University in Boston.

The hidden data shows that “we’ve got an overwhelming job gap that effects men more than women, less-educated men more then better-educated men, and the group aged 25 to 29 the most,” he said.

Falling real estate prices are eating away at home equity. The percentage of their homes that Americans own is near its lowest point since World War II, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. The average homeowner now has 38 percent equity, down from 61 percent a decade ago.

The latest bleak snapshot of the housing market came as mortgage rates hit a new a low for the year, falling below 4.5 percent for a 30-year fixed loan. But even alluring rates have failed to deliver any lift to the depressed housing industry.

The Fed report is based on data from the first quarter of this year. Another report last week found that home prices in big cities have fallen to 2002 levels.

It’s a big week for television finales, as viewers will find out who will be the next “American Idol” as well as the winner of “Dancing With the Stars.”

First up is “Dancing’s” two-part finale on ABC. The show is down to the final three, with Kirstie Alley, Hines Ward and Chelsea Kane all vying for the trophy.

As for “American Idol,” this year’s finale has gone country, as the top two is down to Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina.

The fencing near Douglas and Naco, Arizona, have the most miles of continuous barrier outside of Yuma. At Douglas there is a two-mile wide break in the fence that clearly invites border crossers. If there is a hole in the fence, the whole fence is useless

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American Border Patrol's weekly 'Live from the Border' news update is now available for download anytime you wish to view it. See the top of our home page just above the daily feature item for the link, select the episode you wish to download listed below

Dear Mr. President: We respectfully ask that your Administration enforce the border security laws that have already been authorized by Congress regardless of whether the Senate passes the immigration reform bill. The bill assumes that several critical bor