Lee Maynard's 1988 semi-autobiographical novel Crum is set in the small, poor West Virginia town where he grew up. The people of Crum who know the book tend to love it or hate it. It was even banned for several years in a state-run store. The sequel, Screaming With the Cannibals, which came out five years later, got his protagonist Jesse Stone out of West Virginia, across the Tug River into Kentucky.

In Gore Vidal's New York Times obituary, Charles McGrath described the writer as "the elegant, acerbic all around man of letters who presided with a certain relish over what he declared to be the end of American civilization." Vidal died Tuesday at the age of 86.

Our headline all day has been "163,000 Jobs Added In July; Unemployment Rate Rose To 8.3 Percent."

But as is often the case, some other news outlets like to add a little bit of interpretation to their headlines:

-- Fox News says "Wrong-Way Growth: Jobless Jumps
In July as New Hiring Remains Slow."

This month we are collecting your stories about the good things Americans are doing to make their community a better place. Some of your contributions will become blog posts and the project will end with a story that weaves together submissions to make a story of Americans by Americans for Americans.

(Revised @ 1:48 pm ET)

With only three monthly jobs reports left before Nov. 6, President Obama needs every piece of good economic news he can get to add to his argument for re-election.

Friday's employment report certainly provided some. The Labor Department reported that the economy added an unexpectedly strong 163,000 jobs in July. Forecasters had predicted that the economy would add as many as 100,000 jobs, so the report took most everyone by surprise.

Every four years, we look forward to watching the jaw-dropping athleticism of the Summer Olympic Games. But — let's be frank — we also tune in to ogle the athletes' impressively toned physiques.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Second Mile, the foundation set up by Jerry Sandusky, is dropping an expansive internal investigation.

The charity had decided to close up shop after Sandusky was convicted of 45 criminal counts related to the sexual abuse of young boys.

The Inquirer reports that chief executive David Woodle said the decision to close shop means there is no need for an extensive investigation.

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer kept his Olympic dream alive Friday, when he won the longest tennis singles match in Olympic history. He defeated Juan Del Potro of Argentina, in a semifinal played on Wimbledon's Centre Court.

The final score of the three-set match, which lasted more than four hours and 20 minutes, was 3-6, 7-6, 19-17. Federer will next face the winner of Friday's semifinal between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in the final.

Everyone (including us) is saying this morning that the U.S. economy gained 163,000 jobs last month. Strictly speaking, this is a lie.

In fact, the U.S. economy actually lost 1.2 million jobs last month. There were 134.1 million jobs in June, and 132.9 million jobs in July. (The numbers are in this PDF.)