Wonkbook: Boehner failed.  Now what?  —  Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill July 28.  (JOSHUA ROBERTS - REUTERS) The lengths John Boehner went to ensure his bill failed in the Senate rather than the House were impressive, but ultimately, insufficient.

Weak growth raises concerns on economy  —  (Reuters) - The U.S. economy came perilously close to flat-lining in the first quarter and grew at a meager 1.3 percent annual rate in the April-June period as consumer spending barely rose.  —  The Commerce Department data on Friday also showed …

The Centrist Cop-Out  —  The facts of the crisis over the debt ceiling aren't complicated.  Republicans have, in effect, taken America hostage, threatening to undermine the economy and disrupt the essential business of government unless they get policy concessions they would never have been able to enact through legislation.

National Income and Product Accounts  —  Gross Domestic Product: Second Quarter 2011 (Advance Estimate)  —  Revised Estimates: 2003 through First Quarter 2011  —  Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States …

Rep. Hoyer endorses 14th Amendment option as a last-resort solution  —  President Obama should invoke the 14th Amendment to hike the debt ceiling unilaterally as a last resort to prevent a government default, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Thursday.  —  “It's arguably his power to do so,” Hoyer told MSNBC.

Americans split on New York gay marriage law  —  As New York gears up for its second weekend of same-sex nuptials, a Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Americans split 50 to 46 percent over whether the state's law legalizing such unions is a positive or negative outcome.

Why Do Half of Americans Pay No Federal Income Tax?  —  You may have heard the claim that about half of Americans pay no federal income tax.  That's a true fact.  My Tax Policy Center colleagues estimate, for example, that 46% of households either will pay no federal income tax in 2011 …

Culture Clash  —  Sen. Jim DeMint wants to change the way Washington does business and then “go home and rock on my front porch.”  —  Two-termer: Jim DeMint  —  In his new book, The Great American Awakening, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., recalls how he was ostracized for two years by fellow Republicans for his unbending conservatism.

Atheists Sue to Block Display of Cross-Shaped Beam in 9/11 Museum  —  In the days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, some workers and mourners at the World Trade Center site seized upon a cross-shaped steel beam found amid the rubble as a symbol of faith and hope.

Big Mess  —  A lawsuit against a Utah polygamy law is a nightmare for liberals and conservatives alike.  —  Last year, at the end of the first season of Sister Wives, a reality show about a polygamist family in Utah, Kody Brown took a fourth wife, Robyn.  Rain threatened to cancel the religious ceremony.

Oh, by the way, the U.S. just accused Iran of working with Al Qaeda  —  A little something light to tide you over while we wait for the next chapter in the debt-ceiling saga.  I've been around blogs long enough to remember when claiming that Shiite nuts might collaborate with Sunni nuts …

U.S. balance now less than Apple cash  —  Steve Jobs is now more liquid than Uncle Sam.  —  While it's highly unlikely that President Barack Obama is looking to ask the founder and chief executive of Apple Inc. for a loan, it became a fact as of Thursday afternoon — the world's largest technology company …