The Worst Negotiators  —  I cannot decide who the worst negotiators are, Republican leaders or House conservatives.  —  John Boehner's plan couldn't get the votes last night so Boehner had to agree to add language conditioning a vote on a balanced budget amendment — an amendment House Republicans …

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.

Payback may be coming for congressman's ‘disloyalty’  —  U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan's open defiance of Speaker John Boehner's efforts to solve the debt-ceiling crisis could cost the Urbana Republican his safe seat in next year's election.  —  Two Republican sources deeply involved in configuring …

The tea party's terrorist tactics  —  It has become commonplace to call the tea party faction in the House “hostage takers.”  But they have now become full-blown terrorists.  —  They have joined the villains of American history who have been sufficiently craven to inflict massive harm …

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 …

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 …

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.

U.N. Busy Deciding How to Slam Israel  —  Member states of the U.N. General Assembly are busy hammering out how to slam Israel and restrict human rights like free speech at “Durban III” - the racist “anti-racism” event to be held in New York on Sept. 22.  —  With the recent pull-outs …

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.

They've Lost That Lovin' Feeling  —  Obama still has supporters, but theirs is a grim support.  —  The Republican establishment reasserted itself this week, and good thing, too, because the establishment was right.  It said Republicans in the House should back and pass the Boehner bill …