A.M. Links: Federal Spending Up 78% Since 1998, Tax Filing To Be Delayed, Lawmakers Ask Why DOJ Accumulates Data on Americans
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John Boehner touts his plan for a tax hike to skeptical House members, even as President Obama says he sees little chance of a budget deal. Note to both: federal spending is up 78 percent since 1998. Reducing federal expenditures would, obviously, reduce us to the crushing poverty in which we all lived 14 years ago.
- Budget negotiations are expected to massively delay the filing of tax returns in 2013, because the IRS has no idea what rules will apply for the alternative minimum tax. Here's an idea: Just give us our money back and we'll find other vendors for what we need.
- Members of Congress want to know the Justice Department's rationale for accumulating vast amounts of data on American citizens without cause. Because it would seem to be both creepy and illegal.
- Not only are California's public employees paid very well by national standards, but the cost of their benefits is proving crippling.
- Biologists say human hands evolved largely because of the advantages of a closed fist for fighting. Forget bulging craniums, MMA is pushing us to the next step in our development.
- Ending the civil war in Syria is more important than keeping Assad in power, says, Russian President Vladimir Putin. When you've lost Putin …
- So far, nine health workers offering polio vaccinations in Pakistan have died from violent assaults spurred by fears that they're U.S. spies. The suspicions are fueled by the fact that American spies have posed as health workers. Who could have foreseen a problem?
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