Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Barack Obama has a deal for you: the rest of your life free of federal income tax.

WASHINGTON - If you're a senior citizen and make less than $50,000 a year, Barack Obama has a deal for you: the rest of your life free of federal income tax.

Sounds appealing, right? Maybe to many seniors. But tax policy experts in Washington are giving it bad reviews. They see it as another subsidy for senior citizens, who already get federal help through Social Security and Medicare and often have economic advantages over other demographic groups.

Seniors typically have paid off their mortgages. Many have investments and usually don't pay taxes on their Social Security benefits. The kids are usually grown, so they're not saddled with day care or college costs.



Progress in the eye of the beholder
Across Latin America, men who engage in homosexual sex are 33 times as likely to be infected with HIV, according to a report released at the conference by the Foundation for AIDS Research, known as AmFAR.

"People think the homophobia is under control, which is not true," Saavedra said. "Homophobia in Mexico is really high."

Saavedra, who is openly gay and HIV-positive, has a unique perspective on the situation in Mexico. As a government official, he points to achievements, particularly Mexico's low overall infection rate of 0.3 percent of the population. But because the country routinely experiences medication shortages, discrimination and violence against gays, some still need asylum, he said.

It was not until the 1990s that sexual orientation was even considered a reason for political asylum. But in 1994, then-Attorney General Janet Reno issued an order allowing homosexuals to gain asylum if they could demonstrate that they faced persecution because of their sexual orientation. Many of the early applicants came from Latin America, with its conservative, strongly Catholic, macho culture. They were men such as Fernando Legy, an unemployed 26-year-old seeking asylum in San Diego.

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