Call Me The Neon Nihilist

One of the more clever ads of the early aughts featured Deion Sanders stumping for Pizza Hut. The point of the commercial was that you could have both pizza and wings delivered to your door. Deion illustrates the fact by answering 'both' to a bunch of questions, including 'football or baseball," 'offense or defense,' and finally '$15 or $20 million.' In that spirit, I'm going to ignore the results of the poll where our readers suggested they would prefer a post on MTV's 'The Hills' to a post on post-electoral tax policy. Like Deion, I can do both.

It surprises me that one of the bigger issues in this presidential campaign isn't the expiration of the 'Bush' tax cuts. For a middle class family of four making $60,000 a year, this would take over $3,600 (or 6% of their take-home income) out of their pocket, assuming they file the standard deduction. That is some serious cash, but the media isn't pushing the issue.

However, the media is concerned with 'The Hills' star Lauren Conrad's (LC to Hills watchers) trip to Paris. Like George W. Bush, Lauren has made some major errors in recent years. However, no error was worse than turning down a chance to spend her summer as a fashion intern in Paris at the end of season 1 so she could move in with her loser boyfriend Jayson. Well, maybe hanging the 'Mission Accomplished' banner at the speech on the aircraft carrier, but the US military still supports Bush, where Jason and Lauren have split up.

Unlike the president, LC got a second chance. She and her boss Whitney are going to Paris and MTV is filming their exploits for a bonus eight episodes that will comprise a mini-season this spring. Whitney actually seems fairly sweet and genuine, and is a nice piece of eye candy for 'The Hills," but I digress.

My guess is that a Democratic policy would seek to make permanent the 15% tax rate that is scheduled to revert back to 27.5% in 2011. I believe they will also provide some Alternate Minimum Tax relief for middle class voters. They would fund likely this by raising rates on higher income brackets, sure as Heidi Montag will look for a chance to slag on LC when she gets back from Paris.

Speaking of Miss Montag, many liken her rivalry with LC to the USA's relationship with Saddam Hussein, as the MSM likes to suggest that both were once allies. This is silly. The US never backed Hussein, any support from them was dictated by bi-polar tensions with the Soviet Union. Likewise, LC would never have allowed Heidi to become her roommate without significant pressure from MTV producers. Another difference is even Hans Blix could see that Heidi is in possession of two powerful warheads. Enriched silicone is apparently easier to come up with than enriched uranium.

Merry Christmas!