Pirate's Cove

Well, Happy Friday! It seems that ye olde Washington Post is just not down with terming the tanning tax as racist. Remember this article the next time they and the other media go all wonky on a TEA Party gathering, or something similar

Mention the new “tan tax” in a major news outlet and cries of discrimination and reverse racism often follow

The complaint surfaced on reader comment boards to blogs and news Web sites back in December, when it became clear that the levy — a 10 percent surcharge on the use of ultraviolet tanning beds — was likely to be included in the new health-care overhaul bill. Since then, it’s been repeated by conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh and Doc Thompson, a fill-in host for Glenn Beck who intoned in March, “I now know the pain of racism.”

Getting beyond the WP’s whining about their commenter’s, let’s see, a tax that pretty much targets Caucasians. But, hey, it can’t be racism and discrimination

The case can seem deceptively simple: Since patrons of tanning salons are almost exclusively white, the tax will be almost entirely paid by white people and, therefore, violates their constitutional right to equal protection under the law.

But does the argument have any merit? Not remotely said Randall Kennedy, a professor at Harvard Law School specializing in racial conflict and law.

“There is no constitutional problem at all, because a plaintiff would have to show that the government intended to disadvantage a particular group, not simply that the group is disadvantaged in effect,” he said.

So, since there was no known intention to discriminate, it can’t be discrimination and racism! The next time some member of the Reality Based Community – whoops, sorry, they stopped using that a few years ago, when they realized what a joke that label was – Liberal World throws around the racism and/or discrimination tag, one of their favorite talking points, used to avoid defending their positions, which are usually indefensible. Hoist them on their own petard.

Speaking of the TEA Party, a senior editor at The Atlantic, Joshua Green, thinks that LeBron’s move helps the TEA Party. He never really gets to the point why, but, perhaps he should spend more time repairing the damage that Andrew Sullivan has done to the reputation of the magazine, what with all his insane Trigerism posts.

A Quick more: The Huffington Post has now set the same bar as the WP. Remember this when they inevitably throw the racism tag around, usually to be counted on in 3…2….1….

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU