The Real Story Behind the Tanning Salon Tax

Last week, a provision of the new health care bill that taxes the use of tanning beds went into effect. The talk around the ol' teabag is that it was Obama's way of discriminating against white people, whom Obama hates because he's a racist black man. Black black black! And racist. And look, he's black!

This is an absurd argument of course, but don't worry, they don't believe it either. They're making it to mask the real agenda: Republicans are pro-melanoma.

If that seems crazy too, understand that they don't like cancers any more than you do, but they're taking the long view. You see, they're planning on taking back the House and Senate later this year, and when they do the first thing they have promised to do is repeal health care reform. This, they reason, will kill the tax and therefore enourage a boom in tanning bed use. Republicans also would love to deregulate the insurance industry so they can refuse coverage for arbitratry reasons. So the endgame here is you can go into the hospital for Lupus or Sarcoidosis or some other unrelated illeness, the the insurance people can say, "You used a tanning bed - you're a high risk for skin cancer. Canceled!"

I know, you're thinking that this will make Republicans UNpopular with the American people (the ones who don't own insurance companies) but don't worry. All they need is for Glen Beck to keep telling you you LIKE the idea for two weeks straight, and you will! Just like they made you believe that Government hiring during high unemployment is bad for unemployment.