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The Right Hook, a weekly segment which covers the machinations of the right wing, from the Republican Party to the Tea Party Patriots, and beyond. By Chris Bennett

The NAACP yesterday voted on a resolution which condemned the Tea Party as racist.

The civil rights group now has a firm position regarding the conservative movement which denies allegations of racism as regularly as some of its members deny the Holocaust. Brendan Steinhauser, director of FreedomWorks which organizes Tea Party groups complains that “there’s been a concerted effort tomake us look like we’re extreme.” Though if you have ever been to a Tea Party, creatively spelled posters and placards of President Obama dressed in his Hitler uniform or in his Witchdoctor outfit are fairly commonplace.

In Bowling Green, Kentucky last weekend, an eye doctor spoke at a GOP rally. Rand Paul claimed that Tea Party activists have been mischaracterized, yet again, as “right wing lunatics” and mislabeled as extremists.

Less amusing is the advent of the American Third Position Party, a new white supremacist political party to “represent the unique political interests of white Americans.” A3P is trying to gain ballot access in California by registering 88,991 voters– the required amount which would allow the party to field candidates in November. A3P is one of the newer groups to emerge in this era of anti-immigrant hate. Last year the number of hate groups in the U.S. rose to an all time high of 932 which is up 50% in the last decade.

As this is also the Age of Torture (Thanks to Junior), comment-posters in Neo-Nazi flavored internet forums are calling for the death and torture of U.S. Congressman Pete Stark, Democrat from Fremont, California. Stark has earned their ire because of the apparently dismissive, arrogant, and condescending speaking style he used with his Minuteman constituents. He has now joined the ranks of Iraqis and Afghans whose torture the extreme right have no trouble justifying.

In real estate, Rush Limbaugh is selling his penthouse for millions. The man who addresses his dittoheads from behind a golden microphone just sold the New York condo he purchased for $5 Million in 1994 for $11.5 Million. Apparently Rush is fed-up with New York’s “oppressive tax structure” (nationalledger.com).

And finally, as proof that President Obama is a racist look no further than the proposed tax on tanning beds. Last week a Washington Post online article stated that since patrons of tanning salons are mostly white, the new tax violates white citizens’ constitutional right to equal protection under the law. The new tax has angered people like Mr. Limbaugh who claimed “I now know the pain of racism.” However, the new tax could be viewed as a humanitarian gesture aimed at saving the life of perm-tanned House Minority leader John Boehner, who sports an orange Day-Glo pallor around the Capitol Hill bar and legislative scene.