The day campers that got kicked out of a private pool in Philadelphia because they were black are now swimming at a local private boarding school's pool. Ironically enough, Girard College was a school for white orphans set up by a wealthy French slave-owner whose will had to be overridden in 1968 by the Supreme Court to integrate the school.

The private club has also invited the campers back after meeting with their lawyers. I guess they saw that none of their excuses - like not having enough space or lifeguards - was holding any water. Question: if you were in charge of this camp, would you go back or not?

For the coup de grâce, digby points out that the pool that the camp had used before had closed due insufficient funds, and, for some odd reason, public pools can't be helped by the stimulus money even though they're great for kids and neighborhoods and provide jobs. Public pool construction was part of the WPA for a reason.

I vaguely remember public pools almost becoming a symbol for the excesses of big government during the stimulus debate, and now it's clear that the message was typical fiscal conservatism that focuses on random projects that help working class folks and portrays them as the cause of larger, unrelated financial troubles. I mean, everyone can just go to their country club and use the pool there. And if these kids want to swim in a pool, they can just buy property, build their own, and compete with the private clubs, right? No bail-outs for free-loading kids!