The Pigford Scandal

I hope and trust that when the Republicans take over Congress in the new year, they immediately launch a far-reaching investigation of the Pigford boondoggle. For those who haven't heard of it (and I can't believe there are many of you), here's a brief overview from Investors Business Daily.

Pigford v. Glickman was a class action lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture alleging discrimination against black farmers in its allocation of farm loans between 1983 and 1987.

. . .

One of the fruits of this lame-duck session has been the approval of $1.15 billion to the black farmers ... to settle the ... lawsuit. At last count, more than 94,000 black farmers have signed up for payments under the settlement.

Based on census data, however, there were only 33,000 or so black farmers in existence during the period in question. Based on that number and the number of denied applications, the department had originally estimated that only 2,000 such claims would be filed.

. . .

As BigGovernment.com reports, the only "proof" required was a form stating that the claimant had "attempted" to farm, perhaps planting tomatoes in the back yard, and to have a family member vouch for that assertion. The government would then send the aggrieved "farmer" a check for $50,000. The bill is headed to President Obama's desk for his signature Wednesday or Thursday. It was then-Sen. Obama who introduced the original Pigford legislation in 2007.

There's more at the link.

Andrew Breitbart at Big Government has been all over this for several months. He's released a very detailed report, showing how this case has become a poster child for greed, corruption and criminal larceny. He titled it 'The Pigford Shakedown: How the Black Farmers’ Cause Was Hijacked by Politicians, Trial Lawyers & Community Organizers — Leaving Us With a Billion Dollar Tab'. He's also identified several witnesses to the corruption involved, including a USDA official and a Black farmer. Another of his correspondents suggests that the whole affair is nothing less than 'Obama's Down Payment on the 2012 Rural South Vote'. I highly recommend reading all the links provided - if your stomach can stand it!

The good people at HillBuzz have an interesting take on another aspect of the scandal.

The media is protecting the White House again . . . by ignoring the Pigford Black Reparations Scam expose that Andrew Breitbart is running at Big Government.

As you read the news online, watch TV, and peruse the papers, please keep track of what news outlets are reporting on Breitbart’s Pigford exposé . . . and which ones are deliberately silent on this.

All of this is going to break wide open in 2011 when the new Congress convenes and Michele Bachmann, Peter King, and Darryl Issa demand investigations into all the Pigford claimants. There are 94,000+ black people who each got checks for $57,000 by claiming they were discriminated against by the USDA . . . while there were only 18,000 black farmers in existence. Who are all these other people and why are they getting all this “Obama money”?

That question will be asked repeatedly starting in January.

But the media SHOULD be talking about Pigford now, as Breitbart is exposing what’s happening.

They, of course, are not.

Insert sound of chirping crickets here.

Let’s keep track of the media’s silence on this and start asking why the “papers of record” are so quiet about all of this.

Media silence, indeed! I've seen very little about this in the mainstream media. One might almost think they approved!

Fox News points out that the Pigford settlement opens the door to a flood of similar claims from other 'affected groups'.

The congressional approval of a whopping $4.6 billion settlement for black and Native American farmers who claimed they were discriminated against has cleared the way for a similar pair of costly lawsuits -- drawing complaints that the government may be buckling to pressure and rewarding dubious claims.

. . .

... the same lawmakers who fought Pigford warn that this week's congressional vote could lower the bar for the other discrimination claims. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, declining to comment on the specifics of the claims by Hispanic and female farmers, said he remains concerned that the farmers won't have to prove much in order to win a payout from Uncle Sam. He suggested anyone who's not a white male could have a shot.

"I've always looked at Pigford as the issue that opens the door for the others," King told FoxNews.com. "They will point continually at the Pigford precedent."

He said that precedent will probably "embolden" the remaining plaintiffs.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., who has called on Congress to investigate the Pigford claims, told FoxNews.com last week that the upcoming cases represent the "next generation" of discrimination suits. She suggested the government was handing out "reparations" for the sake of political correctness.

The Hispanic farmers' suit, called Garcia v. Vilsack, was originally filed in 2000 and claimed Hispanic farmers lost out on credit and disaster benefits because of USDA discrimination. They also alleged the USDA systematically refused to investigate prior discrimination complaints.

Similarly, female farmers claimed discrimination based on gender in a case called Love v. Vilsack.

. . .

Carl Horowitz, a project manager with the National Legal and Policy Center who has followed all the discrimination cases, described the Love and Garcia claims as "copycat suits" that would not have existed if not for Pigford. He criticized the claims as having "scant" documentation and said plaintiffs are just trying to strike while the government is in settlement mode.

"This is a classic case of hitting the lottery," he said.

Leading Democratic senators, meanwhile, are pressing the Obama administration to do more to resolve the claims of farmers in the outstanding legal cases.

There's more at the link. The folks at HillBuzz agree, and offer this suggestion:

Are you any sort of a minority, at all?

Think hard.

Do you have red hair?

Are you one of the 12 people who read Illinois Review?

Do you like drinking milk and Pepsi, together, like Lavern DiFozzio taught you on the TV?

Then you may, in The Golden Age of Hope and Change, qualify for discrimination payments to the tune of $57,000 from the Obama Administration…the same way “Obama Money” is being given to blacks who claim they maybe sort-of kinda wanted to be farmers, if you say so, wink wink, under the Pigford Black Reparations settlement.

. . .

Where’s our Gay Reparations?

Where’s the Hispanic Reparations?

Where’s the Jewish Reparations?

Where’s the Woman Reparations?

. . .

Clearly NO ONE should be getting Reparations…but if blacks are getting theirs, then where’s the Reparations for the rest of us?

Hope!

Change!

Reparations!

Again, more at the link.

Overall, the Pigford affair stinks to high heaven of corruption, political correctness and bureaucratic collaboration in a rip-off of the US taxpayer. One does hope heads will roll for it, and that many of those involved will spend a long time behind bars for their crimes. I'd put them to work on prison farms - there are a few big ones in Louisiana. It'd be poetic justice for the Pigford gang!

Peter