![\"This](\"http:\/\/commons.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:GHAUS.JPG\" "\\"This")
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Big Government<\/a>\u00a0reported yesterday that\u00a0Federal judge Paul Friedman\u00a0has given final approval to a $1.2 billion government settlement with black farmers who claim they were unfairly denied loans and other assistance from the Agriculture Department over many years.<\/p>\n This is the second round of settlements in the 1999 Pigford case. As previously reported at rightwinggranny.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n When some black farmers sued, claiming discrimination, the USDA agreed to pay $50,000 to every black person who was discriminated against.<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the census, there were 18,000 black farmers in the country when the lawsuit was filed.\u00a0 But 97,000 black \u2018farmers\u201d have applied for the money.<\/strong><\/p>\n Black farmer Jimmy Dismuke says its fraud.\u00a0 He said lawyers went to black churches and told people who had never farmed to file for the money.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201dPeople say well, how do I qualify?\u201d Dismuke told us.\u00a0 \u201cAnd then [the lawyers] started talking about potted plants.\u00a0 They said if you had a potted plant, you can be a farmer.\u00a0 And if you have a yard and you fertilize it, you\u2019re a farmer.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Just about anyone can say that they \u201cattempted to farm.\u201d\u00a0 And the USDA\u2013which did not keep all its loan records\u2013has no way to refute that.\u00a0 So the taxpayers pay, and pay.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you follow the articles on the Pigford settlement previously posted at biggovernment.com, you learn that there is no standard of proof required for the payments. It is unfortunate that our government discriminated against black farmers, but I don’t believe that taxpayers should be required to pay reparations at a time when the country is spending itself into bankruptcy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Big Government\u00a0reported yesterday that\u00a0Federal judge Paul Friedman\u00a0has given final approval to a $1.2 billion government settlement with black farmers who claim they were unfairly denied loans and other assistance from the Agriculture Department over many years. This is … Continue reading <\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"