Pigford vs. Glickman

Stumbled upon this interesting story…

So in 1999, a lawsuit was filed against the US Department of Agriculture, alleging that it had discriminated against black farmers by denying them loans. (The lawsuit was later broadened to include other minority groups.)

Well, apparently the bar for applying for recompense was so low that massive fraud resulted.

I’m pretty sympathetic to the idea to that applying for assistance should not be so onerous as to discourage legitimate claimants from getting their fair share. But I wonder if there weren’t a way for this to have been achieved without giving the wingnut brigade a chance to scream bloody murder.

I guess I find the idea of this sort of discrimination so troubling, I’d almost rather err on the side of “make it rain!”

I should add that I am not regular reader of Kevin Drum’s. I think I’ve read two or three pieces by him…so if you take everything he says with a grain of salt, fair enough. Nothing in his article seemed particularly kooky to me, but your milage may vary.