One of the key attorneys in the Pigford “black farmers” lawsuit has confirmed, on camera, what we at Big Government have argued for months: that the $2.7 billion Pigford settlement has been corrupted by fraud on a massive scale.

On September 23, 2011, at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., attorney Faya Rose Toure (a.k.a. Rose Sanders) described a conspiracy to defraud the federal government, involving claimants, attorneys, and members of the clergy.

The original Pigford plaintiffs were black farmers who sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture for racial discrimination.

Sanders related how class-action lawyers later recruited claimants by sending representatives to black churches, where they allegedly told congregants that they were eligible for “reparations,” even if they had never farmed.

Sanders’s claims were at least partially corroborated at the press conference by Gary Grant, President of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, who indicated that he knew of the involvement of preachers in Pigford-related fraud.

What Sanders reveals in the clip below ought to be enough to cause the supervising judge, Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to suspend the settlement process.

It ought to be enough to prompt the FBI to re-open investigations into the lawyers and organizations involved.

It ought to be enough to encourage Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) to fire up his magic investigation machine, and start issuing subpoenas–not just regarding the Pigford settlement, but also the Obama-created settlements for women, Native American, and Hispanic/Latino famers who are alleging discrimination.

Watch the clip, then I’ll take you through some of the points that Pigford attorney Sanders is making.

And so after all of that, they are now accusing the farmers of fraud. There is a problem. There are people who are out there hustling, and taking advantage of black farmers. And some of them are our people. They are the ones that are misleading the people, making them believe they are in the lawsuit, making them believe they are eligible. I actually went to a meeting in Alabama, where these white lawyers from Texas had hired–you were there [“Yes, maʼam. And they're still calling me and trying to get me to fraud.”]–hired black people, hired black people to go into all these black churches and they literally told black people: “Oh, you didn’t have to farm. It doesn’t matter if your grandfather never farmed. If you ever thought about farming, youʼre eligible for this lawsuit.” So these people are thinking this is more of a like reparations-type lawsuit. They donʼt know any better. So when they sign up, they just donʼt know. But the government is determined to prosecute [them], and to limit this process, and that is something I think we need to be outraged about. I think we need to somehow get to the NAACP, and I have talked to the NAACP–we’ve got to have a coalition. We–frankly speaking, we’ve got to get away from some of our differences, because our needs are greater than our differences…

Let’s start at the beginning. (more…)

It’s back to business on our investigation of the Pigford story – the ongoing fraud that needs your help and attention to make it stop. The mainstream – with a few exceptions like John Stossel – are ignoring the story of the one of the biggest frauds in U.S. history because it doesn’t fit their narrative. The good guys are the real farmers who faced discrimination at the hands of the UsDA and the people, mostly conservative at this point, trying to bring their story to light. The bad guys are the trial lawyers, politicians, race hustlers and those inside the USDA who profit by lying to the public about how the Pigford settlement is a ‘victory’ for black farmers.

In this video, we introduce you to Lucious Abrams, a Georgia farmer who was one of the seven original claimants. Abrams has spent years working for justice only to be betrayed by people like the Congressional Black Caucus.  Now Lucious is speaking out and speaking truth to the power structure that doesn’t speak for him.

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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Rep. Steve King (R-IA), and farmer Eddie Slaughter at the press conference in Washington, DC presenting newly discovered evidence showing fraud and corruption in the Pigford settlement:

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At a press conference at CPAC featuring Rep. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Steve King and Andrew Breitbart, black farmer Eddie Slaughter tells his impassioned story about how the Pigford settlement has actually hurt the original and actual victims of discrimination at the hands of the USDA.

From CBS News:

President Obama earlier this month signed into law a measure to pay American Indians and black farmers a total of $4.6 billion to cover decades of government mistreatment. Now, a Republican congressman says the GOP-controlled House next year will hold hearings to investigate the settlement, which he says amounts to “reparations.”

Conservative Rep. Steve King of Iowa told local radio station KCIM that the Pigford settlement, which was part of the legislation, “is full of fraud” and “amounts to paying reparations to black farmers in America. We don’t do reparations in America.”

King said he expects Republicans to examine this issue and other issues Democrats may be hesitant to investigate, such as the re-organization of the defunct group ACORN. This isn’t the first time King has criticized the settlement, Talking Points Memo points out. (more…)

For years we have heard the common refrain that “the people don’t get it,” or we’re “stupid,” or we “really don’t care.” Ignoring the Americans who serially vote Democrat because they have been bought off with welfare payments or some other benefit, I have always argued otherwise, and Reagan’s 1980 and 1984 landslide victories bore me out. Of course, as President, the senior Bush quickly smashed that resurgent national spirit with a “wicked political pivot” back to insipid mediocrity.

The truth is that since then our options have been limited. The mass media shuts out honest, serious analysis of the issues and censors or ostracizes political leaders who don’t. People have allowed themselves to be browbeaten into apathy and drugged with cultural distractions (like American Idol, for example) because they have had nowhere to turn for answers. Newt Gingrich inspired us for a short time by throwing out the utterly corrupt Congressional Democrats in 1994, but then proceeded to squander his historic victory with a meteoric descent into typical pork barrel politicking. The rest of the Republican caucus followed suit.

A decade of that, followed by four years of Democrat excess that has broken all prior records, a manufactured financial crisis that has driven this country to the edge of the abyss and the election of the most radical president in American history finally stirred us to action. We are now wide awake and looking earnestly for the kind of leadership that can save this country. And that is what we need, for despite the big Republican gains in the House of Representatives and larger gains in statehouses, we are close to the point of no return and the Democrats will push us over the edge if they can get away with it.

They have been pushing for decades to put a greater number of voters on the Liberal Plantation than there are among the working public. The “serial democrat voters” cited above are rapidly approaching the magic 50 percent of the voting population. For example, at present the bottom 50 percent of income earners pay a mere 3 percent of all federal income taxes. Obama evenhad a proposal to cut their FICA taxes. There is doubtless a similar comparison for states.

With the details just beginning to surface from Obamacare and all the other onerous legislation passed by this corrupt Congress over the past two years, the top 50 percent may well be paying all income taxes. If not, the 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants here would provide that margin if granted amnesty. They might anyway, given Obama’s nationwide vote fraud machine.

So we continue to seek solutions; and look for leadership among those few hearty souls who understand the problem and have a demonstrated track record in backing words with action. Iowa Representative Steve King is one of these, and last week I had the honor to interview him on behalf of Right Side News.

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This morning, at a hearing of the Constitution Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) raised the issue of a need for a full congressional investigation of ACORN.  As Rep. King notes, Subcommittee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) has said he would consider an investigation as soon as he saw credible evidence of ACORN wrongdoing. (Rep. Nadler apparently doesn’t read Big Government)

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Byron York has a story at the Examiner on the first lawmaker to call for the scalp of Kevin Jennings, “Safe School” Czar (no we can’t believe we just typed that title, either).

Republican Rep. Steve King is sending a letter to the president today calling for the firing of gay activist Kevin Jennings, head of the Education Department’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. “The totality of Mr. Jennings’ career has been to advocate for public affirmation of homosexuality,” King writes. “There is more to safe and drug free shools than can be accomplished from the narrow view of Mr. Jennings who has, for more than 20 years almost exclusively focused on promoting the homosexual agenda.”

In the letter, King points to a foreword Jennings wrote for a 1999 book entitled Queering Elementary Education, as well as Jennings’ work as founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. King also mentions a 1988 incident in which Jennings, then a teacher, chose not to alert any authorities when he learned of a teenage boy, a student, who had become involved with an adult man. Finally, King points to stories Jennings has told of his own drug use. “Kevin Jennings cannot gain the approval of parents who want their children safe and their schools drug free,” King writes.

Full story here. Personally, we’re not so much offended by Mr. Jennings as we are that this position even exists. We don’t believe anyone should occupy this position.