Fingerprinting of poor may end

Despite the looming aspartame subsidy that protects toxic diet soda from being taxed, the news out of New York state isn't all bad!

Under the state's new budget proposal, the fingerprinting of Medicaid applicants may end.

For one thing, I had no idea New York was fingerprinting the poor just to receive medical benefits. I may have written about this tyranny years ago, but with the Far Right's ongoing war on the poor, it was easy to get distracted by other policies that were just as right-wing.

For another, programs similar to fingerprinting the poor to receive government benefits have already been ruled illegal. Such fingerprinting is an illegal search, and it's discriminatory. We don't fingerprint bank executives who get bailout money, so why do we fingerprint Medicaid recipients?

It's not just illegal. It's mean-spirited, malicious, and evil. There's simply no other way to describe it.

I'd almost bet my life savings that George Pataki was the one who implemented the fingerprinting requirement, because who else in that state would? He ran the state during the nationwide soak-the-poor frenzy of the mid-'90s, which made criminals out of anyone who was below the poverty line.

Hopefully the fingerprinting will come to a close, and all the fingerprint files will be destroyed.

(Source: http://www.politickerny.com/1046/patersons-budget-will-eventually-boost-welfare-expand-health-care)