This is your government, part 1

I'm going to write a recurring feature about appalling government misconduct, focusing on the criminal justice system. There couldn't be a better article to kick things off

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-raid4sep04,1,6136155.story

"Dessie Robinson, a 55-year-old welfare recipient who suffers from a heart ailment, diabetes and ulcers, had just finished showering in her room at a downtown homeless shelter early one morning in July when she heard a loud knock at the door. Throwing on some clothes, she opened the door and was confronted by half a dozen armed federal agents who proceeded to arrest her on a misdemeanor charge of cheating the government out of $746.10, the monthly payment she receives under the federal program to aid the blind, disabled or elderly poor."

21 people were arrested in the raid. If you take the government's worst allegations at face value (I do the opposite, i.e., presumption of innocence), these disabled criminal masterminds were bilking the federal government for a handful of nickels and dimes. I wonder how much these paramilitary raids cost the taxpayers.

This is your government...