Trim the fat

A prime cut of government pork barrel spending. Not sure the pigs ever had it this good.

CDC Off Center

Some examples in the report of CDC’s spending:

1. $1.7 million — including terrorism funds — on a Hollywood liaison program, which happens to be run by a former employee (pg. 87);
   
2. $45 million for conferences, including those featuring prostitutes, protests, and beach parties (pgs. 48 - 60);
3. $30,000 employee saunas in a new $200,000 fitness center that also includes mood-enhancing lightshows and $3,500 worth of zero-gravity chairs (pg. 15);
4. $5 billion spent over seven years on HIV/AIDS prevention funding, and yet the U.S. still sees 40,000 new cases each year, with no decrease in infection rates for over a decade (pgs. 23-37);
5. Syphilis prevention funds used to feature a porn star’s presentation (pg. 44);
6. HIV/AIDS prevention funds spent on a transgender beauty pageant (pg. 45);
7. $250,000 spent so two former employees could help build staff morale, (pgs. 100 - 101);
8. $5.1 million on “audio visual integration” in the new Thomas R. Harkin communications and visitor center, including a giant 70-foot-wide by 25-foot-tall video wall of plasma screen TVs showcasing agency vignettes (pg. 8);
9. 110 CDC employees traveled to two international AIDS conferences, when buying retroviral drugs with the trip funds could have prevented mother-to-child AIDS transmission for more than 115,000 infants (pgs. 50 & 52);

I sure could use a $125,000 moral boosting tax cut. I might skip the beauty pageant though. And after getting fat on all this pork, a trip to the $30,000 sauna might be in order.