Your Tax Dollars are Paying for Transgender Beauty Contests...

“CDC Off Center,” a 115-page oversight report authored by the Minority Office of the Federal Financial Management Subcommittee, under the direction of ranking member Senator Tom Coburn, examines how CDC has tilted off center and makes recommendations about how it might get back on track.

Some examples in the report of CDC’s spending:

• $1.7 million — including terrorism funds — on a Hollywood liaison program, which happens to be run by a former employee (pg. 87);
• $45 million for conferences, including those featuring prostitutes, protests, and beach parties (pgs. 48 - 60);
• $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);
• $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);

The fact that infection rates have not declined for over a decade is NOT a surprise since no one seems willing to promote the one thing that is 100% effective at preventing AIDS - abstinence outside of marriage...

The CDC has instead chosen a different approach:

• HIV/AIDS prevention funds were spent on a transgender beauty pageant (pg. 45);

Encouraging men to dress like women will help PREVENT AIDS?

• Syphilis prevention funds used to feature a porn star’s presentation (pg. 44);

Porn stars are now disease prevention spokesmen?????

• $250,000 spent so two former employees could help build staff morale, (pgs. 100 - 101);
• $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);
• 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);
• New Hawaii office opening soon, announcement made by Senator from Hawaii who oversees agency’s funding (pg. 18);
• $335 million on ads to fight childhood obesity… kids saw the ads, whether or not the ads affected their behavior is another question (pgs. 69 - 71);
• $128,000 in CDC bioterrorism funds spent by L.A. County on trinkets such as letter openers, whistles, magnets, mouse pads, flashlights, pens, and travel toothbrushes (pgs. 106 - 110).

The report also includes:

• A detailed graph showing CDC’s yearly budget from 1995-2007, which has increased by more than 350% (pg. 7); and
• A chart showing yearly CDC’s HIV/AIDS funding from 2001-2007, which has more than doubled during that time (pg. 115)

Read the whole sorry story.

The head of the CDC, Dr. Julie Gerberding now says she needs an additional billion dollars to operate!

Please pray for wisdom from our leaders and then ask President Bush to hold both Dr. Geberding and the CDC accountable for this flagrant waste of our money:

The President, George W. Bush
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC 20500
Primary Phone: 202-456-1414
Secondary Phone: 202-456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-Mail: The President, White House