Monday, July 19, 2010

The Feds' $95 million Breastfeeding Boondoggle

The USDA's Food and Nutrition Service has set up a network of "lactation consultants" and "breastfeeding peer counselors," which is a strange use of the word "peer," since the counselors are paid $50-60,000 a year, plus benefits, to be your peer. A job notice for a lactation consultant in Washington State notes: This position is covered by an "Agency Shop" provision. Therefore as a condition of employment, the incumbent of this position must either join the union and pay union dues, or pay the union a representational or other fee within 30 days of the date you are placed into pay status. Hmm... funny how the union label seems to pop up on every idea endorsed by the Obamas. President Obama's 2010 budget allocates $14.85 million for unionized peer support, which funds the Loving Support© Peer Counseling Program, the latest in a line of initiatives which all have the words "Loving Support©" in their titles: Loving Support Makes Breastfeeding Work; Using Loving Support to Build a Breastfeeding-Friendly Community; Using Loving Support to Implement Best Practices in Peer Counseling. In addition to Loving Support funding, we read at the USDA website: The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law 111-80), provided $80 million for WIC State agencies to build upon and expand breastfeeding peer counseling efforts...more

There is also a description of a $350,000 USDA contract for a "train-the-trainer" curriculum.

The author, Peter Wilson, says "This contract will pay advisors to advise trainers who train trainers -- three bureaucratic levels removed from the actual act being targeted. Breastfeeding requires the assembly of two working parts, a mouth and a nipple."

Talk about milking the taxpayers...Obama is applying a breast pump to your paycheck.

2 comments:

Tick said...

The idea of all this bureaucracy for a natural function that has been going on since the beginning of man, er, 'scuse me, the beginning of woman, well...sucks.

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