From the folks who put the boon in boondoggle

Another federal government example of the right hand not knowing the left hand is stabbing it in the back.

Today’s New York Times brings us a wonderfully ironic story of a bureaucracy that can’t be killed even if it is killing us.

While first lady Obama dashes about the country on our dime telling us to eat less fat and avoid obesity, something called Dairy Management is spending millions in tax money pushing fat-laden milk and cheese. These are the people who created the “Got milk?” ad campaign.

The story tells about Dairy Management, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, advising Domino’s Pizza to add a 40 percent cheesier pie and spending $12 million on the marketing. One slice of the new pizza contains two-thirds of a day’s maximum recommended intake of saturated fat.

According to the Times, the nation’s dairies produce far more milk than can be consumed. At one time the government paid dairies to slaughter cows, while the industry was “moving toward larger, more sophisticated operations that increased productivity through artificial insemination, hormones and lighting that kept cows more active.”

The Dairy Management group even continued pushing a campaign claiming dairy products could help weight loss long after it was disproven.

The Times said Dairy Management’s chief executive, Thomas P. Gallagher, who was paid $633,475 in 2008, declined to be interviewed.

The only immortal thing known to man: a government program. They never die, they just grow fatter and fatter.