Government spending. Ah, always a lightning rod.

But there's government spending, and then there's government spending.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has provided the latest revelation of federal spending run amok, yet another example in an ongoing game of "Top This.''

Coburn, a practicing physician and ranking member of an oversight committee in the Senate, is going after the federally funded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Seems to us Coburn didn't have to look too hard.

In a 115-page report reviewing recent expenditures at the CDC, Coburn tells us about a massive construction project at the CDC's headquarters in Atlanta that has now exceeded $1 billion.

That's right, "B'' as in billion.

So what do you get for a billion bucks when you're in the business of controlling diseases?

See if the following doesn't raise your temperature a bit:

• A $106 million communications center with a wall of plasma screens 70 feet long and 20 feet high. Now, that's big-screen stuff, indeed. But after all, it's only appropriate that a disease center has a lot of plasma around. 
• A video production center that cost $18.6 million. Gotta have good stuff to put on the plasmas, apparently. 
• A $110 million headquarter building, with $9.6 million in furnishings. Anybody suspect the furniture didn't come from Wal-Mart? 
• A new fitness center, with amenities that include "quiet rooms'' where workers can relax in zero-gravity chairs while watching a show of pastel-colored lights. Sounds like Isaac Newton would be perplexed to us.

It seems CDC administrators believe the fancy digs help them recruit top-notch employees, and the "quality'' work environment apparently leads to exceptional decisions.

Like, ah, the one to spend $1.7 million on a Hollywood liaison office providing agency expertise for TV shows such as "ER" and "24."

Think about it. The potential is neverending.

Surely, "Jericho'' was worthy of a subsidy.

After all, there are plenty of do's and don'ts after a nuclear attack when it comes to preventive health measures.

Coburn's report, at a minimum, is entertaining.

But the spokesman at the CDC isn't laughing.

"We have first-rate facilities for first-rate employees,'' said Tom Skinner. "After years of neglect, we finally have what we need to move forward and accomplish our mission.''

Skinner's pity-us comment doesn't seem to carry much weight, but then why would it — especially after a session in a "zero-gravity'' chair.

Go, Coburn. It's obvious to us CDC needs to come back to earth.