But could this study merely help to continue the efforts to legitimize and legalize drug use, and bolster the war on some foods?

It’s time to “Just Say No’ to Oreo Cookies

Some of the groups funding the college and study are ardent supporters of “sustainable communities,” and “principles of social justice.

While most cocaine or heroin drug addicts are rail-thin, an addiction to Oreos may be a little more obvious.

Joseph Schroeder, an associate professor of psychology and director of the behavioral neuroscience program, and Connecticut College students found that eating Oreos activated more neurons in the brain’s ‘pleasure center’ than exposure to drugs of abuse, the Connecticut College News reported this week.

“Connecticut College students and a professor of psychology have found “America’s favorite cookie” is just as addictive as cocaine – at least for lab rats” the Connecticut News said. “And just like most humans, rats go for the middle first.”

“While it may not be scientifically relevant, it was surprising to watch the rats eat the famous cookie,” said Jamie Honohan, the student who originated the study idea. “They would
break it open and eat the middle first.”

Rather than treatment for cocaine or alcohol abuse at the Betty Ford Clinic, the addicted will need treatment at the Betty Crocker Center for Oreo addiction.

The study, obesity, and hunger

The study was done in the College’s Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy. The Connecticut College News said student Jamie Honohan was interested in how the prevalence of high-fat and high-sugar foods in low-income neighborhoods contributed to the obesity epidemic.

Ah. The obesity epidemic in America. But we also are barraged with stories of the hunger epidemic in America, and food insecurity. If one in six Americans is hungry, how can more than one-third of U.S. adults be obese?

“The Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy  (at Connecticut College) is a multidisciplinary academic center that advances teaching, learning, research, and community collaborations,” the website says. “It works to create more just and equitable communities through programs that cultivate intellectual and ethical judgment.”

Even more interesting is the vague description of the Holleran Center which says it “prepares students for lives of civic engagement and leadership while collaborating with community partners to advance the public good.”

The History of the Holleran Center says Center faculty and staff have presented on research, course development and college/community partnerships throughout the United States and in international forums such as the Open Space, People Space Conference in Scotland. The Open Space movement studies “Urban lifestyles, which even rural children often live these days, place many restrictions on their freedom to explore and enjoy their environment.”

Who funds this venture?

Major grants from the Surdna and the Lucent Foundations funded the initial years of the Center.

“The Surdna Foundation seeks to foster sustainable communities in the United States — communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, strong local economies, and thriving cultures.”

The Lucent Foundation also supports “sustainability,” whatever that is. “Its prime mission is to respond to today’s global challenge of digital inclusion and sustainability, focusing on providing innovative programs for underserved communities across the world that enable youth, and particularly young women, to access educational and life skills programs,” the Lucent Foundation website says.

Sustainability

There's that word “sustainability” again. Organizations which push “sustainability” and claim to be supporters of it, are not entirely truthful about intentions.  What does sustainability do for  a developing country?  Recycling, the preservation of nature and endangered species, and renewable energy are hardly the concerns of emerging or developing nations.

As important as these issues may be to many, people who are hungry, and living squalor in third world countries or in ghettos don't ever think about “sustainability.”

And really, the groups who claim to support sustainability end up placing the poor at the centre of the sustainability cause. They make improving the lives of the poor a “sustainability” issue. But they are not working on behalf of the poor.

And it's not about Oreo cookies.

By Katy Grimes

The state of California is pushing welfare and food stamps very hard. They constantly advertise on the radio and television, and must have a huge public relations budget… paid for courtesy of taxpayers.

Here’s one ad for the “Women, infants and children” program:

Welcome to the WIC Show!
The show about WIC, for WIC and by WIC!

On our channel you’ll find five half-hour episodes made up of different segments that will interest everyone, especially parents of young children and pregnant women. 

The shows are designed to reinforce California’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) education programs, highlight WIC service while at the same time entertain WIC clients.

Once you are in these programs, you get hooked into other programs: county health care, housing, school, daycare. Eventually, the government runs everything in the lives of those on government assistance. It’s no wonder President barack Obama got reelected.

CalFresh

The WIC ad says, “the food program is not a welfare program,” but you have a state case worker.

We can’t even call welfare what it is.

Food-stamp benefits usage is at an all time high. 46 million Americans are on welfare and use food stamps. One-third of all welfare recipients are in California.

The name of the California welfare food stamp program was changed to “CalFresh,” to take the stigma out of using welfare benefits. Recipients are given a debit card so they look like every other shopper when purchasing their items.

In Los Angeles County, more than one million people are signed up for the food stamp and welfare benefits, ranging from $200 to $1,500 a month.

In 2011, the federal Department of Food and Agriculture went all out on a national media awareness program. Here is a schedule of media buys in just L.A. County.

This was done because in some areas, welfare agencies believed that communities were “under served.” In Sacramento County, the Board of Supervisors even got involved, allowing the Sacramento Hunger Coalition to drive a campaign to expand the number of recipients.

“The Sacramento Hunger Coalition was founded in 1989 and now resides as a project of the Sacramento Housing Alliance’s Coalition on Regional Equity (CORE)’s food justice work,” the website says.

What a clever way to expand government. But welfare has become a giant ponzi scheme.

Even more interesting, is the list of publications below from the Sacramento Hunger Coalition… the links go nowhere. But this was what the entire hunger in Sacramento campaign was based on.

Hunger Hits Home 2012: Understanding & Combating Hunger in Sacramento County

A Primer on the Restaurant Meals Program in California: Preventing Hunger Among the Elderly, Disabled & Homeless in the Golden State

Homeless Nutrition Education Toolkit: A Resource for Nutrition Educators and Emergency Food Providers

Hunger and Homelessness in Sacramento: 2010 Hunger & Food Insecurity Report

I finally found one of the reports on hunger in Sacramento – I hope no one got paid to produce this.

Other government advertising

I hear government paid radio ads for bullying, FEMA, flood insurance,  Homeland security disaster preparedness,  the CA Earthquake Authority insurance, and ads about housing discrimination, paid for by the federal Housing and Urban Development department.

What a scam, all paid for by taxpayers.

Katy Grimes: Did you know that more than “one in five children don’t know where their next meal will come from?” Over the weekend I caught the commercial, sponsored by childhungerendshere.com that made this ludicrous claim.

This appears to be a shady organization funded by First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move,” and Con Agra foods foundation, a creative conglomoration of federal grant money grabbers.  Con Agra is a packaged food giant, and claims that 97 percent of American households use their products. 

Be very wary of these suspicious hunger claims–especially when there has never been such a high rate of obesity in children in America. With more than 50 percent of the population receiving some form of government benefits, most of these same kids also receive four meals a day from public schools.

Take a look for yourself–this taxpayer funded hunger boondoggle needs to be exposed. One of the Con Agra solutions to ending hunger is food drives; they encourage Americans to organize food drives using Con Agra packaged and canned food. Brilliant.

While Con Agra has a lengthy, fascinating history, this cooked-up hunger-in-America scam is a big lie and should anger taxpayers. Giving to legitimate charities is the best way to help those who are really hungry.