Oreo cookies are as addictive as cocaine – especially when it comes to the creamy center, a new study claims.
Lab rats who ate “America’s favorite cookie” formed an equally strong association as they did when injected with cocaine or morphine, student researchers at Connecticut College claim.
The cookies also ignited more neurons in the “pleasure center” of the brain than exposure to abusive drugs, according to the researchers.
“Our research supports the theory that high-fat/ high-sugar foods stimulate the brain in the same way that drugs do,” said Neuroscience Professor Joseph Schroeder, who led the study.
“It may explain why some people can’t resist these foods despite the fact that they know they are bad for them.”
WASHINGTON — Congress was heading towards a climatic resolution Wednesday to reopen the federal government after a 16-day partial shutdown as well as avert an unprecedented debt default.
House and Senate leaders were negotiating how to maneuver a package through both chambers and get it to President Obama’s desk before the Oct. 17 default deadline. However, there was an air of certainty on Capitol Hill that a formal deal was at hand between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Senate leaders were on track to unveil a narrow package that includes a stopgap spending measure through Jan. 15, a suspension of the debt ceiling until Feb. 7, and a framework for formal budget negotiations to begin. Negotiators are tasked with reporting out by Dec. 13 recommendations for longer-term spending levels and deficit reduction
“It’s very, very serious,” warned Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. “Republicans have to understand we have lost this battle, as I predicted weeks ago, that we would not be able to win because we were demanding something that was not achievable.”
In an interview with CNN host Anderson Cooper on Tuesday, Republican Rep.Peter King continued scolding his party for their dumb decision to follow first year Senator, Ted Cruz and his failed efforts to take away health care from the American people.
“The game is over,” King told Cooper. “We have to get this done. [House Speaker] John Boehner’s (R-OH) tried everything he can, but there’s some people in our party, no matter what he tries to do, they won’t go along.”
After Boehner’s failed attempt on Tuesday to put a bill forward ending both the government shutdown and avoiding the imminent deadline on raising the U.S. debt ceiling, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are reportedly ready to bring their own agreement, a development King said he would support.
“I’ve said all along, this is madness — it was madness to follow Ted Cruz,” King said to Cooper. “It was absolute madness to say we want to shut down the government, to defund Obamacare. It never made sense and now all we’re down to, apparently, is trying to pass a [continued resolution] to take away healthcare from congressional employees. That’s what we shut down the government for. It makes no sense.”
Cooper then pointed out that King has made multiple statements to that effect, before asking him if he felt that a Senate bill including funding for the new law could pass the House now.
“As certain as I can be of anything, I’m certain of that,” King answered. “If it comes to a vote on the House floor, we’ll probably get all the Democrats and certainly enough Republicans to get it through.”
“And you’re confident Speaker Boehner would allow it to come to the House,” Cooper pressed.
“I don’t know what John would do,” King conceded. “But I would think, though, if he’s gonna be involved in expediting the process at all, he probably then would allow it to come to a vote in the House floor. It’s getting too close to the wire.”
I’ve used the tsunami wave metaphor in other posts about the decline of the Republican Party and its associated havoc-wreaking on the country over the past two years.
Today we talk about the complete meltdown of the party. The debacle over the debt ceiling and the as-we-speak collapse of any kind of deal shows us the final truth about the right: This is not an entity that can be a partner in governing.
Here we are on the brink of a default that many conservatives believe will not be “that bad,” despite the warnings from banks, foreign governments and ratings agencies, most of whom could not remotely be labeled liberal, and they are still trying to knock off the Affordable Care Act. Yes, I understand how important it is to settle the issue of whether congressional aides can qualify for subsidies on the health insurance exchanges, but is is worth embarrassing the United States and inviting the wrath of the financial markets?
Clearly, it is. And that’s the problem with the GOP as is exists today. The extremism knows no bounds and the disdain of the president is ugly. They accuse Obama of not negotiating when that has been their strategy since he was elected. They want to stall, delay, overturn and defund anything he’s signed. They want no revenue increases in any fiscal bill. They want the Consumer Protection Board gone and they want the EPA to stop telling factories they can’t pollute. These are non-negotiable items, yet it’s Obama’s willingness to stand his ground that has them so incensed (I would be worse, though. Open the government and increase the debt ceiling for a whole year, says I).
It’s a sad state of affairs that only the party muckymucks can address. John Boehner doesn’t know which way to go, because all paths lead to The Tenth Circle of Hell (the one that Donald Trump bought and developed). He either has to continue giving in to the Tea Party or he has to sacrifice his speakership and get Democrats and moderates to get us out of this mess.
Some people who know more than I say that the American voters will probably forget all this by next November. I don’t think so. The next wave will be a Democratic takeover of the House.
Maybe the most reasoned voice in Congress these days is that of Chaplin Barry Black. The Chaplin has opened all the floor sessions with a prayer, mostly geared towards the dumb path Congress has laid out for this country with the Government Shutdown and the unbelievable eventual outcome of America defaulting on paying its bills.
“Save us from the madness,” the Chaplin was heard praying in one of his sessions. “We acknowledge our transgressions, our shortcomings, our smugness, our selfishness and our pride,” he went on. “Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable.”
Well leave it up to Saturday Night Live to bring some humor in this very serious time. Just hours before America defaults for the first time in our history, SNL extends the role of the Chaplin Barry Black.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said over the weekend that he had prayed to God to guide him in the shutdown fight and was sure that “his will be done as I know it will be.”
Televangelist Pat Robertson opened Monday’s edition of The 700 Club by describing the Oct. 17 debt ceiling deadline as a “countdown to Armageddon.”
“The Democrats, instead of holding spending down, now say, ‘We want freedom to spend more, we’ve got to spend more,’” Robertson explained. “They need a fix. It’s like a heroin addict, you’ve got to have your fix. And they need a fix. So, they want the sequester taken away as a price for re-opening the government. It is shocking!”
“This is crazy,” he added. “What we’re looking at is a party of people who are spendoholics: $17 trillion in debt, ladies and gentlemen. It’s insupportable. The interest on the debt is going to be mounting and encompass the entire federal budget pretty soon. Something’s got to be done.”
The TV preacher said that the drastic across-the-board spending cuts in the so-called “sequester” were “the most effective means of scaling back the spending of ours that’s taken place in decades. So the Republicans, they couldn’t possibly give it up. If they did, they’d be insane.”
At the same time, Robertson warned that a default on U.S. debt would “rocket around the world” and “mean chaos for every single citizen.”
“It’s going to mean the value of your pensions is going to go down, the value of your home will go down, the value of your home will go down, the value of what you’re going to have to borrow is going to go up extraordinarily, you’ll pay much higher interest rates,” he observed. “I mean, it’s going to be chaotic. And these guys are playing games and I hope the Republicans on this one will stand fast, they’ve got to stand fast and say no more.”
At the Values Voter Summit over the weekend, CBN’s David Brody spoke with Cruz about his role in instigating the government shutdown, which has been seen as complicating debt limit negotiations.
“Where do you see God in all of this fight that’s going on in your life right now?” Brody asked the Texas senator.
“Well, David, you know at every stage, my prayer to God is that His will be done,” Cruz insisted. “As it will be.”
Fitch Ratings put the US government’s “AAA” credit rating on ‘rating watch negative’ Tuesday, saying that the standstill on the U.S. debt ceiling negotiations risks undermining the effectiveness of the country’s government and political institutions.
U.S. stock index futures fell.
“Although Fitch continues to believe that the debt ceiling will be raised soon, the political brinkmanship and reduced financing flexibility could increase the risk of a U.S. default,” the rating agency wrote in a statement.
S&P 500 futures fell 9.6 points while Dow Jones industrial average futures sank 60 points and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 7.5 points.
A Treasury Department spokesperson said the Fitch move reflected an urgent need for Congress to act on the debt ceiling.
Earlier today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lashed out at House Republicans, shortly after the collapse of a rival GOP proposal.
He warned at the time that the U.S. credit ratings could be downgraded as soon as Tuesday night.
Rielle Hunter is apologizing for her affair with former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.
In a column for The Huffington Post, the former campaign videographer and mother of Edwards’ youngest daughter says she “behaved badly.”
“That may seem obvious to you but it’s taken me a long time to admit that, even to myself,” Hunter said. “For years, I was so viciously attacked by the media and the world that I felt like a victim. I now realize that the attacks are actually beside the point. The point is: I behaved badly.”
Edwards’ extramarital affair, chronicled in tabloids and a book by a former aide, led to his downfall. He had initially denied the affair and paternity of Frances Quinn, the daughter Hunter gave birth to in 2008.
Hunter’s new book, In Hindsight, What Really Happened: The Revised Edition: John Edwards, Our Daughter and Me, hit bookshelves Tuesday.
Pat Buchanan has a message for the House Republicans. If you’re going to go down, go down fighting even if it means taking the country down with you.
In an op-ed, Buchanan referenced the recent polls that showed Republicans taking the blame for the ongoing government shutdown. And he advised Republicans to stand their ground on their pushed to defund or repeal Obamacare, the way Samson in the Bible stood his ground, killing himself and all those around him.
According to Gallup, approval of the Republican Party has sunk 10 points in two weeks to 28 percent, an all-time low. In the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, approval of the GOP has fallen to 24 percent.
In the campaign to persuade America of their Big Lie – that the House Republicans shut down the government – the White House and its media chorus appear to have won this round.
Yet, the truth is the Republicans House has voted three times to keep open and to fund every agency, department and program of the U.S. government, except for Obamacare.
And they voted to kill that monstrosity but once.
Republicans should refuse to raise the white flag and insist on an honorable avenue of retreat.
And if Harry Reid’s Senate demands the GOP end the sequester on federal spending, or be blamed for a debt default, the party should, Samson-like, bring down the roof of the temple on everybody’s head.
Johnnie Mullins’ neighbors love Halloween as much as the next heathen, but they think his decorations this year crossed the line from fun-scary to scary-call-the-cops-there’s-a-dead-body-in-our-neighbor’s-driveway.
“Just trying to scare people, that’s what I like to do,” Mullins, of Mustang, Oklahoma, told News9 in defense of his “Halloween prank”: Two fake bodies that appear to have met a bloody demise outside his house.
“My heart about came out of my chest. I thought ‘Oh my God,'” said neighbor Rebecca Fuentes. “If I think it’s real, just think of what a child would think?”
The children “don’t freak out or anything,” Mullins insists, but it seems the adults are freaking out enough for everyone.
One neighbor was apparently so persuaded by how lifelike the dead bodies look that they dialed 911.
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