Tea

Teas from across the globe are becoming more and more popular in the U.S. One relative newcomer, yerba mate, is attracting fans for its allegedly jitter-free caffeine boost and high antioxidant content. Lab research suggests some potential health benefits from drinking yerba mate, but studies of lifelong yerba mate drinkers in the tea's native South America suggest the brew increases the risk of some cancers -- a fact most marketing campaigns omit.

The "tea party" is back and is brewing trouble for the Republican establishment. After the GOP debacle in the 2012 election, when Republicans not only failed to win the presidency but blew a chance to take over the Senate, party leaders paused to consider what had gone wrong. The Republican National Committee issued a scathing report warning that the party was in "an ideological cul-de-sac" and resolved to act friendlier toward women, minorities and low-income voters. Strategist Karl Rove said the lesson was to nominate more moderate candidates and set about raising money to do just that.

There is a desperate edge to Vijay Singh's optimism as he racks his brain for some marketing miracle to rescue Indian tea. What about getting Americans to drink it? They're a health-conscious lot, the plantation boss reasons, and tea -- why it's practically a medicine, he proclaims. India is the world's largest producer of tea -- more than 1.75 billion pounds a year.

SACRAMENTO - Live from the Capitol, it's Tim Donnelly - on Facebook, on Twitter and on the Assembly floor, where he frequently denounces bills he dislikes. A two-term Republican lawmaker from San Bernardino County, he likes to be heard. Just after punching a green button for "yes" or, more often, the red button "no," he takes to social media to tell the world how he voted and why. "I send them live from the floor because I believe the people have a right to know," says Donnelly, 47, a self-described tea party conservative from Twin Peaks in the San Bernardino Mountains near Lake Arrowhead.

We're still in a recession. Work is scarce, cash is low, spirits are lower and layoffs still loom. It seems like the least opportune time to pamper yourself, and yet it may be one of the most important. As a stress relief for you and your bank account, the spas of Koreatown offer first-class services at economical prices. Edward Kim, manager of Century Sports Club and Day Spa, put it this way: "People say we're a luxury. We're not a luxury. We're more of a luxurious necessity.

For most of his 76 years, the 14th Dalai Lama has been the spiritual light for followers of Tibetan Buddhism, his every word parsed for guidance to living a better, more fulfilling life. Awarded the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, the Dalai Lama has been an outspoken advocate for compassion, meditation and religious tolerance. Now, as he steps down as leader of Tibet, the perpetually smiling monk in saffron and burgundy robes makes in "Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World" what some may regard as a heretical pronouncement: You don't need religion to lead a happy and ethical life.

With more than 4 million people visiting Yosemite National Park last year ? and that number expected to increase this year ? it's no wonder lodging inside the park is snatched up quickly. "We typically sell out during the summer season," Delaware North Cos. spokeswoman Lisa Cesaro said of its Yosemite accommodations (Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite Lodge at the Falls, Curry Village and the housekeeping camp on the Merced River; the Wawona Hotel, and in the back country, Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, White Wolf Lodge and the High Sierra camps)

David Oliver Relin, Gregory Mortenson's co-author on the bestseller "Three Cups of Tea," has died. The 49-year-old committed suicide Nov. 15 in Oregon, the Multnomah County medical examiner announced late Sunday, saying blunt force trauma to the head was the cause of death. Relin's suicide adds to the shadow cast on "Three Cups of Tea," which tells of Mortenson's travels in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan and his work creating schools for the children, particularly girls, in those remote regions.

Tea-smoked game hens Total time: 1 hour, plus overnight marinating time for the hens Servings: 4 Note: There will be considerable smoke at the end of the recipe when the lid is removed; open a kitchen window or turn on the exhaust fan. This recipe calls for a lidded wok; a commercial smoker or roasting pan can also be used, provided it can be used over high heat. Five-spice powder is available in the Asian section of well-stocked supermarkets. Lapsang souchong and Earl Grey teas are generally available at well-stocked and Asian markets.

Few people like to talk about dying. A grassroots movement is trying to change attitudes. It's called the Death Cafe --and its central notions are that death deserves discourse and that learning to think and talk about it without anxiety can help people live their lives most fully. There's no profit motive, no set agenda. Tea and cake are served. The aim is to provide a comfortable setting so that people can talk about death without fear. I recently attended L.A.'s first Death Cafe, at the Topanga Canyon home of Betsy Trapasso, an end-of-life guide.

Tea expert David DeCandia has spent his entire 17-year career in the shadow of coffee. At his employer, Los Angeles beverage chain Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, coffee comes first in the company name. It also takes up most of the company's processing facility in Camarillo and brings in 90% of the revenue. But more Americans are complaining that their coffee buzz feels like a hangover, citing concerns about over-caffeination and high prices. DeCandia is reading the tea leaves - and seeing a cultural shift toward his brew of choice.

WASHINGTON - Top conservative leaders, along with tea party activists from across the nation, have crafted a letter of opposition to the Senate's bipartisan immigration overhaul. The open letter to the Senate, which will be released Tuesday, marks the first large-scale attempt to halt the bill as it gains momentum with a key Senate committee vote expected this week. Those signing the letter include influential conservative commentators - Erick Ericksen, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Michele Malkin - as well as tea party leaders and talk radio hosts from around the country.

Re "Report raises more IRS questions," May 12 All agree that the IRS scrutiny of only conservative "social welfare" groups applying for tax-exempt status is inexcusable. What is tragically being lost is that all these groups, along with liberal ones, deserve to be targeted. Why should our tax dollars be diverted from seniors, defense, infrastructure, education, aid for low-income individuals and other vital programs and agencies to give anyone a tax break for engaging in political activities?

The scandal over the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status for special review claimed its first scalp Wednesday, when Treasury Secretary Jack Lew demanded and received the resignation of the agency's acting chief. President Obama announced the resignation of Steven Miller on Wednesday afternoon. He also took the opportunity to repeat much of the statement he'd issued Tuesday, when he said the agency's actions were "intolerable and inexcusable.

It can be hard to figure out any Washington "scandal" without a scorecard, and harder when it involves an opaque agency such as the IRS. That's the case with one of the scandals du jour, which revolves around the IRS' scrutiny of political organizations seeking a tax exemption. So here -- as a companion piece to my column on the subject , and with the help of a just-released report from the agency's inspector general -- we're providing a quick guide to what's wrong and maybe not-so-wrong with what the IRS was up to. VIDEO CHAT: Join us for a live chat at 2 p.m. Pacific Why was the IRS scrutinizing applicants for tax exemptions?

Finally, a small cadre of busybody bureaucrats has discovered a way to bring this divided country together. Thank you, IRS, for pulling off what no politician has been able to do. Mortal political enemies on both sides of the aisle agree: The IRS badly misstepped when it singled out for scrutiny groups with the words “tea party” and “patriots” in their names who had applied for tax-exempt status. That is a Nixon-worthy no-no. Regardless of whether this practice simply represented a shortcut in the agency's larger effort to evaluate the flood of applications for tax-exempt status in 2010 and 2011, as the agency maintains, it's a ham-fisted way of doing business.

It's a real team effort over at Fox News. You'd expect conservative commentators like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity to be hyping today's wave of anti-tax "tea parties." But Fox personalities labeled "news" anchors are right there with their blessings too -- one telling us the protests will focus on "how much of our hard-earned money is going to the federal government," another assuring us the tea parties themselves are sparking economic activity.

Polly Browder's letter (Jan. 12) regarding the proper preparation of tea is correct in most respects but with some important omissions. She overlooked mentioning the first step before pouring boiling water over the tea, and that is that the empty teapot must first be rinsed with boiling water. Tea is added, one teaspoon for each cup and one more for the pot. The pot (I prefer a crockery pot to the finest silver one) is covered with a cozy and allowed to steep. The first cup (I also like to rinse the empty teacup with boiling water)

It's strange how "scandal" gets defined these days in Washington. At the moment, everyone is screaming about the "scandal" of the Internal Revenue Service scrutinizing conservative nonprofits before granting them tax-exempt status. Here are the genuine scandals in this affair: Political organizations are being allowed to masquerade as charities to avoid taxes and keep their donors secret, and the IRS has allowed them to do this for years. The bottom line first: The IRS hasn't done nearly enough over the years to rein in the subversion of the tax law by political groups claiming a tax exemption that is not legally permitted for campaign activity.

WASHINGTON - A top Internal Revenue Service official knew as early as June 2011 that conservative groups seeking nonprofit status were being singled out for additional scrutiny, raising questions about when senior officials were informed and why the IRS allowed the agency's commissioner to deny the targeting effort in March 2012 testimony before Congress. The IRS has said the commissioner was not aware of the targeting at the time, but it has not explained why the testimony was never corrected.