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[littlefallsmets]

Well, I mean, that's a given.

[wombat]

Being someone who was born after Vietnam, Nixon, and Watergate makes me wonder what it was like to trust a public official to do the right thing. Must have been crazy.

Did people really used to, though, even before that? After all, that generation hardly invented political corruption.

[Doc]

That's true, I don't think people have ever really trusted their leaders, I guess now we are lucky that we tend to have much easier access to the information that demonstrates our suspicions were right all along.

[lprkn]

Well, I don't mean unlimited trust in leaders, but a sense that we could elect them to do a job, and that they would do their best at it, and not totally screw things up.

There's always surveys coming out showing a decline in the trust placed in public institutions and officials, and the trend appeared to really head downward around the 60's in the U.S.

I suppose there is a strong component of nostalgia behind all of this, a desire to return to the good old days, when in fact the good old days never really existed.

[Doc]

Yeah, I mean you go back to the 30s in chicago and talk to someone about corrupt officials.

[jay-ell]

There's always surveys coming out showing a decline in the trust placed in public institutions and officials, and the trend appeared to really head downward around the 60's in the U.S.

I blame revisionist historians. 

Really.  I do! 

[Pedro Picasso]

I'm a little late here, but way back when about Yerba Mate.  I thought I'd ad my buck oh five. 

I get mine from amigofoods.com.  Taragui sin palo is my standard stuff (http://store.amigofoods.com/tayemasinpa.html).  "con palo" is with stems, and it generally dulls the flavor.

Wooden mates and gourds retain flavor over time.  Metal and plastic mates are easier to wash, but don't have that special taste retention.  Metal bombillas help you figure out how hot things are before you burn your mouth, and they feel better on your teeth than alternatives.  Drinking mate the way you would tea or coffee takes the whole charm out of things.  It's like using the patch instead of taking smoke breaks, the ritual is a big part of the drink.  Sharing mate is also a huge part of it in Argentina, but it doesn't fit so well in germ-obsessed America. 

Many web sites will tell you it doesn't contain caffeine, but matiene.  They made that word up.  There is almost no real scholarship on the stuff.  Anyone who tells you it will increase your life-span or make you healthier is probably making that up.

I do take a lot of ribbing at work for what looks like drug paraphernalia, but it's generally good-natured.

I have tried flavored mate, and can't get into it.

As for Huck Norris.  Nuts to Huck Norris.

[Doc]

It is done.
Definitely a stronger flavour than I've come to expect from tea but one I think I could embrace.
I shall have to try adding a little sugar next time like JL suggested.

[jaydub]

Huh.  That does, indeed, totally look like drug paraphernalia.  And in a way, I guess it is.

[lprkn]

Just Chinesin' around. This one's quality, folks.

Also, it would have been racist if anybody but the obscenely wealthy cartoon cat said it.

[littlefallsmets]

The basic problem with America is that a lot of people can't tell the difference between being racist and making fun of racism in a very over-the-top manner.

Good Lord, making fun of racism in an over-the-top manner is pretty much THE funniest thing going right now but... you gotta keep your eyes out for people who don't understand what you're doin'.

[CortJstr]

Good Lord, making fun of racism in an over-the-top manner is pretty much THE funniest thing going right now

Not if you're Carlos Mencia it's not.

[lprkn]

I seem to remember a trio of comedians, one was Iranian, one was Iraqi, and one was Korean. They called themselves, "The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour," which I thought was pretty funny. Unfortunately, they never came to my part of the country, can't imagine why...

[theinevitable]

it's funny until you have the same problem in a different way, and my friend's shitty roommates think it's hilarious to sing "throw the jew down the well" every time they see him.

[CortJstr]

First year one of my suite-mates was Jewish and whenever we were playing a game and he died he'd shout out "oh the jew-manity!" Which the rest of us picked up on. Every once in a while I almost say it but then realize that it probably wouldn't look very good to people who didn't know that one guy in college.