To the strains of psychic and spoken shouts of “sell-out,” today local supervisor Gloria Molina launches L.A.’s stormtroopers on loncheras/mobile Mexican restaurants, attempting to put a serious dent in our Southern Californian culture. This attempt to deny healthy marketplace competition and consumer choice of product and price seems damned un-U.S. American to me! That this legislation has politically racist overtones screaming out of it is another component that appears out of step with the true popular opinion of our city. Don’t touch our tacos! A few ideas to join the fight back:

• Yesterday the L.A. Times mentioned a swelling “taco resistance.” Get behind it! Make sure you’ve signed the petition at www.Saveourtacotrucks.org.

• Moderated by C. Thi Nguyen, Chow Digest Editor at Chowhound.com, Remember the Taco Truck! at Zocalo~ Los Angeles Theater Center on Thursday, May 22nd  @ 7:30PM, hosting “a panel of writers, thinkers, and activists (including Jonathan Gold, Barry Glassner, and Chris Rutherford of SaveourTacotrucks.org) discussing the joys of taco trucks, their place in Los Angeles culture, and the politics behind the new regulations.”

• Support your favorite independent restaurants, be they taco truck, taco restaurant, or another–whoever has the best food and price should have a right to compete for our taste buds and dollars.

Hyperion Ave. ~ Silverlake

Whittier Narrows Nature Center ~ 1000 N. Durfee Ave. ~ South El Monte ~ (626) 575-5523

Friends of the Whittier Narrows Natural Area

The Whittier Narrows Nature Center is a 320 acre wildlife sanctuary located within the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, a 1,400 acre riparian woodland. Four lakes and a riverside ecosystem are home to over 40 bird species. Actually, over 300 bird species have been identified in the Whittier Narrows area. Its lakes are popular with migrating water foul, as well as the occasional mountain lion or bobcat. In the Recreation Area open from sunrise to sunset, humans can enjoy sports like soccer, volleyball, archery, fishing, skeet, pistols, and horseback riding. Facilities rent boats and bikes. Now as far as outdoor education goes, nothing beats the outdoors- but the Nature Center goes a long way in explaining the complex relationships which sustain this marvelous ecosystem.

The Whittier Narrows Natural Area was first designated a wildlife sanctuary in 1939. It is now managed by the L.A. County Dept. of Parks & Recreation Natural Areas Division, whose mission is to preserve, protect, and educate. Among other activities, the Nature Center hosts bird walks, hay rides, lectures, and school tours. The environ around the museum building is tranquil and unimposing. One would never guess what wonders lurk inside.

If you are a big fan of natural history museums or an aspiring taxidermist, you will love this place. Upper left we see the grey fox, close relative to our native island fox, who famously inhabits the Channel Islands and is known to be the world’s smallest fox. Also on display are live toads, a tarantula, lizards, snakes, and even a racoon. This room is overflowing with curiosities- some dead, some living.

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More Ron English here.

The dock workers of Los Angeles joined their brethren in other cities today to protest the ongoing war in Iraq. The LA Times reports:

Thousands of dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, took the day off work today in what their union called a protest of the war in Iraq, effectively shutting down operations at the busy complexes.

The show of force by the union came two months before the contract expires between the dockworkers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents port operators and large shippers, many of them foreign-owned.

Photo, Port of Los Angeles by udannlin.

Venice ~ CA

Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderon, Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

For more information, read “Fighting the privatization of Mexico’s oil.”