The League of Humane Voters came out with their endorsements for candidates in tomorrow’s City of Los Angeles election. I have been too busy the past couple of weeks to do any homework on the issues, so I am using their list as a good starting point for research on tomorrow’s issues. As a reminder, the turnout for local elections is generally small, so the power of your vote will be greatly increased. Here’s their list:

City Attorney
Carmen Trutanich
You can see his responses to the League of Humane Voters’ questionnaire here.

Los Angeles City Council District 5
Paul Koretz
Paul has authored quite a few pro-animal resolutions including:

• - Created the City of West Hollywood Animal Issues Task Force
• - Authored resolution declaring West Hollywood an animal cruelty-free city
• - Authored ordinance preventing landlords from evicting seniors and the disabled for having small animals in their apartments
• - Authored ordinance providing for a lower license fee for spayed or neutered animals
• - Authored resolutions opposing cruel practices against animals, like the Draize test

You can see more information about Paul’s accomplishments on his website here.

Personally, I can’t stand Korean food, but there’s probably a few people that would be excited to know that it is rumored that NYC’s vegan Korean restaurant HanGawi may be coming to LA. That is, according to the blog The Vegan Korean. So if you like Korean food, keep an eye out because you won’t be finding any restaurant reviews from me.

Tonight is LA Animal Services’ last Humane LA workshop for 2008. The workshop will be focusing on Public Relations/Community Involvement. If someone goes, they may want to point out that a list of speakers, a flyer, or anything beyond a date and time available for their events on their website would probably help on the “Community Involvement” front. Here are the limited details that are available:

Date: December 1, 2008, 6:30 p.m.
Location: Friendship Auditorium, 3201 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles, 90028

PETA has been getting a lot of attention lately for calling on Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont to raise health insurance premiums for people who eat meat and lower the premiums for vegetarians. PETA’s Executive Director Tracy Reiman sent a letter last Monday to Bill Milnes Jr., president of Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Vermont urging them to raise premiums on meat eaters to offset the diseases that have been conclusively linked to the consumption of meat. Kevin Goddard, Blue Cross’s vice president of external affairs states that “Under Vermont law, we would not be allowed to vary rates based on the dietary and nutritional habits of various members.” I don’t think it’s such a stretch to think that if you can have lower rates for smokers, you can have lower rates for vegetarians. CNN had a link to WPTZ.com with a short news story about it which you can view here.

The HSUS has announced that the Obama’s are going to adopt the “first dog.” This is exciting news for the animal community & shelters accross the country! You can thank the Obama’s for saving a homeless animal by signing the online card.

I’ve seen a couple examples of misguided anger in the last couple of days towards the passing of Prop 2. It’s certainly horrible that Prop 8 looks like it was defeated, but I know quite a few people who worked tirelessly on both campaigns. Discrimination, whether it’s homophobia or specisim, is awful in any form. I think that Michelle Cho from PETA did a great job summing it up in her letter to Samantha Ronson:

The passing of Prop 2 is a monumental victory that will afford millions of animals the
opportunity to stand up, turn around, and spread their wings, and it should be celebrated
by everyone who cares about animals. To all of us at PETA, and all the other animal
rights people who also protested the passage of Prop 8 by standing on street corners,
working the phones, and talking to friends and family about the bigotry of Prop 8—this
isn’t a “one or the other” situation. Abusing animals is always wrong, and discriminating
against gays is always wrong. We’ll continue to fight against the ban on gay marriage,
and we hope that we can have your support in our efforts to eliminate cruelty to animals.

Here’s hoping that Prop 8 still may find it’s way to a defeat this election year.

It’s getting to be the time of year to start thinking about sending or better yet, receiving gifts. Leonaria is a new company that can take care of all your vegan gift giving needs. Their mission is to bring the very latest and best of vegan products to bring veganism in the mainstream. They offer gourmet gift baskets, decadent treats, and exquisite bouquet arrangements that look amazing. In my opinion, the best thing they offer is the Fudge of the Month Club with options like Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Orange, and Butterscotch Pecan. They seem to offer items in all price ranges for the cruelty free consumer. You can visit their online store here.

Zach over at LAist has the scoop on $1 Vegan Tacos on Monday nights at Malo in Silverlake. The choices include Eggplant & Potato, Grilled & Marinated Vegetable and Soy-Rizo. I can’t stand eggplant, and Soy-Rizo is always way to greasy for my taste, but the grilled/marinated vegetable tacos sound right up my alley. You have to specify them vegan, no cheese or sour cream on the side, but that’s pretty much standard practice at any Mexican restaurant so no surprise there. Read his full post here.