Faux Mexican? Five ways to know your food may be great, but not Mexican...

An old friend who was raised in Mexico told me about the day his dad came to him after they had lived in the states for many years.  “Octavio” he said, “Tonight we are going out to dinner to a Mexican restaurant.  The food will not be Mexican, but it will be delicious.” So off Octavio went with his family years ago in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles to get some “Mexican” food.  When he told me the story, Octavio told me his dad was 100% correct.  The food was wonderful, but it was not Mexican. Gustavo Arellano, in his excellent book “Tacos USA, How Mexican Food Conquered America” would argue with the assessment that it was not Mexican.  He celebrates all the variations of Mexican food, from mission style burritos to the famous combination plate laden with rice, beans and fried tacos as he explains in this great interview. All of this came back to me last night after a visit to Wahoo’s Tacos here in Las Vegas.  The food was indeed delicious, but Mexican? Not a chance.  A burrito with lettuce?  Cajun beans?  Seriously guys, simply serving food centered around tortillas and Modelo Negro beer doesn’t get you into the panteon of quality Mexican Restaurants now spreading around the country. With that experience close at hand, as a public service, I’d like to offer five clues you’ll see if your local taco shack is more Taco Bell than what we’ll find south of the border, down Mexico way... 1. If the beans on that combo plate you ordered are covered in triangles of yellow cheese or the grated four cheese blend you can get at your corner market, you won’t find it south of the border. I have never seen a Mexican variety of yellow cheese.  Cheese in Mexico is usually white and if it is served on beans, tends to the crumbly queso fresco type. 2. If your tacos come with any of the following, ground beef, lettuce, tomato slices, grated cheese, yellow wax paper or even turkey, you are not in Mexico. Tacos come with onions and cilantro in Mexico.  They are also made with steak and all the other parts of the cow or pig, but never have I seen a taco filled with ground beef. 3. If you can order shrimp, chicken, steak or any other type of fajitas, you won’t be finding that plate in too many taco stands or restaurants in Mexico. Sorry folks, as wonderful as fajitas can be, I’ve never seen fajitas in Mexico.  I’m sure they are served somewhere in that great country, but this is a dish popularized by the Orange County restaurant chain El Torito in the 1980’s. 4. When you ask for salsa and the spiciest option you get is Amor or Tapatio bottled sauce, you certainly are not ordering your food in Guadalajara. In Mexico, we love our chiles.  Habañeros, jalapeños, serranos and chiles de agua, we love them all, and expect to experience these tastes in our food.  Unfortunately, the American palette is not ready for this type of experience so we mostly get a tomato blend spiced up with a little bit of pepper. 5. Finally, when you walk in the door, if the first thing that greets you is a wall of mariachi hats or a chile in a beach chair, you can bet you’re gonna get a lot of that yellow cheese covered stuff. The derivative here is that if you see folks getting drunk wearing mariachi hats and dancing like loons, you are more likely in Papas-n-Beer or the old Carlos Murphy’s than an authentic Mexican restaurant. So there you have it.  My top five ways to know you are not in an authentic Mexican restaurant, at least as I’ve experienced it in my 20 years in Mexico.

Spring is in the air... and so is FEMA

Please tell me why. I'll preface this by saying what I am talking about is not likely to be popular. But please tell me why people continue to live in areas that are so vulnerable to extreme weather disasters?  And while you are at it, please tell me why the people that choose to live in those areas are entitled to continued government aid from those of us who have made better choices as to where to live. Now before you stop reading and send me a note that this is a symptom of the liberal mindset, a few facts. FEMA was started in 1979 by Executive Order under Democratic President Carter.  But the roots of government aid in the face of national disasters go all the way back to the 1930's under Republican President Hoover.  Programs were expanded, contracted, improved, or let to languish under administrations of both parties.  Additionally, congressional leaders of both parties have been critics and boosters of this type government aid, depending on whether or not their citizens, or better said, political constituents were affected.  In short, the history of federal aid to states, localities, and individual citizens, in the face of tragedy has been truly bipartisan. There is no other way to honestly characterize this reality, so let's not go there.  Instead, let's ask some tough questions. For hundreds of years the mighty Mississippi has flooded, sending waves of water into cities and homes up and down the banks of this important river.  And for years, government has been paying to help rebuild peoples homes, renovate farms, and bail out businesses that have chosen to live in a place where almost annually, the river floods. New Orleans is a city sitting on a powder keg, or rather, under that powder keg given its below sea level status.  Due to the risk of flooding, dikes and sea walls are maintained at a huge cost to tax payers so that people can live in an area of almost constant risk. Across the midwest, people live in what is called Tornado Alley, so named because almost every year, tornados rip into this area like what we have seen in the last few weeks. Recently, President Obama and Governor Chris Christie celebrated the continued rebuilding of the Jersey Shore, devastated by Hurricane Sandy, largely on the dime of the federal government.  Soon you can bet that our President will be standing beside Governor Brown in California pledging support for people whose homes were lost in yet another forest fire raging in that state. Year after year, time after time, people in places like Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma, California and Missouri swamp the government with requests for aid, help and relief from their poor decisions to live in areas of risk.  It is as if we have forgotten the old real estate maxim of caveat emptor, or buyer beware. I am not against government giving immediate aid and relief to people who have been devasted by things like Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, intense flooding like what we saw recently in San Antonio and the recent spate of tornados that have moved across our great country.  When people are in immediate peril, our governments, state, local and national should spring to action to help those get to safety.  Our goal should be to do all we can to save lives and get people out of harms way. What I am against is the constant paying for, in some cases time and time again, the rebuilding of homes and businesses in known disaster prone areas.  You want to live in a forest or or on the coast?  You cannot imagine giving up your view of the Oklahoma Plain?  Fine, but you should accept the risk and the consequences of your decision, because disaster in those areas is fairly common and predictable. Why should someone like me, who lives in a relatively safe state, but pays for that with extreme summer heat, have to effectively subsidize those who choose to live on the Jersey Shore, Gulf Coast or the mountains above Los Angeles? You want to live there?  Fine with me.  You want to rebuild your home below sea level in New Orleans?  By all means, feel free to do so.  But beyond life saving emergency aid, you should not expect your government to be your rebuilding partner.  Get yourself some insurance.  Save your money for a rainy day. Tap your relatives, but don't expect me to pay to rebuild your patio overlooking a hurricane plagued seashore or a tornado prone great plain. As President Obama has repeatedly said, we, the people of the United States, are here to help when there is a need. What we should not be here to do is repeatedly rescue people from the poor decisions they have made to live in harms way. You want to live there?  Go right ahead.  It's your right.  But if you are living in an area that has a history of repeated disaster, you should not expect me. the federal, or any other level of government to rescue your from your bad judgment or continued stubbornness. What say you?

Give the Gift of Water... literally!

$100.00. One Benjamin.  A C-note.  One bill. What if I told you that by giving just $100.00, you could change a family’s life?  Would you do it? What if I told you that $100.00 could be the single most important ministry gift you make this year because it could save someones life?  Would you make that donation? And what if I told you that by giving one C-note, you might save a little boy or girl from dying of dehydration?  Would you empty your change jar and instead of turning it into Coinstar, give it to Adventures in Life Ministry? Here’s the newsflash... it’s all true! That’s right.  A single donation of $100.00 to Adventures in Life Ministry, in response to this appeal will literally save lives. Let me explain. More than 10% of all babies born to indigenous women in Mexico will die before they reach five years old.  I have personally heard from many parents that one of the reasons they have so many kids is that they assume at least one child will die young. One of the main reasons for these early deaths is lack of quality water.  Many rural parents lack an ability to buy clean water and often, they are living in an area with no potable water source or sewer system.  That means two things... one, outhouses and two, water from polluted wells near those outhouses. Taken together, this is a recipe for disaster, especially mixed with a lack of quality medical care when your baby does get sick. So, how can you help? With a Sawyer Water Filter. It really is as simple as that.   A $100.00 donation will help a family in our little corner of Oaxaca, Mexico have a water filter that will literally change their life.  Pastor Chable, with whom I’ve worked for many years told me in March that his family has not been sick since they got their filter in August.  It is the first time in all his life that his family has ever gone 6 months without being sick! Incredible isn’t it? In an age when almost everything we want is at our fingertips here in the United States, our neighbors just to the south are needlessly dying for need of quality water.  And we have within our grasp the ability to change that equation for less than the cost of a few Vente Mochas at Starbucks. Think about it.   Every $100.00 will give us one filter to put into the hands of a family in Oaxaca and help support the ongoing ministry of Adventures in Life and Pastor Chable in this challenging area. Are you able to help us save a life today so that we will have the opportunity tomorrow to share about an eternity with Jesus?   If so, follow this link to our support page and then drop me a line to let us know you are on board.

Through the Looking Glass as Americans Celebrate Up as Down and Down as Up

One mans trash is another mans treasure.  Or, to put it another way, if I like a policy, it's good, if you do, and your politics clash with mine, you're an idiot. That about sums up the mess we call Washington these days.  Especially in regards to the current kerfuffle over Benghazi. It used to be that certain tragedies were just that, tragedies and not some partisan cudgel to be wielded for future political gain.  Administration officials were generally given the benefit of the doubt about “fog of war” incidents and responses. The nation came together under President Reagan when our Marines were bombed in Lebanon in 1983 resulting in 241 deaths.  Even though President Reagan’s Sec. Def. Casper Weinberger warned against putting the Marines on the ground in Lebanon, there was no call for impeachment and no charges of incompetence. No one was calling the incident, and our retreat, a giant government scandal even though this happened in the run up to the 1984 presidential elections. In response to the brutal act of terror that took the lives of our Marines, President Reagan relocated the remaining soldiers off shore on ships to keep them safe and then within a few short months, withdrew them totally. Did we hear a peep from anyone denigrating the quintessential conservative president for retreating even though in a February 1984 radio broadcast days before withdrawing our troops, he stated that Americans “never cut and run” right before we did just that? Did we hear people expressing anger for negotiating with Iranian terrorists when in fact President Reagan did just that, even personally admitting it later?  How about when the Bush Admin was actively negotiating with the Taliban?  Was that scandalous?  Of course not.  It was sound government policy based in the Kissinger model of realpolitik. Up until Barack Obama was elected president, our Commander in Chief was given wide latitude by his political opponents in the areas of foreign policy and leadership of the military. Even when those policies led to unspeakable human tragedy, as was the case in Lebanon, Vietnam and later Afghanistan and Iraq, partisanship was generally left at waters edge or engaged in at your peril When Jane Fonda mounted a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft battery in 1972 and was critical of her president and US foreign policy, she was pilloried for being anti-American.  When Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks was critical of the pre war run up to the invasion of Iraq, her career was decimated by Americans demanding to know why she was not being patriotic and supporting our president. And yet when entertainers like Ted Nugent call our president a Nazi and Hank WIlliams Jr. says President Obama hates Americans and essentially state that he is unAmerican, we hear nary a peep from the same voices that slammed people like Fonda and Maines. Clearly, there is a double standard in operation and it looks like this. When it happened on a previous presidents watch, no matter the party, it was a tragedy.  When it happens on President Obama’s watch, it’s because he is, choose one, or all, incompetent, a liar, a communist, a socialist, or just plain stupid. When people were critical of past presidents, they were anti-American, now in some Alice in Wonderland twist of logic, they’ve become patriots. I said earlier that we had not seen this type of behavior before in recent American politics.  I fear that we have left that age behind.  Sadly, the Democrats will be hard pressed to withstand the pressure to respond in kind if and when the GOP finally gets one of their own in the White House again.   Even sadder will be the defense that Dems will mount on behalf of their actions by partisans angered by the foul treatment President Obama received at the hands of the political right. We are a sorry lot.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo

Every year as we approach Cinco de Mayo, friends seek me out to ask about Mexican Independence Day and the what Mexicans do to celebrate.   They almost feel let down when I tell them Cinco de Mayo is not about Independence and that most Mexicans will be working.  When I see the what you talkin' about Willis look in their eyes, I take the time to explain. Cinco de Mayo is the day the Mexican Army, under the direction of General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated the French troops in the Battle of Puebla.  In Mexico, unless you are in Puebla, the day is hardly even mentioned.  It seems as if the hoopla generated by the day here in the US is more a creation of Budweiser than anything else. Here is a great account of that battle and the history.

The Trashing of America... Is Iron Eyes shedding tears again?

Is it just me? Today I was walking out of Starbucks, a common off site office for me because of their free WiFi.  I had finished my drink and as I exited I started looking for the trash can. And that is when it hit me. There weren’t any! I was reminded of a recent stop at an interstate McDonald’s.  On my way in to use the restroom and pick up another $1.00 soda, I wanted to throw away some trash.  Again, there was no trashcan to be found anywhere near the entrance or in the parking lot. I’ve been looking around lately and asking my friends about this in a sort of unscientific research.  Here’s what I am seeing. Some of America’s largest food retailers are slowly but surely eliminating outside trashcans.  Years ago I managed in the fast food business.  As a young guy working for Carl’s Jr, I emptied many of those giant outside trashcans.  It was not fun nor was it easy.  But Carl, yes that Carl, I knew him and his kids, insisted that we empty them everyday to keep the parking lot clean and inviting for our guests. All I can figure out is that today’s generation of food retailer big shots have loaded in some kind of algorithm and determined that they can save a buck a day in labor costs for every trashcan eliminated from outside their stores. Pretty short-sighted if you ask me. Many folks of my generation will remember Iron Eyes Cody in the old commercial saying we can stop pollution.  One of the biggest helps in that battle was easy access to places where we could dump our trash. Are we moving away from that ideal in an effort to save a few dollars? Sadly, I am afraid it looks like we are.  But hey, those companies will see a better bottom line and Americans will too in their stocks, mutual funds and retirement accounts. Even if we are once again shedding tears at the sight of trash blowing across the American landscape.

Spring in Oaxaca... while teachers protest, kids are left behind...

Scene from 2006 teacher protests If it is spring, it must be time for the annual teacher strikes in Oaxaca.  This year instead of descending on the city center, thousands of teachers have made a pilgrimage to Mexico City to voice their displeasure and share their plight.  Others have taken up the call to block highways and generally disrupt life in their attempt to publicize their cause. Each year, as surely as the swallows return to Capistrano or the monarch butterflies descend on Pacific Grove, teachers in Oaxaca organize strikes, marches, demonstrations and protests, disrupting life across the state. And each year, thousands of children in one of the most impoverished states in the country are deprived of good quality education as these teachers leave their communities and classrooms to take part in the annual protests. Yet you will never hear that from the teachers. They will never tell you about parents that must leave kids alone at home because class has been canceled.  They will never tell you how far behind Roberto and Julia are in their studies because their teachers decided to take another day or week off of classes to protest.  And they will never tell you that many teachers in Oaxaca have never received any formal training to be a teacher. They won’t tell you these things because it does not serve their purpose. If you travel, as I have, in the villages of Oaxaca and talk to the parents, they are fed up with the powerful teachers unions.  How, they ask, can their kids get an education if you never know when a teacher will show up?  The frequency of the teacher strikes and the demands of the union leadership for participation in those strikes are not helping solve the education challenges in Oaxaca.   They are exacerbating it. Teaching in Oaxaca is not easy and at some point, people reach a boiling point as they did in 2006, almost bringing down the state government of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.  For a good look at that fateful time, watch the documentary "Un Poquito de Tanto Verdad."  I was there and can tell you, while this movie has a bias, it rings true and is pretty accurate.  I get that wages are low for teachers.  I understand that many of the schools are pretty crappy.  I’ve been in some of those tin walled rooms on hot days in Oaxaca and it isn’t pretty.  I can tell you from experience how hard it is for a family to buy the necessary uniforms and supplies for their kids to attend school. Many of the schools in Oaxaca are miles away from the people or, if they are close by, lack the basic necessities like electricity and running water.  In some areas school is taught by video satellite and discipline is enforced by a different untrained parent each day.  The challenges that are faced with educating population groups that grow up speaking indigenous languages and have no written alphabet are legion. But teachers walking out of classes to get the attention of the government officials is not the solution.  The only people hurt by this shortsighted strategy are the children the teachers claim to be helping. The teachers union, known locally in Oaxaca as Seccion 22, APPO, and the government of Gabino Cue must find a way to solve the educational crisis in Oaxaca in a way that benefits everyone.  Ignoring the teachers, refusing to negotiate and walking out on classes and leaving thousands of children behind to somehow educate themselves is not the answer.  Grow up people, Oaxaca, her children and her future are depending on you!