The Iraq War is largely won

According to the AP:

The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost.

Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years. But the Iraqi government and the U.S. now are able to shift focus from mainly combat to mainly building the fragile beginnings of peace — a transition that many found almost unthinkable as recently as one year ago.

Despite the occasional bursts of violence, Iraq has reached the point where the insurgents, who once controlled whole cities, no longer have the clout to threaten the viability of the central government.

That does not mean the war has ended or that U.S. troops have no role in Iraq. It means the combat phase finally is ending, years past the time when President Bush optimistically declared it had. The new phase focuses on training the Iraqi army and police, restraining the flow of illicit weaponry from Iran, supporting closer links between Baghdad and local governments, pushing the integration of former insurgents into legitimate government jobs and assisting in rebuilding the economy.

I'd come to realize long ago, along with many other conservatives, that the principle problem with the conflict in Iraq was that we didn't use sufficient troops in the initial occupation, allowing the insurgency to flourish. Senator McCain highlighted this fact often. When President Bush finally recognized his horribly flawed strategy and initiated the "surge" to quell the insurgency, the situation on the ground improved.

Today, we're winning, and the conflict can finally enter the rebuilding phase. Now, does anything think Obama will actually acknowledge our success, or will he simply advocate that we squander it via an ill-advised and abrupt draw-down of troops?

Louisiana Democrats go gutter sniping

This is profoundly pathetic:

In one of the hardest hitting – Republicans will undoubtedly say “dirtiest” – television ads aired in history, the Louisiana Democratic Party is accusing Rep. Bobby Jindal of being anti-Protestant.

The bizarre charge is delivered by an unidentified woman in a new Louisiana Democratic Party TV ad produced by Carvin/Seder Communications, a Louisiana-based consulting firm whose clients have included former Governor Edwin Edwards (D-La.), Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D) and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (D).

In the TV spot, the announcer charges that Jindal wrote articles that “insulted thousands of Louisiana Protestants,” and she holds up an article in which she says Jindal “doubts the morals and questions the beliefs of Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Pentecostals and other Protestant religions.”

The ad directs interested viewers to a website, www.JindalonReligion.com. (However, unless you are a subscriber to The New Oxford Review, you won’t be able to read Jindal’s entire articles.)

From what I'm reading, the charges are utterly baseless. Jindal has indeed described why he believes Catholicism is right and Protestantism is wrong (and why shouldn't he -- he's Catholic!) but the accusations that he has defamed Protestantism are totally without merit. The LDP is apparently using deceptive quotes taken out of context, even some that are falsely attributed (in one such quote Jindal is quoting John Calvin, without endorsement).

This is just like last gubernatorial election -- the Democrats claim to be the party of tolerance, but they're only too willing to appeal to racial and religious prejudice if it wins them an election. Let's hope it doesn't work this time, and we have a fair contest.

Last breath of taco trucks in Jeff Parish

Only one left:

And then there was only Taqueria Chilangos.

The taco truck parked at an empty service station at Power and Veterans Memorial boulevards in Metairie, the very site that inspired a Jefferson Parish politician to launch a crackdown in June on mobile food vendors, is the last wheeled taqueria in the parish, hanging on two months after the Parish Council tightened its rules on such stands.

Truck owner David Montes said he will stay as long as possible, but the fate of his business hangs in the balance as his landlord resists parish efforts to eject him and a raw shrimp vendor at the same intersection.

"I can't work well," Montes said, saying the situation makes him anxious. "I'm afraid, because I don't know what's going to happen."

He said Tuesday, or any day soon, could be his last at Power and Veterans.

"My last weeks, my last days, you never know," he said.

After receiving visits from parish inspectors and weighing the specter of steep fines, other vendors and their landlords have given up on maintaining taqueria trucks in Jefferson Parish. Some of the vendors continue operating trucks in New Orleans, which has been more accommodating. Montes carries on largely because of his landlord's protests of the parish codes.

Parish inspectors originally found five stands in violation of the new regulations, which outlaw mobile food vendors on major thoroughfares and require them to have running water and permanent restrooms.

I never personally supported the Jeff Parish ban on taco trucks. First of all, there's no real compelling reason to ban lunch wagons. Construction is a major industry now in New Orleans, and the workers (largely Hispanic) need quick food. You don't need permanent restrooms to eat at a lunch wagon; the idea is to eat and get back to work ASAP.

Secondly, the regulation's justifications -- that taco trucks are ugly and they generally don't pay parish taxes -- were pretty weak. Placing a truck in an empty field or parking lot can't spoil the bucolic scenery of Jefferson Highway, and the loss in revenue was minimal. Counties in other states just accept the loss and try to enforce existing regulations; they don't write new ones.

Finally, the ban at least had the appearance of being anti-Hispanic, even if that wasn't the intent. I don't endorse assuming racist motives, but this left Jeff Parish wide open to such accusations. It could have been dealt with differently, but now it's just too late.

Test post

This is my first post, not to be confused with one that has actual content. :)