Midweek Homework: Checking in with the Iowa blogs

Over the past couple days there has been some great posts on Iowa blogs that are definitely worth the read.

Yesterday, John Deeth covered a May Day Peace event in Iowa City.

Organizers of Tuesday's Missing May Day peace events in downtown Iowa City had energy beyond numbers. It was a "spiritual event," said one speaker and the message was simple: end the war now - no deadlines, no conditions - now, was the call of the day.

Initially discussed weeks ago as a relatively routine picket, the event evolved into a festival, a Peace-a-palooza if you will.

The event wasn't really about the speeches, it was about young, young, young. Most organizers and attendees were in their 20s or even teens.

Popular Progressive wrote about how the declining honey bee population affects Iowa agriculture.

Essential Estrogen has an in depth look at State Rep. Dawn Pettengill's defection to the GOP that includes an analysis of Pettengill's voting record.

Finally, The Woodbury Democrat asks if we have lost the war.

What an absurd question!

No, the U.S. hasn’t lost the war. In fact, we won it four years ago. We defeated Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guards with relative ease, and overthrew one of the Middle East’s most legendary tyrants. End of story.

The problem is, we’re asking the wrong question. More specifically, we Americans are approaching the continuing troubles in Iraq from the wrong direction. We (meaning the citizens of the United States of America) have not, and never will, lose the war in Iraq. Why? It is not our war because it is not our country! Iraq isn’t ours to lose today, any more than China was ours to lose in 1949.