Cross posted at Turn Maine Blue

We've all heard about honor killings. Some of us have read a few horrifying details in articles, or heard some reference about them on the news. The really unfortunate amongst us actually knows someone that has first hand experience. It is most often that a woman dies from such killings; but men do as well.

All for "honor," however that is defined. I guess when one has little else, "honor" is in fact everything.

The September issue of Harper's Magazine has a short piece in its Readings section, taken from a report by the United Nations Population Fund called The Dynamics of Honor Killings in Turkey. (pdf warning). In it you will read more than you want to know about such murders, and also about the psyche of a culture that continues to allow them.

Please make the jump:

Ethan Strimling, a Democratic State Senator from Portland Maine, penned an op-ed piece in Sundays Portland Press Herald that should be shared with everyone. Ethan Strimling was one of the 18 Senate Democrats that in 2003 voted to oppose the Iraq War, which got passage in the Senate in February of that year. Maine became the first state to officially oppose the Iraq war, when the House passed the resolution a week later. Coming up on the four year anniversary, Strimling, as well as John Eder, a former Green Party representative, talk about the Iraq war and how it's turned out.

Portland Press Herald

What makes us sadder still is that much of what was predicted has occurred. Many at the time opposed our efforts because they supported the president and his impending decision to go to war. Many others considered the resolution to be deceptive hyperbole. We wish they had been right. In our resolution we stated that the war would " jeopardize the lives of American soldiers and will kill many innocent Iraqi civilians." To date, 3,185 American soldiers have died and almost 50,000 have been injured. On top of that, reports of Iraqi deaths have ranged from 50,000 to 500,000.