Europe Backs Down

Reuters via Regime Change Iran:

The European Union's three main powers have dropped a demand that the U.N. nuclear watchdog report Iran to the Security Council over its atomic plans due to opposition from Russia and China, diplomats said on Thursday.

Moscow and Beijing have warned the United States, France, Britain and Germany against stepping up the nuclear standoff with Iran, potentially blocking their drive to haul Tehran before the U.N.'s highest body for possible sanctions. ...

AP via Free Iran:

Iran gained a reprieve in the standoff over its nuclear program Wednesday, with diplomats saying the
European Union had decided to postpone its push to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council.

The decision to delay a vote until a later board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency instead of demanding one this week appeared driven by concerns about strong opposition. More than a dozen of the 35 IAEA board member nations meeting in Vienna — including Security Council members Russia and China — are against the idea.

Update

The next step. For the first sixteen months, I didn't spend a dime on promoting Dreams Into Lightning, with the single exception of a few dollars I contributed to the (now defunct) Blog Machine. That changed this month, when I took advantage of SiteMeter's partner service, Site Toolbox, which offers site promotion packages in a variety of sizes and budgets. They offer search engine submissions, tips on SEO (Search Engine Optimization), a handy little doohickey that generates tags for you, and a banner ad service. (Possibly you've already seen some of my catchy slogans for this blog.) And I am definitely seeing an increase in traffic, so I know it's working.

Liveblogging from One Way Coffee House. Formerly "Portland Coffee House, Trinity" it's now known simply as Coffee House, or alternatively as One Way Coffee House because of the juxtaposition of the storefront with a "one way" traffic sign. It's still the best coffee shop in the neighborhood - I'm tempted to say the best in Portland. One Way Coffee House is still independently owned and boasts a dedicated, knowledgeable, and friendly crew - and it's still open into the wee hours for you late-nighters. That location again? It's at the corner of West Burnside and Trinity Place, right across Burnside from Blockbuster.

School's in. Yup, I'm starting classes on Monday. I don't intend to stop posting, or even slow down; it just means I'm going to have to manage my time. Morning Reports will probably be short and to-the-point. I am planning to return to the topical posting schedule I attempted earlier, and abandoned almost immediately; I'll probably cut out a few of the more ambitious features so I don't feel intimidated by the project. Thursday is "Arts and Letters" day; I'm putting together a few thoughts on a certain play (think Denmark) for next week.

Morning Report: September 22, 2005

Iraqi political scene. Iraq the Model carries a roundup of Iraqi politics. 'The political scene in Iraq these days is full of events with the parties feeling that time for starting campaigning is approaching. However these campaigns took the form of exchanged attacks and accusations without presenting programs or platforms for development and reform which are much needed. Perhaps the only player who preferred to act quietly is Allawi who stayed away from the lights while making continuous tours to gather support from as many parties and trends as possible to form a mid-liberal trend with no sectarian or ethnic identity. ... Maybe what's going to assist Allawi this time is that he didn't join the cabinet although encouraged to do so by the Sheat and the Kurdish blocs; this together with the poor performance of the current government when compared to Allawi's made Allawi seen as a better alternative by many Iraqis especially that a new alliance backed by the clergy is not likely to appear anymore after the intense differences that emerged between the major players in the present alliance namely the SCIRI, the Da'wa, Fadheela Party and the Sadrists and the differences reached the degree of armed clashes in some cases after which the Sadrists said they will be entering the next elections alone. Chalabi being the founding father of the alliance sensed the critical situation which made him make an announcement saying "I made the alliance and I can form a stronger one..." this announcement reflects the depth of the problems this alliance is going through, in the first time Chalabi remained silent while he built the alliance and he tried to stay away from the media but now I think he's facing a tough situation that pushed him to adopt this daring attitude and stop being silent. ... In such atmospheres critical of the governmental performance, the governing parties found themselves surrounded in a weak position and took a decision to respond by releasing a controversial report accusing Allawi's cabinet of massive corruption. This report which took a lot of attention and coverage in the past few days took the political battle to the lands of the opposition represented by the Iraqi bloc of Allawi and the former defense minister Hazim Sha'lan who's joining Allawi's alliance now after he formed his own movement. Everyone here know how dangerous corruption is and we said it more than once that it is just as dangerous as terrorism so attempts to fight corruption are welcome but the latest report was lacking a mechanism for a solution or even the precursors for a plan and was more like a shot taken to weaken the position of the political opponents.' Read the full report at the link. (ITM)

UK pulls forces from Basra streets. British forces are being removed from patrols in Basra, southern Iraq, in the wake of recent Iraqi/British clashes. Fox reports: 'British troops in the tense southern city of Basra greatly reduced their presence in the streets Thursday, apparently responding to a call from the provincial governor to sever cooperation until London apologized for storming a police station to free two of its soldiers. For the second day, no British forces were seen with accompanying Iraqi police on patrols of Basra, as they routinely had in the past. Elsewhere, a roadside bomb hit a U.S. convoy in southern Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding six others Wednesday. Suspected insurgents gunned down at least eight Iraqis in four separate attacks Thursday, officials said. In an interview with Associated Press Television News in Baghdad Thursday, Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie called Monday's attack by British forces on a police station in Basra "a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty." At least five Iraqis were killed during a day of clashes between British forces and Iraqi police and demonstrators on Monday. British armor crashed into a jail to free the two soldiers who had been arrested by Iraqi police and militiamen. Earlier, a crowd attacked British troops with stones and Molotov cocktails.' (Fox)

Missing Iraqi defense funds. The Belmont Club offers a preliminary analysis of reports of massive embezzlement from the Iraqi defense budget. Wretchard notes that irrespective of whatever funds may have gone missing, the Iraqi army has successfully procured a formidable arsenal. '... in the light of the equipment that is physically in evidence, at least in training and operations, the Independent's depiction of the absence of Iraqi equipment seems something of a stretch.' Full post at link. (Belmont Club)

Manuscript fragment ends. Also from the indispensable Wretchard, a historian looks back at Tal Afar: 'Two groups of men fought in a place called Tal-Afar about 3,532 years ago. One group of men, called 'insurgents', soundly defeated another group called Americans, and their allies the Kurds, but for reasons unclear in the manuscript fragments, the insurgents evacuated the battlefield although they could hardly be pressed by the Americans, who were apparently a people who frequently cursed, yelled and ran from place to place in fear.' Such would be the account if based on Michael Ware's article at Time magazine, which is long on atmospherics and short on 'the who, what, where, when of the narrative.' Further complicating matters for this historian is the competing narrative offered by another fragment. Read the full post at the link. (Belmont Club)

Simon Wiesenthal, 1908-2005. Simon Wiesenthal, the famous Nazi Hunter has died in Vienna at the age of 96, the Simon Wiesenthal Center announced today (September 20th). "Simon Wiesenthal was the conscience of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the International Human Rights NGO named in Mr. Wiesenthal’s honor, adding, "When the Holocaust ended in 1945 and the whole world went home to forget, he alone remained behind to remember. He did not forget. He became the permanent representative of the victims, determined to bring the perpetrators of the history’s greatest crime to justice. There was no press conference and no president or Prime Minister or world leader announced his appointment. He just took the job. It was a job no one else wanted. The task was overwhelming. The cause had few friends. The Allies were already focused on the Cold War, the survivors were rebuilding their shattered lives and Simon Wiesenthal was all alone, combining the role of both prosecutor and detective at the same time." Overcoming the world’s indifference and apathy, Simon Wiesenthal helped bring over 1,100 Nazi War Criminals before the Bar of Justice. There will be a news conference at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Tuesday, September 20th at 10 am.' (Simon Wiesenthal Center)

New from Winds

Judith of Kesher Talk is also posting at Winds of Change. She's welcoming the entry of a Texas Jewboy into Lone Star politics. She's also posted a round-up of Iranian activism - and was kind enough to link here. Thanks!

Also via Winds, Cicero has a magnificent meditation on his dreams for his daughter's future at Donklephant, where there's also news of a refreshing example of good sense from the other Portland.

Remembering Commodore Levy

Neo-Neocon has written a post on the life and times of Commodore Uriah Levy, occasioned by a reference to the inclusion of motifs from Monticello in the US Naval Academy's new Jewish chapel. To learn the connection between the Jefferson estate and this American Naval officer - and many other surprising facts about Levy's colorful career - go read Neo's post at the link.

Division by Zero

From Paula Gaon's blog:

When I look at pictures of Einstein, the depth that one sees in his eyes has always struck me. Always got the feeling that he wasn't looking at anything. Rather, he absorbed and processed--trying to understand of the mysteries, synthesis, and synergies of creation. He must have been a very spiritual and creative man. Hum, while I was typing this Blog, something my father (also an accomplished scientist), of blessed memory used to say popped into my head: "All of Nature is based on the mathematical number e, (i.e. growth curves, etc), except death itself. It must be division by 0 and undefined in this world as we know it."

Go read the whole post on time, relativity, art, and astrology at the link. Don't forget to hit Paula's homepage too.

Morning Report: September 18, 2005

Afghan elections undisrupted. Stratfor (subscription service) reports that 'Polls for Afghanistan's first parliamentary elections in over 30 years closed Sept. 18 with no significant attempt to disrupt the elections by the Taliban or al Qaeda', despite sporadic violence. Dean Esmay comments on some ironies, and links to Publius Pundit who's keeping a running update on the Afghan parliamentary elections. (Stratfor, Dean Esmay, Publius Pundit)

Iran bracing for confrontation? Amir Taheri writes: 'Incredible though it may sound there are signs that Tehran may be preparing for a military confrontation with the United States, and has convinced itself that it could win. The first sign came last June with the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of the Islamic Republic, an event that completed the conquest of all levers of power by the most radical elements of the establishment. Since then, the revolutionary factions have conducted a little publicized purge of the military, the security, the civil service, and state-owned corporations and media. The most significant purges have affected the military high command. ...' Full post at the link. (Amir Taheri)

New Orleans Residents Blame Nagin, Praise Bush

NOLA evacuees from Hurricane Katrina refused to follow the script, much to the disappointment of ABC News. NewsBusters has the whole story; here's the transcript of the interviews:

Reynolds elicited reaction from the group sitting in chairs: “I'd like to get the reaction of Connie London who spent several horrible hours at the Superdome. You heard the President say retpeaedly that you are not alone, that the country stands beside you. Do you believe him?”

Connie London: “Yeah, I believe him, because here in Texas, they have truly been good to us. I mean-”

Reynolds: “Did you get a sense of hope that you could return to your home one day in New Orleans?”

London: “Yes, I did. I did.”

Reynolds: “Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response?”

London: “No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in. They should have been on their jobs.”

Reynolds: “And they weren't?”

London: “No, no, no, no. Lord, they wasn't. I mean, they had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people.” ...

Read the whole thing. Meanwhile, NewsMax reports that Governor Kathleen Blanco admitted she should have called the military:

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco's abrupt decision Wednesday night to take responsibility for her state's inadequate response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster followed an inadvertent confession that was caught on camera where Blanco admitted she blew it.

"I really should have called for the military," Blanco said, while chatting with her press secretary in between TV interviews. "I really should have started that in the first call."

Unbeknownst to Blanco, her bombshell acknowledgment was recorded on a network satellite feed, and by Tuesday the clip was getting wide exposure in Louisiana news broadcasts.

Post - 9/11 Roundup

Nadz has an extraordinary post on September 11:

...It hit me then that this was no accident. Sure enough, the second plane hit, and we all knew. "Go, Osama!" someone said.

I was both shocked and not shocked. I knew that there were people who wanted to attack the States, having lived in the Middle East and seen how hated America was in some quarters. What shocked me was that al-Qaeda managed to do it, to get on the planes and strike so easily. I figured that the US government expected it and was prepared. But how do you prepare for something so big, so horrible?

The scale of the attack also surprised me. I had thought in my mind before, "what would happen if the white house and congress were hit in a war - would the government collapse? what would that mean? who would be the new superpower?" But when the news was reporting the attacks on the Pentagon, and reports of a bomb at the US capital, i thought this was it. It was the collapse of America. I felt sad and frightened, and more American than I had ever felt before.

At first, there was a brief, shameful second where I felt some satisfaction - I didn't think about the fact that there were people in the buildings. I saw this as the big guy getting hit by the little guy, and the government getting payback for supporting Israel's occupation. It was a second, but I still feel disgusted by it. But as I watched the smoke billow and thought about the pain this would cause, my anger immediately shifted to the murderers who killed so many. The projected death tolls were being read, the images of people jumping were being shown, the replays of the towers collapsing. It felt like the end of the world, and I knew who did it. I became angrier and angrier, not only for the evil of the attack, but also because I felt that, as an Arab and a Palestinian, this was being done in my name ....

Go read the whole thing - especially the end - to find out how far a little courage can go.

Worth a second link, Baldilocks has some thoughts on life, death, and a positive response to tragedy.

Three men went to work one Tuesday morning. Only one came back. Gay Patriot tells their moving stories ... and of how one man's life was saved in an unlikely way.

Jane at Armies of Liberation is at a loss for words.

Tal-Afar and Samarra

Omar at Iraq the Model follows up Mohammed's post with this analysis:

Yesterday, the minister of defense met delegates from Samarra in his office. The visit arranged for by the head of the Sunni mortmain department sheikh Ahmed Al-Samarrai came after the minister declared that that the government is going to send troops to other cities including Samarra.
The minister was straightforward in his speech and warned the delegates that if the city doesn't cooperate with the authorities in eliminating terror and criminal gangs, troops will have to enter the city and clean it up in a way similar to what happened in Talafar and the minister said that one month will be given to allow the city to take positive steps before power is used:

Let the decision be yours brothers because if you let others decide for the city, that decision would be tough on you and your people.
[…]
Bullets are blind and they can't distinguish between the good and the bad. We don't want to see innocent people get hurt.
You can not close your eyes and pretend it's not your responsibility when you see a terrorist or a suspect, you must cooperate with us if you want peace and stability in your city…

The Iraqi Defense Minister would have none of the Samarra delegates' objections and denials, and told them:

Those cities [Najaf and other southern cities] are much more stable when compared with cities in the west or north west like Samarra and the young people in the south are joining the security forces in growing numbers, so why don't you and your people do the same? I hereby announce that our doors are open for recruits from Samarra, encourage your young men to join the army to keep your city safe and peaceful. The government is willing to hear your demands and discuss them to reach a solution for the situation in Samarra, so talk to your people, write down your demands and submit them to the government but keep them reasonable, we can't negotiate demands like those we heard from Ramadi, they wanted us to pull all Iraqi and American troops and let them rebuild units from the old army and that's not acceptable. There's one army in Iraq.

Omar adds:

Obviously the massive Iraqi-American operation in Talafar is encouraging other cities to seek peaceful solutions with the government and the first move came from Samarra because of the difference between Samara and other cities in the west; Samarra is a city that depends on trade, tourism and some industry for income unlike Haditha or Qaim which depend mainly on agriculture for economy and Samarra is a bigger city when compared with Qaim or Hadith and remaining under siege for a long time can be devastating for such a city and that'e what the delegate emphasized in their talks with the minister. Moreover, the type of Islam present in Samarra is relatively moderate and the clerics are not as extreme as those in Anbar and that is expected to give negotiations some flexibility.

Morning Report: September 15, 2005

Debka: Palestinians stockpiling weapons in Gaza. Debka reports: 'The Palestinians poured their entire Sinai arms dumps into Gaza, taking advantage of four days of unrestricted border transit. With them came a fresh influx of terrorists, including arrivals from Lebanon. According to DEBKAfile’s Exclusive’s military sources, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Jihad Islami and other Palestinian groups have poured many tons of explosives, rockets, RPGs and missiles into Gaza. An Israeli officer estimated the quantity would have kept three large Sinai-Rafah arms tunnels busy around the clock for a year. Thursday, September 15, thousands of Palestinians continued to flock unchecked by Egyptian or Palestinian police across the Gaza-Egyptian border through the Rafah Sultan refugee camp. All the Egyptians are doing is replacing the damaged patches of barbed wire along the Philadelphi route and resealing the holes in the border wall.' Amir Taheri is not upbeat about Gaza's future: 'Contrary to hyperbolic claims by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Gaza is not liberated territory — all its points of contact with the outside world, including the West Bank, are still under Israeli control. Israel also retains effective control over a good chunk of Gaza's income both from customs' dues and foreign donations, as well as its trade. The most conservative estimates put the number of mini-armies in Gaza at 22. To these must be added the Palestinian Authority's security force and police, which also operate as rival factions. For a total population of perhaps 1.2 million, some 30 percent of all Palestinians in the "disputed territories," Gaza is believed to have over 100,000 armed men. It is also the single biggest producer of "volunteers for suicide-martyrdom" in the world. And yet Gaza accounts for only 1 percent of the Palestinian "disputed territories." The world's most densely populated piece of land, Gaza also suffers from unemployment rates not seen anywhere else. The territory's largest employers are, in fact, the 22 armed groups mentioned above plus the political, social, educational and health networks operated by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and smaller militants groups linked with the Iran-sponsored Hezbollah movement. ... The best-case scenario is that Mahmoud Abbas secures a deal with Hamas and Islamic Jihad to allow the general elections, planned for next January, to take place. Hamas and Islamic Jihad may end up winning up to 40 percent of the seats in the future Palestinian parliament. That, in turn, may persuade them to switch to a political strategy. ... The worst-case scenario is a Palestinian civil war fought on various fronts and at multiple levels. That could make Gaza a magnet for Islamist jihadists, who appear determined to create "a crescent of fire" from Iraq to Egypt, passing by Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.' (Debka, Amir Taheri)

Zarqawi: War on Shi'a Muslims. Also from Debka: 'DEBKAfile Reports: Al Qaeda`s Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi released an audiotape Wednesday night declaring total war on the Shiites. The new declaration of war is of great significance for the state of the Iraq war and US relations with Muslim nations with substantial Shiite populations.' (Debka)

Belmont Club on Hitchens, Galloway. The deep, acromonious, and invective-laden vendetta between George Galloway and Christopher Hitchens is iconic of the deep divisions within today's Left. The Belmont Club offers an analysis of last night's Hitchens/Galloway debate. Wretchard concludes: 'Hitchens, as will be evident to anyone who heard him address members of the audience as 'comrades' and invoke socialist solidarity is still a man of the Left who has merely remained true to the internal logic of his convictions. It puts him on the side of those fighting for republican forms against absolutist theocracies; and if that is the same camp as George Bush's then so be it. In that context, the contrast between Hitchens and Galloway is less of belief than of integrity: Hitchens opposes Al Qaeda because of his Leftist beliefs; Galloway supports Al Qaeda in despite of them; and to the traditional socialist this can only be explained by the inducement of cash. That was Hitchen's wider and subliminal reproach to the audience: what manner of men would pay to hear to George Galloway? Call yourselves anything, but don't call yourselves 'progressives'.' Read the full post at the link. (Belmont Club)

Morning Report: September 14, 2005

Rice promotes US policy on UN anniversary. Fox: 'The assembly of more than 170 world leaders to mark the United Nations' 60th birthday gives Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a unique opportunity to advance U.S. foreign policy goals on several difficult fronts. Success is by no means assured. While the United States is the largest contributor and the world's only real superpower, it cannot count on the United Nations for automatic support. ... Rice's drive to pressure Iran to resume negotiations on its nuclear program is a key test. Any U.S. resolution in the U.N. Security Council to censure Iran or to impose sanctions runs the risk of being vetoed. ... Russia remains dubious about having the council take up the issue. On Friday, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko called it a hasty step.' (Fox)

Roger Simon: UN, RIP. Roger L. Simon thinks it's all over for the United Nations: by failing to adopt serious reforms in the wake of the oil-for-fraud scandal, the UN - once a symbol of idealism - has consigned itself to irrelevancy. 'Of course, it will still be there in name, serving discount lunches to diplomats in the cafeteria, and the Secretariat Building will not yet be turned over to The Donald to be retrofitted as a gold-plated hotel/casino in Turtle Bay, but it might as well be, considering the pallid reform package the General Assembly was able to muster today. The Washington Post sums up: *The negotiators were forced to put off action on some of the thorniest and most ambitious goals, including proposals to expand the U.N. Security Council, to create an independent auditing board to scrutinize U.N. spending, and to impose basic membership standards for a new Human Rights Council so that chronic rights abusers will not be able to join.* So, despite all, the Volcker Report on Oil-for-Food's call for independent auditing evidently had no impact (the endless corruption spigot's still on), ditto the Koizumi electoral smash. Despite its vastly stronger economy and healthier system, Japan stays off the Security Council for the benefit of trivial France and dysfunctional Russia. ...' Full post at the link. (Roger Simon)

Dozens die in Iraq in al-Qaeda reprisals; terrorist group calls it "final battle", analysts say death throes. Al-Qaeda in Iraq failed to deliver on its promised chemical attacks following the allied Tal Afar offensive, offering instead an orgy of car bombings that left dozens of innocent people dead but failed to produce any evident strategic benefit for the group. Current Debka homepage offers this analysis of the latest spate of terrorist attacks in Iraq: 'Al Qaeda has begun nationwide suicide campaign to avenge US-Iraqi offensive against rebel Tal Afar town in northern Iraq. Twelve car bombings in Baghdad killed at least 160, mostly Shiites, and injured scores, Wednesday. One failed to detonate against a US convoy and the driver was captured. The al Qaeda notice appeared on Abu Musab al Zarqawi’s Land of the Two Rivers website. Early Wednesday, a suicide bomber lured a crowd of Shiite laborers to his minivan in the Kadhimiya district and detonated 500lbs of explosives, killing 114, injuring 156. It was in the same district that nearly 1,000 Shiite pilgrims were slaughtered two weeks ago. Eleven died in a second suicide bombing at a fuel pump in the capital. Two hours earlier, gunmen dressed as soldiers shot dead 17 civilians before dawn Wednesday after dragging them out of their homes. The victims were blindfolded, cuffed and “executed” in the main square of Taji north of Baghdad.' Mohammed at Iraq the Model adds: 'Today Al-Qaeda carried out their threat and launched their "final battle" that has no apparent goal other than killing the largest possible number of Iraqis. Maybe Al-Qaeda wants to exterminate all Iraqis as a start for exterminating mankind! Eleven explosions till now in Baghdad alone and the news are coming while I type these words. I passed by two of the car-bombs on my way home, one of them-gladly-failed to detonate and the driver was arrested, he was apparently trying to attack the interior ministry, the crowd that gathered in the scene say the driver was Syrian. A few minutes later I saw a big explosion that was close to the green zone. The other passengers in the mini bus were discussing the explosion in Kadhimiya that killed more than a hundred construction workers who were waiting for employers to hire them. The Al-Qaeda called it the "battle for avenging Talafar" and this gives us a clue of the extent of the losses inflicted upon Al-Qaeda by Iraqi and American troops and the anger and frustration associated with these losses. The huge losses of Al-Qaeda in Talafar were in my opinion a result of the poor training of the new recruits as many of the old, well trained fighters were either killed or arrested over the past two years. The new Al-Qaeda recruits are even getting generous in giving information after being arrested as one advisor of the interior ministry said yesterday; these information and confessions are more and more revealing the ties of Al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq with Syria and I guess that's why the American ambassador Khalilzad was so confident when he talked about Syria because the evidence now do not only indicate carelessness in monitoring the borders, they confirm the existence of cooperation in training and logistic support. Obviously the continuous American-Iraqi armies' operations in western Iraq have pushed Al-Qaeda to announce this "final battle" but actually this reminds me of Saddam when he felt that his end was nearing and called the battle "the hawasim" (the final or decisive) and it was indeed as it ended his reign. Al-Qaeda has never won a war before and I don't expect things to be different this time, except that this time they want the battle to be final which means the terrorists will pour all their resources and power into this battle so their defeat this time will hopefully pave the way for ending their presence in Iraq.' (Debka, ITM)

Two convicted of murdering transgender teen. The Washington Blade reports: 'Two men who had sex with a transgender teen and then discovered she was biologically male were convicted Monday of her murder, but cleared of hate crime charges. An autopsy found that Araujo died of asphyxiation associated with head injuries. Michael Magidson and Jose Merel, both 25, face mandatory sentences of 15 years-to-life in prison for second-degree murder in the killing of Gwen Araujo, who was beaten, tied up and strangled. The jury was deadlocked in the case of a third man, Jason Cazares, 25, marking the second time a jury was unable to reach a verdict in his case. Araujo, 17, was born a boy named Edward but grew up to believe her true identity was female. The defendants, who knew her as Lida, met her in the summer of 2002. Magidson and Merel had sexual encounters with her, experiences that fueled suspicions about Araujo's gender. ...' Fox News: 'In their verdict Monday, the jury rejected defense arguments that the killing of 17-year-old Gwen Araujo amounted to no more than manslaughter. "It's murder," said Gwen Smith, who maintains a Web site memorializing people believed to have been killed because they were transgender. "And a murder conviction shows that transgender lives are valuable." ... Outside the Alameda County courtroom, Araujo's mother, Sylvia Guerrero, said she was satisfied by the verdicts. "Nothing is going to bring Gwen back. I know that." Guerrero said. "But this is at least a step toward closure."' (Washington Blade, Fox)