Obvious

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must have known how disingenuous he sounded when he professed to be shocked — just shocked! — by President Obama's call on Thursday for a resumption of Israel-Palestinian peace talks based on Israel's 1967 boundaries. That's been the unstated premise for every American-brokered attempt since 1993 to bring about a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace. For Mr. Netanyahu to wax indignant over Mr. Obama's reference to the 1967 lines as a starting point for negotiations appears only to confirm suspicions that the current Israeli government isn't really serious about making peace on any terms.

The 66-year-old wife of a prominent Annapolis church leader has been identified as the woman whose body was found partially submerged under the Jones Falls Expressway in North Baltimore last week. Police were called Friday morning to the 1800 block of Union Ave., just west of the highway in the Woodberry neighborhood, where they found the body of Emma Eileen Baltimore of Pasadena in the Jones Falls. There were no obvious signs of trauma to her body, and police were continuing to investigate.

Let me get this straight: the big "controversy" uncovered by James O'Keefe (the hidden camera doofus) is that someone called the tea party a bunch of racists? Who could imagine that anyone could reach that conclusion just by seeing a bunch of middle aged white men holding up signs comparing President Obama to a monkey. What's next, will he uncover the shocking revelation that the NAACP is run by a bunch of black people? Or perhaps he can blind-side us all by discovering that the morons from Westboro Baptist Church hate gays.

In his letter to the Sun ( "O'Malley's Wrong About Electric Deregulation," Feb. 8) BGE planning analyst Paul Ritterhoff states that Gov. Martin O'Malley's effort to blame the prolonged, storm-related power outages on a deregulated electricity market is deceitful. Maybe he is right. But here is my question for Mr. Ritterhoff and BGE: After decades of power outages caused by snow, ice and wind bringing down power lines from falling trees and branches, why are these power lines still hanging up in the air?

Cameron Newton, QB, Auburn Buzz: A favorite since the middle of the season, Newton leads the SEC in rushing (135.5 yards per game in conference play) and is the first player in conference history to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a single season. His performance in the SEC championship game, 407 total yards and six touchdowns in a 56-17 victory over South Carolina, was one of the best in the conference's history. The only thing that could prevent him being a unanimous winner would be voters' perception of his off-the-field issues.

The impending restart of peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis here in Washington Thursday calls to mind the many opportunities that slipped through the fingers of peacemakers in the past. What is essential now is to avert the mistakes of those talks — especially the pride and haggling that dragged down hopes of millions of people for a better and peaceful life. I was sitting in the front row in Sharm el Sheikh on Oct. 16, 2000, when President Bill Clinton came out for a press conference, flanked by Ehud Barak for Israel and Yasser Arafat for the Palestinians.

Homicide detectives are investigating what police have classified as the suspicious death of a 2-month-old girl in the Parkside neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. Officers were called to the 4300 block of Plainfield Ave. shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday on a report of an unresponsive infant. No obvious signs of trauma were evident, police said.

City homicide detectives were investigating the discovery of a body that appeared to have gone down the trash chute of a downtown apartment building. An unidentified man's body was discovered in a trash compactor in the 200 block of N. Charles St. at about 10:15 a.m. Thursday by building employees, said Anthony Guglielmi, the police department's chief spokesman. Guglielmi said a preliminary review showed no obvious signs of foul play or trauma, but detectives were awaiting the results of an autopsy by the state medical examiner's office.

To preview the conference championship weekend, we can discuss the obvious. Rex Ryan likes to talk. Peyton Manning has a big forehead. Brett Favre sure is old. Reggie Bush has a hot girlfriend. Or, we can discuss the less obvious, the factors that are generally escaping notice in the pre-game but could be getting all of the attention in the post-game. Let's look at one hidden factor for each of the four semifinalists. Saints Can they establish a run against the No. 2-ranked rushing defense in the NFL?

I n a couple of weeks, the Ravens will begin their offseason meetings to discuss how to improve the team, but that's not hard to figure out. The Ravens need to upgrade the skill positions on both sides of the ball, and the top priority is finding a wide receiver. When draft day in April comes, we don't want to hear that the Ravens are taking the top-rated player on the board. This team needs a legitimate big, speedy receiver and another big cornerback who can start. It might be opposite rookie Lardarius Webb, who will be coming off a serious knee injury, or opposite Domonique Foxworth, who is in the second year of a big four-year deal and who will have to play until Webb has recovered.