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Following a series of leaks about the contours of the U.S. President's plans for Middle East peace, The Media Line explores what such a plan may look like. It has been almost a year since U.S. President Barack Obama was elected, and speculation about his plans to attempt to unravel the protracted Israeli Palestinian peace process has only grown. The 'Obama Peace Plan', as the yet non-existent plan has come to be known, is said to be loosely based on a mixture of previous initiatives, including the 'Road Map' and the 'Arab Peace Initiative'. When, how, or even whether the...

KABUL — A Swedish charity accused American troops Monday of storming through a hospital in central Afghanistan, breaking down doors and tying up staff in a search for militants. The U.S. military said it was investigating.

BOCA RATON - If a battle of the sexes is taking place on college campuses, women are the clear winners. In Florida and around the country, women are graduating from college in record numbers, surpassing men in almost every degree category. "I think that women are probably more mature as college students," said Sharron Ronco, associate provost at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, where women received 64 percent of all degrees in 2008. "They tend to come in with higher high school GPAs, and they tend to achieve better academically."

As the fire and homicide investigation continues, officials say several firefighters were exposed to cyanide gas in two separate incidents as they were mopping up hot spots near the small city of Acton on the northern edge of the massive blaze. The poisonous cyanide fumes are suspected in acute breathing problems suffered by Los Angeles firefighters battling the Station Fire in the Aliso Canyon. One firefighters suffered life-threatening respiratory arrest and remains in hospital after she was knocked out by noxious fumes on Sept. 1 near Acton. Two days later, six firefighters suffered severe breathing difficulties in another part of...

Michael Nagle for The New York Times Wreckage from 9/11, stored at Kennedy Airport, is being granted to groups around the country. When Jeff Cox, a 15-year-old candidate for the rank of Eagle Scout in Windermere, Fla., approached the small town’s mayor with park improvement ideas to help earn a badge, the mayor informed him that those projects were already covered. “He came back and said, ‘Would the town like a memorial if I can get World Trade Center steel?’ ” Mayor Gary Bruhn said. “I was stunned. I said, ‘Son, the town would be elated to have something...

Imagine if corporations and the government started to provide insurance to purchase shoes. The policies would be comprehensive — all shoes would be covered — with $1 co-pays per pair of shoes. In a short time, many Americans would have closets like the late Imelda Marcos. Shoes as a share of GDP would soar. The parallel to health care insurance and volume is not that far off. President Obama has advertised the goodies — comprehensive insurance for all — and postponed the pain, claiming everything will be paid for and costs will drop. But for costs to drop, then incentives...

PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University officials say more than 2,000 students have been sickened by swine flu during the first two weeks of classes on the Pullman campus. But Saturday's football game between Stanford and Washington State will go on as scheduled. School officials say there have been no deaths and no students have required hospitalization. Dr. Dennis Garcia says most students suffer three to five days of discomfort. The school is handing out free flu kits including a thermometer, painkillers, throat lozenges, sport drinks, hand sanitizer and tissues.

FITCHBURG, Mass. — Two Massachusetts teenagers have been killed in a fight stemming from a dispute over parking outside a party, authorities said, and three people have been arrested. The Worcester district attorney said 18-year-old Nelson Geraldino was stabbed multiple times and 17-year-old Pedro Genoa was shot in the abdomen and suffered other injuries in the melee early Sunday morning in Fitchburg.

Barry Rubin describes the latest example of the Obama administration's hard-wired inability to take the side of an ally if it means offending a bloodthirsty enemy. In this instance the parties are Iraq, for whose stability we have sacrificed hundreds of lives, and Syria, which has harbored and supported the terrorists who have taken many of those lives. The current disputes stem from a visit to Syria by President Maliki in mid-August. Malikii reportedly offered his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad economic concessions in exchange for expelling 271 Iraqi exiles involved in organizing terrorist attacks against their country. Assad refused and...

First (and last) Vanity What is the cost of King Barack's Court: OK, for those among us who own small businesses, let's put our heads, experience, and talents together to analyze the cost to us for the King's Court, just like we would do if we were thinking of opening a new office: Now, let's see, if each of the Czars has a salary of $150,000, plus benefits of 35%, that's $202,500 each. In round numbers that means $8,100,000 per year for 40 Czars (rounding up...one must anticipate expansion...) Then let's add another $100,000 each for travel, meals and entertainment....

Hmm. I wonder which of the many glorious aspects of Mother Gaia it was that first attracted President Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar” Van Jones to the environmental movement. Was it, perhaps, his love of fluffy bunnies - especially those ones with the long floppy ears and the sweet pink noses? Was it the sight of the mighty redwoods in Northern California or the sea otters frolicking amid the kelp off Big Sur or the manatees basking so cutely amid the shimmering propellors of the Everglades?

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 28% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13 (see trends). Sixty percent (60%) now believe the President is at least as ethical as most politicians. On health care reform, 83% say that proof of citizenship should be required before anyone can receive government subsidies. Just 13% of Americans consider Labor Day one of the nation’s most important holidays. Most view it primarily as the...

Rush is doing a best of show today. Won't be live. I'm with the family so pinging early, when I had the chance.

A document purported to be a copy of President Barack Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate was filed with the federal court in Santa Ana on Friday by Orly Taitz, the Mission Viejo attorney suing to have Obama removed from office. She alleges that he wasn’t born in the United States. However, the authenticity of the document is far from certain. Hawaii’s chief public health officer has said he’s examined pertinent documents and confirmed Obama’s birth there. The Annenberg Public Policy Institute also investigated Obama’s U.S. birth documents and determined them to be authentic and valid. Additionally, another court filing by Taitz,...

We must raise the question of who vetted him, and how could the president not have known Jones’ views? Of course, the White House did know. Valerie Jarrett made it clear that they recruited him because they were familiar with his record in Oakland, and they wanted him in the White House. If Jones knew, Obama knew. When a candidate for a government job fills out a form, either the FBI clearance form or the one given candidates by the administration, they are asked if they have done anything, said anything or been involved in groups that could prove embarrassing...

Here is video of a discussion on CNN about the possible implications of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing a case on "Hillary: The Movie," which was put out during the 2008 Election by Citizens United. The FEC held that the movie could not be distributed on demand because it constituted a "campaign contribution," since it is highly critical of Hillary Clinton. This case could have lasting implications for Campaign Finance laws, and just how active organized groups such as corporations and labor unions can be in political campaigns. It will be the first case heard by new Supreme Court Justice...

Each "pallet" equals 1 billion dollars...

Catching On To Florida's Economic 'Ponzi Scheme' by Diane Roberts September 6, 2009 Listen to the Story A nearly empty beach in Hollywood, Fla. A nearly empty beach in Hollywood, Fla. Tourism in the state declined 9.4 percent over the same period last year, Florida's tourism marketing agency reported. September 6, 2009 For the first time since World War II, Florida is losing population. University of Florida demographers recently reported that the number of residents dropped by more than 58,000 last year. Florida has always had a tenuous relationship with reality. In the 1880s, we convinced the ailing and infirm...

Against all odds, organized labor managed to make new inroads during the economic upheaval of the past year, new findings from UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) suggest. From July 2008 to June 2009, unions netted 24,904 new members in the Southland and 131,206 in California, according to the findings. Union density — which measures the concentration of unionized members in a workforce — also rose, inching up by eight-tenths of a percentage point in the five Southern California counties studied and by one percentage point in the state overall. "These changes are really substantial," said Lauren...

Here are some of the worst things about Van Jones that are not being reported broadly, even now. All of this links to the original sources are listed with links below. See Below...