There is one glaring exception: Mexico, where 62 percent expressed favorable views of the United States just days before an Arizona law cracking down on illegal immigrants was signed in April, but only 44 percent did so afterward.

The findings by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, conducted in April and May in the United States and 21 other countries by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, come amid a global economic downturn and US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The poll has been polling people around the world since 2002.

Among the seven countries surveyed with substantial Muslim populations, the United States was seen favorably by 17 percent in Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan and 21 percent in Jordan. The United States’ positive rating was 52 percent in Lebanon, 59 percent in Indonesia, and 81 percent in Nigeria, where Muslims comprise about half the population.

Few of those figures were improvements from last year. Approval dipped slightly in Jordan and in Indonesia, where Obama spent several years growing up. Egypt saw a 10-point drop, even though Obama gave a widely promoted June 2009 speech in Cairo aimed at reaching out to the Muslim world.

In all seven of those countries, the percentage of Muslims expressing confidence in Obama has also dropped since last year. Only in Nigeria and Indonesia do majorities of Muslims voice confidence in him; just 8 percent in Pakistan do.

“You get a sense of Muslim disappointment with Barack Obama,’’ said Andy Kohut, the Pew president, who attributed it to discontent with US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to expectations raised by Obama’s Cairo speech.

The surveys were taken before Israel’s deadly May 31 clash with a flotilla trying to break the blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza, which sparked widespread condemnation of Israel.

In the rest of the world, the United States and Obama generally fare better.

The 6 in 10 in Germany and Spain who view the United States favorably has doubled from the lows reached under Bush. The US image is also significantly better than it was under Bush in Russia, China, France, Argentina, South Korea, and Japan. Obama is broadly supported, but the percentages expressing confidence in him have ebbed in 14 countries polled.

In only five countries do majorities think the United States considers other nations when setting its foreign policy. Support for US antiterrorism efforts and Obama’s handling of economic problems is generally strong, but there is significant opposition to American involvement in Afghanistan and little faith that a stable government will emerge in Iraq.

VP: Barton's claim is 'outrageous'

MATT NEGRIN

06/17/10 4:00 PM

The vice president calls Rep. Joe Barton's comments 'out of touch.' AP Close

Vice President Biden said Thursday that Rep. Joe Barton’s accusation that the White House had arranged a “$20 billion shakedown” with BP is “outrageous.”

"I find it incredibly insensitive, incredibly out of touch,” Biden said at the White House daily briefing.

"There's no shakedown," he added. "I find it outrageous to suggest that if in fact we insisted that BP demonstrate their preparedness to put aside billions of dollars ... to take care of the immediate needs of people who are drowning."

Gulf residents "don't have deep pockets," Biden said, adding that Barton's comment was "astounding."

LINK TO VIDEO

http://www.politico.com/singletitlevideo.html?bcpid=19407224001&bctid=96908395001

Joe Garofoli

SF Chronicle

Guess who isn't too uptight about about pot: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Key word there: Alaska. Ain't no thing there, as Comrade Fagan recently reminded us. 

Mama Grizzly told the Fox Biz Network: 

"If somebody's gonna to smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody any harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems we have in society." 

Palin is not for legalization. No. But she thinks the fuzz should "not concentrate on such a, relatively speaking, minimal problem we have in the country." 

Even without endorsing legalization, Palin's comments could be a fever dream for the green-budders who want to pass a law in California to legalize and tax cannabis. To have a conservative bold-face name like Palin come out and say it's not a big deal...is a big deal. 

Meanwhile -- as we first noted a while back -- more unions are announcing their support for California's legalization effort. On Thursday, the Communications Workers of America (CW), Local 9415, said it was all in. 

"The labor movement is coming together behind this initiative," said Sally Venable, President of CWA, Local 9415. "With California's state budget in disarray, and people out of work, it's time to harness this incredible revenue stream and create tens of thousands of high quality, union jobs, by controlling and taxing cannabis in California.â€�

June 17 2010 at 06:32 PM

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=66048&tsp=1#ixzz0rAQKo3xM

Baltimore Sun

Nobody can deny it anymore: Obama is failing

1:50 PM EDT, June 11, 2010

It's pretty clear at this point to all except the most partisan that the Obama administration is failing on almost all levels, the lackluster response to the Gulf oil spill being just the latest failure. President Obama is in over his head, his advisors appear unequipped and disengaged, and there's no evidence to suggest that anything is going to get any better anytime soon.

During the presidential campaign, much was made of President Obama's lack of executive experience, lack of experience in the private sector and somewhat questionable views on the role of the federal government. Yet 52 percent of Americans thought such things weren't important. The liberal media told us such things weren't important. We now know otherwise. Unfortunately, a career as a community organizer with a short stint as a senator doesn't prepare someone to lead a nation. Organizing 13 people on a street corner is not the same thing as organizing an international response to an environmental disaster. Reading about private companies in the newspaper, or organizing protests against private companies, is not the same thing as leading or working in a private company, and it doesn't give a person the same insight into what makes the private sector click. Clearly, the private sector is not now clicking.

On the economic front, the news is bad. May retail sales numbers just released indicate a drop of 1.2 percent, an eight month low, adding yet more evidence that the outrageously expensive Obama/Reid/Pelosi stimulus package has been a dismal failure, adding nothing but mountains of debt to the financial picture. The latest jobs report shows that a scant 41,000 private sector jobs were added in May, a rate at which it will take 30 years to find jobs for America's 15 million unemployed. As bad as the private sector economic outlook is, it may get even worse. The Obama administration along with radical Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, is targeting job-killing cap and trade legislation this week and has already imposed a moratorium on off-shore drilling that's going to decimate the Southern coastal economy. Hence, two more blows to businesses already struggling to overcome misguided health care mandates and other corporate tax increases already imposed by the new administration.

New reports show that the extent of the Gulf oil spill, by far the worst environmental disaster in American history, is even worse than first imagined. The amount of oil spilled may be as high as 100 million gallons, some of which has already invaded Gulf Coast marshlands. Things would certainly have better if the administration had gone into action immediately following the spill, instead of going into "blame BP" mode for a month. While it's clearly BP's fault and responsibility to stop the spill, the Obama administration failed miserably in organizing containment and clean-up efforts. In what can best be termed a stunning failure of leadership, the administration failed to use all of the federal resources available, failed to remove the regulatory burdens that would have permitted international assistance and stood in the way of Gulf Coast border state governors who themselves were rebuffed in their efforts to take clear, concise action to keep the oil off the shore and away from the marshes.

As every Marylander knows, when the Rockfish are too numerous, the crab population suffers. Likewise, when the federal government is too powerful and too overreaching, private industry suffers. Despite the multitude of warnings we were handed down from our ingenious founding fathers regarding the importance of limited government, we appear to have reached the point of no possible near-term turnaround. Many CEOs appear content to sit on their hands, not hire anyone, and wait out the end of this administration.

When Ronald Reagan took the helm of the presidency, he used to say that it was "morning in America." Americans had the sense that things were looking up and were only going to get better with the new man in charge.

Today, the ranks of the unemployed swell, the shrinking middle class is struggling to pay everyone else's bills, children are being born with a mountain of debt on their heads, the earth is spewing 30,000 barrels of black death into the Gulf each day, CEOs are sitting in their country clubs not hiring because they feel under attack by the federal government, and distracted politicians are jet-setting around the country trying to keep the jobs they've failed so miserably at.

Millions of Americans feel that it's midnight in America, the electricity is out, there's oil running down the street, everyone is broke, the terrorist's are trying to kill us, illegal immigrants are flooding across the border through neighborhoods of foreclosed houses and nobody is in charge.

Of course, there's always a silver lining. Americans for generations will consider this a teachable moment in politics. Executive experience and private industry knowledge must be key considerations for any candidate for the White House, as must a pragmatic understanding of the role of the government. Good speeches don't create jobs, good looks aren't a replacement for good experience, and well-worded teleprompters aren't a substitute for real knowledge. American voters will certainly take this teachable moment to the polls for years to come, and our nation will survive and grow stronger as it always does.

Michael P. DeCicco, Severn

http://snafu-ed.blogspot.com/2010/06/cop-punches-woman-video-goes-viral.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38619.html

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2010/06/holy_gangsters.html?hpid=talkbox1

http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-gay-coach-ousted-story,0,3493118.story

'Sorry, you can't have an appointment... you're dead!': Hospital refuses to see cancer sufferer because he's 'deceased'

Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:11 AM on 16th June 2010

A cancer sufferer was told he could not book a hospital appointment - because records showed he was dead. 

Alan Campbell rang a booking system phone line after becoming worried that the disease may have spread to his throat. 

But when he tried to make an appointment with the NHS Choose and Book system, a telephone operator informed him their records showed him as 'deceased'. 

Distressed: Alan Campbell tried to book a hospital appointment only to be told by an NHS booking service that he was 'deceased'   

Despite trying to convinced the operator he was alive, the 63-year-old widower was unable to make an appointment and now fears the delay in seeing a consultant could affect his diagnosis. 

Mr Campbell, from Little Harwood, Blackburn, visited his doctor when he began suffering from throat pains. His GP gave him a code which enabled him to make an appointment over the phone. 

Mr Campbell, who has undergone three operations to treat skin cancer on his cheek and nose in the past six years, said: 'It is unbelievable that they could get something like this so wrong.' 

'When I rang to take take the appointment I was told, 'Sorry, we can't give you an appointment, our records show you are deceased'. 

'I said 'you're joking, I'm talking to you aren't I?' But they said 'you'll have to go back to your GP to get it sorted out'.'   

'I couldn't believe it. I was flabbergasted. I'm not one for complaining, but when somebody says you're dead its not on.' 

Mr Campbell, who has also survived a stroke and a heart attack, contacted his doctor and was told the problem had been resolved - only to phone the Choose and Book system again to be told their records still showed he was dead.

'He kept saying go back to your GP and I said I've been there already. But he said it about four or five times.

'It is a stressful enough time not knowing what is causing the pain in my throat without having to go through all this. 

'It's only three-and-a-half years since I lost my wife Christine and it brought things back. It was very painful.' 

NHS Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus, in Lancashire, which is responsible for the phone service, has now apologised for the error. 

Mr Campbell has been told he will contacted within 14 days to arrange an appointment with an oral and maxillofacial surgery specialist. 

'I've missed an appointment this month through their fault. I'm taking synthetic saliva and a liquid drink to ease the pain. When I wake up sometimes my mouth is that dry I can't open it properly to talk. I'm worried I won't wake up. 

'They've been very good over the years at the surgery and the hospital, so I don't know what was the problem now.' 

NHS Blackburn said it was trying to find an appointment as early as possible for Alan 

Janice Horrocks, executive director of Engagement Partnerships and Operational Development, said they were investigating the case, adding: 'We are sorry for the distress experienced by this patient 

'We would like to reassure patients that using the Choose and Book system, which allows you to choose the hospital, time and date of your appointment, remains the fastest route to getting the quickest and most convenient hospital appointment for the care that you need.'

Link to photo

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1287018/Sorry-appointment--youre-dead--Hospital-refuses-cancer-sufferer-appointment-deceased.html#ixzz0r4ZP2nVU

Plane Allegedly Lands At Port Columbus With 500 Pounds Of Marijuana

Tuesday,  June 15, 2010 6:30 PM

Updated: Wednesday,  June 16, 2010 7:29 AM

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Federal agents said they arrested the possible heir to a family fortune, after allegedly finding hundreds of pounds of marijuana in her luggage, moments after a private jet landed at Port Columbus International Airport.

Lisette Lee was arrested by federal Drug Enforcement Agency officials Monday night, 10TV's Kevin Landers reported.

Lee, 28, is from Beverly Hills. When she was flying from California, officials said they noticed she was traveling with a large amount of luggage. 

SLIDESHOW:  Images From Report

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2010/06/16/slideshow-plane-drugs.html

The DEA in California tipped off officials in Columbus. When the plane landed, agents were waiting as luggage, containing more than 500 pounds of marijuana, was loaded into three waiting vans, Landers reported.

The DEA said the plane was carrying 13 bags of luggage.

"A very sizable quantity of marijuana," said U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Fred Alverson. "The investigation is now looking into where this marijuana was supposed to go."

Lee told government agents she had no idea she was transporting drugs when she flew back and forth from Los Angeles to Columbus, but agents said they found cocaine and marijuana in her bag, along with a ledger that showed profits in excess of $300,000, Landers reported.

"She told investigators she was coming here to meet a boyfriend," Alverson said.

Officials said they are trying to confirm information that Lee is an heir to the Samsung electronics fortune.

Agents said she told them her family has several multi-million dollar businesses.

Lee arrived on a chartered Gulf Stream jet that cost $50,000 roundtrip, Landers reported. 

She was being held without bond.

Cab driver booked with threatening tourist for a tip

Published: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 6:36 PM     Updated: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 11:21 PM

Michelle Hunter

The Times-Picayune

A Kenner cab driver was booked with extortion and false imprisonment for allegedly threatening a Texas tourist and refusing to let her out of the vehicle until she paid a 10 percent tip.

The victim, a 57-year-old woman from Bellaire, was staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in New Orleans on business. She took a Yellow-Checker Cab to the airport Friday at about 3:15 p.m. to fly home, according to a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office incident report.

The woman said she confirmed before entering that cab that she would be able to pay by credit card. But when she arrived at Louis Armstrong International Airport, the woman said, driver Sohail Kahn, 37, told her that in addition to the fixed $33 rate, he would be adding a 10 percent tip, the report said. She refused and demanded the driver process her card and get her bags.

The woman said she tried to get out of the cab, but could not because the doors were locked, the report said.

She said the driver cut off the engine and made a "grabbing motion" for her purse. He clenched his fist, waived it in her face and said, "You will pay me my 10 percent tip, or I will not let you go," the report said.

The woman said argued with the driver for about 30 minutes as the temperatures rose in the vehicle. She eventually called 911 on her wireless phone. When a deputy sheriff arrived, he noted the victim was crying hysterically, shaking and sweating.

Kahn initially told the deputy that the 10 percent tip was actually to cover the credit card transaction fee. But the deputy later confirmed that there are no such fees charged to passengers, and drivers are responsible for their own fees, the incident report said.

Kahn, of 3044 Kansas Ave., was booked with extortion, false imprisonment and simple assault. The New Orleans Taxicab Regulation Bureau also seized his permit, the report said.

LINK TO PHOTO

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/06/cab_driver_booked_with_threate.html

Tiger Woods may be in the rough on this one after porn star Devon James says he fathered her 9-year-old son, Austin T. James (b.).

Dejak/APTiger Woods

It's open season on Tiger Woods.

As the disgraced golfer took to the links Tuesday at the U.S. Open, one of his mistresses claimed she has been caddying around his love child for nine years. 

And renewed reports emerged about another paramour's claims that she, too, bore a Tiger cub.

Adult film actress Devon James, 29, claims Woods is the father of her son, Austin T. James - whose middle initial is a secret tribute to the golfer she loved.

"She was 19 at the time, and she was attending a Christian school program" when they met, a source close to James told the Daily News.

"They immediately started a relationship," the source said. "She became pregnant, but she decided not to tell Tiger." 

James never had a DNA test to prove her claim, the source admits, but "she knows he is the father of her son because he is the only African-American man she dated at that time," the source said. 

James was one of the bevy of babes who came forward with tales of torrid affairs with the world's top golfer after a mystifying car crash outside his Florida home in November. 

She is the second woman to claim she has one of Woods' cubs. Theresa Rogers said in December she had Woods' baby in 2004 and negotiated a multimillion-dollar settlement to keep it under wraps. 

James first dished on her claims of a 2-1/2-year relationship with the golfer in March. At that time, she claimed a girlfriend invited her to join in a threesome. James said she agreed, and met the gal pal and mystery man - who she claims turned out to be Woods - in Orlando.

"Hi, I'm Tiger. Nice to meet you," James quoted him as saying before they quickly got down to business.

Woods, 34, allegedly paid the two women $2,000 each for what she described as "dirty" sex.

Now James is saying that wasn't the first time she bedded Woods. She says it really was in 2000, when she was just a teenager. 

It was the threesome that reconnected the parents of little Austin T. "She showed him pictures of Austin, and told him he was his son," the source said yesterday. "He didn't want to meet the boy, but he did send her gifts for the child." 

Woods' lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment. 

James' mother, Sandra Brinling, said yesterday that her daughter is a "pathological liar" and that she knows exactly who Austin T.'s real dad is."[My daughter is] only out to lie, steal and cheat," said Brinling, who has custody of the child. "All she is looking for is to get money from [Woods]."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/tigerwoods/2010/06/16/2010-06-16_my_9yrold_is_tiger_cub.html#ixzz0r1jimsIm

Fugitive hid 40 years in plain sight

"They just forgot about me," said Dryman

Updated: Tuesday, 15 Jun 2010, 7:55 AM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 15 Jun 2010, 7:55 AM EDT

MATT GOURAS

Associated Press Writer

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The aging Frank Dryman, a notorious killer from Montana's past, had hidden in plain sight for so long that he forgot he was a wanted man. 

In an exclusive jailhouse interview with The Associated Press, Dryman detailed how he invented a whole new life, with a new family, an Arizona wedding chapel business — and even volunteer work for local civic clubs. 

"They just forgot about me," said Dryman, in his first interview since being caught and sent back to the prison he last left in the 1960s. "I was a prominent member of the community." 

That is, until the grandson of the man he shot six times in the back came looking.

Dryman had been one step ahead of the law since 1951 when he avoided the hangman's noose, a relic of frontier justice still in use at the time.

Less than 20 years later he was out on parole. Not content with that good fortune, he skipped out and evaded authorities for four decades. After a while he even forgot about hiding and signed up for V.A. benefits from his days in the Navy in 1948. 

Now the 79-year-old Dryman is back behind bars, likely for what remains of his life. 

He was caught only after his long-ago victim's grandson got curious and started poking around. 

Dryman was hitching a ride from Shelby cafe owner Clarence Pellett on a cold and snowy day in 1951 when he pulled a gun and ordered Pellett out of his own car and began firing.

Dryman does not deny the crime — just that he's not the same man today. He has been Victor Houston for decades. At the time of the murder, and after being discharged from the Navy for mental issues, he was going by yet another name: Frank Valentine. 

"That kid, Frank Valentine, he just exploded," Dryman says of his crime. "I didn't shoot that man in the back. That wild kid did. That's not me. 

"Victor Houston tried to make up for it by being an honor citizen."

Dryman says he served his time, which he did until paroled. But a Montana Parole Board not accustomed to leniency on those who walk away from supervision was not impressed with Dryman's subsequent good deeds. Last month the board sent him back behind bars to serve what remains of his life sentence. 

Dryman said he disappeared from parole in California to get away from a wife he didn't like. He said he's not sure why he just didn't leave the wife and remain on parole. 

But once gone, he said, he didn't look back. His new wife and family knew nothing of his past. He put down roots in Arizona City painting signs, a trade learned in prison, and performing weddings. 

"I never thought I was a parole violator. I was Victor Houston. I never looked over my shoulder," Dryman said. "I just forgot about it." 

On his birthday he used to get two cards from his brother: one for Houston and one for Valentine. 

"I thought it was cute. I had no fear," Dryman said. 

He said the details of his past are just coming back: the shooting, his original sentence and the cause he became for opponents of the death penalty, and his first stint in prison. 

"Only since I have been back here did I start to think about it," said Dryman. "To be honest, I didn't even remember the victim's name." 

Dryman understands he is not likely to get out again now. And he is not kindly disposed to the victim's grandson, the Bellevue, Wash., oral surgeon who became intensely interested in a piece of family history he knew nothing about. Clem Pellett compiled reams of old documents and tracked down his grandfather's killer with the help of a private investigator. 

"I can't blame him for what he did," Dryman said. "But I think it was so wrong he spent so much money getting me here. I feel it is unfair." 

Many in the Pellett family do remember the murder. A dozen descendants showed up at the parole hearing when Dryman was rearrested to testify against his release, saying the killing had forever changed the history of the family. 

They said as kids they lived in fear of hitchhikers — even in fear of Dryman. Some remembered Dryman's courtroom outburst at his first trial that resulted in conviction and a hanging sentence. 

"He turned to the judge and said, 'I'm going to kill you,' he turned to the jury and said 'I am going to kill you' and he turned to the crowd and said some stuff like that," said Clem Pellett. "He was an angry young man who felt powerless."

Pellett only learned the details of the case last year after cleaning out boxes of old newspaper clippings. His own parents never talked about the murder. He had never even really known the Montana side of his family, where the pain of the killing still lingers.

Pellett, without even talking to those relatives, began a quest to learn more, compiling old records, court transcripts, ancient arrest records for Dryman's petty crimes prior to the shooting — all of which he used to track down his grandfather's killer.

Pellett said he was driven by an intense curiosity, and would now like to meet with Dryman to fill in holes in the story that he may chronicle in a book. 

Dryman doesn't think he will agree to the meeting. 

He also denounces the allegation that he made a courtroom death threat, which Clem Pellett said was confirmed through his research. 

Dryman lives in a low security wing of the Montana State Prison, wears prison-issue clothing and due to failing eyesight walks with a cane to avoid tripping. Being interviewed in the same parole board room where was he returned to prison for life, Dryman said of Clem Pellett, "He's already got me here, he should be happy. I think they got their pound of flesh, and I accept it." 

One of the original prosecutors in the case also never forgot about Dryman. 

"It was a very notorious case, perhaps the biggest of the time," said John Luke McKeon, now 85. 

McKeon, a very young assistant attorney general assigned to the case despite his own opposition to the death penalty, said the Montana Supreme Court threw out the hanging sentence amid some of the most intense arguments over the death penalty the state had seen. 

McKeon wrote a letter to the parole board in late May asking for leniency, telling the board he thinks Dryman has paid for his crime. But it got there after the board made its decision. 

The former prosecutor doesn't see any way out for Dryman this time. 

"I don't think the governor's going to give him exoneration," he said. "I think he is going to die in prison."

Frank Dryman, aka Victor Houston sits for an interview with the Associated Press from inside the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, Mont., on Monday, June 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Mike Albans)