Harold Dow

Harold Dow,

Harold Dow (September 28, 1947 - August 21, 2010) was an American television news correspondent, journalist, and investigative reporter with CBS News.

Journalist credentials

Dow was born in Hackensack, New Jersey. He attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha.") Dow had been a correspondent for the CBS TV investigative news series 48 Hours since 1990, after having served as a contributor to the broadcast since its premiere on January 1988. He had been a contributing correspondent for 48 Hours on Crack Street, the critically acclaimed 1986 documentary that led to the single-topic weekly news magazine. Dow conducted the first network interview for 48 Hours with O. J. Simpson following the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Dow graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Prior to his work with 48 Hours, Dow was a correspondent for the CBS News magazine Street Stories (1992–93), and had reported for the CBS Evening News and CBS News Sunday Morning since the early 1970's.

Other accomplishments

Before joining CBS News, Dow had been an anchor and reporter at Theta Cable TV in Santa Monica, California. He was also a freelance reporter for KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, a news anchor for WPAT Radio in Paterson, N.J., and a reporter, co-anchor, and talk-show host for KETV-TV in Omaha, Nebraska.

Dow joined CBS News in 1972, first as a broadcast associate, then as a correspondent with their Los Angeles Bureau while with KCOP-TV. Dow reported on the return of POWs from Vietnam and the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, with whom he had an exclusive interview in December 1976.

(source:wikipedia)

Hilary Swank

Hilary Swank,

Hilary Ann Swank,(born July 30, 1974) is an American actress. Her film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid (1994), where she played Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi. She has become known for her two Academy Award-winning performances: first as Brandon Teena, a transgender man (FTM) in the movie Boys Don't Cry (1999), and a struggling waitress-turned-boxer, Maggie Fitzgerald, in Million Dollar Baby (2004).

Early life

Swank was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, the daughter of Judy Kay (née Clough), a secretary and former dancer, and Stephen Michael Swank, who was an officer in the Air National Guard and later a traveling salesman. She has a brother, Daniel. Swank's surname is of German origin. Her maternal grandmother was of Spanish and Shoshone Native American ancestry, and many of Swank's family members hail from Ringgold County, Iowa. Swank came from humble beginnings, particularly as a child growing up in a trailer park near Lake Samish in Bellingham, Washington, to which she moved at age six, after having lived in Spokane, Washington. Swank has described her younger self as an "outsider" who felt that she belonged "only when [reading] a book or [seeing] a movie, and could get involved with a character," and was thus inspired to become an actress.

When Swank was nine years old, she made her first appearance on stage, starring in The Jungle Book. She became involved in school and community theater programs, including those of the Bellingham Theatre Guild, and attended Sehome High School in Bellingham until she was sixteen. Swank also competed in the Junior Olympics and the Washington state championships in swimming; she ranked fifth in the state in all-around gymnastics. Swank's parents separated when she was thirteen, and her mother, supportive of her daughter's desire to act, moved to Los Angeles, where they lived out of their car until Swank's mother saved enough money to rent an apartment. Swank has described her mother as the inspiration for her acting career and her life.In California, Swank enrolled in South Pasadena High School (although she later dropped out of school) and started acting professionally. She helped pay the rent with the money she earned appearing in television programs such as Evening Shade and Growing Pains.

Career

Swank's first leading film role was in The Next Karate Kid (1994), which utilized her gymnastics background and paired her with Pat Morita. It was the fourth movie in the Karate Kid series. In September 1997, Swank was cast as single mother Carly Reynolds on Beverly Hills, 90210. She was initially promised it would be a two-year role, but saw her character written out after 16 episodes in January 1998. Swank later stated that she was devastated at being cut from the show, thinking, "If I'm not good enough for 90210, I'm not good enough for anything."

The firing freed her to audition for the role of Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry. Swank reduced her body fat to seven percent in preparation for the role. Many critics hailed hers as the best female performance of 1999, and Swank's work ultimately won her the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Actress. Swank had earned only $75 per day for her work on Boys Don't Cry, culminating in a total of $3,000. Her earnings were so low, that she had not even earned enough to qualify for health insurance.

Swank subsequently again won the Best Actress Oscar, and another Golden Globe, for playing a boxer in Clint Eastwood's 2004 film Million Dollar Baby, a role for which she underwent training in the ring and gained 19 pounds of muscle. Swank's success meant that she had joined the ranks of Vivien Leigh, Helen Hayes, Sally Field, and Luise Rainer as the only actresses to have been nominated for Academy Awards twice and win both times. After winning her second Oscar, she said, "I don't know what I did in this life to deserve this. I'm just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream."

Swank at the 2008 Academy Awards

In early 2006, Swank signed a three-year contract as spokesperson for Guerlain (a women's fragrance). She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 8, 2007. Hers was the 2,325th star presented.

In 2007, Swank starred in and executive produced Freedom Writers, a drama about a real-life teacher, Erin Gruwell, who inspired a California high school class. Many reviews of Swank's performance were positive, with one critic noting that she "brings credibility" to the role, and another stating that her performance reaches a "singular lack of artifice, stripping herself back to the bare essentials". Swank next starred in The Reaping, a horror film released on April 5, 2007, in which she played a debunker of religious phenomena. Swank convinced the producers to move the film's setting from New England to the Deep South, and the movie was being filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina struck. The same year, she also appeared in the romantic comedy P.S. I Love You alongside Gerard Butler.

Swank portrayed Amelia Earhart in the biopic Amelia, a film she also co-executive produced. Filming occurred in the summer of 2008 in a number of international locations. Swank is also attached to star in the Hollywood remake of Intimate Strangers. In addition, it was reported that Swank would play a lead role in, and produce, a film adaptation of the John Marks novel Fangland.

Personal life

Swank has said that she is "an actor, not a celebrity" and has described herself as a "homebody." Swank considers herself a spiritual person, though not a member of an organized religion. She has said that she is "athletically inclined" and that she "love sports."

Swank developed potential health problems, including elevated mercury levels in her body, through certain preparations for her roles, including weight gain and loss for Boys Don't Cry and The Black Dahlia. She has stated that she would "do what [she] need to make [the role] believable and to make it work" and that her "battle scars are a reminder that you're alive and human and that you bleed." In 2007, Swank noted that she "feel like in the last couple of years, I’ve really come into my own and a lot of that has come from figuring out who I really am and what I want in life."

Swank married actor Chad Lowe on September 28, 1997. The two met in 1992, on the set of Quiet Days in Hollywood, a direct-to-video film. Swank infamously forgot to thank Lowe during her acceptance speech after winning her first Oscar in 2000, and she spent nearly every public appearance afterward making up for it. Upon winning her second Oscar in 2005, Lowe was the first person she thanked. However, in January 2006, the couple separated. In subsequent interviews, Swank expressed hope that they could reconcile, but they announced in May 2006 that they were divorcing. In December 2006, Swank confirmed that she was dating John Campisi, her agent.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes

1991 Evening Shade Aimee #1 (1991–1992) TV series

Harry and the Hendersons Guest star TV series

Growing Pains Sasha Serotsky (1991–1992) TV series

1992 Camp Wilder Danielle TV series

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Kimberly Hannah

1994 The Next Karate Kid Julie Pierce

Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story Patty TV movie

1996 Sometimes They Come Back... Again Michelle Porter

Terror in the Family Deena Martin TV movie

Kounterfeit Colleen

1997 Quiet Days in Hollywood Lolita

The Sleepwalker Killing Lauren Schall Lifetime TV movie

Leaving L.A. Tiffany Roebuck TV series

Dying to Belong Lisa Connors TV movie

Beverly Hills, 90210 Carly Reynolds (1997–1998) TV series

1998 Heartwood Sylvia Orsini

1999 Boys Don't Cry Brandon Teena Academy Award for Best Actress

Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress

Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress

Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress

Chicago International Film Festival, Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress

Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress

Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress

Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress

Gijón International Film Festival Award for Best Actress

Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama

Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female

Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress

National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance

New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress

Santa Fe Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress

Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama

Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress

Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress

Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actress

Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss

Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance

Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress

Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

2000 The Gift Valerie Barksdale Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress

Scary Movie Girl in car

The Audition Short subject

2001 The Affair of the Necklace Jeanne St. Rémy de Valois

2002 The Space Between Short subject

Insomnia Detective Ellie Burr Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actress

2003 11:14 Buzzy Also executive producer

The Core Major Rebecca Childs

2004 Million Dollar Baby Maggie Fitzgerald Academy Award for Best Actress

Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress

Central Ohio Film Critics Association For Best Actress

Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress

Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress

Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama

Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress

National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress

Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress

Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama

Sant Jordi Awards for Best Actress

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actress

Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance

Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress

Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Red Dust Sarah Barcant

Iron Jawed Angels Alice Paul TV movie

Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film

Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie

2006 The Black Dahlia Madeleine Linscott

2007 Freedom Writers Erin Gruwell Also executive producer

The Reaping Professor Katherine Winter

P. S. I Love You Holly Kennedy Irish Film & Television Audience Award for Best International Actress

2008 Birds of America Laura

2009 Amelia Amelia Earhart Hollywood film festival Best Actress

2010 The Resident Dr. Juliet Dermer in post-production

Conviction Betty Anne Waters completed

2011 Falling Out of Fashion in development

Fangland Evangeline Harker in development

(source:wikipedia)

Horst Köhler

Horst Köhler, (pronounced [ˈhɔɐ̯st ˈkøːlɐ] ( listen); born 22 February 1943) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union; he was President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on 23 May 2004 and was subsequently inaugurated on 1 July 2004. He was reelected to a second term on 23 May 2009. Just a year later, on 31 May 2010, he resigned from his office in a controversy over his comment on the role of the German Bundeswehr in light of a visit to the troops in Afghanistan.
Köhler is an economist by profession. Prior to his election as President, Köhler had a distinguished career in politics and the civil service and as a banking executive. He was President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development from 1998 to 2000 and head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2000 to 2004.
Although the office of President is less influential than that of the Chancellor and is mostly concerned with ceremonial matters, Köhler became Germany's most popular politician during his tenure, with record-high approval ratings. He has called for more influence for the President and has suggested the President should be directly elected again, as was the case under the Weimar Constitution.

Early life

Köhler was born in Skierbieszów (then named Heidenstein), in the General Government area of German-occupied Poland, as the seventh child of Elisabeth and Eduard Köhler, into a family of Bessarabian Germans from Rîşcani in Romanian Bessarabia (near Bălţi, present-day Moldova). George Rischkan, the largest estate owner in northern Bessarabia, had founded this German village in 1860/65. Horst Köhler's parents, ethnic Germans and Romanian citizens, had to leave their home in Bessarabia in 1940 during the Nazi-Soviet population transfers that followed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which awarded Bessarabia to the Soviet Union. As part of the Generalplan Ost, they were resettled in 1942 at Skierbieszów, a village near Zamość, Poland (then part of the General Government). As the Wehrmacht was pushed back and the first parts of Poland had to be abandoned in 1944, the Köhler family fled to Leipzig. In 1953, they left the Soviet Zone – via West Berlin – to escape from the communist regime. The family lived in refugee camps until 1957, when they settled in Ludwigsburg. Horst Köhler hence spent most of his first 14 years as a refugee.

Studies and military service

A teacher recommended that the refugee boy should apply for the Gymnasium, and Köhler took his Abitur in 1963. After a two-year military service at a Panzergrenadier battalion in Ellwangen, he left the Bundeswehr as "Leutnant der Reserve" (reserve officer). He studied and finally earned a doctorate in economics and political sciences from Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, where he was a scientific research assistant at the Institute for Applied Economic Research from 1969 to 1976.

Career in the civil service

Köhler joined the civil service in 1976, when he was employed in the Federal Ministry of Economics. In 1981, he was employed in the Chancellory of the state government in Schleswig-Holstein under Prime Minister Gerhard Stoltenberg. The following year, Köhler was made head of the Ministers office in the Federal Ministry of Finance, upon Stoltenberg's recommendation. He rose to head of department in 1987, with responsibility for financial policy and federal industrial interests. In 1989 he became head of the department for currency and credit.

Secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance

A member of the CDU since 1981, he was Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry of Finance from 1990 to 1993, and as such, the administrative head of the Ministry and the deputy of the Federal Minister of Finance (Theodor Waigel). In that capacity, he served as a "sherpa" (personal representative) for Chancellor Helmut Kohl, preparing G7 summits and other international economic conferences. He also served as the primary German negotiator in the Maastricht Treaty negotiations.

Career in banking 1993–2000

Between 1993 and 1998 he served as President of the association of savings banks in Germany, Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband. In 1998 he was appointed president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and settled in London, where the headquarters of the bank is located.


Head of the International Monetary Fund

Köhler as head of the IMF, discussing debt relief for developing countries with the musician Bono
Köhler was appointed Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2000. The government of Gerhard Schröder nominated him after their first nominee, Caio Koch-Weser, was rejected by the United States.
He lived in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2004.

President of Germany

Horst Köhler and Vaclav Havel, 2000
On 4 March 2004, Köhler resigned his post with the IMF after being nominated by Germany's conservative and liberal opposition parties as their presidential candidate. As these parties controlled a majority of votes in the Bundesversammlung (an electoral college consisting of the membership of the Bundestag and an equal number of delegates from the legislatures of each state), the result of the vote amounted to essentially a foregone conclusion, but was closer than expected. Köhler defeated Gesine Schwan on the first ballot by 604 votes to 580; 20 votes were cast for minor candidates, while one elector was absent because of a heart attack. Köhler succeeded Johannes Rau as President on 1 July 2004, for a five-year term. Germany's presidency is a largely ceremonial office, but is also invested with considerable moral authority. From 2004 until early 2006, Charlottenburg Palace was the seat of the President of Germany, whilst Schloss Bellevue was being renovated.
Upon his election, Köhler, a conservative German patriot, said that "Patriotism and being cosmopolitan are not opposites". "He appeared an enlightened patriot who genuinely loves his country and is not afraid to say so", the newspaper Die Welt wrote. Presenting his visions for Germany, Köhler also said that "Germany should become a land of ideas", and emphasized the importance of globalization, and that Germany would have to compete for its place in the 21st century.
In July 2005, he suspended the Bundestag at Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's request, after the latter had lost a motion of confidence in the Bundestag. This led to early election for the Bundestag in September 2005.


Horst Köhler in Brackenheim after unveiling a bronze statue of Theodor Heuss
In October 2006, he made a far-reaching decision by vetoing the bill which would transfer Germany's Air Safety Administration Deutsche Flugsicherung into private ownership. The Bundestag passed this legislation but as President, Köhler was authorized to not sign it into law if, in his opinion, it contravenes the constitution. In December 2006 he did not sign the Consumer Information Law (which intended to make information collected by public food safety agencies available to consumers), because the constitution does not allow the federal government to instruct municipal authorities. This can only be done by the German states. There had only been six previous occasions when Germany's president had chosen to reject bills, in most instances less important legislation was involved. His vetoes were the first notable examples in recent German history.
In his 2007 Christmas address to the nation, Köhler urged the government to push ahead more quickly with reforms. He was also critical of the introduction of the minimum wage in the postal sector (which had led to the loss of 1000 jobs at Deutsche Post rival PIN Group), stating that "a minimum wage that can not be paid by competitive employers destroys jobs".
On 22 May 2008, Köhler announced his candidacy for a second term as president. On 23 May 2009 he was re-elected by the Federal Assembly, and was sworn into office for a second term on 1 July 2009.
In November 2009, Köhler refused to sign the "Zugangserschwerungsgesetz" (Access Impediment Act) into law without further information. The law, which aims to make it more difficult to access sites on the World Wide Web with child pornography, is considered by many legal experts to be unconstitutional.


Resignation
On 31 May 2010, Köhler announced his resignation as President of Germany. This came after German politicians criticised comments made by Köhler in relation to overseas military deployments:
"Meine Einschätzung ist aber, dass insgesamt wir auf dem Wege sind, doch auch in der Breite der Gesellschaft zu verstehen, dass ein Land unserer Größe mit dieser Außenhandelsorientierung und damit auch Außenhandelsabhängigkeit auch wissen muss, dass im Zweifel, im Notfall auch militärischer Einsatz notwendig ist, um unsere Interessen zu wahren, zum Beispiel freie Handelswege, zum Beispiel ganze regionale Instabilitäten zu verhindern, die mit Sicherheit dann auch auf unsere Chancen zurückschlagen negativ durch Handel, Arbeitsplätze und Einkommen. Alles das soll diskutiert werden und ich glaube, wir sind auf einem nicht so schlechten Weg."

"In my estimation, though, we—including [German] society as a whole—are coming to the general understanding that, given this [strong] focus and corresponding dependency on exports, a country of our size needs to be aware that where called for or in an emergency, military deployment, too, is necessary if we are to protect our interests such as ensuring free trade routes or preventing regional instabilities which are also certain to negatively impact our ability to safeguard trade, jobs and income. All of this should be discussed and I think the path we are on is not so bad."

– Horst Köhler, Interview with Deutschlandradio, 22 May 2010

After coming in for criticism, he stated at a later time that in the interview he was referring to piracy off the coast of Ethiopia. In his assessment of the national discourse and mood about military deployment this nuance was frequently left out in news reporting. Köhler stated that there was no substance to accusations that in the interview he had overstepped his formal role by favoring an unconstitutional position. After no measurable support from his allies was forthcoming in the dispute, he drew his own consequences from the controversy and on 31 May 2010 stepped down, issuing a statement saying, "I declare my resignation from the Office of President, with immediate effect."The resignation was considered a "surprise",and both pundits and opposition politicians labelled it "an overreaction".
As stipulated by the Grundgesetz, the powers of the vacant office are now executed by the President of the Bundesrat, currently Jens Böhrnsen, until a new president is elected on 30 June 2010.

Personal life

Horst Köhler is married to Eva Köhler, who teaches German. They have two children, a daughter Ulrike (born in 1972) and a son Jochen (born in 1977).His daughter, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, became blind as a teenager. Horst Köhler is a member of the Evangelical Church in Germany.
Source:wikipedia