Crowley also earned the prestigious Gracie Allen Award in year 2009 for her coverage of Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House. Candy Crowley covered the presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Howard Dean, Bob Dole, Jesse Jackson, Edward Kennedy, John Kerry, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan and Paul Tsonga.  Candy Crowley was also granted an exclusive interview with the President George W Bush some days before he left the office.

She started her career in broadcast journalism in Washington, D.C. as a newsroom assistant for the WASH, a macromedia radio station. She did service as an anchor for the Mutual Broadcasting and also as a White house correspondent for the Associated Press. Here Candy Crowley covered most of the Reagan era before becoming a general assignment correspondent in NBC’s Washington Bureau.

She was honored with the Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for her excellence in journalism in 2005 for her reporting on the 2004 presidential elections. In 2004 she also won the Gracie Allen Award for “War Stories” in the news story-series category. And a National Headliner and a Cine award for “Fit to kill”. Crowley is a vegetarian and she disclosed it in the episode of the “The Situation Room” on the 25 November, 2005. She is known to be an off-camera friend with the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. In 1987 she moved from NBC to CNN. And now it has announced that she would replace John King as the anchor of Sunday morning political talk show.

Who is Candy Crowley? is a post from: Universal Ramblings

The earthquake made major damages to the Port-au-Prince. A great number of the public figure died in this earthquake. These quake casualties include many people like the government officials, musicians, clergy members and the military personnel that were working with the United States. The Buildings lie in ruin and the bodies are piled in the streets.

The thousands of the earthquake victims are still waiting for the aids to arrive back in Haiti. There are many organizations who are gathering the resources to aid the victims of this awful tragedy in Haiti. A huge international effort is launched but the rescue workers and the supplies could only trickle in to the worst-hit areas. As officials in the country estimated the death toll has reached up to 50,000, the communication and the transportation problems hamper the efforts of the help and support.

Thousands of the victims of the earthquake in Haiti are still missing in the wreckage with their unknown fate. There is no food, no water and even no electricity. Many peoples are donating, praying and supporting for the earthquake victims who need the support in Haiti.

The people are giving donations such as for the American Red Cross, Text to Donate, Doctors without the borders and other unions such as the National Nurses United and the UNICEF. These are helping in the many ways to the earthquake victims in Haiti. The president Barack Obama stated telling the Haitian people “You are not forsaken”. This statement of President made the hope of support in the Haitians.

Who are Haiti earthquake victims? is a post from: Universal Ramblings

Celente looks carefully at Barack Obama’s history; his post election actions and administration choices and at the tumultuous global situation confronting him. Celente provides a sweeping, yet realistic picture of what to expect from the Obama Administration:

Disastrous failure in the financial sphere that preoccupies the planet. (Ambitious job creation and infrastructure programs notwithstanding.)
Worsening military quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Moderate progress in environmental, scientific, judicial, labor and other domestic initiatives.
Possible but problematic restoration of America’s battered foreign image.

Celente’s three decades of accurate forecasts make him a voice worth heeding. There is a lot more of the “Obamarama” forecast to read about in the Top Trends 2009 edition of the Trends Journal, which also includes:

The Collapse of ‘09: Markets will tumble and major businesses will fail.

The Greatest Depression: Worse than the 1930’s Depression. Why?

Revolution: What will be the spark that ignites it? Who will fire the shot heard around the world?

Obamarama: High hopes, broken promises: Some victories, major failures.

Economic Slim-Fast: Like it or not, Americans will go on a spending diet and food diet.
Bush Gardens: Lawns out, Edible Landscaping in. Why Bush Gardens?

Whole Health Healing: 2009 marks a year of “attitude change” for the on-trend health aware.

Little People Squeeze: Politicians will put the financial squeeze on the already squeezed.
Regenerative Medicine: The time is ripe for stem cells to come out of the laboratory and into the clinic.

That’s Entertainment: Lifting spirits – and drinking them – will be big business and major pastimes during the Greatest Depression.

College Crash: Following the equity market meltdown, the real estate bust and the retail unraveling, comes the college crash.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

“We’re going to see the end of the retail Christmas….we’re going to see a fundamental shift take place, putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree,” said Celente, adding that the situation would be “worse than the great depression”.

“America’s going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for,” said Celente, noting that people’s refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as “The Panic of 2008,” adding that “giants (would) tumble to their deaths,” which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others.

He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 per cent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defense report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, “The world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest,” and that, “The middle classes could become a revolutionary class.”

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.

“There will be a revolution in this country,” he said. “It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen.”

“The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. (No taxation without representation). That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop.”

“It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more.”

“We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to. It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs, over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension.”

Gerald Celente of trendsresearch.com is a post from: Universal Ramblings

The 54-year-old judge is of Puerto Rican descent. If confirmed, she would become the first Hispanic to serve on the high court. She would also be the third female named to the Supreme Court, and the second on the current court.

Sotomayor is a judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She was named a district judge by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and was elevated to her current seat by President Bill Clinton.

Supporters say that appointment history, along with what they describe as her moderate-liberal views, will give her some bipartisan backing in the Senate. They also point to her compelling story and personal appeal. The liberal-leaning justice rose from humble beginnings at a housing project in the South Bronx and went on to attend Princeton University and Yale Law School.

Conservatives argue Sotomayor has a “hard-left record” and believes that judges should consider experiences of women and people of color in their decision-making. They also described her as a “bully” who “abuses lawyers.”

Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate to her current seat in 1998, a process that took more than a year.

Here is a look at the resume and record of federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor, whom President Barack Obama has chosen as his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor is President Obama’s pick to replace Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court.

• Age 54 (Born June 25, 1954, New York City)

Judicial Career

• U.S. Appeals Court judge, 2nd Circuit, 1998-present

• U.S. District Court judge, 1992-1998

• Nominated to federal bench by Bush in 1991, Clinton in 1997

Government/Legal Career

• Former N.Y. County Assistant District Attorney, 1979-1984

• Former private practice attorney, Pavia & Harcourt, New York, 1984-1992

Politics

• Confirmed by Senate 67-29 in 1998

• Confirmation to current seat took over 1 year

• Was opposed by majority of GOP senators

• Was unopposed in 1991 confirmation process

Cases Reviewed by the Supreme Court

• Ricci v. DeStefano 530 F.3d 87 (2008) — decision pending as of 5/26/2009

• Riverkeeper, Inc. vs. EPA, 475 F.3d 83 (2007) — reversed 6-3 (Dissenting: Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg)

• Knight vs. Commissioner, 467 F.3d 149 (2006) — upheld, but reasoning was unanimously faulted

• Dabit vs. Merrill Lynch, 395 F.3d 25 (2005) — reversed 8-0

• Empire Healthchoice Assurance, Inc. vs. McVeigh, 396 F.3d 136 (2005) — reversed 5-4 (Dissenting: Breyer, Kennedy, Souter, Alito)

• Malesko v. Correctional Services Corp., 299 F.3d 374 (2000) — reversed 5-4 (Dissenting: Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer)

• Tasini vs. New York Times, et al, 972 F. Supp. 804 (1997) — reversed 7-2 (Dissenting: Stevens, Breyer)

• Affirmative Action (New Haven firefighter case): Sotomayor was part of a three-judge panel that ruled in February 2008 to uphold a lower court decision supporting the City of New Haven’s decision to throw out the results of an exam to determine promotions within the city’s fire department. Only one Hispanic and no African-American firefighters qualified for promotion based on the exam; the City subsequently decided not to certify the results and issued no promotions. In June 2008, Sotomayor was part of a 7-6 majority to deny a rehearing of the case by the full court. The Supreme Court agreed to review the case and heard oral arguments in April 2009. Ricci v. DeStefano 530 F.3d 87 (2008)

• Environment (Protection of fish at power plants): Sotomayor, writing for a three-judge panel, ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency may not engage in a cost-benefit analysis in implementing a rule that the “best technology available” must be used to limit the environmental impact of power plants on nearby aquatic life. The case involved power plants that draw water from lakes and rivers for cooling purposes, killing various fish and aquatic organisms in the process. Sotomayor ruled that the “best technology” regulation did not allow the EPA to weigh the cost of implementing the technology against the overall environmental benefit when issuing its rules. The Supreme Court reversed Sotomayor’s ruling in a 6-3 decision, saying that Sotomayor’s interpretation of the “best technology” rule was too narrow. Justices Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg dissented, siding with Sotomayor’s position. Riverkeeper, Inc. vs. EPA, 475 F.3d 83 (2007)

• Taxes (Deductability of trust fees): In 2006, Sotomayor upheld a lower tax court ruling that certain types of fees paid by a trust are only partly tax deductable. The Supreme Court upheld Sotomayor’s decision but unanimously rejected the reasoning she adopted, saying that her approach “flies in the face of the statutory language.” Knight vs. Commissioner, 467 F.3d 149 (2006)

• Finance (Rights of investors to sue firms in state court): In a 2005 ruling, Sotomayor overturned a lower court decision and allowed investors to bring certain types of fraud lawsuits against investment firms in state court rather than in federal court. The lower court had agreed with the defendant Merrill Lynch’s argument that the suits were invalid because the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 required that such suits be brought only in federal court. The Supreme Court unanimously overturned Sotomayor’s ruling in an 8-0 decision, saying that the federal interest in overseeing securities market cases prevails, and that doing otherwise could give rise to “wasteful, duplicative litigation.” Dabit vs. Merrill Lynch, 395 F.3d 25 (2005)

• Health Insurance (Reimbursement of insurance benefits): In 2005, Sotomayor ruled against a health insurance company that sued the estate of a deceased federal employee who received $157,000 in insurance benefits as the result of an injury. The wife of the federal employee had won $3.2 million in a separate lawsuit from those whom she claimed caused her husband’s injuries. The health insurance company sued for reimbursement of the benefits paid to the federal employee, saying that a provision in the federal insurance plan requires paid benefits to be reimbursed when the beneficiary is compensated for an injury by a third party. The Supreme Court upheld Sotomayor’s ruling in a 5-4 opinion. Justices Breyer, Kennedy, Souter, and Alito dissented. Empire Healthchoice Assurance, Inc. vs. McVeigh, 396 F.3d 136 (2005)

• Civil Rights (Right to sue federal government and its agents): Sotomayor, writing for the court in 2000, supported the right of an individual to sue a private corporation working on behalf of the federal government for alleged violations of that individual’s constitutional rights. Reversing a lower court decision, Sotomayor found that an existing law, known as “Bivens,” which allows suits against individuals working for the federal government for constitutional rights violations, could be applied to the case of a former prisoner seeking to sue the private company operating the federal halfway house facility in which he resided. The Supreme Court reversed Sotomayor’s ruling in a 5-4 decision, saying that the Bivens law could not be expanded to cover private entities working on behalf of the federal government. Justices Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer dissented, siding with Sotomayor’s original ruling. Malesko v. Correctional Services Corp., 299 F.3d 374 (2000)

• Intellectual Property (Distribution of freelance material): As a district court judge in 1997, Sotomayor heard a case brought by a group of freelance journalists who asserted that various news organizations, including the New York Times, violated copyright laws by reproducing the freelancers’ work on electronic databases and archives such as “Lexis/Nexis” without first obtaining their permission. Sotomayor ruled against the freelancers and said that publishers were within their rights as outlined by the 1976 Copyright Act. The appellate court reversed Sotomayor’s decision, siding with the freelancers, and the Supreme Court upheld the appellate decision (therefore rejecting Sotomayor’s original ruling). Justices Stevens and Breyer dissented, taking Sotomayor’s position. Tasini vs. New York Times, et al, 972 F. Supp. 804 (1997)

Other Notable Cases

• Abortion (Mexico City policy): Sotomayor ruled against an abortion rights group in its challenge to the so-called “Mexico City Policy,” which states that nations that receive U.S. funds may neither perform nor promote abortions. The abortion rights advocates alleged that the policy violated their First Amendment, due process, and equal protection rights. Sotomayor upheld a lower court ruling dismissing the case, saying that the group’s First Amendment rights had not been violated and that it had not been denied due process. On the equal protection claim, Sotomayor wrote, “The Supreme Court has made clear that the government is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds.” Sotomayor did not address the underlying abortion issue. Center for Reproductive Law and Policy vs. Bush, 304 F.3d 183 (2002)

• Major League Baseball Strike: As a district court judge, Sotomayor issued an injunction against team owners for alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act during collective bargaining negotiations with the MLB players association. The owners had sought to end the system of free agency and salary arbitration and imposed a lock-out against players as negotiations began to break down. The ruling ended the longest baseball strike in history. National Labor Relations Board vs. Major League Baseball, 880 F.

Source: CNN

Have you heard of Sonia Sotomayor ? is a post from: Universal Ramblings