Who is Greta Van Susteren?

In this blog, I share biographies (from fair-use Wikipedia) on politicians, journalists, anyone Rush mentions on his program, or people whose biographies I think my readers need to read. I've been concentrating on political biographies for a while, on the politicians we need to watch for the all-important November 2 election, and to leaven that, here's a bio of Greta Van Susteren.

Greta Van Susteren (born June 11, 1954) is an American journalist and television personality on the Fox News Channel, where she hosts On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren. A former criminal defense and civil trial lawyer, she appeared as a legal commentator on CNN co-hosting Burden of Proof with Roger Cossack from 1994 to 2002, playing defense attorney to Cossack's prosecutor.

Personal life
Van Susteren was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, and is of Dutch, French and German ancestry on her paternal side.

Van Susteren's sister, Lise, is a forensic psychiatrist in Bethesda, Maryland. In 2006, Lise was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. Her brother, Dirk Van Susteren, was a journalist and long-time editor of the Vermont Sunday magazine, jointly published, until folding in 2008, by the Rutland Herald and the Barre-Montpelier-Times Argus. Van Susteren's father, Urban Van Susteren, was an elected judge, was a longtime friend of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, and was campaign strategist for him, although Urban later broke with him.

Van Susteren is married to John P. Coale. They are both Scientologists. [Who knew? Here's an article on their Scientology beliefs from 1998. http://www.sptimes.com/Floridian/121398/High_profile_couple_n.html

Coale serves as an adviser for Sarah Palin.

Since 2006, she has been part owner of a restaurant, the Old Mill Inn, in Mattituck, New York, on the North Fork of Long Island.

In recognition of her Dutch heritage she was asked to assume the role of Honorary Chairperson of the Little Chute Windmill Committee. The windmill, an authentic reproduction of a Dutch one, will be built in Little Chute, Wisconsin, where Van Susteren's family lived for some time.

Career
Van Susteren graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin having studied geography and economics. She later earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1979 and prior to the start of her television work returned to Georgetown Law as an adjunct faculty member in addition to her full-time legal career.

During coverage of the O. J. Simpson murder trial, she appeared regularly on CNN as a legal analyst. This led to her stint as co-host of CNN's Burden of Proof and The Point.

In 2002, Van Susteren switched to the Fox News Channel after a highly publicized contract bidding war. Since then, she has hosted the current affairs show On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren.