Gabrielle has lightened her hair up with a little shimmer of blonde. Take a look at the photos and tell us if you think she looks fab or fug!

Gabrielle Union Covers Jet Magazine

Take a look at the Gabby we all know:

Are Dwyane Wade & Homewrecker Gabby Having Trouble?

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s intense juggling of domestic issues reflects all the realities he faces at once: a vast agenda, a smaller window for results this year and a need to keep promises to constituencies that will have a huge say in the fall congressional elections.

Obama is in the heart of a period in which he has pledged to do everything he can to make the case for a health overhaul. This time-consuming blitz, he hopes, will end in a final vote in Congress this month. That’s on top of his commitment to make jobs his top priority.

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Yet his agenda this week alone — with immigration and energy near the top — signals he is trying to move on other matters affecting most every American. The coming months likely amount to his best shot to pass the heavy legislation he wants and that will help drive the midterm elections in November.

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At the moment, his health care plan is the chief concern. Obama made two outside-of-Washington campaign stops for it this week and plans another in Ohio on Monday. And he just delayed a trip to Asia until later in March to stayed focused on health care as that issue reaches a make-or-break moment.

The rest of Obama’s week, though, has provided a revealing snapshot of his balancing act.

A trade speech took precedence Thursday morning. Then he devoted coveted time to lawmakers and activists involved in immigration reform, a far-reaching and sensitive issue that rose and crashed in the second term of President George W. Bush. Friday he meets with his national security team to assess the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, then assembles his science and technology advisers.

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Earlier this week, Obama had 14 senators of both parties to the White House to try to build support for stalled climate and energy legislation. Throw in that twice in recent days Obama promoted his education agenda of boosting standards and graduation rates, with federal money as leverage.

The president is also invested in pushing through an overhaul of the rules governing Wall Street. A bipartisan effort on that front appeared to break down Thursday, but the White House hopes that will change as the legislation advances, still optimistic that financial reform will get done this year.

“There are lawmakers who care deeply about these other issues. There are constituency groups. There are substantive policy reasons for pursuing them,” said Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution. “A president doesn’t have time to deal with matters just one at a time.”

Obama has a key edge in setting the agenda: public approval. His job-performance rating is holding mainly steady at 53 percent, while a new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that fewer people approve of Congress — a mere 22 percent — than at any point in Obama’s presidency.

Yet polls don’t change people’s lives. Results do. And ultimately, the search for results is what drives how Obama spends his time.

A closer look at the factors:

— The agenda. Obama is still early in his presidency and trying to use his clout on all the big items he promised. The massive economic stimulus plan came first, but health care, energy and global-warming legislation, further jobs bills, a financial regulation overhaul and immigration all remain. Obama is trying to push that agenda around the rush of other events — from terrorism threats to natural disasters — that can demand his time.

— The calendar. The realistic window for getting major legislation passed in this election year at best runs only until August, when Congress takes its summer break before the final, frantic weeks before Election Day. So Obama must do overlapping legislative work on matters nearing an end, like health care, and ones needing much work, like immigration.

— The bully pulpit. Obama has little say over when Congress does its business, as evidenced best by the health care debate, which in Obama’s vision was supposed to be finished last year. He can, however, control what issues get public attention by scheduling events designed to drive the debate.

— The election. Obama isn’t on the ballot in November, but in a lot of ways, his presidency is. To help stem the expected loss of Democratic seats in the House and Senate in November, Obama needs to show results, demonstrating that both he and the candidates from his party can use their power to lead.

— The coalitions. Obama appears clearly headed toward a Democrats-only health care bill, if he is able to get it. But he knows he must have Republican support to get comprehensive energy and immigration reform passed. His meetings this week on both topics were designed largely to foster that kind of backing.

— The quiet work. Obama gets scores of briefings and holds domestic meetings that never even make it on his public schedule. So, in one sense, announcing an event on immigration can give an outsized, all-of-a-sudden importance to a matter he has been trying to finesse for months. But it can also signal to key groups and the nation at large that he is working on several issues at once and that he takes them all seriously, which can play to the White House’s advantage.

— The constituents. People mainly want jobs and an economy that restores the value of their homes and bank accounts. There are plenty of other issues though that matter to groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, both of which met with Obama on Thursday. Obama must pay some heed to the concerns of those who elected him: 95 percent of black voters supported him in 2008; 67 percent of Hispanic voters did the same.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama doesn’t have time to schedule events that, on the surface, might be seen as a political response to those who helped get him his job.

“Anytime you do these meetings, you’re going to be judged on whether you can accomplish anything out of them,” Gibbs said. “So I think doing them just to say you’re doing them, in the end, doesn’t usually work.”

Though a few months have passed since the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti, the nation and its people remain in need of assistance. We must not allow the passage of time to lessen our commitment to aiding their recovery. Click here to find out how you can offer your support. – NewsOne Staff

From the Washington Post:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — It was always hard to be old in Haiti, but after the earthquake, to be old and poor feels like a curse, say those who are both.

“We struggle to maintain a little dignity, but look at us,” said Lauranise Gedeon, who sat, embarrassed, in soiled sheets in the ruins of the municipal nursing home here in the capital.

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Residents are bathed outdoors with a bucket and try to cover their nakedness. They spend the long, hot afternoons in hospital beds lined up side by side, six to a tent, fanning themselves with pieces of cardboard. They beg for water to drink.

“No water today. We are waiting. We are waiting for medicines, for the doctors, for God to help us,” said nurse Yolette François. “I am serious. These old people have a lot of troubles.”

Her patients, about 80 men and women, were scooping rice and beans from dented metal bowls. Asked what they needed most, one resident said, “Something for the flies.” Another complained that her spoon had been stolen and held up her fingers, sticky with food. “Look!”

The nurse whispered, “We have run out of diapers for them.”

Click here to read more.

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has announced which groups will get the $1.4 million he received for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Obama said Thursday that $250,000 will go to Fisher House, a national nonprofit that houses families whose loved ones are receiving care at Veterans Administration medical centers. He will give another $200,000 to the Bush-Clinton Haiti Fund to help the country recover from the earthquake.

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The balance will go to an array of other groups including education foundations, scholarship funds and regional development groups in Africa and Central Asia.

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NEW YORK — A federal judge who found it unconstitutional that Congress tried to cut funding to the activist group ACORN has rejected a government request to change her mind and has ordered government agencies to make it clear the funding isn’t blocked.

In a written ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon made permanent her conclusion last year that the cutoff of funding was unconstitutional. She ordered all federal agencies to put the word out about it.

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The Brooklyn judge said ACORN was punished by Congress without the enactment of administrative processes to decide if money had been handled inappropriately. She said the harm to ACORN’s reputation continues because the government never rescinded its advice to withhold funding after it was distributed to “hundreds, if not thousands, of recipients.”

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ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, describes itself as an advocate for low-income and minority home buyers and residents.

Critics of the group say it has engaged in voter registration fraud and embezzlement and has violated the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities.

Last year, a series of videos filmed at ACORN offices around the country sparked a national scandal and helped drive the organization to near ruin. In one video, ACORN employees were shown apparently advising a couple posing as a prostitute and her boyfriend to lie about her profession and launder her earnings; Brooklyn prosecutors said they did not commit a crime.

In asking the judge to reconsider her December ruling, the government cited a Dec. 7 report written by Scott Harshbarger, former attorney general for Massachusetts. It said the report “reinforces Congress’ purpose in preventing fraud, waste and abuse” by describing ACORN’s long-standing management problems.

The report concluded that ACORN leadership at every level was thin, the government noted.

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The judge, however, wrote that it was “unmistakable that Congress determined ACORN’s guilt before defunding it.” She said Congress is entitled to investigate ACORN but cannot “rely on the negative results of a congressional or executive report as a rationale to impose a broad, punitive funding ban on a specific, named organization.”

She said the Code of Federal Regulations establishes a formal process for deciding when federal contractors can be suspended or debarred. She added that “the existence of these regulations militates against the need for draconian, emergency action by Congress.”

The government planned to review the judge’s ruling and consider whether to appeal, spokesman Robert Nardoza said.

The legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which says it’s dedicated to protecting the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, welcomed Wednesday’s decision.

“The judge’s ruling is a complete rebuke to the right wing’s smear tactics that unfortunately Congress fell for,” legal director Bill Quigley said. “This is why we have a system of checks and balances.”

According to TMZ:

Shaunie O’Neal’s lawyer, Sorrell Trope, tells TMZ Shaq and Shaunie have reached agreement on all terms of the divorce, including property, custody and support.

Under the agreement, the Florida courts will have jurisdiction to officially divorce the couple. In addition, a Florida judge will handle any issues that may arise involving property division and spousal support. Trope tells TMZ the California courts will have jurisdiction over any issues related to child custody.

Also, Shaunie is prepping for the debut of her new reality series “Basketball Wives.” In an exclusive interview with Essence Magazine, she explains what went wrong in her marriage, blaming Miami groupies, whom she says are the most “aggressive” she has even seen, and Shaq’s inability to resist temptation.

Shaunie on when things started to go bad in her marriage:
[Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat] “Miami is a great city. It just wasn’t a great city for our marriage. I know they say L.A. has its groupies, but Miami has a different mentality. Even going to the games, the whole environment is so different. Girls are practically sitting in their bra and panties in the arena. When you’re trying to keep your husband, that’s a lot to take. It was a whole new lifestyle I wasn’t ready for. Apparently we didn’t have a strong enough foundation for Shaq to withstand that type of temptation.”

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Shaunie on finally confronting Shaq about the infidelity rumors:
“He would deny it sometimes, and other times he would ask, ‘You got pictures? Video? If not, don’t come at me because you have no proof.’ He’d say, ‘Okay, you’re mad. Now what? You’re not going anywhere.’”

Shaunie on being accused of cheating on Shaq with her personal trainer:
“I worked out at home with my trainer, my sister, her husband and my girlfriend. I was a good girl. I wouldn’t even entertain a man flirting with me. I was that conservative. But when those rumors came out, I felt I was so small and Shaq was so big that it didn’t matter what I said; nobody was going to believe me. All I was thinking was, How could this happen to me? I had no idea how I was going to pick up the pieces. I was just done.”

Shaunie on the state of her relationship with Shaq today:
“We are becoming friends, and it’s nice because it’s something we really lacked in our marriage. I enjoy being able to talk openly to him, and I think we both learned a lot from each other during this time.”

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From TheDailyVoice.com:

Is it already the end of the road for Hollywood’s newest black stars?

Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibe don’t need my career advice. If they were to ask me for it though, I’d tell them this: enjoy the ride. It won’t last.

The cold hard truth is there isn’t a lot of roles in Hollywood for plus-sized sistas. Mo’Nique and Gabourey are not going to have careers like Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock. There are no romantic comedies with Will Smith gazing in rapture into Gabourney’s eyes. Mo’Nique will not play Lady Macbeth or squeeze into leather and spandex to replace Halle Berry as Storm in another X-Men movie. It’s just not going to happen.

The movie industry is extremely harsh on women. Ask Kathleen Turner. Ask Angela Bassett. Get a little older, don’t apply Botox to chase away the wrinkles and when gravity begins to take its toll, you’re scrambling for jobs on television, slob comedies and Tyler Perry schlock fests. Plus-sized women catch hell when they’re White. It gets no easier when you throw color in the mix.

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Mo’Nique’s Best Supporting Actress made her the fourth Black woman to win the award, joining Hattie McDaniel, Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Hudson. Halle Berry took the little gold man home as Best Actress in Monster’s Ball, a movie widely despised by every Black person I know who have seen it. That isn’t to say there aren’t Black people who love the movie. I just never met any that have.

Jennifer Hudson hasn’t made enough films to be included in determining what type of career she may have. She apparently has dropped 60 pounds to play Winnie Mandela in a bio flick so good for her. It’s just unfortunate actresses have to hire personal trainers and diet like mad in order to pursue their livelihood. There’s the way the world should be and the way the world is and it doesn’t look to be changing around in favor of the fat folks anytime soon.

Click here to read more.

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