Former New Hampshire Governor: “Obama hasn’t passed a budget in four years, he’s a wuss”…
On Friday August 8th, “Piers Morgan Tonight” welcomed a pair of former governors, who come from opposite sides of the aisle, but bring equal amounts of passion and insight.
Piers Morgan was joined by former Granite State chief executive John Sununu from New Hampshire, to share his thoughts on the upcoming election, using one word in particular that is aimed directly at his fellow guest, Ed Rendell:
“This election is going to come down to what people perceive the performance of this president is. And the governor’s book, provides a great, great reference,” says the Mitt Romney adviser, noting Rendell’s newest book title, “A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great.”
“Obama hasn’t passed a budget in four years, he’s a wuss,” Sununu says. “Obama has rejected the recommendation of his own Simpson-Bowles, on a budget package, he’s a wuss. He wants to lead from behind, he’s a wuss!” Read full story here…
Kardashians Eyewear: The new ad and campaign…
Making it through the Kardashians’ Sears collection is going to be America’s Everest. Not only have Kim, Khloe and Kourtney released clothing, housewares, lingerie, jeans but they recently debuted their newest collection of eyewear.
KolorBlind queen Khloe Kardashian announced on her blog last week Thursday that the Kollection is expanding to include eyeglasses, which the trio modeled in an ad she also posted. Read full story here..
Obama Campaign Ad: We are not removing work requirements for welfare recipients!
President Barack Obama’s campaign fired back against GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s welfare attack against the Obama administration in a new television ad released on Friday.
The ad, titled “Blatant,” takes aim at the Romney campaign for falsely accusing the president of “gutting” welfare reform. Earlier this week, the Romney campaign issued an ad stating that the Obama administration was implementing a welfare policy that would drop work requirements.
Immediately after its release, the Romney campaign ad’s accuracy was disputed by numerous media outlets, which the Obama campaign is now highlighting in its new spot. Read full story here…
“The New York Times calls it ‘blatantly false,’ says the narrator, referring to Romney’s ad. “The Washington Post says ‘the Obama administration is not removing the bill’s work requirements at all.'”
Debbie Rowe to judge: I support joint guardianship of MJ’s kids…
Debbie Rowe — the woman who gave birth to two of Michael Jackson’s children — has filed legal papers saying she SUPPORTS the new joint guardianship arrangement … but is warning TJ and Katherine that she WILL intervene if things don’t work out.
Rowe filed the documents in L.A. County Superior Court today … saying she has reviewed the co-guardianship application and signed off on the deal reached between TJ and Katherine to share parenting responsibilities for Paris, Blanket and Prince.
But in the docs, Debbie warns … “Should the arrangement sought by TJ Jackson and Katherine Jackson become untenable, unstable, unsafe, or in any way contrary to the best interests of the children, Ms. Rowe will seek court intervention.”Read full story here…
Italian special effects master Carlo Rambaldi dies at 86…
Rambaldi who won three Oscars for the special effecs of “King Kong” by John Guillermin, “Alien” by Ridley Scott and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” by Steven Spielberg, died in Lamezia Terme, Italy, Friday Aug. 10, 2012. He was 86. Rest in peace genius. Your work lives on…via Boston.com
Starbucks barista becomes new face of Fashion Fair’s new mineral line…
If there was ever a makeup brand that embraces the total brilliance and versatility of Black women’s beauty it is Fashion Fair. Founded by Eunice W. Johnson in 1973, at a time when there were virtually no beauty offerings available for Black women in America at department stores or local drug stores, Fashion Fair, nearly 40 years later, powers and powders on.
With the launch of their new mineral foundation True Finish, the transformative brand proves it’s all about reinvention. Meet Amanda Nassali Kiggundu.
A stunning woman of Ugandan ancestry—and with the kind of beauty that speaks for itself. Amanda, a Starbucks barista in Los Angeles, was serving up Caramel Macchiatos, when she was discovered by Johnson Publishing Company CEO Desiree Rogers. Read full story here…
Thousands gather to mourn six dead in shooting at temple…
One by one, six coffins were rolled into a high school gymnasium here Friday and were surrounded by Sikh men and women singing traditional Punjabi hymns. As they sang, thousands of people from around the world streamed into the gym to mourn the six worshipers who were shot and killed on Sunday at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin here.
The deaths have rocked the town and reverberated throughout the global Sikh community, leading neighbors to skip work and visitors from as far as India to converge at Oak Creek High School for a group memorial service and wake.
“These bullets have hit their hearts,” said Rajwant Singh, chairman of Sikh Council on Religion and Education, who traveled from Washington. “It has become a big family gathering. It is really a shaking moment hitting the core of the community.”
During the visitation, families of the victims stood next to the bodies of their loved ones. Wooden coffins, draped with white cloth, were lined up under the basketball nets. Behind each coffin was a portrait of the victim and flowers. Read full story here…
Son of murdered Sikh temple president asks: “Why haven’t Obama and Romney visited the victims?”
A mourner crying at a service in Oak Creek Friday for the victims of the Sikh Temple shooting. (Photo: Getty)
Last weekend, Michelle Obama made a surprise visit to a hospital in Aurora, Colorado to meet with victims of last month’s movie theater shooting there. Her husband, President Barack Obama, also met with those affected by the horrific shooting just two days after it occurred. However, neither the president or the First Lady has visited Oak Creek, Wisconsin where six people were killed at a Sikh Temple sixteen days after the incident in Aurora. Amardeep Kaleka, whose father was killed at Oak Creek, said he finds it “strange” his community hasn’t received more support from President Obama and Mitt Romney.
“Why wouldn’t they, at some point, make a stand. Make a stand for everybody out there who’s ever been robbed, or gunned down or has faced this hatred,” Mr. Kaleka said.
Mr. Kaleka’s father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. According to Mr. Kaleka, his father was shot eight times and lost all of his fingernails while wrestling with the gunman. Mr. Kaleka said he and other family members of the victims haven’t received any communication from President Obama beyond a single call to a “random” member of the congregation.
“We communicated with the White House very briefly, mostly the Department of Justice, and that’s about it. There was a phone call made with Barack on the first day, on Sunday, to just a random congregation member,” said Mr. Kaleka. “Somehow, some way he got somebody’s number and he called a congregation member. He’s never called the victim’s families, not even the board that my father led before he died.” Read full story here…
Mitt Romney chooses running mate…
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Saturday he has chosen Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate, a move that will bring the debate over how to reduce government spending and debt to the forefront of the race for the White House.
Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, announced that he has tapped the House of Representatives Budget Committee chairman at an event at the retired battleship USS Wisconsin – coincidentally named for Ryan’s home state.
“His leadership begins with character and values. … Paul Ryan works in Washington but his roots remain in Janesville, Wisconsin,” Romney said.
Romney said Ryan, 42, “has become an intellectual leader of the Republican Party,” and stressed that their campaign will focus on ways to create jobs, protect Medicare and Social Security, and repeal the health care law enacted under Democratic President Barack Obama.Read full story here…
5 things you need to know about Mitt Romney’s VP pick…
Oh No…..! Dolphins’ Chad Johnson arrested on domestic violence charge…
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Chad Johnson was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge Saturday night, Davie (Fla.) Police Cpt. Dale Engle told NFL.com and NFL Network.
Police said Johnson head-butted his newlywed wife, “Basketball Wives” star Evelyn Lozada, in the forehead during an argument that started while they were driving home from dinner around 8:30 p.m. ET. Lozada was treated at the scene for a “pretty good-sized” laceration, Engle said, and she later was taken to the hospital.
Johnson told police that he and his wife accidentally knocked heads, according to Engle, who said the “heated argument” started over a receipt for condoms found in the car. Lozada then walked to a neighbor’s house and waited for them to come home before calling the police.
Engle originally told NFL.com and NFL Network that Johnson had found the receipt, but he later clarified it indeed was Lozada who found it and then confronted her husband. Johnson was later released on Sunday on a $2,500 bail posted by his attorney. We are also told that Evelyn was released from the hospital Sunday morning after being treated and observed overnight and is staying with friends. The judge who granted Johnson’s bail told him to stay away from his wife Evelyn Lozada.
The most notable part of the report is that Lozada told the police she wanted to press charges. She signed an affidavit saying so. Miami Dolphins receiver Chad Johnson is out of jail following his Saturday arrest on a domestic violence charge.
The Dolphins are practicing Sunday, but it’s unclear if Johnson will be present. Johnson was released from jail around the time practice started. Read full story here…
Did the Miami Dolphins overreact by cutting Chad Johnson?
Dolphins Head Coach Joe Philbin discussed Johnson’s release Monday morning:
“It was not reactive nor was it based on one single incident,” said Philbin of the decision, though he was loathe to elaborate on an issue he wants to keep in house while moving on from it.
“It was more a body of evidence from June 11th forward (when Johnson signed with the team). … In my gut, I didn’t think the fit would be beneficial to either party.”
Dolphins Head Coach Joe Philbin clearly set expectations regarding the off-field behavior of his players by cutting his most accomplished (and perhaps best) wideout even though the 34-year-old Johnson may have seen his last Pro Bowl. Read full story here…
VH1 cancels Ev and Ocho reality show…
VH1 released a statement early on Monday stating:
“Due to the unfortunate events over the weekend and the seriousness of the allegations, VH1 is pulling the series ‘Ev and Ocho’ from its schedule and has no current plans of airing it.”
The show was a spinoff of “Basketball Wives” – which followed the couple’s relationship from dating to engagement. The new show was supposed to focus on “the journey of this charismatic and passionate couple as they prepare to walk down the aisle.
The Johnson family saddened by recent event…
A source close to NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson (who is pictured with his four children on the left) spoke to theGrio and said his family is “heartbroken” over his weekend arrest for domestic violence against wife of less than two months, reality star Evelyn Lozada, and about his separation from the Miami Dolphins.
The family was “so happy” when Johnson, who changed his last name to Ochocinco as a play on his jersey number, 85, signed with the Dolphins earlier this year after being released from the New England Patriots. Now, “he’s out of work.” The Dolphins terminated Johnson’s $975,000 a year contract following his arrest Saturday on misdemeanor battery charges.
“We all had high hopes. He was with the team of his choice, he was finally back home,” the friend said. Johnson grew up in Miami Beach, and was a star football player on the Miami Beach Senior High School football team. “He’s always wanted to be Miami Dolphin — it’s the highlight of his career. He’s 34 years old.”
“It’s heartbreaking for the entire family,” the family friend said, adding that Johnson’s grandmother, who recently was released from the hospital following a fall, is ‘heartbroken’ over the arrest and Johnson being fired by the Dolphins.
“The family was initially skeptical of Johnson’s relationship with Lozada, but that they fully accepted her into the family. Johnson seemed to be attracted to Lozada because she “challenged him, adding, Evelyn is drop dead gorgeous. TV does her no justice.”
Evelyn Lozada speak out on domestic abuse…
Evelyn Lozada who has had her own history with violence (which has been displayed on National Television) spoke to TMZ regarding the incident that occurred:
“I am deeply disappointed that Chad has failed to take responsibility for his actions and made false accusations against me. It is my sincere hope that he seeks the help he needs to overcome his troubles. Domestic violence is not okay and hopefully my taking a stand will help encourage other women to break their silence as well.”
I feel both Johnson and Lozada ought to seek counseling to help with their anger problems.
The incident was also discussed by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless. View the video clip of their discussion below:
Evelyn Lozada files for divorce!
Chad Johnson’s wife of 6 weeks has filed for divorce … TMZ has learned. Evelyn Lozada filed legal docs moments ago in Florida, claiming her marriage is “irretrievably broken.”
The trigger for the divorce was the domestic violence incident over the weekend, in which Chad Johnson was arrested after allegedly head-butting her during an argument.
According to the divorce docs, the couple had a prenup. Read full story here…
Chad Johnson issues public apology…
The NFL wide receiver released a statement via his website that reads as followed:
“I would like to apologize to everyone for the recent events that have occurred. I would like to wish Evelyn well and will never say anything bad about her because I truly love her to death. I will continue to be positive and train hard for another opportunity in the NFL. To all the fans and supporters I have disappointed, you have my sincerest apologies. I will stay positive and get through this tough period in my life.”
He later also tweeted:
Tamera Mowry-Housely‘s baby shower…
Tia Mowry-Hardict spared no expense when it came down to throwing her twin sister Tamera a baby shower. The shower included family and close friends and was held last weekend. KolorBlind queen Tamera Mowry-Housley and hubby were all smiles throughout the event. She tweeted:
“Thanks sissy for an amazing baby shower! So beautiful and so much fun!! Love you,” Tamera tweeted to her sister after the celebration. The Housley’s son is due in October”.
While she was preparing for her baby shower, she also tweeted a photograph of a flower arrangement she arranged herself and indicated on a new hobby she enjoys:
I arranged this flower arrangement myself for my baby shower!!! #newcalling
Randy Jackson talks to Essence Mag on Diabetes Awareness…
GRAMMY Award-winning music producer and American Idol judge Randy Jackson was 350 pounds and severely out of shape when he got some shocking news back in 2003: He had Type 2 diabetes. “I didn’t even know I had it until I wound up in the emergency room,” he says.
Nine years later Jackson has lowered his weight significantly and has adopted a healthier lifestyle. He recently partnered with Merck on the Taking Diabetes to Heart program to promote awareness about the disease.
Jackson spoke with ESSENCE.com about living with diabetes, eating healthier (even when visiting New Orleans) and why the African-American community is most affected. Read full interview here…
Virgin Australia’s new policy: children and men sit separately…
Virgin Australia has said it will review its controversial policy of not allowing men to sit next to unaccompanied children on flights. The airline announced the decision following criticism of the policy after a Sydney fireman was asked to change seats because he was sat between two unaccompanied boys.
Johnny McGirr (pictured on the right) was on a flight from Brisbane sitting next to the boys – aged about 8 and ten – when a flight attendant asked him to move. She told him it was policy not to allow men to sit by unaccompanied children.
According to the Brisbane Times, the attendant then asked a fellow female passenger:
‘Can you please sit in this seat because he is not allowed to sit next to minors.’ Read full story here…
Sikh temple holds 1st Sunday service since attack…
More than 100 people gathered in suburban Milwaukee for the first Sunday prayer service at a Sikh temple since a white supremacist shot and killed six people there before fatally shooting himself.
Women sang hymns as a group lowered a flag pole outside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. A group of about 50 men and boys unwrapped the orange cloth covering the pole, washed the pole with water and milk and then rewrapped it with a fresh cloth. The group then planned to go inside the temple for more prayers and hymns.
Army veteran Wade Michael Page used a 9 mm pistol Aug. 5 to kill five men, one woman and wound three other people, including a police officer, in an ambush on the temple that took place shortly before a service was to begin. He took his own life after exchanging gunfire with officers, including one he shot nine times. Read full story here…
Olympic Park becomes ghost town as enormous clean operation begins…
Barely 12 hours after the last firework popped over the Olympic Park last night, the centrepiece venue of the Games looked like a ghost town. There wasn’t a spectator in sight today at the Olympic Park stadium in Stratford, as athletes, visitors and VIPs began their exodus from the capital after the XXX Olympiad.
After 16 days of non-stop sporting action on the grounds in Stratford, proceedings were officially brought to a close at last night’s closing ceremony. What a difference a day makes: The Olympic Park was completely empty today after it opened its doors to thousands over the course of the Games
As the excellent weather finally gave way, the workers packed away the sets and props from the closing ceremony under overcast skies as the party seemed to be well and truly over. Read full story here…
The party’s over! 6,000 athletes and 16,000 spectators make their way home from London…
Athletes, VIPs and coaches have been descending upon London’s airports and train stations today as the post-Games exodus begins. But some athletes looked more bleary-eyed than most and appeared to be feeling the effects of their closing ceremony partying as they headed home.
Team GB rowers in particular looked a little worse for wear as they stepped off the bus at the Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames, Oxon., where many of the squad are based.
Gold medal winner Heather Stanning could be seen carrying her London 2012 branded duvet in a carrier bag, while other sleepy looking athletes clutched pillows as they disembarked. Read full story here…
Kim Kardashian covers New York Magazine’s Fashion Issue…
In what’s become a highly-debated choice, Kim Kardashian is the cover girl for New York Magazine’s Fall 2012 Fashion issue. Despite the coverline which reads “Does Kim Kardashian belong on the cover of a Fashion Magazine?” the glossy publication is banking on the reality star to be a hit for their style-based annual issue.
Kim looked alluring in ensembles such as a Valentino high-neck, long-sleeve dress with beaded embroidery for the Pari Dukovic shot spread, while dishing about everything from her definition of success to dating the ever-fashionable Kanye West. Click here to read the full article/interview…
How Instagram won gold at the 2012 Olympics…
Instagram has been the breakout social media star of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Users of the wildly popular mobile app have shared just over 100,000 photos from the Games over the past two weeks.
Athletes post behind-the-curtain shots that give their followers previously unimaginable levels of Olympic access. Fans share photos from venues and landmarks as individual keepsakes, and to share memories with friends who aren’t in London. Journalists are even getting into the act, uploading casual Instagram shots to go along with their more traditional news-gathering tasks.
More than 650,000 photos have been posted with the #olympics hashtag, while more than 263,000 have been uploaded with the #london2012 hashtag. Even more impressive, a whopping 27,000 photos have been shared with the hashtag, #michaelphelps. Read full story here…
Olympic Games generated 10 million tweets per day, Twitter says…
The London 2012 Olympic Games were a tremendous success on social media. Twitter says its social network saw an incredible 150 million Olympic-related tweets during the 16 days of the Games, or nearly 10 million per day.
The real-time microblogging platform almost exploded during certain events, such as Usain Bolt’s legendary 200 metre sprint. The gold-medal run triggered a peak surge of more than 80,000 tweets per minute. Bolt’s 100 metre dash generated a tidal wave of over 74,000 tweets per minute, while Andy Murray’s incredible underdog victory over world number one Roger Federer spurred 57,000 tweets per minute.
Social media celebrities were made out of Olympians at London 2012. The five most discussed athletes, all with well over a million tweets about each of them during the games, were Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Tom Daley, Ryan Lochte, and Gabby Douglas. Also in the top 10 were Andy Murray, Kobe Bryant, Yohan Blake, and LeBron James. Read full story here…
Spotted: Matthew McConaughey and pregnant wife
Matthew McConaughey is currently enjoying a vacation in Ibiza, Spain with his beautiful pregnant wife Camila Alves. TMZ caught photographs of the two. The sexy couple look belly happy to be expecting their third child.
Candy Crowley is 1st female moderator of Presidential Debate since ’92…
Candy Crowley,CNN’s chief political correspondent and anchor of “State of the Union With Candy Crowley,” will be the first female moderator of a U.S. presidential debate since 1992.
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the names of the moderators of this year’s three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate. In addition to Crowley, Jim Lehrer of PBS’ “NewsHour” and Bob Schieffer of CBS’ “Face the Nation” will moderate the presidential debates and Martha Raddatz, senior foreign affairs correspondent for ABC News, will moderate the vice presidential debate.
The last woman to moderate the presidential debates was Carole Simpson of ABC News, who moderated the three-way debate among George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and H. Ross Perot. Read full story here…
What NOT TO DO if your marriage is failing: KILL OFF YOUR FAMILY!
A builder slaughtered six people, including his wife and their two children, in a frenzied knife attack after discovering she was having an affair, a court heard yesterday. During a family barbecue, Damian Rzeszowski grabbed two 12-inch kitchen knives and attacked his father-in-law Marek Garstka, 56, while he was watching TV in his bedroom.
Rzeszowski, 31, then went into the lounge and repeatedly stabbed his two-year-old son, Kacper, who was playing with toy cars. Moments later he attacked his daughter Kinga and her friend Julia de la Haye, who were both five, as they drew paintings in the family home in St Helier, the capital of Jersey.
The crazed builder then repeatedly stabbed Julia’s mother Marta, 34, before chasing his wife Izabela, 30, and attacking her. At one point Izabela managed to escape out of the front door.
But Rzeszowski caught up with her and stabbed her in the street in front of the neighbors This is an extremely sad story. What a waste of such a beautiful family! Click here to read more…
Mrs Rzeszowksi
The Rzeszowksi children: 5 and 2 years old
Apple has licensed design patents to Microsoft…
Apple Inc licensed its prized design patents to Microsoft Corp but with an “anti-cloning agreement” to prevent copying of its iPhone and iPad, an Apple executive said on Monday.
The testimony from Apple patent licensing director Boris Teksler came in one of the most closely watched technology trials in years. Apple is accusing Samsung Electronics Co Ltd of copying its iPhone and iPad, while the Korean company says Apple infringes several of its wireless technology patents.
Apple had reached out to Samsung in 2010, hoping to strike an agreement with its rival on patent licensing before their dispute hit the courts. Teksler testified that Apple offered a clutch of patents for licensing but, crucially, viewed patents related to what he called the “unique user experience” as a highly protected category. Read full story here…
Taiwan’s first same-sex wedding held at Buddhist Monastery…
Global rights advocates are hoping that Taiwan’s first same-sex Buddhist wedding sets an international precedent by helping the country become the first in Asia to legalize gay marriage in the future.
As the AFP is reporting, Fish Huang and her partner You Ya-ting, both 30 years old, wore traditional white gowns but opted to exchange prayer beads rather than wedding bands as they tied the knot in a monastery in Taoyuan, in northern Taiwan.
Among those to hail the ceremony’s significance was Shih Chao-hui, the female Buddhist master who presided over the ritual. “We are witnessing history,” Shih is quoted by the AFP as saying. “The two women are willing to stand out and fight for their fate… to overcome social discrimination.” Read full story here…
Oops! Twitter account of Dell magnate’s teen daughter shut down…
Despite the fact that Michael Dell spends $2.7 million on security for his family, his daughter Alexa foiled guards’ best efforts by using social media to tell the world where she was.
Billionaire Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell spends $2.7 million a year on a security team for his family. But his efforts to keep his loved ones out of the public eye were thwarted recently by his teenage daughter’s Twitter habit.
Alexa Dell dished intimate details about her and her family’s life, including their exact whereabouts, on the microblogging site until her father’s security detail pulled the plug on her accounts last week, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
Prior to the shutdown, the 18-year-old had been an avid sharer on the 140-character platform. Her followers knew when she was in New York, where she was going shopping and when she was planning to travel. Do you think other high-profile families should take Twitter away from their children? Read full story here…
Alexa Dell and sister…
Mrs. Dell and sons…
Sudan’s Model Citizen: Alek Wek returns to help boost economic development…
Alek Wek fled to Britain with her family at 14 to escape the first civil war in the Sudan. By her early twenties, she was a supermodel and muse who had become the first African woman to grace the cover of ELLE. Wek’s prestigious modeling career has taken her around the world, but she hadn’t been to her homeland in years.
That changed when she visited the South Sudan for the nation’s one-year independence anniversary in July. Wek teamed up with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help the South Sudan develop economic and agricultural stability.
Now one of the world’s youngest nations, the South Sudan faces several challenges because of fighting at the border (stemming from the second civil war, which ended in 2005), climate issues which can make land unlivable, and lack of resources including food, water and education. Read full story here…
First Look: Nicole Richie for Impulse Collection Coming in September…
This fall welcomes a new collection of Nicole Ritchie, the biracial daughter of legendary Motown signer Lionel Ritchie, designed threads to hit Macy’s worldwide. The 30-year-oldFashion Star judge got a few fashion lessons while filming the NBC show and channeled the new knowledge into her Nicole Richie for Impulse line.
The Camilla Akrans-shot ad campaign gives consumers a glimpse of the boho-chic collection, which features exciting patterns and autumn-appropriate colors. According to Huffington Post, there will be lots of “leather with chiffon and lace, contrasting prints and lots of the understated, loose-fitting layers” for buyers to fall in love with!
This line will be added to Richie’s already-established fashion line House of Harlow 1960 and jewelry line House of Harlow. Read full story here…
Gabby Douglas and FLOTUS visit Jay Leno…
Gabby Douglas the the first African-American female to win the all-around title in Gymnastics recently landed in New York and is already making media rounds. Douglas and First Lady Michelle Obama made were guest of Jay Leno on his late night show.
Douglas wore a a gold mini-skirt paired with a blazer and was all smiles. She confessed her addiction to McDonald’s Egg McMuffin and was playfully scolded by FLOTUS who was on the show to further promote her Let’s Move initiative – a campaign that focuses on healthy eating and living. The 16 year old teenager revealed that ‘she never in a million years thought she’d be sitting down together with First Lade Michelle Obama or even be interviewed by Jay Leno’.
The interview went on to tease the first lady about the infamous kiss with the President at a recent Team USA Basketball Exhibition game.
Photo: FLOTUS and Douglas giving each other a high five
Check out a clip from the interview below:
Gabby Douglas’ mural honors U.S. gymnast in her hometown of Virginia Beach…
Gabby Douglas is really big in her hometown. Really big and painted on a wall. The gold-medal-winning gymnast has a giant mural painted in her honor in Virginia Beach, Va. And she loves it.
“WOW!!! This is amazing!! (hashtag)so honored,” Douglas tweeted Friday from the Olympics in London, where the 16-year-old gymnast won two gold medals at the Summer Games.
The mural shows Douglas holding a gold medal with an American flag backdrop. It says “Way to go Gabby.”
Media outlets report brothers Todd and Eric Lindbergh spent four days painting the 9-by-30 foot mural on the outside wall of a sports bar. Todd Lindbergh says he found out that Douglas was from Virginia Beach, and the idea behind the mural came the moment he saw her on television at a medals ceremony. Read full story here…
HollyRod: “My Brother Charlie” festival…
Holly Robinson Peete and veteran NFL quarterback Rodney Peete welcomed stars of sports, TV, movies and music to their annual “My Brother Charlie” Family Fun Festival at the Culver Studios in Culver City. The Aug 12 event, named for their daughter Ryan’s book about autism, benefits the HollyRod Foundation.
The HollyRod Foundation provides support to families living with autism and Parkinson’s disease.
Inside, trampolines, basketball hoops, a dunk tank, a giant slide, food booths, face painting stations, a climbing wall and more awaited the crowd, as did wildlife educator Matt Steinberg, who brought along a tiger-reticulated python and black-throated monitor lizard to entertain the tots.
At the face painting station, Jillian Barberie Reynolds of FOX 11′s “Good Day LA” and Grant Reynolds of “Knifepoint” watched as their son Rocco, 2/12, got done up as “Spiderman,” while daughter Ruby, 5, had some elegant designs put on her arm. Read full photo gallery here…
The Peetes’
Jillian Reynolds and son Rocco
Ruby Reynolds with parents
Constance Marie with daughter
Babyface with girlfriend and daughter
Heather DuBrow of “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” plastic surgeon Terry DuBrow and their daughter Colette 
Biden tells Va. supporters that Romney would put blacks ‘back in chains’…
Vice President Biden said today that Mitt Romney’s regulatory policies will put people “in chains,” a comment the Romney campaign denounced as “a new low.”
At a campaign rally in Danville, Va., Biden quoted Romney as saying that “in the first hundred days he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules — unchain Wall Street.
“They’re going to put y’all back in chains,” Biden added, presumably referring to Romney and new running mate Paul Ryan.
Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the Obama campaign “has reached a new low.”
Saul added: “The comments made by the Vice President of the United States are not acceptable in our political discourse and demonstrate yet again that the Obama campaign will say and do anything to win this election.”
Biden later clarified his remarks, saying “I’m told that when I made that comment earlier today in Danville, Va., the Romney campaign put out a tweet. You know, tweets these days? Put out a tweet, went on the airwaves saying, ‘Biden, he’s outrageous in saying that,’ I think I said instead of ‘unshackled,’ ‘unchained.’ Read full story here…
Watch the incident being discussed in the video clip below:
46 is a very SEXY number…Happy Birthday Halle!
Screen queen and devoted mommy Halle Berry celebrated 46 years of fabulousness on Tuesday, August 14, 2012. Berry’s career is already legendary and she’s still one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood. Here’s wishing you many more years full of good health, laughter, joy and happiness…
The KolorBlind queen has recently been sporting a wild mane of curls, but it seems Halle Berry is keen to roll back the years by reverting to her trademark crop.
Celebrating her 46th birthday at Little Door restaurant in Los Angeles, California, the Oscar-winning actress showcased her new hairstyle as she dined with fiancé Oliver Martinez, actress Salma Hayek and her husband Francois-Henri Pinault.
Going back to the style she favoured throughout the early years of her career, the star looked happy and relaxed as she toasted the special occasion. 
Shocking: White man rejects grocery bagging by ‘negro’…
A white Texas man claims that allowing a black man, or in his words a “negroidal,” to bag his groceries is a violation of his religious and civil rights. According to News Journal, Dewitt R. Thomas filed a handwritten nine-page federal lawsuit against Keith Langston, owner of Two Rivers Grocery and Market after being banned from the grocery store.
He stated in the lawsuit that he told an African-American grocery bagger:
“Wait a minute, don’t touch my groceries. I can’t have someone negroidal touch my food. It’s against my creed.” The cashier yelled at him and asked him to take his groceries and leave”.
Thomas claims that he follows a religion called Vedism which encompasses Hinduism.
“Vedism translates into knowledge. I am not this way because I am ignorant. Ignorance is the enemy … White people are to be protected under the civil rights law just as anyone else,” Thomas said. “It would be the same as if you asked that a congoid (a person from west/central Africa) not touch your food.”
Am I the only one upset and confused at this man’s statement? The world is coming to an end if things of this nature can still take place in 2012. Read full story here…
New York Magazine interview Vanessa Bryant…
New York Magazine recently interviewed Vanessa Bryant – wife of NBA Championship Basketball player Kobe Bryant for their upcoming issue. The Bryants’ have survived some tough times over the years. And, if you’re wondering why she’s stuck by him after all this time, look no further than the next issue of New York Magazine. According to one of her quotes that will run in the issue, she admits that she needs to be married to someone who can “win championships.”
“I certainly would not want to be married to somebody that can’t win championships,” she said. “If you’re sacrificing time away from my family and myself for the benefit of winning championships, then winning a championship should happen every single year.” Read full article here…
Mariah Carey shows off twins: Moroccan and Monroe…
OK, we’ll say it: Mariah Carey‘s twins are ridiculously cute. The KolorBlind queen, singer and new “American Idol” judge took to Twitter recently to share some new photos of her 15-month-olds, Moroccan and Monroe — or, as she and husband Nick Cannon affectionately call them, Roc and Roe – via HuffPost
“Me & ms. Monroe on a lazy day,” Carey tweeted Monday, along with a photo of herself and Monroe playing in a pool.
She also shared a snapshot of herself and her baby boy, Moroccan, getting some shut-eye on Saturday, writing:
“Me & Roc Starr taking a lil nap.”
Chelsea Clinton does not rule out ‘running for office’…
Could another Clinton presidency be on the horizon? We’ll just have to wait and see — Chelsea Clinton, for one, is not ruling out a run someday for elected office.
In a wide-ranging article in Vogue magazine, the former first daughter and close confidants around her were interviewed about Ms. Clinton’s personal evolution and how she is embracing the political legacy handed down from her parents, former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. So will she or won’t she run for office?
“Before my mom’s campaign, I would have said no,” Ms. Clinton said, adding that she has faced questions about her political ambitions since she was 4 and her father was governor of Arkansas. Read full story here…
Watch out…it’s Gallery Girls!
On Monday, August 14, Bravo TV introduced a new docu-series called Gallery Girls. The reality series introduced viewers to seven young women who dream of living a chic and fashionable existence in New York City who tackle the cutthroat environment of the art world while vying for their dream jobs.
From gallery openings and art shows to the hottest events in the city, the women share a passion for art — but are divided between their Manhattan and Brooklyn lifestyles with vastly different views and tastes towards fashion, art, and men. Attempting to juggle a chic and fabulous standard of living, the ladies tackle financial struggles, family issues, and the pressures of jump starting their lives in the city that never sleeps.
This show ought to be very interesting and viewers a break from the mundane shows that have been forced on them.
Check out the video sneak peak of Gallery Girls below:
The show airs every Monday at 10pm EST
Pink and Janelle Monáe are the new faces of Covergirl!
Pink: with her first new album in four years on the horizon, Pink is set to make a huge comeback this year, especially now that she has landed her first-ever beauty contract! The new COVERGIRL and singer gave birth to daughter Willow 14 months ago.
The “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” singer is one of the latest stars to join CoverGirl’s roster of A-list celebrity spokeswoman, which includes Queen Latifah, Drew Barrymore, Ellen DeGeneres, Taylor Swift and Sofia Vergara.
“With the signing of Pink, COVERGIRL is celebrating ‘Beauty with an Edge’ and who better to deliver that message than someone who embodies art and attitude,” the makeup brand said in a release. “Pink and COVERGIRL are looking to inspire women to celebrate their individuality and never settle for a single beauty standard.” Read more….
Janelle Monáe: every now and then, the singer Janelle Monáe suffers from a career-induced beauty dilemma:
“I’m really aggressive with my mic,” says the Grammy-nominated vocalist, who is known for her supercharged onstage performances, with a laugh.
“Sometimes [it] can swipe off my lipstick.”
Starting today, it is unlikely that she’ll have any trouble scoring a touch-up: Monáe has just been named the newest face of CoverGirl—a coveted beauty post that holds personal significance for the 26-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, native.
“Growing up and trying to find myself as a woman and experimenting with makeup, I’d go buy magazines,” she says. “I’d see Tyra Banks [in the CoverGirl ads] and I’d think, Wow, she’s beautiful. It never looked like she had on too much makeup. There was just something clean and classic about her face.”
Those words—clean, classic—seem to have stuck…Read full story here…
View more photos from Janelle Monáe’s photoshoot with Covergirl and also watch her backstage video clip below:
The singer also remixed Covergirl’s ‘Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, Covergirl slogan. Take a listen here…
Meet Hungary’s biggest baby weighing 13lb 14oz…
This bouncing baby girl is one heavyweight Hungarian newborn – after arriving into the world weighing a massive 13lbs 14oz. The youngster, Zselyke Erdos, made her big entrance last week, where she stunned medics who believe she could be Hungary’s biggest newborn ever.
Her mother, Tunde Erdos, who gave birth via Caesarean section on August 8, said it was ‘unknown why she was born so big’. Doctors said huge baby Zselyke is roughly twice the size of the average newborn baby in Hungary. Read full story here…
Nike ‘Gold Digging’ T-shirt sparks controversy…
It’s intended to draw the attention of those who dream of one day achieving top Olympic honors. However, a new women’s T-shirt by Nike that is emblazoned with the words Gold Digging, has offended rather than inspired.
An official description for the T-shirt reads, ‘We aren’t saying they’re gold diggers – we’re just saying they’re out for the gold! What’s wrong with that?’, suggesting that even the sporting giant itself is aware of the product’s potential to be deemed sexist.
Many people have taken to Twitter to express their disapproval over the shirt’s slogan, which shimmers metallic gold and is placed above the brand’s trademark tick logo.
One user posted on the social networking site: ‘Lady Olympians are “gold diggers,” @Nike? Disgusting. Seriously, who thought that pun was a good idea?‘. Read full story here…
Meet Diplo: producer, Dj and hitmaker…
DIPLO SITS IN a studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, tinkering a beat he’s worked on for months. He takes it from 134 beats per minute down to 128. It still doesn’t sound right. “My ears are so fucked to this. Let’s see what it sounds like at 130,” he says to a young producer from Europe assisting him today. The Dutch rapper who introduced them loafs on a couch nearby. “Polska, whatever his name is,” Diplo later tells me, “is like the A$AP Rocky of Holland.”
The track initially resembled a “house record” but turned into a “trap record” after Diplo slowed it down and added some bass. Complicating matters is that the song features Pharrell. “I’m trying to negotiate what Pharrell wants for the record,” he says. “Pharrell loved the demo, but the demo is so monotone for me. It’s just a mixtape cut [now,] but it can be bigger than that because the hook is so good.”
Diplo wears a maroon T-shirt, mustard-colored skinny jeans and sleek gray high-top Puma sneakers, looking every bit like the cool-kid DJ he’s been for nearly a decade. But since producing singles for Usher, Chris Brown, Wale, and Beyoncé, he’s evolved into a new role—rap and R&B’s latest hitmaker for hire. Read full interview here…
Spotted: Heidi Klum and kids…
Heidi Klum and children Leni, Lou, Johan, and Henry were seen at a park in New York on August 12th. Missing from the gang is Heidi’s other daughter. The trio enjoyed some frozen yogurt treats afterwards.
Sponsorship firms are more interested in number of followers than gold medals…
Athletes wishing to cash in on their Olympics success could find their popularity on Twitter is more important than a gold medal around their necks.
Sports and sponsorship agencies agree that the size of an athlete’s following on Twitter, Facebook and other social media has become key to securing lucrative and lasting endorsement deals now the Games are over.
M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment identified Tom Daley as the Team GB Olympian with the biggest earning potential – even though he missed out on a gold, finishing with a bronze in the 10m platform dive.
The sports agency evaluated traffic across digital media and found that of the top ten Team GB athletes in terms of social media mentions, 57 per cent of those mentions related to the 18-year-old diver. Read full story here…
Olympic champion Jessica Ennis: 794,697 Facebook fans.
Spotted: Jillian Michaels and family…
Personal trainer and tv personality Jillian Michaels and her partner Heidi Rhoades took their daughter Lukensia Michaels to the pool at their hotel in Miami, Florida on August 11, 2012
Surviving sexual identity discrimination…
In response to an increasing number of people coming out at work, and an increasing number of lawsuits and complaints filed for anti-gay harassment on the job, many firms are updating their non-discrimination policies to include
protection for LGBT employees.
Unfortunately, a recent survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination, shows that 42 percent of gay individuals say they were targets of employment discrimination at some point in their lives.
While the costly lawsuits and complaints are increasing, the high rate of discrimination makes us wonder in what ways the workplace continues to be so hostile to gays. Read full story here…
Vlisco continues to inspire with wax…
The Funky Grooves collection heralds the comeback of the Black Sepic designs; a technique representing Vlisco’s heritage and that refers to the Indonesian batik technique, denoting Vlisco’s origin. In the Black Sepic designs, the cracking – craquelé – effect runs all the way down to the selvedge of the fabric.
The new designs of the Funky Grooves collection breathe new life into the traditional technique, creating a festive bubble effect throughout the fabric. Celebrate life with Vlisco, the one and only original.
Watch video clip below:
More rich, high-powered women are turning to matchmakers to find love…
Where can a powerful woman find a prospective mate? Work and the gym are often out—and, increasingly, top-tier matchmakers are in. Paula Froelich reports on the new breed of high-end love gurus and their wealthy clients.
A couple of years ago, during a rooftop dinner in Chelsea celebrating Eric Ripert’s PBS show, Avec Eric, Martha Stewart was overheard complaining to her dinner companions, “I can’t get a date. You know anyone you can set me up with?”
It’s a familiar complaint uttered by single women all over New York. There are blogs, endless newspaper columns, and television shows devoted to the hapless single lady looking for love. Read full story here…
Kim Kardashian makes cameo appearance in ‘Way Too Cold’ video…
KIM KARDASHIAN, can now add video model to her resume. The reality star made a cameo appearance alongside her boyfriend Kanye West in his newest video “I Wish You Would/ Way Too Cold”.
The video was directed by the infamous HYPE WILLIAMS and also features guest appearances from rappers Rick Ross, DJ Khaled and Big Sean.
Check out the video below:
Immigration service experts flood of applications from youths…
Starting Wednesday, under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, illegal immigrants who came as children can seek to stay legally under the Obama initiative.
Immigration authorities are bracing for a deluge of applications starting Wednesday when more than 1.2 million young illegal immigrants who were brought to America as children can seek to legally stay and work in the country under President Obama’s most ambitious immigration initiative.
Even before the first request is filed, critics and advocates alike are warning of potential budget shortfalls and a logjam of paperwork that could mar the program, delay processing and facilitate fraud. Read full story here…
Who can file Form I-821D? A few basics as deferred action application process starts
1. Childhood Arrivals Who Have Never Been in Removal Proceedings
If you have never been in removal proceedings, but were in unlawful status as of June 15, 2012, submit this form to request that USCIS consider deferring action in your case. For deferred action for childhood arrivals, unlawful status means your lawful immigration status expired as of June 15, 2012, or you entered the United States without inspection. You must be 15 years of age or older at the time of filing and meet the guidelines described in the Secretary’s memorandum to be considered for deferred action.
2. Childhood Arrivals Whose Removal Proceedings Were Terminated
If you were in removal proceedings which have been terminated by the immigration judge prior to this request, you may use this form to request that USCIS consider deferring action in your case. You must be 15 years of age or older at the time of filing and meet the guidelines described in the Secretary’s memorandum to be considered for deferred action.
3. Childhood Arrivals In Removal Proceedings, With a Final Removal Order, or With Voluntary Departure
If you are currently in removal proceedings, have a final removal order, or have a voluntary departure order, you may use this form to request that USCIS consider deferring action in your case, even if you are under the age of 15 at the time of filing. You must also meet the requirements described in the Secretary’s memorandum, including the requirement that you were not age 31 or older on June 15, 2012, to be considered for deferred action. Read more here…
Legal proceedings begin in the Kim Kardashian divorce…
Lawyers for Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian will square off in court today. Lawyers for both sides must tell the judge what they have done to either settle the case or prepare for trial. As TMZ has previously reported … Kris has refused to settle, even though he signed what we’re told is an iron-clad prenup that give him zilch in the 72-day marriage.
What makes things puzzling … even though Kris won’t settle, he hasn’t prepared for trial. In fact, we know Kris’ lawyers have not even taken Kim’s deposition … this, despite the fact the judge said all depos must be in the can by today’s hearing. Read full story here…
Kris Humphries’ Lawyers Served Kanye West By Putting A Subpoena In A Nordstrom Box
Humphries’ legal team displayed their clever side when they served West his subpoena. The hid said subpoena in a Nordstrom box and had it delivered to the rapper’s home. Humphries’ legal team proved themselves to be nothing short of Nobel-Prize-level geniuses in serving the subpoena. Kardashian’s lawyer Laura Wasser is said to bring up the incident during the legal proceedings.
Kardashian is already $250,000 deep into the proceedings, but her team is still uncertain what Humphries hopes to get out of the whole mess. According to his lawyer Marshall Waller, Humphries intends to prove that the entire marriage was simply a publicity stunt for her reality TV empire and demands to be granted an annulment. Read full story here…
Julia Childs is 100 years young…
Julia Child would have been 100 years old today, but there’s no doubt that this culinary and cultural legend has achieved immortality by the way the nation is celebrating her centennial birthday.
To start with, #JuliaChild is trending on Twitter, and “Julia Child” is the single most searched-for term on Google on Wednesday morning.
Then, there’s the Google Doodle — a technological nod to Child’s lasting cultural significance. The Google Doodle shows her in her kitchen surrounded by many of the foods she taught Americans to cook without fear: whole chickens, fish, and chocolate layer cake, items that cleverly form the “Google” in the doodle. Read full story here…
Check out a remixed Julia Childs cooking segment below:
Donna Summer not given credit as songwriter…
Donna Summer, whose music dominated the 1970s disco era, died of cancer on Thursday at age 63, leaving a legacy of hit singles like “Bad Girls”, “Love to Love You Baby,” “Last Dance” and “Hot Stuff.”
Summer, who won five Grammys and sold more than 130 million records worldwide, died in Florida earlier this year. She began her career in Germany where she performed in productions of the shows “Hair” and “Porgy and Bess” and worked as a studio session singer. Donna Summer has been given credit as a powerful vocalist, but has not been given much credit as a songwriter. She has co-written eight of her top 10 hit songs, co-writing a total of 12 Billboard Hot 100 Hit Singles.
The following is a list of some of her hit songs that she co-wrote:
- With Eddie Hokenson, Bruce Sudano, Joe “Bean” Esposito:
- “Bad Girls”, which hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1979 and became a classic dance hit.
- With Giorgio Moroder & Pete Bellotte:
- “Love To Love You”, which hit #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1975
- With Michael Omartian:
- “She Works Hard for the Money”, which hit #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1980
- With Giorgio Moroder:
- “The Wanderer”, which hit #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1980. Click here to read more…
Anderson Cooper interviews Beyoncé
Beyoncé knows the importance of using her platform for the improvement of humanity. That’s evidenced in her partnership with the United Nations in their quest to reach 1 Billion people for World Humanitarian Day on August 19th.
Before filming the video for her song “I Was Here” (a song she’s dedicating to World Humanitarian Day, and donating all proceeds from it’s sale to the campaign) she sat down with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday to explain what the song means, and why she’s chosen to use her influence to make a positive impact on the world.
This interview airs just a few short days after legendary actor and humanitarian Harry Belafonte accused Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z for their lack of social responsibility.
Find out how you can leave your mark on World Humanitarian Day and catch part two of this interview when Anderson’s daytime talk show premieres next week.
Watch a clip from the interview below:
Robin Emmons: “Why I quit my bank job to feed North Carolina’s hungry”…
Robin Emmons was a weekend gardener when she began bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to her mentally ill, formerly homeless brother.
“I thought of all the people who can’t afford good food,” she says. “I wanted to do something.”
So one day in March, 2008, she quit her job at the bank where she’d worked for five years. She announced the news to her stunned husband that night.
“My life was full of things,” says Emmons, 44. “But it was empty. I just felt I needed to do more.”
Soon after, she founded Sow Much Good. Rounding up friends and people who heard about what she was doing, she built up a team of 120 volunteer farmers who worked two parcels of land, while Emmons continued to raise produce in her garden. Read full story here…
Bill Clinton meets Bill Clinton…
In 1998, then U.S. president Bill Clinton met a baby who was named after him in a village in Uganda. Now, fourteen years later, the former president was reunited with his “Ugandan son.”
According to the Clinton Foundation’s website, the baby was named Bill Clinton because he was born in the same month the American head of state first arrived in the African nation. The Ugandan newspaper the Daily Monitor reports that the two Bill Clintons met in Entebbe, Uganda last Friday.
The teen, whose full name is Master Bill Clinton Kaligani, was airlifted to Entebbe and sat down with Clinton for lunch. According to AllAfrica.com, Kaligani had to miss an exam to make the meeting but the boy was thrilled to meet the man who has made such an impact on his life. Read full story here…
Boss Season 2 returns…
Boss is an American political drama television series created by Farhad Safinia. The series stars Kelsey Grammer as Tom Kane, the mayor of Chicago, who has recently been diagnosed with a degenerative neurological disorder.
The series was broadcast in the United States on the premium television service Starz, and is produced by Category 5 Entertainment, Grammnet Productions (Kelsey Grammer’s company) and Lionsgate Television. It premiered on October 21, 2011. On September 27, 2011, Starz announced that Boss had been renewed for a second season of ten episodes, which premiered on Friday August 17, 2012 at 9pm EST.
Check out the Season 2 trailer below in case you missed it:
More teens having oral sex earlier than vaginal intercourse…
Two-thirds of teens and young adults have had oral sex — about as many as have had vaginal intercourse, suggests research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The data speak to changing social mores and the need to educate teens about the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease from oral sex, experts say.
The study is part of the government’s effort to monitor those at risk for sexually transmitted diseases even though they aren’t yet at risk for pregnancy if they’re only having oral sex, says Casey Copen, a demographer with the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The research shows that one in four teens is now having oral sex before vaginal sex — marking the “hierarchical reordering of oral sex in American culture,” says Justin Garcia, an evolutionary biologist with the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. Read full story here…
Time to drop racial categories in census…
The U.S. Census Bureau announced that it wants to make a number of changes in how it counts membership in a race. The change is based on an experiment the bureau conducted during the last census in which nearly 500,000 households were given forms with the race and ethnicity questions worded differently from the traditional categories.
The results showed that many people who filled out the traditional form did not feel they fit within the five government-defined categories of race: white, black, Asian, Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native (image courtesy of depravedmindset.com).
If Congress approves, the bureau says it plans to stop using the word “Negro” as part of a question asking if a person was “black, African-American or Negro.” There are a number of other changes planned for counting Hispanics and Arab-Americans.
These changes may seem like improvements. They are not. The bureau and Congress ought to be considering a more radical overhaul of the census — dropping questions about race entirely. There are a lot of reasons why.
First, the concept of “race” makes no biological sense. None. The classifications Americans use to divide people into groups and categories have nothing to do with genetics or biology. Read full story here…
U.S. birth rate not high enough to keep population stable…
Thanks to the weak economy, Americans are having fewer babies than the British and the French — not enough to maintain the size of the U.S. population, according to the Economist.
The U.S. birth rate now is 1.9 births per woman over her lifetime, when 2 births per woman is necessary to keep the population stable. The birth rate has been plunging since the recession started in 2007 and fell below population-sustaining levels in 2010. It’s projected to fall to a 25-year low this year and not recover to pre-recession levels anytime soon, according to the consulting firm Demographic Intelligence. Read full story here…
Happy 10th Birthday Aoki Lee Simmons…
Aoki Lee Simmons just turned 10 on Thursday. She is the beautiful second daughter of moguls Russell Simmons and Kimora Lee Simmons. As you can see beauty is not far fetched for this young lady. Wishing you many more years full of wisdom and happiness. Check out a few photographs of the future model below:
Aoki Lee posing with her cake and presents
Princess Aoki Lee
Ming and Aoki Lee with their dad Russell Simmons
Aoki with mum Kimora, step-dad Djimon Hounsou, sister Ming and brother Kenzo Lee
Must try: MAC’s new art and glamour collection…
MAC’s new Art and Glamour collection is delightful. The beauty staple has partnered with three illustrators to create a series of custom-designed pouches. A graphic red, yellow, white, and black swirl via London artist Nikki Farquharson, internationally renowned fashion illustrator François Berthoud’s used a colorful assortment of pop art florals. But our favorite is Julie Verhoeven’s abstract faces – via B.Scott
Expendables 2 Premiere…
Wednesday night in California, Olympic champions fresh off the plane from London joined action movie stars and a slew of C- and D-list celebs for the Los Angeles premiere of The Expendables 2.
Though athletes Danielle Scott-Arruda, Jessica Steffens, and Brenda Villa all sported their gold medals on the red carpet much as some stars might wear Van Cleef & Arpels or Harry Winston, grill-loving swimmer Ryan Lochte eschewed the two golds he won at this year’s Games in favor of a simple chain.
He also looked substantially dressier than in his previous red carpet appearance, opting for a black sweater, shiny nylon jacket and matching pants. Wonder if the all-black ensemble is his way of setting the stage for his inevitable entrée to the fashion industry? In any case, lookin’ good, Lochte. Read more here…
Check out the photographs from the premiere below:
Actor/writer Sylvester Stallone and actor/former CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte with Sylvester Stallone
Actor/Writer/Director Sylvester Stallone, wife Jennifer Flavin and family
Actors Terry Crews and Tom Arnold attend the after party 
Olympic Volleyball player Danielle Scott-Arruda
Olympian Brenda Villa
(L-R) Conor Dwyer, Sylvester Stallone and Ryan Lochte
Click here to view full photo gallery…
Happy 54th Birthday Madonna
The queen of pop Madonna Louise Ciccone was born on August 16, 1958. Madonna is a singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and entrepreneur. She has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and is recognized as the world’s top-selling female recording artist of all time by Guinness World Records.
Considered to be one of the “25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century” by Time for being an influential figure in contemporary music, she is known for continuously reinventing both her music and image, and for retaining a standard of autonomy within the recording industry.
Here’s wishing many more years in good health, sound mind, happiness and joy.
View the clip below to see presents from Madonna fans worldwide:
Madonna during her ‘like a virgin’ days…
Madonna and children…
House Tour: Inside Fashion Designer Monica Botkier’s Brooklyn, NY Townhouse…
When fashion designer Monica Botkier bought her Brooklyn townhouse in 2006, she had a clear vision of what she wanted it to be: A modern home that still had the integrity of its historic roots. After three years of renovations, her utopia is finally complete… and it’s a house tour we had to share.
Botkier saw to it that the classic structures of the 1890 home were refurbished. Without compromising their original features, she freshened up the front parlor with its etched glass doors. She also updated the staircases by removing them from the home to be stripped of a hundred years worth of paint and turned the steam heat mantle into a working fireplace by building a chimney in the wall behind it. Read full story here and also view photo gallery…
Yoko Ono celebrates Liverpool’s past, present and future in artwork for the ECHO…
LIVERPOOL’S status as a “world in one city” inspired the artwork created specially for today’s ECHO front page by Yoko Ono.
The image, signed “love Yoko” by John Lennon’s 79- year-old widow, features a shaft of light stretching up from the ground into the sky and the message “Imagine Peace” translated in 24 different languages.
It marks the 50th anniversary this weekend of The Beatles playing their first shows as their final line-up – John, Paul, George and Ringo – as well as celebrating the city today.
Yoko said: “The cover represents Liverpool now and in the future.
“The reason I was inspired to do Imagine Peace in different languages was when I came to the city last time I noticed so many people from different countries and it looked like they were feeling so comfortable in Liverpool. I thought that was beautiful.
The world getting very global and it is great that Liverpool is very much like that – not everywhere is. It also reminded me of a long time ago when Liverpool was a big port and there were so many people from different countries who emigrated there.” Read full story here…
Crystal Wall, wife of rapper Paul Wall talks Zumba fitness…
Crystal Wall, wife of Houston rapper Paul Wall, despises the gym. Maintaining her weight has been a struggle for years. She started shaking her body in Zumba classes and things began to change.
“I really do,” she said just thinking about it. “I just hate the idea of running on the treadmill. After I had children, I gained 100 pounds with my first child and couldn’t shake that weight off, she said of her battle.
“I started Zumba last October” She said, “I would go twice a week, and I found myself being addicted to it. It’s like going to a party every day for an hour.”
Now she teaches her own Zumba classes that have dozens of women and a few men bringing out their inner Beyonce. Read full story here…
Check out a clip of Crystal discussing health:
Stars sizzle at Sparkle movie premiere…
Sparkle is an upcoming American musical film directed by Salim Akil and produced by Stage 6 Films and released by TriStar Pictures. Inspired by The Supremes, Sparkle is a remake of the 1976 film of the same name, which centered on three singing teenage sisters from Harlem who formed a girl group in the late 1950s. The remake takes place in Detroit, Michigan in the 1960s during the Motown era.
The film stars Jordin Sparks, Derek Luke, Whitney Houston (RIP), Mike Epps, Cee Lo Green, Carmen Ejogo, Tika Sumpter, Tamela Mann and Omari Hardwick. Sparkle features songs from the original film written by soul musician Curtis Mayfield as well as new compositions by R&B artist R. Kelly.
This film will be the debut of R&B/pop singer and American Idol winner Jordin Sparks as an actress. Both Jordin Sparks and Carmen Ejogo are of African/American and Caucasian descent. The KolorBlind family is taking over the world one star at a time.
Sparkle also marks Whitney Houston’s fifth and final feature film role; she died on February 11, 2012, three months after filming ended. The film will be dedicated to her memory.
At the Thursday premiere of the movie, “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks, Cicely Tyson, Cee Lo Green, Mike Epps and Niecy Nash turned out for the Hollywood premiere, singing the pop legend’s praises.
“It’s bittersweet. I’m here to celebrate, but I have my Kleenex,” said gospel legend BeBe Winans, a close family friend who sang at Houston’s funeral. “I can hear her words in my head, that she’s proud, that she accomplished something people didn’t think she could accomplish.” Read full story here…
All images by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Jordin Sparks
Jordin Sparks and Carmen Ejogo
Bishop T.D. Jakes and wife Serita Jakes – producers of Sparkle
Writer Rebecca Walker and Writer/Actor/Producer Howard Rosenman
The Leading ladies of Sparkle: L to R: Tika Sumpter, Jordin Sparks and Carmen Ejogo. Whitney Houston (RIP) would have been a part of the festivities were she still alive.
Woman could be fined $600 for giving children free lunches…
A woman trying to feed the kids in her neighborhood during the summer may be fined for her good deed. Angela Prattis of Chester Township, outside Philadelphia, has spent the past few months handing out free lunches to the children in her community while they’re home from school for the summer break.
The food, supplied by the archdiocese of Philadelphia, helps low-income residents of the township, which has a per capita income of $19,000 a year.
The city council was alerted to Prattis’s free lunches and ruled that if she continues to give away food next summer, she will need a variance or be fined $600 a day.
The council says she needs a variance because she’s giving away meals in a residential area, which is a zoning violation. However, if Prattis gets a variance to distribute the food, the administrative fees would cost up to $1,000. The Chester Township City Council has agreed to allow Prattis to continue distributing food for the duration of the summer, but next summer is a whole new battle. Currently, Prattis files paperwork weekly and is visited by a state worker biweekly to ensure she is doing what she says she’s doing. Read full story here…
Not voting? The Koch Brothers thank you…
I don’t know what’s worse: Is it that a party would deliberately seek to deny American citizens the right to vote knowing full well the extraordinary sacrifices that went into securing those rights? Or is it that there are so many Americans who – with that same knowledge of sacrifice and for whatever unsatisfactory reason — decide to give in to apathy and simply choose not to vote?
I do know this: our history demands we do better.
A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll found that an estimated 90 million people won’t vote this fall. That’s more than a quarter of the population of the United States. Read full story here…
A stunning portrait of Albinos…
Brazilian Photographer Gustavo Lacerda’s series “Albinos” blends biology, aesthetics and folklore in the striking collection of light-saturated photos.
Albinism (from Latin albus, “white”; see extended etymology, also called achromia, achromasia, or achromatosis) is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of tyrosinase, a copper-containing enzyme involved in the production of melanin. Albinism results from inheritance of recessive gene alleles and is known to affect all vertebrates, including humans.
Albinism is a hereditary condition resulting in the absence of pigment in hair, skin and eyes, which can lead to serious vision problems — even blindness. In the United States, passersby might pause to stare, but outside the country the fate of albinos can be even crueler.
In East Africa, some people mistakenly believe that body parts from people with albinism have magic powers, which lead to the murder and mutilation of thousands in 2009. Read full story here and also view additional photos…
WFP commenmorates World Humanitarian Day…
Every day, humanitarian workers around the world assist millions of people, regardless of who they are and where they are located. Many of us and our co-workers work in the toughest places – remote, inaccessible, stricken by disaster or conflict – taking risks, even at their own personal peril, to serve those less fortunate.
At the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), humanitarians come in many forms: food technologists who champion new nutrient-packed foods to combat the debilitating effects of malnutrition; truck drivers who navigate mountain passes ensuring that life-saving food reaches those in need; or programme officers who find the best methods to deliver food assistance to communities recovering from natural disasters. Read full story here…
Listen to the WHD theme song below ‘I was here’ by Beyonce:
In-flight voter registration in effect on Virgin America…
In the olden days, registering to vote could be a bore. It typically involved the lackluster tasks of waiting at the DMV with a voter registration form, or enduring the line at the post office to send it off by mail. But, thanks to Virgin America, those days are behind us.
In conjunction with Tuesday’s launch of a new flight from San Francisco to Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Airport, Virgin America has also introduced in-flight voter registration that will be available to passengers on all of the airline’s flights.
Virgin America teamed with Rock The Vote to bring this service to the skies. Guests can use their smartphones to scan a QR code from the seat-back entertainment system to be taken to a registration app. They can sign up immediately by paying for in-flight Wi-Fi, or wait to access the app after landing and save a couple bucks, reports the Los Angeles Times. Read full story here…
The KolorBlind family is taking over: BET’s Real Husbands
Being a Hollywood husband just got even more interesting. The upcoming BET mock-reality series ‘The Real Husbands of Hollywood’ is adding Robin Thicke, J.B. Smoove, Boris Kodjoe, Duane Martin and Faizon Love to the already stellar cast.
The show, which started off as a series of skits during the 2011 and 2012 BET Awards (the latter actually featured Faizon Love), will focus primarily on Kevin Hart with Nelly and Nick Cannon co-starring. Premiering in 2013, the show has already received a 10-episode order and is being executive produced by Ralph Farquhar – via BET.
Check photos of our KolorBlind men who will feature in the upcoming series below:
Robin Thicke – husband to biracial actress Paula Patton (of African-American and Caucasian descent)
Boris Kodjoe – biracial husband (of African and European Caucasian descent) to actress Nicole Ari Parker 
Nick Cannon – husband to biracial platinum singer Mariah Carey (of African-American and Caucasian Venezuelan descent)
Interracial affairs causes fires…
For a woman who owns little more than the clothes she stands up in, Michelle Dampha seems remarkably sanguine. Michelle’s possessions — her clothes, her collection of costly designer handbags, her jewellery and even treasured photos of her children — have all been destroyed in a fire. But not just any old fire.
The blaze was started by her ex-husband Darrell Plews, who made a vast bonfire of her belongings after she left him for another man. Michelle, 34, may have lost almost everything material, but what she has gained, she believes, is infinitely more valuable.
For the mother-of-six from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, claims to have found true love in the form of impoverished Gambian gardener Lamin Dampha, 25, whom she met just seven months ago while on holiday with her former husband in Africa.
So convinced is Michelle that her love for Dampha is genuinely reciprocated, that she has married him in Gambia. Quite when they tied the knot remains an issue of contention. Plews believes Michelle was not yet divorced from him when she made her vows to Lamin. Michelle insists otherwise. Read full story here…
New love: Michelle Plews on her wedding day to Gambian gardener Lamin Dampha last month
Fraud Alert: Asda and Tesco sell tap water in bottles…
Supermarkets are selling bottled tap water to millions of unsuspecting customers. Bottles of Tesco ‘Everyday Value Still Water’ and Asda ‘Smartprice Still Water’ are sitting on shelves alongside big brands of mineral water such as Evian and Perrier.
However, there is no explanation on the label of these supermarket brands that the contents are simply tap water. On the face of it, the supermarket water, which costs 17p for a two-liter bottle, offers remarkable value compared with the big brands. In reality it is no more than a filtered version of the mains water that comes out of the tap at a cost of just a third of a penny a liter.
This means the supermarkets and their suppliers are enjoying a mark-up of around 2,500 per cent for filtering the water – something the mains suppliers say is unnecessary. They then put it into plastic bottles and ship it to thousands of stores across the country. Read full story here…
Tracee Ellis Ross leaves BET show…
Tracee Eliis Ross – the biracial daughter of Diana Ross is leaving the BET sitcome “Reed Between The Lines” . Ross is one of the executive producers of the show which aired in the fall of 2011. Although it has taken the network some time to approve the second season one of the cable network’s biggest stars, is leaving the series.
Ross’ exit comes several months after she joined the cast of an NBC fall pilot, “Bad Girls,” about women in a federal prison, that was ultimately not picked up.
Ross in a statement said that “Reed Between the Lines” was a show “I believe in and care about” and that there was a “chance” she might return at some point. Loretha Jones, BET’s president of original programming and news, called Ross “an amazing talent,” adding, “We wish her nothing but the best and hope to work with her again in the future.” Read full story here…
That’s it for our Weekly News: 08/18/12: Election 2012, HollyRod Foundation, Chad Ochocinco, Tamera Housely and more… I hope you enjoyed reading it. The things reported in the news makes us aware of the things that occur in our environment and the world at large. Stay informed!
KolorBlind Mag 
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