I told you all that Christine Beatty was taking a gamble when she decided to take her chances rather than negotiating an initial deal in the text-messaging scandal involving dethroned mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Well today, Judge Timothy Kenny, sentenced her to 120 days. Get this, although everyone knows that Kilpatrick and Beatty were getting busy, Kenny says that this was not a Monica Lewinsky-type case of sexual misconduct. Instead it was “more about the careers of police officers who were ruined by the lying of Beatty and then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick about their relationship in a 2007 whistle-blower trial.”

The Detroit Free Press says the judge compared her to a character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter. That’s kind of sad. Sadder still is word that Beatty may still have a few more things to deal with, namely that $100K she still needs to pay to the Motor City as restitution. And now there may be a hearing on her ability to repay them.

Seems officials have been looking at every dollar spent by this sister. I guess, when you’re in this deep, folks have the right to get all in your business. Like the fact that she has just $6 in her savings account, has a $1,200 monthly note for the 2008 Range Rover she leased and recently purchased a rug for $4,381 on a payment plan (yes, they get that detailed). Plus her legal fees are a whopping $726,000.

One thing is for sure, Detroit won’t see any of its money for at least the next 120 days. Beatty left the court this morning and went directly to begin her sentence in the Wayne County Jail.

Attention, all you entertainers angling for a spot on the historic Inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama, it looks like most (if not all) of the slots have been filled. Rumor had it that an invitation was extended to fellow Chicago native Jennifer Hudson, but given the recent tragic events that have impacted her family, she may have declined. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on our parts. Instead, it looks like the Inaguration is actually going a more established route. And with royalty no less.

People is reporting that Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, is set to sing at his swearing in—which will take place in 32 days. So far, all of the attention has been focused on the gutsy (or some may think questionable) choice of ) Dr. Rick Warren—who will deliver the invocation. Besides being the pastor of tk, a mega-church and the author of the mega-hit book, The Purpose Driven Life, he also opposes same-sex marriage. With the the whole Proposition 8 kerfluffle, that’s all most people see. 

Beyond that, however, there is a decidedly inclusive round-up for the day that is built around the theme “A New Birth of Freedom”. Others on tap include classical violinist Itzhak Perlman and cellolist Yo-Yo Ma (who be performing a piece created by composer John Williams). What seems to be missing is who the poet will be (if there is one). Odds are that there will since President John F. Kennedy was the first to have a poet at his Inauguration. And since there have been all those Camelot references (and Caroline Kennedy may fill Hillary’s Senate seat), why not?

I really would love it if Dr. Maya Angelou gave the recitation but I guess it is too Clintonian. But hey, what about Toni Morrison? She’s more of a novelist than a poet per se, but her words had an impact during this historic campaign. Sure, it may be wishful thinking again but hell it sounds good to me.

**UPDATE**Obama went with contemporary poet Elizabeth Alexander who is chair of the African American Studies department at Yale. I am sure she’ll do her thing too.

Forget dressing the hot new ingenue, starlet, or one-hit wonder, fashion designers are set their sights on a more historic event, dressing the future First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama and her daughters, for the Inuaguration. Sure, we knew that designers would be interested, but Wednesday’s WWD (Women’s Wear Daily) devoted an unprecedented amount of pages to the possibilities (the cover and 21 options inside and 8 options for the girls).

Carolina Herrera, Monique Lhuiller and Tuleh have dreamed up some classy options. But there are definitely some interpretations that she should avoid. Take Christian Lacroix’s vampire meets cat ensemble, Betsey Johnson’s flag inspired bar wench number, Zac Posen’s ode to antebellum style and Koi Swannagate’s snowflakes on parade. While Sasha and Malia should run away fast should Bonnie Young bring her designs by.

The fashion world will wait with baited breathe to see what the future First Lady will choose. I think whatever she wears will be fine as long as she trusts her own instincts.In fact, she may do well to stick with her go-to designer, Maria Pinto and let the designers keep this fantasy-based frocks lock securely in their imagination.

We all know that while our President-Elect was on the campaign trail, he became an international phenomenon. (Who could forget that crowd in Germany.) What we may have underestimated is the global interest in Michelle Obama. A few weeks ago, Cherie Blair wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, penned an article entitled, “My Advice to Michelle Obama: Learn to Love the Back Seat,” in which she offered unsolicited advice and pointed out possible challenges our future First Lady may face. Listed among them was having to keep her opinions to herself and the inability to continue in her career (which isn’t an issue in Europe).The article appeared two weeks ago and it is still a source of heated debate in the UK. In fact, in today’s International Herald Tribune Rachel L. Swarns point out how deeply divided women continue to be about the possible parameters Michelle Obama’s role as First Lady. I mean, these women are really passionate about the role she should play. But not everyone is as opinionated as Blair or as adament as feminist pundits. In fact, I loved it when model and singer turned First Lady of France, Carla Bruni Sarkovy, made a point on her Today Show appearance last week to say that she’d rather ask Michelle Obama for advice than offer any of her own.

Here in the States we’ve run the gamut from Rebecca Traister’s piece on salon.com “The momification of Michelle Obama” to Erin Aubry Kaplan’s salon.com’s piece on the future First Lady’s derrierre. All I can say is thank goodness that Newsweek’s Allison Samuels is also weighing in this week with “What Michelle Means to Us.” After hearing everyone else speculate and pontificate it is good to see that Samuels so ably articulate what so many of us are feeling…Pride.

Wanda Sykes’ presence is almost ubiquitous. She always seems to be the sassy sidekick in every random movie or television show. Her run as Barb on Julia Louis Dreyfeus’  New Adventures of Old Christine is actually quite successful. But lest we forget, there’s always Pootie Tang. But Sykes is taking that ‘take no prisoners’ candor she usually applies to her stand-up act and bringing it on strong in her real life. What spurred her on? The passage of Proposition 8 in California. Yesterday, to the surprise of many, she appeared at a  gay rights rally ( fresh from her stint at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino) to express her outrage at the bill banning gay marriage.

Sykes, who previously didn’t deny her sexuality (but also didn’t broadcast it) told the crowd she felt attacked by the ban. “Now, I gotta get in their face,” she said. “I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.” Go Wanda. Although the Left Coast is supposed to be progressive about everything, this Proposition 8 kerfluffle has shown that all is not sunny and bright in California. I am glad that stopped pointing the finger at our people as the reason this bill passed. Obviously, it is more complicated than that and the protests have just begun.

Anyway, while others stars like Queen Latifah continue to neither confirm or deny being gay, Sykes decided that expressing her outrage was much more important than protecting her privacy. It certainly won’t impact her sassy sidekick status. And maybe, if she gets the chance to get her own sitcom again, the show creators won’t try to make her vaguely asexual as was the case in Wanda At Large but actually make her a fully formed character that still makes us laugh.

Tuesday’s historic election of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th President has been eclipsed, in many circles, by the growing discussion about Michelle Obama’s dress. Really. The dissection of her decision to don the red and black Narciso Rodriguez number started on fashion blogs like style.com and then to newspapers like USA Today. Now the talk has gone international. The UK’s Telegraph has picked up the story today. Overall, the reviews were not good.

And so we have it, Michelle Obama’s first little brouhaha as the soon to be First Lady. To date, many fashionistas have lauded most of her style choices. From the White House Black Market dress she donned for “The View” to the Maria Pinto frocks she wore for the Democratic National Convention and the J Crew ensemble she wore for her appearance on Jay Leno her style report card overall has been almost all As. But now that the stakes are higher, she is going to be The First Lady Of The United States after all, the scrutiny has followed suit. And the results are somewhat comical. The funniest line in The Telegraph article pointed out that Michelle Obama doesn’t employ a personal stylist. Should she? I don’t think so. A personal shopper, perhaps but a personal stylist, no.

I am actually amazed that there has been more press about this dress than there has been about the look she wore to vote—no makeup and a ponytail. I raised one eyebrow at that until I realized that the sister had been working non-stop (and she was probably up all night). Plus, her choice gave us a peek at her humanity and solidifyed that she was the sister next store (at least in our minds).

Personally, I noticed the dress but I wasn’t fixated on it. I was more aware that her accessories were less classic and more funky (and also that the family was tastefully color coordinated without looking to matchy-matchy). And seriously, I was just elated at the historic moment for both this country and our people in particular. But spending most of my career around fashion folks has taught me that the write their version of history based upon what someone wore.

I suspect that since Michelle has made it through this campaign in one piece, she probably has pretty thick skin. I doubt seriously that after all this talk about her dress that she will revert to only safe choices (or call Andre Leon Talley in a panic—which may be risky too). Instead, she will continue to carve out her own style niche. But as she is finding her rhythm there may be some misses in the midsts of all those hits. So what.

Folks can talk about the return of Camelot all they want, but I am sure our future First Lady knows that substance is even more important than style. She’s striving  to be more than just a beautiful sister in a designer dress. Here’s what she told Newsweek about raising her children in The White House and addressing the issues that are important to her. This interview was done before they had a lock on the Presidency, now I am sure we’ll find out even more about what she’s passionate about.

Okay, I know every blogger alive will have to weigh in about this historic event. And I am no different. As I write this I am watching the President-elect speak and the massive crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park listening with rapt attention. I spot Jesse Jackson with tears streaming down his cheeks again and I don’t want to even make fun of him (well, sort of) . I think about Obama’s campaign where “Hope” has been the rallying cry and can’t help to think that this campaign is really all about hope in action.

The idea struck me earlier on Election Day. After I cast my vote, I spent some time making phone calls at my local Obama office. And the array of people I saw there, making phone calls from every surface inside and outdoors (I was sitting on the curb of a strip mall), represented a range of ages, ethnicity, and socioeconomic statuses. I thought it was a microcosm of my progressive community but it turns out that it was actually a picture of the nation (at least most of it).

With this win, pundits keep talking about a new generation of leadership and I think that’s evident. Because for too long we’ve been bogged down by too much talking so the action has taken a back seat. That is, until this campaign took hold. I think we’ve been waiting to put our hopes and dreams into action again. Barack Obama had the gumption to ask us to participate and the nation responded.

And now, come January 20th, the country will be led by a man who understands what it is to be Black in America. By his side will be a real, honest-to-goodness sister and mother as the FLOTUS (First Lady of The United States). Plus two young black girls who will make The White House their home. By virtue of who he is, President-Elect Obama, will help change perceptions of African Americans in the US (and in the world). Sure there will still be those on the fringes whose outrageous behavior will continue to make us cringe but those of us who are hard-working, loving and relatively normal will have finally a face as well (and it isn’t the fictional Huxtables–no offense, Bill).

Now, the action part has begun in earnest. The tone of President-Elect Obama’s speech this morning (and even his background music) signaled a change in theme. We have moved from “Yes We Can” to “Let’s Get Down to Business.” And starting today, he will do just that.  As he leads, I am confident that our new President will show us that our hopes were not in vain.

This is definitely an historic day–and one I will definitely tell my future grandchildren about one day. What I will tell them is that after ensuring my ballot was cast, I went to get my hair done before going to work. This day is historic for two reasons, I not only was able to vote for the first African-American President but it was also the first, ever, Dress Down Day at Black Enterprise. Mr. Graves graciously provided us with part of our attire, our “Yes We Must” t’shirt emblazoned with Barack Obama’s picture.

After teasing Rahni, the salon owner, that my t-shirt was better than his he said “Well, yes you have a Black Enterprise t-shirt, mine is from Time what do you expect? But we are both fabulous. Then he proceeded to do my hair.

Sitting next to me at the dryer was a quiet, unassuming lady who smiled and ready her magazine as I read my book. In between pages, I noticed that a very striking woman, looking fabulous in all black, came over and kissed her on the cheek. I thought, how sweet. As the woman stood up I realized it was Michelle (Obama). Yes, my, our future First Lady, and I had been sitting on either side of her mother the entire time. I got Michelle’s attention and showed her my t-shirt, she beamed. I shared with her that it was a gift from Mr. Graves and I was wearing my t-shirt with pride.

She smiled and gave the perfect “head tilt” and said thank you, thank you very much. My first thought, classic, very Jackie O. How perfect. To top it all off, she had not gotten her hair done yet. She was rockin’ the same ponytail she wore to cast her vote.

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Jennifer Hill is the Director of Corporate Sales at Black Enterprise and based in Chicago

On the eve of the election, it seems that journalists are as interested in the reel world as there are in real life. How else would you explain that they’re turning to fictionalized characters to explain Senator Barack Obama’s potential impact as a President.

First there is Frank Rich over at The New York Times who recently watched the 1967 classic movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” in order to see just how far we’ve come when it comes to racial tolerance and understanding. The original movie, starred Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn as well as Mr. Poitier (the amazing Beah Richards and Roy Glenn played his parents). It was a drama with a “message” (unlike the Bernie Mac/Ashton Kutcher remake which was just plain silly).

Rich thinks there are some similarities between Mr. Poitier and the Democratic nominee—especially because they have both been viewed as “too perfect” and “too white”. And for some people, Obama is a subliminal stand-in for that character (someone who is not quite real). Perhaps that’s why they thought saying he’s articulate would be a compliment. Not. Because of this, Obama’s grit, determination and political acumen continue to be underrated. This situation is about as real as a movie to some folks. But Rich believes that people have no choice but to see the real man for who he is once he is elected.

At Time, Joel Stein has dubbed folk’s political flip-flopping election decisions as the Urkel effect. Stein is saying that Obama is essentially a nerd and not cool at all—he even calls him as emotionless as C-3P0 and Mr. Spock. He floats the theory that perhaps people will decide not to vote for him when they pull that curtain closed because of this realization. I can see the Poitier comparison (although I would have never thought of it), but Urkel in his high-water pants, suspenders and nasal-y voice? I don’t think so. Even Jaleel White would think Stein bonkers. If people change their minds we can’t blame it on Obama being a nerd.

It remains to be seen how this will all end up but we all know that a whole lot of folks are praying. Let’s just hope that they’re voting too.

Here’s Sidney Poitier in the groundbreaking film and Jaleel doing the Urkel dance:

There is no doubt that George W. Bush is a lame duck President waiting for his administration to be over. So is the rest of the country. While the soon-to-be-former President will probably grab Laura and head back to the ranch in Crawford, TX, those who still work in his administration have to figure out what their next move will be. Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice, who once was the provost of Stanford University, is said to be returning to her old stomping grounds in January.

But in a truth could be stranger than fiction twist, Rice may indeed have another option as well: the NFL. Apparently,  The San Francisco 49ers may be interested in Rice taking over as team President. It wouldn’t be such a stretch since she is an avid football fan.

Now all of this may be nothing more than idle speculation or wishful thinking but I think it would be a fascinating option for Rice. She’s already proven how smart she is about the issues of state and the world, but this opportunity would give her the chance to use her strategic acumen in another arena altogether.

And because she is passionate about the sport we might even get to see her scream, shout and laugh—which might be as much of a welcome relief to her as it will be for us. So, seriously girl please consider it. Lightening up may be good for you.