President-elect Barack Obama along with all of the existing presidents joined together Wednesday for a momentous meeting in the oval office in the White House. The last time such a historic meeting took place was in 1981. It was the second time Bush has hosted Obama since the election in November where Obama suggested this meeting with all the former presidents take place.

Joining Bush and Obama on Wednesday was Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Collectively they exchanged helpful advice on managing the office as well as views on the critical issues currently facing our country. Obama’s press Secretary said that the meeting was very constructive and that Obama appreciated “the spirit of bipartisanship they showed” in wishing him success.

Whitehouse spokeswoman Dana Perino added that Obama was delighted and, “Each of them expressed their desire for President-Elect Obama to have a very successful presidency. During the lunch, they had a wide-ranging discussion on many different issues facing the United States, and they all look forward to remaining in contact in the future.”

Okay not exactly, papparazi caught Brad Pitt riding his bike in New Orleans with a book in his hand with Barack Obama’s face plastered on the cover.

Obama and Brad Pitt are distant cousins right? Well they are related according to researchers at New England Historic Genealogical Society.

So this may not be part of the Brangelina Masters of Manipulation game they have going, it may very well be family love.

Twitter is a free social networking tool used to stay connected with others in real-time. It allows its users to send and read updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text based. This past Monday, Twitter was hit by a major hacker where several high profile accounts were taken over, including President-elect Barack Obama.

These hackers went on to impersonate a number of celebrities by sending out fake and even embarrassing messages. Among them was Obama’s Twitter page where the hackers urged his followers to take an online survey and win a gas card; however the link actually sent visitors to a site that pays commissions to affiliates who produce traffic.

Twitter has acknowledged the hack, adding that they have in fact identified the cause and have blocked it. Twitter has said that 33 accounts were compromised, “by an individual who hacked into some of the tools our support team uses to help people do things like edit the e-mail address associated with their Twitter account when they can’t remember or get stuck.” Although Obama is now in control of his account, he has not posted on his page since the November 4^th election.

President-elect Barack Obamas economic stimulus plan still stands, and may be implemented soon after his January 20^th inauguration. Obama’s top advisors say that they will not back away from a promise to cut taxes on the middle class and raise them for the wealthiest, as they made the case for a massive new stimulus package made to revive our hurting economy.

The two-year spending package could exceed $775 billion, coupled with tax policies in favor of middle class Americans. The recovery plan seeks to create or save 3 million jobs. The plan includes an immediate tax cut for middle-class families, with $1,000 for couples and $500 for individuals, which will come with reduced tax withholding from paychecks. In addition the incoming administration plans to propose that the tax cuts become part of the permanent tax cut he will have in his upcoming budget, though the form of those cuts has yet to be determined. It is likely that the decision will be based on Obama’s campaign proposal which stated that families earning less than $250,000 would see their taxes remain the same or decrease.

The idea is to give Americans more spending money in order to revive the economy. The plan is to also include new spending on infrastructure projects, aid state governments and programs to create new jobs. With people suffering across the country, and the economy slipping, the sooner President-elect has the bill to sign the better it is for everyone and that is exactly what Obama and his top advisors are pushing the Congress to do.

President-elect Barack Obama may very well be inheriting an international crisis as the violence rages in Gaza. Israeli’s defense minister is calling the ongoing violence an “all-out-war” with Hamas, adding that these attacks are a response to escalating rocket attacks against Southern Israel. Meanwhile, President Bush is putting the blame squarely on Hamas. The brutal air strikes, numbering 250 so far in a little over a day, have so far killed 290, mostly Palestinian police officers, but also innocent civilians including children. Hamas has pledged suicide attacks against Israeli civilians in retaliation.

Obama staying true to his belief has kept a low profile during the turmoil allowing Bush to do his job as the President. Obama has kept a close eye on the situation in Gaza and has declared his unequivocal support for Israel. He has been in contact with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Hilary Clinton, the incoming secretary of state.

“I’m here to say that — as an American and as a friend of Israel — that we stand with the people of Sderot and with all the people of Israel,” he said. Obama believes that Israel, like any country under attack has the absolute right to defend and protect itself. In this particular case Isreali airstrikes aimed at Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza. It is important for the Obama administration to support Isreal, but make the Palestinians trust them enough to come to the table and see it is lasting peace that is the ultimate goal to be reached. From the start Obama has pledged to make Middle East peace a priority, and from the looks of it he is doing the best he can at the moment using caution to strategically move forward.

On January 20th President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn in as President using the same bible that Abramham Lincoln used during his inauguration in 1861. Although Presidents are not required to be sworn in on the bible, it has been done by almost every chief executive since George Washington. In the past, Presidents have chosen to use a passage from the Bible to be opened to during the swearing-in ceremony. Traditionally the passage used holds either a personal or historical significace.

“The President-elect is committed to holding an Inauguration that celebrates America’s unity, and the use of this historic Bible will provide a powerful connection to our common past and common heritage.”

I am in no way surprised by this news.  Our country is not ready to dispense of the symbolism of swearing on the Bible, especially after all the rumors that were spread about Barack Obama being a secret-Muslim. I can’t imagine him wanting to be sworn-in any other way.

It is interesting to remember the final words of Lincoln’s inaugural address:

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stre[t]ching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

The question still stands, which verse will Obama use?

When Obama and his wife victoriously took the stage in St. Paul to claim the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama was momentarily up staged by his wife and not just because her infectious Happy-For-My-Husband-Fist Jab was seen round the world.

What grabbed our attention was the sleeveless purple silk crepe sheath made for Michelle Obama by Chicago-based designer Maria Pinto. The eye-catching outfit retails at about $900, not quite the kind of garment most hard working voters can reasonably aspire to but many copycat dresses are available and are just as gorgeous.

Maria’s purple dress worn by Mrs. O is deceptively simple yet structured with a hint of romance tied in, which immediately had me browsing J-Crew catalogs for a similar look.

This beautiful, floaty Silk chiffon dress retails at about $70 and you can add a budget friendly studded belt, and a bead necklace from Banana Republic to finish the look.