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.

Behind every great President stands a polished First Lady.

Michelle Obama is not only the first black First lady but one of the youngest and fashionable wives since Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Better known in the fashion world as Jackie O, one of the most influential fashion icons of our time.

So then it is no surprise that the world’s collective gaze turned to Mrs. Obama on election night as she took to the stage at Grant Park in Chicago wearing a red and black sheath by Narciso Rodriguez.

The less conservative version of the dress was showcased during NY fashion week from Narsico Rodriguez’ Spring 2009 collection.

Several fashion gurus were quick to bash her outfit arguing the black cardigan sweater did nothing to tame the look and adding the speckled red pattern was distracting. Distracting or not, I applaud Michelle Obama’s decision to wear an American designer dress, and a cutting-edge label at that. The lava lamp dress of choice is unpretentious and reminds us all once again that she is certainly her own woman. Her style is a departure from the priggish attire that first ladies have historically favored.

At the least, it promises us fashion lovers four lively years of exhilarating fashion-watching at the White House. Is Mrs. O the modern day Jackie O?

Only time will tell…

In his choice of General Shinseki, which Mr. Obama will announce here on Sunday, the president-elect would bring to his cabinet someone who symbolizes the break Mr. Obama seeks with the Bush era on national security. The selection was confirmed by two Democratic officials.

General Shinseki, testifying before Congress in February 2003, a month before the United States invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime, said “several hundred thousand soldiers” would be needed to stabilize Iraq after an invasion. In words that came to be vindicated by events, the general anticipated “ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems,” adding, “and so it takes a significant ground force presence to maintain a safe and secure environment.”

The testimony angered Donald H. Rumsfeld, the defense secretary at the time, whose war plans called for far fewer troops. Mr. Rumsfeld’s deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, publicly rebuked General Shinseki’s comments as “wildly off the mark,” in part because Iraqis would welcome the Americans as liberators.

With the subsequent years in which Americans battled ethnic insurgents, and after President Bush agreed to a “surge” strategy of more troops in January 2007, General Shinseki was effectively vindicated and military officials, as well as activists and politicians, publicly saluted him. By then, however, General Shinseki had been marginalized on the joint chiefs of staff and quietly retired from the Army.

When asked about General Shinseki’s early troop estimates in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on “Meet the Press” on NBC, Mr. Obama said, “He was right.” At the same time, General Shinseki drew criticism in the postwar years for not pressing more aggressively for more troops before the war. In an interview in Newsweek in early 2007, he said of the critiques, with characteristic brevity, “Probably that’s fair. Not my style.” In the past, he would say to his associates, “I do not want to criticize while my soldiers are still bleeding and dying in Iraq.”

When other retired officers publicly called on Mr. Rumsfeld to resign, he did not.

The controversy made General Shinseki popular with soldiers in Iraq and veterans of the conflict who resented what they saw as inadequate troop strength. In taking over Veterans Affairs, he would inherit an agency struggling with increasing numbers of veterans with physical and mental wounds from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the many aging veterans of past conflicts.

General Shinseki, 66, who was the highest-ranking Asian-American in the military, also commanded the NATO peacekeeping force in Bosnia. Like Mr. Obama, the general is a native of Hawaii. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he suffered serious wounds and lost much of a foot.

A version of this article appeared in print on December 7, 2008, on page A39 of the New York edition.