Although having someone look at the bottom of your shoe is one of the BIGGEST insults in Arab culture, Bush says he was not offended when an Iraqi journalist (Muntadhar al-Zaidi, a reporter for the TV channel Al-Baghdadia) threw his shoes at him on Sunday. The journalist also called Bush a “dog” for all of the death and terror he imposed upon the Iraqi people. Is Bush simply not aware of the meaning of the shoe throwing? Or does Bush still refuse to believe that the war has done more harm than good in Iraq? For some Iraqis, Bush’s farewell visit couldn’t come a moment too soon.

Although everyone in the world seems to be on bated breath waiting for President-Elect Barack Obama to select a dog for his daughters, Vice President-elect Joe Biden recently chose a new dog for his family. Apparently, Biden also had a similar “election doggie” promise. A writer for the Christian Science Monitor reports that if Obama and Biden won the election, Joe promised to get him and his wife a dog.

Well true to his word, Biden got a dog. He purchased a beautiful three-month-old German Shepherd puppy from breeder, Linda Brown of East Coventry Township, Pennsylvania. According to Delaware Online News, Biden chose the dog because he is familiar with the breed.

However, not everyone is happy about Biden’s decision. Animal rights activists are making a big bark about Biden buying a dog from a commercial breeder instead of getting a rescue or shelter puppy. There are an estimated four million dogs that are euthanized each year because they don’t have a home.

“We are surprised that Sen. Biden chose to purchase a dog from a commercial kennel since he has been a leader on animal-protection issues and has championed a number of important animal-welfare reforms in the Senate,” Michael Markarian, executive vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “President-elect Obama can send a stronger message of hope and change for animals by adopting a homeless dog from an animal shelter or rescue group.”

Even People for the Equal Treatment of Animals (PETA) came out with a statement about Biden’s breeder pup.

“I was extremely disappointed to read that Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife bought a dog from a breeder instead of adopting one from an animal shelter,” writes Dore on the PETA blog.  “Obviously he or his wife blanked on Ingrid’s letter, which asked him to consider adopting,” she wrote. ”Every year, U.S. animal shelters are forced to euthanize millions of wonderful, deserving dogs and cats because of the lack of good homes.”

Animal rights advocates are still holding out hope that Obama gets a pound puppy. Meanwhile, check out Biden’s cute puppy on the video below.

Michelle and Barack Obama out for dinner on Saturday night.

The McCain camp scored one of its few victories over the course of the campaign when it labeled Barack Obama a celebrity in advertising spots that ran in August. The criticism stuck because in many ways it was true: Obama was drawing thousands of adoring fans to every campaign rally he held.

But now that Obama is President-elect, Americans can obsess about their new, handsome Commander-in-Chief and his beautiful family without fear of being labeled star hounds. On Friday, the Obama camp posted election-night photos of the family waiting for Barack to be declared the winner on Flickr, and the page wouldn’t display for a while as visitors eager to see the new first family overloaded the site.

The Obamas are getting the real celebrity treatment: There are now grainy photographs chronicling their every move. The Huffington Post breathlessly declared Sunday, “Obamas Eat Out For First Time Since Win.”

Barack and Michelle Obama are meeting with George and Laura Bush Monday afternoon for their first official tour of the White House, and Washington insiders are predicting awkwardness as Obama meets with someone he has spent the last months criticizing on the campaign trail. But while Obama meets with the exiting president, continues to assemble his cabinet, and weighs what policy initiatives to take on first, us lowly citizens are tackling the real issue the first family needs to address, asking “what kind of dog should Malia and Sasha get?” [Ed note—presidential celebrities are just like you and me!]

Obama addressed this concern at his first press conference as president-elect on Friday.

With respect to the dog, this is a major issue. I think it’s generated more interest on our Web site than just about anything. We have—we have two criteria that have to be reconciled. One is that Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypo-allergenic. There are a number of breeds that are hypo-allergenic. On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog. But obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts, like me. So the—so, whether we’re going to be able to balance those two things, I think, is a pressing issue on the Obama household.

Obama has been praised for running a brilliant campaign, but clearly he knows the real way to get into Americans’ hearts: talk about pets. Just Google “Obama family dog” and there will be thousands of stories and hundreds of breed suggestions for the Obamas to consider.

Even Bill Kristol is concerned a dog-friendly Obama will be an unbeatable president. Writing about Obama’s press conference, the conservative New York Times columnist said, “Here, in a few sentences, Obama did the following: He deepened his bond with every dog lover in America. He identified with every household that’s tried to figure out what kind of dog to get. He touched every parent with a kid allergic to pets. He showed compassion by preferring a dog from a shelter. And he demonstrated a dry and slightly politically incorrect wit by commenting that ‘a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.’”

A common refrain during the campaign from McCain and others was that Obama was an unknown. Now that he will be the next president, there is a demonstrated hunger from Americans to learn more about Obama and his family. What new styles will Michelle introduce? Where will the girls go to school? Will Barack follow through on his pledge to install a basketball court in the White House?

We’ll all be able to follow along as the Obamas make their new home in Washington. Some celebrities complain about the lack of privacy in their lives. But that doesn’t apply when it’s the president, right?