Pop Stars and Politics

Earlier this week, Harrison Ford went to Washington not as an actor, but as a pilot, imagine my disappointment when the Millennium Falcon did not crash through the capitol dome and with Chewbacca grabbing Nancy Pelosi like a wookie rag doll. I decided to do a little digging and find some other celebs who've donned the activist cap for their cause.

Lady Gaga went to Washington to have a meeting at the White House about bullying. Imagine the awkwardness when she appeared wearing massive amounts of red makeup and the secret service thought she allowed herself to be beaten to prove a point. A point that naturally nobody got but immediately wanted to download on iTunes.

Bob Barker was denied access to the congressional hearing for talks about the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act after refusing to surrender his collection of rubber bands and sickles.

Adrian Grenier was in D.C. recently to promote Eco-Friendly living, most attendees left the discussion with a burning desire to buy styrofoam cups and leave their cars idling for no reason. The remaining audience members where still trying to figure out how this guy has a career playing a celebrity on TV.

Julia Roberts met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to discuss clean cook stoves. That's right, cook stoves. I'm sure there is some horribly sexist joke to be made here but danged if I could come up with it.

Jessica Alba's visit to the capitol to discuss child safety was frequently interrupted by questions from the audience concerning where her babies come from.

Angelina Jolie is well known for raising awareness for people displaced around the world by war, ethnic cleansing, and herself.

Matthew Perry was hesitant to give testimony when he realized that he was speaking for the need to fund U.S. drug courts.

Celebrities can assist in bringing a lot of attention to an issue, and lets face it, congressmen will use just about any excuse to rub shoulders with celebs. Just look at Stephen Colbert's visit about migrant labor. The fanfare in this case obviously overshadowed any good that could come from public awareness of this topic, and it was pretty obvious that Mr. Colbert wanted the press and that someone in congress just wanted an autograph.

So why not let these appearances be served up with some Cheese, let's get William Shatner to discuss the need for space exploration, the Baha Men can discuss the need for keeping stray dogs locked up, Betty White can lecture congress on the need to raise the retirement age for social security, we could even get Chris Brown to discuss domestic violence. After all, if not for celebrities, who would I be poking fun of right now?