You give somebody a little power and money, and then you can’t get them to shut up.

But celebrities have always been a vocal bunch, especially when it comes to war. Jane Fonda’s trip to Vietnam still raises eyebrows (and tempers). Vanessa Redgrave chose to use her 1977 acceptance speech to comment about “Zionist hoodlums,” prompting Paddy Chayefsky to angrily respond on the same telecast, “winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history [and] does not require such a proclamation.”

But some Academy Award winners (and nominees) would disagree.

Both Edward Norton and Spike Lee used an appearance at the Berlin Film Festival to make statements about Bush and Iraq. Lee commended the French and German governments, saying, “America doesn’t have the moral right to tell other people what to do. … I hope more people will rise up.” Norton simply commented that he had forgotten what it was like to be proud of his government.

Academy Award nominee Sean Penn visited Iraq on a “fact-finding” mission in December, which seemed to have little logical purpose other than to allow the actor to complain that U.S. officials hadn’t released enough information to the public.

In one of the most publicized incidents of the past few weeks, Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines told a London audience during a concert that the group was “ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” The statement was followed by a public backlash, radio station boycotts and an apology from Maines.

Everybody should be allowed to speak his or her mind, even a celebrity. But just because a person is a public figure doesn’t give them the right to spout off about subjects better left to politicians. Nobody pays $100 to go to a concert to hear a singer talk about foreign policy, just as nobody tunes into CNN to listen to the House of Representatives sing “Moon River.”

At best, celebrities who do use a film festival to talk about Iraq are simply wasting their breath, as the Bush administration is unlikely to care what a celebrity thinks. At worst, they are lending the worst stereotypes possible to those groups that continue to oppose Bush’s actions in Iraq.

When the Academy Awards air March 23, the invasion of Iraq will have already started. It may be too much to ask, but let’s hope that the show won’t consist of four hours of celebrities attempting to be politicians.