Two funny men + the world’s worst movies + politics + intrigue + a room full of egotistical prima donnas = well, you may say it’s one of our annual staff meetings… but in reality it’s the OSCARS!!

These two may have had a tad too much before the show. What jokes could theses two legendary comedians be cracking? Or are they just cracking up?

Click on the photo and put words in their mouths!!

VP JB (Biden’s stage name) in Israel… Unveiling plans to construct new settlements in Jerusalem.

Oh, I’m between jobs… You know, permanently. “Are Unemployment Benefits No Longer Temporary?”

You can take my home, but not my bird! Oh, you took the bird too?!

A Pittsburgh-area woman is suing Bank of America, claiming it wrongfully repossessed her home and saying that a bank contractor trashed the house and took her parrot.

There’s a rule of thumb that says the most volatile subjects for any discussion are politics and religion. We’ like to add two more: Leonard Nimoy (don’t mess with Trekkies), and… military funerals.

Military funerals are sad enough affairs as is… A loved one, serving the nation, lost in the line of duty.

Imagine then, uninvited guests to the same funeral, picketing, protesting shouting “God hates you” and “You’re going to hell” displaying signs “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” and “God Blew Up the Troops.”

The controversy over these protests moves to center stage as the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Snyder v. Phelps.

So what exactly is the story behind Snyder v. Phelps? Citizen Media Law Project gives us the facts:

Westboro Baptist Church pastor and founder Fred Phelps and members of his congregation picketed [Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder's] funeral, holding signs expressing anti-gay, anti-American, and anti-Catholic slogans

Bill Mears at CNN elaborates:

The church, led by pastor Fred Phelps, said it believes God is punishing the United States for “the sin of homosexuality” through events such as soldiers‘ deaths…Members have traveled the country, shouting at grieving family members at funerals.

So how did the law get involved in the first place? The LA Times Blog helps us follow the paper trail:

A Maryland jury awarded $10 million in damages to Albert Snyder, whose son Matthew was killed in Iraq in March 2006. He had sued Fred Phelps, the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas…In September, however, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the entire award on free-speech grounds.

And where does that leave us now? ACSBlog has us covered:

The Supreme Court granted certiorari in three cases for its term starting this fall, including one involving a $5 million jury verdict against the fiercely anti-gay group led by Kansas preacher

So, besides some OBVIOUSLY BAD TASTE, is there a legal issue here for the SCOTUS to decide? What say you, Blog of Legal Times?

As framed by lawyers for Snyder, the issues to be resolved by the high court will be whether the 1988 case of Hustler v. Falwell, which limited the use of the “emotional distress” tort, applies in cases like Snyder’s, and whether  freedom of speech trumps freedom of religion and peaceful assembly.

Uh-huh. Translate for us, SCOTUS Blog!

The funeral picketing case (Snyder v. Phelps, et al., 09-751) focuses on a significant question of First Amendment law: the degree of constitutional protection given to private remarks made about a private person, occurring in a largely private setting.

Now to the opinions! Chris Weigant at HuffPost, let er’ rip:

If the door is opened up on lawsuits against Phelps by this case, it wouldn’t take long for Phelps and his church to be stripped of the means of traveling around the country promulgating hatred…While not a perfect answer to Phelps and his group of hatemongers, individual civil lawsuits against him seem to me to be an acceptable answer to his provocation.

Now to you Mr. Eugene Volokh…

The Supreme Court has just agreed to hear Snyder v. Phelps, the funeral picketing case. I think the lower court decision is quite right, and I worry that the Court’s decision signals the Justices’ willingness to overturn it. But I hope the Justices will do the right thing, notwithstanding the speech involved.

So tell us what YOU think! Come on, we know you’ve got an opinion! Tell us what it is…

Okay… the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Hollywood has voted… but a lot of folks weren’t too happy with the results. Particularly on the big daddy of all awards – Best Picture. The Hurt Locker? Avatar? Precious?

Cast your vote for your choice for best Picture. Let’s see if those Hollywood types really know what makes a great movie.

Check out the Poll below to see what the real people think…

Now that a woman has captured the Oscar for ”Best Director” for the first time in history… perhaps it is time for women to advance into other male dominated arenas. The cartoon above has an interesting spin on the subject… What are your thoughts? (Cartoon by Kal)

Massacre in Nigeria. 500 killed due to religious tensions.

We’ve had enough and are heading home. Northrop Grumman leaves competition for new Air Force tanker.

Another earthquake rocks the world. A 6.0 magnitude quake rocked parts of Turkey killing over 50 people.

Iraq, last weekend, held its national election for parliament.

How did the election go?  Despite threats of violence, car bombings, and other risks estimates show that voter turnout was around 62% (a respectable amount about equal to America’s turnout for the 2008 Presidential election).

As seen in the video above, President Obama has called the election “an important milestone in Iraqi history.”

Some pundits are calling the elections a HUGE success.  Marc Lynch, of Foreign Policy, notes that this year’s election was protected by Iraqi security forces, not the US Army, and that

The election campaign (as opposed to the results, which we still don’t know) showed clearly that Iraqis are determined to seize control of their own future and make their own decisions.

Writing for The National, Nir Rosen agrees, noting that

regardless of the outcome, the elections will not precipitate a return to the civil war. The state is too strong, and there is no longer a security vacuum in Iraq.

…

The framework in which Iraqis address existential issues is now the political arena.

Michael Hastings, over at The Daily Beast, has a darker take on the Iraqi election wondering if the winner may become the new Saddam, or a victim to a rival’s coup, as

the presence of all the different armed factions almost ensures continued violence for years to come—therefore, the quickest way to stop the violence is to lock up, kick out, or kill your enemies.

The blog Musings on Iraq provides examples of flaws in Iraq’s democracy, such as lack of due process in the justice system, but notes:

That doesn’t mean that Iraq cannot eventually establish a working democratic system, but that claims that it has already arrived are premature, and that it will be a long and arduous process that can see reversals, and even be cut short.

Whose outlook on Iraq is correct?  Only time will tell (although feel free to speculate in our comments section) as election results come out and the real messy business of running a national government falls into the hands of the newly elected.

Our first clip is of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck winning the Oscar for Good Will Hunting. The pair are adorable, with Matt yelling out names while Ben is speaking.

Oscar speeches are more than just funny though. Sometimes, they’re used to make a political point.

But of course, it’s the host that makes the show.

And just in case you didn’t know, The Oscars happen every year.

Here at USDemocrazy, we know that happiness can affect our work.

For example, we are a lot happier when our editor is not in the room. Amazingly, we have discovered a fellow who understands happiness of workers like ourselves… (He must have editors of his own.)

That would be Daniel Kahneman, the psychologist who won a Nobel Prize in Economics for coming up with the idea of behavioral economics.

Daniel has some pretty interesting ideas about happiness. Check out the video above where he is happy to talk about happiness.

The question is… after hearing Mr. Kahneman… are you any happier? Post a comment and let us know! Also, check out this TED lecture and others since they’re always on innovative and interesting topics.

US Democrazy writes on a vast variety of topics.  Despite popular beliefs, we are not experts on most of these subjects.

How then, you may ask, do we learn about what we are going to write on?

The most obvious choice is just “Google” the question.

When we want just the facts, we look no further than WolframAlpha.  This site is absolutely incredible!

Not only can it give you information on some thing,  such as the day March 7, 2010, WolframAlpha can compare things.  One can search “golden gate vs brooklyn bridge” and the site will provide side by side statistics.

Even cooler, math can be done with these facts (yes, math can be cool).  Type in ”(golden gate length)-(Brooklyn bridge length)” and you’ll get their difference in length.

Sometimes facts are not enough.  Sometimes we need a teacher to understand the world’s complex issues.  Well, Academic Earth is just the place for that. Here, small universities, such as Yale, Princeton, and MIT, have videos of of lectures on just about any subject FOR FREE!!!

Another, popular source of information for us is Wikipedia (Note: Wikipedia can be edited by anyone so its articles, much like pretzels,  should be taken with a grain of salt)

If these sites don’t answer our questions we creatively solve the problem (i.e. we just make things up).

So next time you have a question check one of these sites out; it sure beats being wrong.