Former  —  and disgraced — Congressman Tom DeLay thinks the unemployed should just buck up and take it.

“You know,” Delay said on CNN recently, “there is an argument to be made that these extensions, the unemployment benefits keeps people from going and finding jobs. In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don’t look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out.”

Ok, so no one likes him. Now George Hickenlooper’s new film, “Casino Jack,” won’t do much to improve this idiot’s status. DeLay, you see, enabled former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff to loot and pillage Washington while George Bush was president. Abramoff is now in jail.

Kevin Spacey seems like he was born to play Abramoff, a so-called devout Jew with a non-Jewish wife and very blonde little girls. “Casino Jack” isn’t necessarily good for the Jews but it’s not good for anyone else either, like the Christian right.

That Spacey plays disingenuous and creepy well is no surprise, but the film does have its surprises nonetheless. Barry Pepper is a revelation as Abramoff’s main associate. Jon Lovitz is pond scum personified as a mattress dealer-slash-thug and con man who allowed himself to be a front for Abramoff’s stealing.

I saw “Casino Jack” last week in Hollywood. It reminded me of “GoodFellas.” Not so good people discover evil, sell out, and lose everything. It’s quite a story. And the really funny part is that Abramoff is only serving six years. When he gets out, he’ll be rich. And he plans to move to Hollywood and become a film producer. Why the hell not?

Now Hickenlooper will take his film to festivals and find a distributor to release “Casino Jack” in the fall. There will be Oscar nominations for Spacey and Pepper, certainly. And a lot of screaming from Oliver Stone, as “Casino Jack” is really a contemporary version of “Wall Street.”

As for Tom DeLay: this is a contestant from a dance show on TV. Let’s just ignore him.

Ronald McDonald kills the Michelin Man in a short film that won an Oscar on Sunday night for Best Animated Short film.

“Logorama” played at Sundance, but it unlikely to be seen in many theaters. It possibly runs afoul of at least a thousand trademark violations by lampooning logos of well known companies from McDonalds to Michelin to Starbucks, Apple, Nickelodeon, and so on.

The film, made by Francois Alaux, Herve de Crecy and Ludovic Houplain,won Best Short at the Stockholm Festival and the Kodak award at Cannes. But no one in America saw it until its Sundance screening and a few museum showings. Sacre bleu!

“Logorama” is a satire about branding, I guess. It’s animated, and propels Ronald and the Michelin Man, as well the kids from Haribo Candy, and the mustachoied Pringles man (voiced by director David Fincher of all people) and many other well known brand characters into a bizarre story that is literally chock full of logos and a little violence. You might think it’s a product plug, but this is the antithesis of that. You have to give the animators credit: they’ve found just about every logo they could think of, even Atlantic Records. Dunkin Donuts is in there, as well as Avis, MGM and Best Western. You can get a taste of it at http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/15/logorama-animated-ci.html.

“Logorama” is incredibly inventive. It reminded me of old cartoons from the 1950s that took regular swipes at topical subjects. Maybe the companies involved will have a sense of humor and let it go. The Oscar should help. We can only hope.

Now that “The Cove” has won Best Documentary, the world is an oyster for director Louie Psihoyos.

I am told that Psihoyos and his team are in deep discussions with Quentin Tarantino’s long time producer, Lawrence Bender, to make their next film.

The new film is even deeper than “The Cove.” It’s about the extinction of species, and what we can do to stop it before it happens.

Currently there are hundreds of thousands of species that are vanishing all over the world, from small to huge. Psihoyos’s new project would follow the list of extinct-prone animals and organisms, and the battles to save them.

According to one report, nearly 17,000 different plant and animal species are currently in danger of extinction, along with the record business and investigative journalism. But Psihoyos will just address himself to the former.

Oddly enough, I’ve also heard that the latter — investigative journalism and its gradual demise — may be the subject of another doc by a nominated filmmaker, Robert Kenner (”Food Inc.”).

Two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda finally met Kate Bosworth last night. And she proclaimed, “I want her to do the ‘Barbarella’ sequel!”

And that’s what Vanity Fair’s big Oscar party is always like: It’s like the whole industry is stuffed into one place. People meet and make deals or have romances.

Jane’s beau, famed record producer Richard Perry, fell into conversation with Jennifer Lopez.  Her whole recording career could be changed if Perry produces some tracks for her.

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While we’re at the Oscars, Vanity Fair throws one of the three swanky private dinners in town. (The other two are Elton John’s, and Dani Janssen’s). Here’s the Vanity Fair list, by table:

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The omission of Farrah Fawcett from the In Memoriam segment of last night’s Oscars was terrible.

But Farrah was in good company.

They forgot three-time Oscar winning composer Maurice Jarre. Among his Oscar nominated scores: “Ghost.” Guess who starred in “Ghost”? Demi Moore, who introduced the In Memoriam segment. And Patrick Swayze, the first face in the segment. Hello! Come on: This isn’t exactly rocket science.

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Meryl Streep came out of the Kodak Theatre and whispered two words in my ear.

“That bitch!” she said with a laugh, then added: “I love her!”

OK, this was Meryl’s umpteenth loss in a row. She hasn’t won an Oscar since “Sophie’s Choice.” You do realize she was just here last year for “Doubt.” Her most recent run of performances has been staggering, from “The Manchurian Candidate” remake to “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Adaptation,” even the little seen “Rendition.”

She’ll be back, maybe not next year, but in 2012. She makes the entire Oscar process worth it for the rest of us…

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George Clooney brought his girlfriend and his best friend to the Academy Awards. The best friend was silver and monogrammed. It was a flask.

“Hey, pay attention,” he said as he flashed me the flask.

“You can’t drink during the Oscars!” I said, naively horrified.

“Oh yeah?”

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Mo’Nique may have been the first Oscar nominee to bring a bodyguard to the Oscars. He walked her and husband Sidney Hicks up the red carpet. What, exactly, was she afraid of?

“It’s the safest place in the world,” joked an Academy publicist, who shook his head in disbelief.

Yes, Mo’Nique is in a world of her own. She wasn’t seen at the Elton John party or at Vanity Fair.

When someone asked who designed her royal blue dress, the question was referred to the bodyguard. He didn’t know, which was not a surprise. A conference occurred on the red carpet. No definitive answer returned.

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Every Academy Award success story carries with it a tale of someone who’s been forgotten.

So let’s say I was a little astonished to find actor Quinton Aaron waiting for a car outside the Kodak Theatre after the Oscar show was over.

Who is Quinton Aaron? Well, while Sandra Bullock was accepting kudos for her Oscar for “The Blind Side,” someone obviously forgot that Quinton played real-life football player Michael Oher. Which is a little shocking: There would have been no “Blind Side” without him.

Aaron told me he received only one ticket to the Oscars — no date, no escort — and no ticket to the Governors Ball.

“I did get two tickets to the Vanity Fair party,” he said, “so I’m waiting for my date to come pick me up.”

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