Unamused Observer buzzed up: Dems look to health vote without abortion foes (AP)

9 seconds ago 2010-03-11T15:21:03-08:00

Sahara buzzed up: Obama gives away $1.4M Nobel prize (AP)

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Sahara buzzed up: Obama gives away $1.4M Nobel prize (AP)

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Anonymous J buzzed up: 2-second video causes headache for ABC News (AP)

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WASHINGTON – Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Elizabeth Dole welcomed 250 veterans to the World War II memorial Thursday to honor their service and introduce a TV miniseries on the battles of the Pacific.

HBO and a nonprofit group brought the veterans to Washington to mark the premiere of a 10-part series called “The Pacific.” It begins Sunday and focuses on the lives of U.S. Marines fighting the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The project follows the “Band of Brothers” series in 2001, which focused on the war in Europe.

“We did it because all of you are the greatest stories ever told,” Spielberg told the veterans. Such movies and TV series are critical, he said, because “with each passing generation, more and more people are forgetting about World War II.”

Hanks said ordinary Americans hate going to war, but they made the difference in World War II.

“You defined peace with these four words: The Americans are here,” he told the veterans.

A decade earlier, Hanks raised money to build the memorial on the National Mall. It opened in 2004 and features pillars for the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war.

Fred Rose, 87, of Barberton, Ohio, made his first visit to the granite memorial for the event. He said the monument was “wonderful” and nearly cried after hearing accolades from Spielberg, Hanks and others.

At one point in the war, Rose’s tank was sunk in the first wave of an attack, and the young soldier lost his helmet and other equipment.

“My buddies got killed,” he said. “But I got out. I don’t know how. … I must have had a guardian angel.”

Dole stood in for her husband, former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, a World War II veteran hospitalized with pneumonia. She saluted the work of the Honor Flight Network, which brings World War II veterans to Washington to see the memorial built in their honor.

LOS ANGELES – Michael “Big Mike” Lynche made Kara DioGuardi cry and turned the rest of the “American Idol” judges giddy with a moving performance of “This Woman’s Work.”

Lynche, a mountain of a guy who lives up to his nickname, performed last among the eight male semifinalists Wednesday and emerged as the star of the Fox TV show.

“You come out with an incredibly difficult song to sing, and you 100 percent nailed it,” said Simon Cowell. “Not just the best performance of the night, it was the best performance of all these live shows so far.”

The eight female semifinalists performed Tuesday, with the top six vote-getters from the men’s and women’s groups to be announced Thursday.

Lynche, 26, of Astoria, N.Y., moved impressively from a quiet falsetto start to a booming finale, but it was as much the story behind the song as his range that touched DioGuardi. Lynche’s wife had a baby girl while he was in Los Angeles making the cut for “Idol.”

“It’s amazing. You were amazing,” DioGuardi said. “It’s your life right now, it’s your respect for your wife, what you’ve gone through. … It brought me to tears.”

The other contestants, who may have been glad they didn’t have to follow Lynche, picked up a mixture of praise and criticism.

Andrew Garcia, 24, Moreno Valley, Calif., had the roughest night, with his performance of “Genie in a Bottle” deemed pitchy by Jackson and dismissed by Cowell as “a little bit desperate.”

Casey James, 27, of Fort Worth, Texas, did better with “You’ll Think of Me,” which Ellen DeGeneres and Cowell said sounded “great” but struck Jackson as a safe choice.

Tim Urban scored with his version of “Hallelujah,” which is becoming an “American Idol” standard.

DeGeneres, noting she has been critical of the 20-year-old from Duncanville, Texas, jumped on the stage to give him a congratulatory hug and called his rendition “fantastic.”

“Todrick’s back!” was Jackson’s response to Todrick Hall’s performance of “Somebody to Love,” while Cowell said it was a mixed performance but may have saved Hall, 24, of Arlington, Texas, from elimination.

Alex Lambert’s version of “Trouble” drew mostly favorable critiques, including a highly creative offering from DeGeneres.

“You’re becoming a mushy banana. You’re ripening so fast,” she said. Translation: The 19-year-old from North Richland Hills, Texas, is getting better and better.

Aaron Kelley, with “I’m Already There,” showed he has the “makings of a great,” Jackson said, and Cowell lauded his emotional delivery — while dismissing DioGuardi’s contention the song about a man away from his family was too old for the 16-year-old from Sonestown, Pa.

Lee Dewyze, 23, of Mount Prospect, Ill., showed “there’s a star bubbling there” with his version of “Fireflies,” said DioGuardi, while Cowell said he was better than the performance but had a “great chance” of making the top 12.

If not, DeGeneres could set him up on a date as a consolation prize: She’s heard from several people with crushes on him, she said.

___

Fox is a unit of News Corp.

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On the Net:

http://www.americanidol.com

LOS ANGELES – Corey Haim’s story is sadly familiar in Hollywood: A teen talent who discovered drugs as he tasted his first success and whose personal problems increased as his star-power faded.

Haim died Wednesday at 38, another chapter in Hollywood’s tragic history of careers ravaged by drugs.

Brittany Murphy’s career was rebounding when she died at 31 in December from pneumonia and prescription drugs.

River Phoenix was 16 when he starred in “Stand By Me” and 23 when he died of a drug overdose outside a Hollywood nightclub.

Haim died at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, His mother called paramedics after he collapsed while getting out of bed at his apartment.

Haim started working in TV commercials at 10 and was a big-screen heartthrob at 15. The star of 1987’s “The Lost Boys” discovered drugs while making that movie.

“I was working on ‘Lost Boys’ when I smoked my first joint,” he told the British tabloid The Sun in 1994. “I did cocaine for about a year and a half, then it led to crack.”

Haim said he went into rehab and was put on prescription drugs. In 2007, he told ABC’s “Nightline” that drugs hurt his career.

“I wasn’t functional enough to work for anybody, even myself,” he said. “I wasn’t working.”

Haim had returned to the spotlight in recent years, appearing in the A&E reality TV show “The Two Coreys” with “Lost Boys” co-star Corey Feldman. The show was canceled in 2008 after two seasons. Feldman later said Haim’s drug abuse strained their working and personal relationships.

Haim was ill with flulike symptoms before his death, and police said he was taking over-the-counter and prescription medications.

An autopsy will determine his cause of death. There was no evidence of foul play.

“He could have succumbed to whatever (illness) he had or it could have been drugs,” police Sgt. William Mann said. “He has had a drug problem in the past.”

Feldman said he wept when he learned Haim had died.

“This is a tragic loss of a wonderful, beautiful, tormented soul, who will always be my brother, family, and best friend,” Feldman said in a statement.

Troy Searer, an executive producer of “The Two Coreys,” said Haim’s “heart and his potential were only outmatched by his demons.”

Dr. Drew Pinsky, an addiction-medicine specialist and star of VH1’s drug-treatment reality programs “Celebrity Rehab” and “Sober House,” said the lure of Hollywood attracts many potential addicts.

“There’s a higher incidence of addiction among celebrities,” he said. “It’s not the Hollywood-ness. It’s the fact that addicts show up in Hollywood and addicts are likely to die.”

Pinsky added: “Young Hollywood only reflects what’s going on in the culture at large.”

Jennifer Gimenez, an actress and recovering drug addict and alcoholic who appears on “Sober House,” said Hollywood’s ultra-competitive environment can lead some people to seek escape in substances.

“I don’t feel like Hollywood takes you down,” she said. “I just feel like it co-signs it a lot.”

Gimenez found success at 14 as a model and suddenly had to shoulder adult-sized responsibilities. Add the pressure of working in a competitive industry, and a person predisposed to addiction succumbs, she said.

Successful actors are not immune to the dangers of addiction. Heath Ledger was poised for superstardom when he overdosed in 2008 at age 28. He posthumously won the Oscar the following year for his work as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.”

Haim’s career outlook had been improving in recent months, and his neighbors told reporters the actor was looking healthier and getting stronger.

He had a role in the 2009 Jason Statham action flick “Crank 2: High Voltage” and was making appearances to support his new film “American Sunset,” billed on his Web site as the first film he had starred in “since he left the business on a sabbatical.”

Haim’s agent Mark Sterling and producers of “American Sunset” did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

Searer said he last spoke to Haim about six months ago, when the actor “seemed incredibly positive.”

“He had done a few smaller films and things seemed to be on the upswing for him,” Searer said.

Haim, however, seemed sadly prophetic when he was interviewed by CNN’s Larry King in 2007, calling himself “a chronic relapser for the rest of my life.”

CONWAY TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Last week, Sarah Killen had three Twitter followers.

This week, she has 20,000 — as well as a new iMac computer and offers to help pay for a dress and drinks for her wedding.

The unsuspecting rural Michigan woman has one out-of-work late-night talk show host to thank for her newfound online popularity — Conan O’Brien.

O’Brien decided last week to pick Killen as the only person he would follow on Twitter, turning the 19-year-old’s life upside down.

The deposed “Tonight Show” star whose exit deal with NBC barred him from TV appearances for several months, has taken to Twitter to reach the masses during his exile and has amassed more than a half-million followers.

But up until Friday, O’Brien had steadily increased his number of Twitter devotees without following the feeds of anybody else.

Enter Killen, who is finishing up her high school requirements, preparing to make the jump to college and getting married in September.

“I’ve decided to follow someone at random,” O’Brien’s posting read at 3:55 p.m. on Friday. “She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change.”

Boy, did it ever.

Immediately after O’Brien started following her, Killen — whose Twitter handle is “LovelyButton” — picked up followers at a rate of 150 per minute.

Then came the calls: Family, friends (actual and long-lost) and interview requests from Web sites, TV shows and radio stations.

She sleeps a few hours each night, has fallen woefully behind on her schoolwork and day-to-day activities such as laundry and rarely leaves the house.

“It’s totally nuts,” she said.

Until O’Brien plucked Killen from obscurity and turned her into an overnight Web celeb, she and fiance John Slowik Jr. lived a normal life, residing in the basement of a house in Conway Township, more than an hour’s drive west from Detroit.

It’s hard to say exactly what O’Brien’s motivation was — O’Brien spokesman Beau Benton had no comment on Wednesday — but it’s had a profound effect on Killen and her 21-year-old fiance.

The exposure has resulted in a brand-new iMac, which was bought for them by a Florida businessman.

A New York designer is donating a wedding dress, and someone else is sending wine for the nuptials.

Not bad for a couple who saved $30 for the wedding, hadn’t reserved a location and faced the prospect of not being able to afford a wedding dress.

“People are saying that I’m asking for gifts and stuff, and I’m not,” Killen said.

What she is asking of her newfound army of Twitter followers is to contribute to charity, including the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

Still, Slowik says he’d love one more thing from the man who used to make them laugh nightly during his abbreviated “Tonight Show” run.

Slowik wants O’Brien to be his best man at the wedding.

Will he do it?

“I would hope so,” Killen said.

LOS ANGELES – Corey Haim, a 1980s teen heartthrob whose career was blighted by drug abuse, has died. He was 38.

Haim died early Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Los Angeles County coroner’s Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said.

“As he got out of bed, he felt a little weak and went down to the floor on his knees,” Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said. His mother called paramedics.

An autopsy will determine cause of death. There was no evidence of foul play, police Sgt. Michael Kammert said.

Haim, who gained attention for roles in “Lucas” and “The Lost Boys,” had flulike symptoms before he died and was getting over-the-counter and prescription medications, police Sgt. William Mann said.

“He could have succumbed to whatever (illness) he had or it could have been drugs,” Mann said. “He has had a drug problem in the past.”

Haim was taken by ambulance to the hospital from an apartment in Los Angeles near Burbank.

His friend, Corey Feldman, said he wept when he heard the news.

“This is a tragic loss of a wonderful, beautiful, tormented soul, who will always be my brother, family and best friend,” he said in a statement. “We must all take this as a lesson in how we treat the people we share this world with while they are still here to make a difference.

“I hope the art Corey has left behind will be remembered as the passion of that for which he truly lived,” Feldman said.

Haim acknowledged his struggle with drug abuse to a British tabloid in 2004.

“I was working on ‘Lost Boys’ when I smoked my first joint,” he told The Sun. “I did cocaine for about a year and a half, then it led to crack.”

Haim said he went into rehabilitation and was put on prescription drugs. He took stimulants and sedatives.

“I started on the downers, which were a hell of a lot better than the uppers because I was a nervous wreck,” he said.

In 2007, he told ABC’s “Nightline” that drugs hurt his career.

“I wasn’t functional enough to work for anybody, even myself. I wasn’t working,” he said.

The Toronto-born actor got his start in television commercials at 10 and developed a good reputation for his work in such films as 1985’s “Murphy’s Romance” and his portrayal of Liza Minnelli’s dying son in the 1985 television film “A Time to Live.”

His career peaked when he became a heartthrob with his roles in the 1986 movie “Lucas” and “The Lost Boys” in 1987 in which he battled vampires.

In later years, he made a few TV appearances and had several direct-to-video movies. He also had a handful of recent movies that have not yet been released.

In 1997, Haim filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing debts for medical expenses and more than $200,000 in state and federal taxes.

His assets included a few thousand dollars in cash, clothing and royalty rights.

In recent years, he appeared in the A&E reality TV show “The Two Coreys” with Feldman. It was canceled in 2008 after two seasons. Feldman later said Haim’s drug abuse strained their working and personal relationships.

In a 2007 interview on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Haim called himself “a chronic relapser for the rest of my life.”

Jonnypro buzzed up: Obama decries waste, fraud in gov’t health system (AP)

16 seconds ago 2010-03-10T15:13:46-08:00