The Scoop:  Jennifer Lopez was back on stage again.  This time it wasn't for an arena full of paid spectators screaming in excitement.  Instead, it was for a group of autistic students at their elementary school graduation. 

A paraprofessional who works with the eight 10 and 11 year-olds at PS 37 in Staten Island, New York showed the students a the video for Jennifer Lopez's hit Let's Get Loud and the students loved it so much they learned the dance from the video.  With the encouragement of their teacher, they wrote Jennifer Lopez a letter hoping they would get an autograph.  Instead, she showed up to perform at their graduation. 

Colleen says:  That's what I like to see, a celebrity using their powers for good and not evil.  I love Jenny from the block today!

The Scoop:  Ricki Lake responds to recent statements made by the AMA regarding her do****entary The Business of Being Born.  From the AP:

Ricki Lake is firing back at physicians groups that have singled her out for bringing attention to at-home childbirth.

The 39-year-old former talk-show host is named in a recent statement by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that says the home is not the safest setting for having a baby.

In her film "The Business of Being Born," a do****entary about the maternity care system that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Lake is shown giving birth in the bathtub of her Manhattan apartment to her second son Owen, who turns 7 on Wednesday.

The ACOG statement, supported in a resolution Tuesday by the American Medical Association, said, "There has been much attention in the media by celebrities having home deliveries," citing a "Today Show" headline that read "Ricki Lake takes on the baby birthing industry: Actress and former talk show host shares her at-home delivery in her new film."

"It's scary that both (the ACOG and the AMA) have sort of targeted me," Lake told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "And, you know, I'm all about choice. This is not unlike the abortion issue. I am pro-choice when it comes to childbirth and choices in birth. Home birth was around long before hospitals were taking over _ and I just think women need to know (the information) so that they can make the best choice for them."

The AMA resolves in the statement to support state legislation "that helps ensure safe deliveries and healthy babies by acknowledging that the safest setting" is a hospital, connected birthing center or other approved facility.

"There's a lot of provocative things that are said in the film," she said, "but I think it's very clear that we need doctors, we need the care and the technology that we have. But we also need to value the process of giving birth normally."

Lake said she had no problems delivering her oldest son Milo, 11, at the hospital, but "looking back on it, I felt that I did not necessarily need the intervention. I didn't need the (drug Pitocin, which induces labor). I just should have labored on my own."

The second time around, as long as her pregnancy continued to be low-risk, she decided to give birth at home.

"I was empowered, I was transformed and I would love for women to have had that opportunity _ to be an active participant in their own birth choices and birth experience," she said.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Colleen says:  Oh for goodness sake.  People are so sensitive. 

The AMA and the ACOG have every right to educate the public about the risks of home-birth.  They have a vested interest in making sure that people do the medically sound thing - it's kind of their job.  Ricki Lake has every right to make an informed decision that is counter to that based on her own beliefs.  Case closed. 

When I try to educate people about SIDS risk reduction (based on the fact that I am unfortunately an expert having graduated from the school of life) people argue with me believing that I am making a judgement.  For example, the new recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics is that babies sleep in a space of their own.  In other words, co-sleeping (where parents and children sleep together in an adult bed) has been linked to a higher rate of suffocation and entrapment in infants leading to death.  I am only presenting the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (a bunch of folks who I trust, who study this type of thing).  I always tell people that it's important to know this information and then to make your own decision taking into account both sides.  Research has also shown co-sleeping does wonderful things for parent child bonding.  See, no harm no foul.  I made the decision not to co-sleep based on my life experience, another may make another decision.  None of my business what they decide (that won't stop me from educating people on the front end though).

Informing about one aspect doesn't mean disapproving of the other.  This is the mistake we make as parents.  If someone says breast is best, we automatically assume that they believe that formula is evil.  If someone says hospital birth  is best, we automatically think they believe that home birth is irresponsible.  I wish we could all get comfortable with the concept of "best for me and my family."  I rehearse this line frequently, "we have made the decision ____ because it is what is best for our family."  It is right to be so protective of our children and the decisions we make in parenting them.  It's very important and personal work.  I just wish that we could unite a little more and divide a little less.  We're all in this together trying to figure out how to do it - and frankly, none of us has all the answers.  The research is there to inform the rest is up to us. 

I'll put my soapbox away now. 

NBC's Tim Russert of Meet the Press collapsed Friday afternoon in the NBC newsroom and died suddenly.  He was 58 years old and died of an apparent heart attack.

The Scoop:  In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, rocker Tommy Lee confirmed that his ex wife and on-again of****ain love Pamela Lee Anderson has moved in to his house with the couple's kids.  Lee says, "Pamela and the kids have moved in with me. It's awesome, man. It's definitely working. You can tell on the kids' faces - they're happy when we're together. We've only given it a try 800 times - 801, here we go."

Colleen says:  I'm holding my breath to see if how this one turns out.  I'm being sarcastic. 

I don't know if I think that it's great that they keep trying, or sad that it keeps not working out.  Having never known Tommy Lee or Pamela Lee Anderson Lee Rock Salomon, I am not comfortable making that judgement.  Only they know what's going on in their relationship. 

I'm just not going to get married to the idea of the two of them getting married, or staying married again.  I have so many other things to hang my hopes on - like Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo.

The Scoop:  From the AP -

Katherine Heigl won't be chewing her manicure at this year's Emmy ceremony: She says she didn't seek a nomination because "Grey's Anatomy" failed to deliver the goods for an award-worthy performance.

Heigl, who was honored as best supporting actress in a drama last year for the ABC series, declined to put her name in consideration for a bid, a spokeswoman for the actress said Wednesday.

"I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization" decided against competing, Heigl said in a written statement provided by her publicist, Melissa Kates, who was contacted by the AP.

"In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials," added Heigl. She plays Dr. Izzie Stevens on "Grey's Anatomy," which slipped in the ratings this past season but remained a top 10 show.

An after-hours message left with a publicist for "Grey's Anatomy" creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes was not immediately returned Wednesday night.

Heigl, who shot to box-office success last summer with the comedy "Knocked Up," has established herself as one of Hollywood's rare voices of candor.

In a Vanity Fair magazine interview published in January, she called the hit film "a little sexist" and said that it painted women as "shrews, as humorless and uptight," while the male characters were lovable and goofy.

Heigl also was outspoken when "Grey's" castmates Isaiah Washington and T.R. Knight clashed last year over Washington's alleged use of a ****phobic slur.

"I'm going to be really honest right now, he needs to just not speak in public. Period," Heigl said at one point of Washington, who ended up being booted from the medical drama.

Nominations for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced July 17. The ceremony is Sept. 21.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Colleen says:  To be fair, I may have just woken up on the wrong side of the bed - but this seriously irritates me.  First of all, for my vast knowlege of all things television and entertainment related, I guess I never understood that the actors essentially nominate themselves for consideration.  Nothing wrong with that... I just learned something new today, and that's always fun.

Now, on to Katherine Heigl.  As I said earlier, I may have just woken up on the wrong side of the bed - but she seems to be a champion at passing the buck, or throwing others under the bus, or shifting blame, or whatever you call it.  In any case, she doesn't really seem like a team player.  In my opinion, you can be privately upset by the awful material (and by the way, I agree with her that 'Greys' was pretty awful this year) that you're being given by your employer, but publicly I don't believe you should share that.  Because this is how it sounds,

"I am actually one of the best actresses in the history of acting.  However, the writers of the show that I am employed by are talentless and unable to give me appropriate material to flex my supreme acting muscle.  Did I mention that I'm an amazing actress?"

See, it's a little irritating.

Here's what we can all learn from this - she'd be a whole lot less irritating if she took some responsibility (even if she doesn't fully believe it to be true), "this just wasn't my year, I look forward to doing better next year."  (On that note, isn't the mark of a truly excellent actor the ability to take horrible material and still act the heck out of it?).  Responsiblity is the word of the day.  Blame placers usually end up sounding like complainers - and nobody likes to be that.