Justin Bieber & Taylor Lautner Get Slimed at 2012 KCA’s Bit.ly – Click to Subscribe! Facebook.com – Become a Fan! Twitter.com – Follow Us! Dana Ward and Joslyn Davis sit down to recap the highlights from the 2012 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. The two talk about Justin Bieber and Taylor Lautner being slimed, One Direction’s [...]

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President Barack Obama hosted the sixth North American Leaders’ Summit on Monday, welcoming Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the White House. They discussed economic, trade and energy issues and joint efforts against transnational drug gangs.    The last North American summit was in 2009, though the three men have met at the G8 and G20, and summits of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation). The U.S., Mexico and Canada are linked in the North American Free Trade Agreement signed in 1994.  Last year, total U.S. trade in goods with its two neighbors exceeded $1 trillion for the first time. President Obama noted that this supports about 2.5 million American jobs.  He said the leaders discussed ongoing steps to create economic opportunity, and increase exports. “We are doing everything we can to speed up the recovery and that includes boosting trade with our two largest economic partners.  As president, I have made it a priority to increase our exports and I am pleased that our exports to Canada and Mexico are growing faster than our exports to the rest of the world,” Obama said. Another major focus of the summit was the high stakes battle against trans-national drug and criminal organizations that are challenging governments in Mexico and Central America. The United States is providing $1.6 billion in aid to Mexico, where drug-related violence has left as many as 50,000 people dead since a government crackdown began in 2006.  U.S. aid to Central American nations exceeds $300 million. In translated remarks, President Calderon said he urged President Obama and Prime Minister Harper to continue their efforts against weapons trafficking and to reduce the demand for drugs. “The fight that Mexico is experiencing for a safer North America also requires a strengthening of national actions, among other things to stop the trafficking of weapons, to combat with greater strength money laundering, and of course to reduce the demand for drugs that strengthens criminal organizations,” Calderon said. President Obama said drug violence can undermine institutions in Mexico and elsewhere and praised the Mexican government’s response so far. “I think the Mexican government has taken this very seriously, at great cost to itself.  We have an obligation to take it just as seriously in part because we are the ultimate destination for a large chunk of this market,” Obama said. Prime Minister Harper said trans-national drug crime requires a unified response. “The security challenge, particularly around the drug trade, is a serious regional problem throughout our hemisphere,” Harper said. President Obama also reiterated his determination to achieve comprehensive reform of the U.S. immigration system.  Opposition from Republicans in the U.S. Congress has frustrated his efforts. The three leaders also discussed the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Canada and Mexico wish to join. Obama said each country in the group, and aspiring members, will have to make adjustments to maintain high standards. Monday’s summit was the last for Mr. Calderon, whose six-year term as president ends in November.  Mexico holds presidential elections on July 1. President Obama, who is running for a second term, said he looks forward to having an “excellent working relationship” with the next president of Mexico.

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One of the most closely-watched U.S. Supreme Court cases in years began Monday as oral arguments got under way in a legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s health care law – the signature achievement of his presidency so far. Analysts say the outcome of the case likely will affect this year’s presidential election as well as the scope and cost of health care coverage in the United States for decades to come. The health care case drew scores of demonstrators to the Supreme Court steps, both in favor of and opposed to the law. At times, impromptu debates broke out between the two sides, but the scene remained civil and peaceful. Ed Hale is among those supporting the health care reform act. He said “it is unfortunate it was passed during the ‘great recession.’” “It puts people in a foul mood. “But there is a 100-year struggle to pass this sort of law, and it is time to do it. It is time to join the rest of the world.” A woman named Daveta, wearing a union T-shirt, also supports the law because it extends health care coverage to millions of people who cannot afford health insurance. “Because we all need health care. And you know, it is not so much those that have it, but those who don’t have it, Daveta said. “I’m out here because I got it and it’s good but I’m [also] out here for those who don’t have it.” Related video report by Carolyn Presutti: But there were plenty of protestors against the law, including Ken Campbell, a California dentist. He objects to a part of the law that requires everyone to buy some form of health insurance coverage by 2014 or face a penalty.“ These bureaucrats in Washington, they do not know the name of my family,” said Campbell. “They do not know the names of my kids. They do not need to be telling my family what I need to buy and what I need to do.  They need to get out of my life.” Campbell is active in a Tea Party group, as is Amy Brighton, another opponent of the Obama law from Ohio. “This bill is unconstitutional as it stands. We are not against health care reform,” Brighton said. “We are just against this current law.” The Supreme Court of the United States will hear 5 1/2 hours of oral arguments over three days, an unprecedented amount of time devoted to a single case. Supporters say the health care law will expand coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and lower health care costs in the long-term. Opponents say health care costs will soar under the law and that the quality of care will suffer. At the heart of the case is whether a majority of the nine justices on the high court will side with the Obama administration and uphold the law or take the view of opponents who argue that it is an unconstitutional intrusion of the central government into the lives of American citizens. How the court rules by the end of June could have a major impact on this year’s U.S. presidential election. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum took the unusual step of speaking to reporters in front of the Supreme Court to repeat a pledge that he will repeal the law if he is elected president. “If we run this campaign, which I will, on ‘Obamacare’ and we make this the central issue in the campaign and we are successful, there is no doubt that ‘Obamacare’ will be repealed in one form or another,” Santorum said. Lower courts have had split decisions on legal challenges to the law, prompting the Supreme Court to take up the case and make a final judgment. Public opinion surveys show that Americans remain sharply divided over the health care law – two years after its passage by Democrats in Congress. Opposition to the law gave birth to the conservative and libertarian Tea Party movement, which, in turn, helped Republicans retake control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 congressional elections.

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