Play Time for Loons

Ah yes...fall is in the air. Leaves are changing up north, temperatures are falling into the upper 80s across South Florida, football season is kicking into second gear...

And the leftist loons from Latin America are running around New York City.

Consider the following nuggets uttered in recent days by Latin American lefty leaders:

(Daniel) Ortega, the head of the Marxist-leaning Sandinista party that ruled the country in the 1980s, acted as if the Cold War had never ended, telling the U.N. audience that the United States was the ``most gigantic and impressive dictatorship that has existed in the history of humanity.''

He met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for more than an hour, and the two parted with a warm embrace as cameras flashed. Afterward, Ortega told journalists his nation and Iran would form an unspecified ``front for the fight of peace.''

Image courtesy AP/David Karp

And this from our favorite Andean leader, Evo Morales:

Meanwhile (Evo) Morales, who is looking to build a reputation as a champion of indigenous rights, filled his four-day New York agenda with 21 appointments, including a Sunday soccer match against a team of Bolivian expatriates from Northern Virginia. He botched a penalty kick but his squad still won, 3-2.

On Monday he recounted his political career before an audience of nearly 1,000 that filled the Great Hall of The Cooper Union in Manhattan, which claims to be a birthplace of sorts for movements like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and The American Red Cross.

Morales was cheered when he touted his government's achievements, praised Cuban leader Fidel Castro and dubbed capitalism as ``the worst enemy of humanity.''

He suggested U.S. aid programs were undermining his government and drew chuckles from his audience as he narrated how he recently summoned the U.S. ambassador in Bolivia, Philip Goldberg, to a 5 a.m. meeting at the presidential palace

He peppered his comments with clever maxims, such as his teasing of a Cabinet minister for wearing a tie.

''I believe the tie separates the head from the heart,'' he said.

Last year, Morales made a splash when he brandished a coca leaf -- the raw material to make cocaine -- as he addressed the General Assembly as part of a campaign to decriminalize the plant that indigenous communities consider part of their traditions. This year he toned down his mentions of the coca leaf and addressed his bad-boy image.

''Please don't consider me the axis of evil,'' he joked with Jon Stewart.

That's OK Evo, we won't. You're the leader of the "axis of idiots".

Next time you hear someone from Central or South America complain about how the United States has ruined their region, think about the people leading several key countries in the region, then tell them what the real problem is.

Speaking of Jon Stewart, check out his interview with Evo on The Daily Show earlier this week. Stewart and his audience's fawning over Evo's remarks was embarrassing, not to mention sickening. But, should we be surprised?