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Since Neal's not here today, (he and Royal are taking a day of vacation to play in a charity golf tournament), he's decided to hand over the reins to his staff. So here are some thoughts from associate producer Cristina "Precious" "Pumpkin" Gonzalez...

Latin America is a region that has largely been ignored by Washington for quite some time. Bill Clinton wasn't all that popular with our neighbors to the south. And while there was a glimmer of hope for George Bush, September 11th pretty much changed everything .. including a focus on rebuilding relations with Latin America. And when it comes to Barack Obama, they are hoping to capitalize on his star-power, play into his leftist sympathies, and emphasize his weakness on the world stage. This is the America they have been waiting for.

This recent gathering of 34 nations of the Americas turned into nothing short of a Latin American bitch-fest. Sorry. There is no other way to say it. And Barack Obama just sat there and took it. Let's do a little recap of Obama's visit to the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago:

-The first leftist thug up to bat was the president of Bolivia Evo Morales. He took this occasion to accuse the United States of orchestrating a plot to assassinate him. That's always a good way to start things off ... being put on the defensive by an anti-capitalist, radical socialist. We are talking about a man whose first order of business was to hang a portrait of Che Guevara in his presidential suite. Seriously.

-It wouldn't be a socialist slug-fest without Hugo the Horrible. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez had two magical moments with Obama. The first would be the infamous hand shake. Did you see the pictures? It was more the handshake between two pals about to play a backyard game of basketball, rather than an exchange between two radically differing nations. I mean, where do you start with this thug? Just a few months ago, he called Barack Obama an ignoramus. A few years ago, he called President Bush "the devil." We are talking about a guy who believes there is more democracy in Cuba than there is in the United States. (Even though the US technically isn't a democracy .. but you catch my drift.) Not to mention his shenanigans with Russia and Iran. Oh and then there is the tiny fact that he has nationalized virtually every industry in his country. But hey, if Barack Obama wants to pal around with Hugo like they are new-found friends .. I just hope he realizes the message he is sending around the world. At least he didn't bow to the guy like he did just a few weeks ago with the King of Saudi Arabia. But are you starting to see the picture here? Just think about the messages Obama has sent within the past few weeks .. how do you think he is making America look on the world stage?

-And since Obama and Hugo are now buds, Chavez decided that he wanted to present Obama with a token of his love. He couldn't have waited until after the summit. Or sent it with a Christmas card. Sitting at the table during talks, Chavez thought that it would be a great time to walk over and publically present Obama with a copy of Eduardo Galeano's The Open Veins of Latin America; Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. This is the Latin American Bible explaining why capitalism and countries, like the United States, are responsible for the state of Latin America. Clearly, this was a symbolic move to undermine the president and the United States. How can Hugo get away with this? Because he knows that Obama won't do a darn thing about it. Hugo knows he can impress his tyrant friends by pulling a little stunt like this. Hugo and Fidel and Putin had a conference call later that day where they sat around smoking cigars and snickering.

-Perhaps the most embarrassing moment was the 50-minute diatribe Obama endured from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Do the Sandinistas and the Contras ring a bell? Yep .. he's baaaack. Ortega was re-elected in 2006, and he took this opportunity to get a few things off his chest. I can sum it up for you pretty quickly: capitalism is evil and the US is responsible for the plight of the Americas. He used phrases like "terroristic US aggression" and "suffocating US economic policies." He describes Cuba as a country "whose crime has been that of fighting for independence, fighting for sovereignty of the peoples." And rather than stand up for his country, Obama simply thanked Ortega for not blaming him personally for things that happened when Obama was young. That's it?? Poor Ronald Reagan is rolling in his grave.

So what can we conclude from all of this? This was nothing more than a political photo-op for Latin American leaders, and a chance for them to roast America for their perceived history of neglect and abuse. I say photo-op because Barack Obama is extremely popular with the Latin American people. That's why these Latin American leaders made a point to deride America, but not Obama .. they know that having Obama on their side will only boost their own popularity. He is a pawn, folks. He is being used to boost personal popularity. Meanwhile, Obama's "listen and learn" approach gives them the luxury to hate on America in a way that makes them look stronger and America weaker.

More thoughts from associate producer Cristina "Precious" "Pumpkin" Gonzalez...

There seemed to be one giant Communist elephant in the room during this summit .. the fact that Cuba was not participating. While the topic of US-Cuban relations was not even on the agenda, Latin American leaders made it a point to go there anyway. And their position was clear: America needs to lift the embargo.

I've got bad news for Latin America .. you aren't going to get what you want. Look, I will be the first to tell you that our relationship with Cuba needs to change. I'll spare you the arduous details right now, but there are 500 steps that come before an all out lifting of the embargo. What you need to remember is that Cuba is a communist nation. That sounds like a plebian statement, but it really does change the playing field. You are dealing with a country that owns the means of production. Thus, any change in economic policy only further legitimizes and helps the Cuban government, not the Cuban people. As of right now, almost every Cuban works for the government. They earn a whopping $19.70 a month. Even if you open up trade, what makes you believe that these living standards are going to change under a Communist regime? The answer is that they are not. That is why we have a long long way to go before lifting the embargo is even possible.

Take for instance the few steps Obama has taken just within the last week. He lifted all travel limits for Cuban-Americans to Cuba. He also ended restrictions on how much money Cuban- Americans can send family members in Cuba. On the surface, sounds great. Right? Did you also know that when money is wired to relatives in Cuba, the Cuban government gets a 20% cut of that money? This is a huge boost to the Cuban economy. Get this .. in 2007 the amount of cash sent to Cuba was equal to 42% of the island's tourism income and 4.7 times more than its sugar exports.

Luckily, Raul Castro says that he is willing to discuss "everything" with Barack Obama including human rights, political prisoners and freedom of the press. That doesn't mean that he will end oppression of the Cuban people who are treated as second-class citizens compared to foreigners. That doesn't mean he will release librarians and journalists and political dissidents whom are currently held as political prisoners. That doesn't mean that he is going to allow Cubans to own their own businesses. Foreigners are a different story - but, again, their investments benefit the government of Cuba .. not the people.

While Raul promises to "discuss," he has done quite a good job of consolidating his own power, purging his government of younger people who would be more sympathetic to the idea of a democratic transition. He has replaced them with generals from the armed forces who have been ordered to implement new laws to "perfect business." On the surface, it seems promising because this includes the adoption of capitalist management, but there is one gaping hole: privatization. The Cuban people will not benefit from seemingly capitalistic changes.

Overwhelmed? Yeah, there's a lot to chew on here. You can probably tell that as a first generation Cuban-American, this hits close to home. (Don't tell Neal that I used a hyphenated Americanism!) But what we have learned from Obama's summit in Trinidad is that he really has no clue what is going on. He may be Latin America's star pupil because of his willingness to "listen and learn," but are these dictators and leftists really the people Obama needs to be learning from?

The answer is a resounding no.

You are going to get a big kick out of this column from the San Francisco Chronicle. The columnist is upset that "progressives" don't have a voice like that of the evil, hate-filled, right-wing talk radio!

How important are the first 100 days of a presidency .. and who in the Obama White House is making sure he makes his mark?

North Korea is holding two American journalists and is considering sentencing them to ten years in jail. You ask what they have done to end up in prison? That's not really an issue for countries like North Korea.

Henry Waxman is being stubborn and insisting on a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases over the next decade. Need we remind you that this has absolutely nothing to do with global warming?

According to our federal government's clean air laws, carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases officially "endanger public health and welfare." The far-reaching implications of this is huge, folks. A naturally occurring and essential gas in our atmosphere is endangering our health. This is about money. Watch.

In the wake of the DHS memo on all of us right-wing extremists ... we now come to find that veterans, white supremacists and "militia/sovereign-citizen extremist groups" have been under FBI investigation for months.

Speaking of that DHS report, Janet Napolitano just keeps digging herself into a deeper hole by trying to justify and explain the report. Here's the latest on what she has to say about veterans.

Barack Obama is going to join the push "to stop the marketing of credit in ways that addicts people to it." Yeah, because it is all the credit card companies fault and not the fault of the people who spend beyond their means. Besides .. now the government is in charge of all bank marketing practices.

Congress is reconvening, and at the top of their list of issues to tackle is government healthcare. Here's where we currently stand on this debate.

This is how Obama's Chief of staff Rahm Emanuel describes the Republican Party: "When you're the party of no, when you're the party of never, when you're the party of no new ideas, that's not constructive."

Obama administration officials just can't seem to understand why tea party protesters are so upset .. after all, "Obama just cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people." Are you buying this, folks? Axelrod says the tea parties are "unhealthy."

Does Barack Obama have anything to do with the sudden decline in the amount of Americans who believe in this manmade global warming hoax?

For any of you who are familiar with the asinine amount of pork Jack Murtha is capable of bringing back to his district .. this story about the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport shouldn't surprise you one bit.

And now for a look at the best US cities for jobs in this economy.