Poppies - and I don't mean David Ortiz

MANIFESTO

While the chaos continues in Iraq these days, it's also disheartening to note how Afghanistan has retreated to the abyss. Specifically,

Afghanistan's annual opium crop is expected to rival last year's record yield to exceed a staggering 8,000 metric tons, or more than 90 percent of global production, according to a U.N. survey released in February, with the bulk being grown in Taliban strongholds.

The crop has become so important to Afghanistan that much of the country's violence can be ascribed to its harvest.

In their typical half fast way, the Bushies have tried to dovetail the war on drugs with the war on terror, and they're being routed in both.