Singer/songwriter David ippolito here! (Yeah, go ahead - Google me.)

Y'know, man! I haven't had so much as a beer in 13 years. I live a good, good life and have fun, amazing, creative and caring people all around me. I love making music and writing songs... all kinds of songs about all kinds of stuff. I love laughing and I love being alive. I'm a very lucky man. I love my life. Still, ahhh... Y'know? Every once in a while I get a hankerin' for a little heroin.

Hmmm. Think heroin is a good thing? Maybe we can all get together and head to Afghanistan.

Yeah... Afghanistan... a little field trip.

Why not!? It's THE place to go for opium, now... thanks to the fact that after deposing the Taliban, the Bush administration turned their backs on Afghanistan to wage this stupid, immoral and ill-timed war in Iraq. (Oh, you won't get this on Fox News or CNN... it's not as important as the Monday Night Football story.) But, Afghanistan is the place to go for heroin! Thanks, George!

Oh sure, the Taliban is still there and gaining power. Oh sure, Osama Bin Laden is probably still operating out of the mountain region bordering Pakistan. Oh sure, women are still being imprisoned, beaten and killed for disobeying their husbands.

But, the real BIG news for drug addicts everywhere is that, thanks to Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Bush, Afghanistan is on its way to becoming a "narco-state" as U.S. and NATO-led forces in the country have completely dropped the ball in fighting the drug trade as well as terrorists, according to a U.N. report released today.

Calling it a "...historical error to abandon Afghanistan to opium, right after we reclaimed it from the Taliban and al-Qaida," Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime released these facts.

The agency found that this year's cultivation of opium - the raw material for heroin - was up by nearly two-thirds. (Bad weather and disease kept production from setting a NEW record.) Awww. But, Afghanistan still accounted for 87% of WORLD supply... up from 76% in 2003.

87%

Pretty good for a country where... um... "freedom is on the march!" (What he meant to say was, "Heroin is on the march.")

Opium is now the "main engine of economic growth and the strongest bond among previously quarrelsome peoples," according to the report. It valued the trade at $2.8 billion, or more than 60 percent of Afghanistan's 2003 gross domestic product.

It's the "Common Ground" that is uniting the Taliban and all the otherwise-rival warlords. (See? Bush IS a uniter after all!)

Calling the problem too big for the weak Afghan government to tackle alone, Costa said U.S.- and NATO-led forces should participate in military operations against drug labs and convoys of traffickers. NATO has said it recognizes the seriousness of the problem but had no immediate comment. George W. Bush has said... um... nothing. (Probably waiting for the next good line to be written for him like, "It's hard work.")

"The fear that Afghanistan might degenerate into a narco-state is slowly becoming a reality," Mr. Costa said in the report. "Opium cultivation, which has spread like wildfire throughout the country, could ultimately incinerate everything: democracy, reconstruction and stability."

The Afghanistan Opium Survey 2004 found cultivation rose 64% over 2003, with 323,701 acres dedicated to the poppies that produce opium. That set a double record, Costa said: "the highest drug cultivation in the country's history, and the largest in the world." Wooo-hooo!

Up 64% in the last year... the past 12 months... the same year that has seen 855 American men and women killed in... uh... Iraq.

855 killed in IRAQ in the last 12 months.

(94 more since this month of November began.)

Hey kids, I'm sorry... tell your neighbors who voted for George W. Bush... they OWN this.

Me... I did everything I could and I will continue to hold these people accountable for the lies and the mess they are making of the world in our name.

On November 2nd, I did what I could to stop them from doing any more harm. And, so did 8 out of 10 people here in New York City. So, did nearly half the people in this country.

Me?

I like the company.