Rose Garden strategy

I didn't intend to take yesterday off but I also didn't expect such perfect weather. It was the kind of day you stay in New England for, even though you only get six of them a year. The air was crystal clear, the sun was just hot enough, peeking in and out of the big fat cumulus clouds that were lazily drifting across the brilliant blue sky. I spent the day outside and planted my garden.

I know you're thinking most people plant on Memorial Day. I do it on Independence Day because I don't know until then what perennials are going to make it. I fill in the empty spaces with annuals which if you'll excuse the expression, are now dirt cheap.

I have a party later so it's likely to be another light posting day, but fortunately Drug War Rant has covered the important stories already. Check out his post on Columbian currency where he has a still of a man trading cocaine base for groceries, from the National Geographic's flash movie, "Cocaine Country".

He also uncovered a positive government anti-drug ad campaign and covers a disturbing development in Florida where the local school board has approved the use of a chemical test designed to ferret out possible contact between hard surfaces such as desks and lockers or even clothing and drug users.

Don't even get me started on this one. The school (and the test makers) claim there is no chance of false positives due to secondary contact. Right. A school full of hundreds of children moving through a building and there's not one chance a drug user could contaminate the desk of an innocent student?

Not to mention, the atmosphere of suspicion this breeds. Are they guilty until proven innocent by the test? I mean what kind of learning environment is this? Are we teaching our children to be good citizens or model prisoners?