Who would ever think that smoking pot or snorting a line of blow would put more money into America's educational system?

I, for sure, was never one to make this connection. But, after seeing curious (mis)statements over the past month coming out of Washington, one could be forgiven for mistakenly believing this.

Just a little more than a week ago, Secretary of Education Rod Paige took it upon himself to steal the power of labeling groups as "terrorist." No longer would it be the State Department or the National Security Council designating these enemies of freedom.

Which diabolical organization must now change its ways or become a target of preemptive American might?

Surprise -- it's the National Education Association (NEA), the national teachers' union that has 2.7 million members. In a bipartisan White House meeting last week, Paige met with U.S. governors to discuss national education issues. When talk turned to the NEA's opposition to the "No Child Left Behind Program," Paige decided it appropriate to offer this: "The NEA is a terrorist organization." This comes after previously referring to the law's critics as "nihilists" and racists who opposed school desegregation.

Because of its opposition to President George W. Bush's signature "No Child Left Behind" education act that is short on funding for states, the NEA has -- like any opponents of the administration -- been slandered and had its patriotism questioned.

The thing is, though, I'm not taking issue with Paige having a low opinion of the group. While the union does have some legitimate gripes over national education policy, the NEA has been rather belligerent in its means. What really bothers me is that a cabinet-level administration official gets a relatively free pass (weak apology offered and very limited media coverage) from his bosses when the chief economist gets slammed by both parties and from above.

No longer shall the NEA be known by students only as an abbreviated clue that seems to pop up weekly in The Daily Collegian's crossword puzzle.

If you remember, Bush's chief economist, N. Gregory Mankiw, stated that "outsourcing" is "probably a plus for the economy in the long run." Forget that Alan Greenspan and many Democratic economists agree. Remember that teachers traditionally don't vote Republican, and neither will those voters who don't think the administration cares about their job losses.

That's right, there was more backpedaling from something the administration actually believes than from something it knows to be a lie.

Which raises another point: How much does this administration strive to craft its "message" for maximum effect?

I seem to remember the Office of National Drug Control Policy running ads at the Super Bowl two years ago and during regular television programming. Of course, there's the one commercial where two kids smoke themselves into playing with firearms that were somehow not stored in a place unavailable to children (it was a message about marijuana, not gun safety for those of us who may have been confused). We also saw the spot where a bunch of stoned teens in a drive-thru ran over a little girl on her bike, which will soon be the subject of a spoof on Dave Chapelle's show.

Anyone remember (actually, how could you forget?) the ones that went, "This is Dan. This is the joint that Dan bought. This is the dealer who sold the joint that Dan bought ... And this is the family that was lined up by Dan's cartel and shot for getting in the way."

This is the advertisement that states, "Drug money supports terrible things. If you buy drugs, you might, too."

Well, if it's going to be official policy of the Bush administration to engage in circular logic on issues such as war with Iraq or deficit spending, then two can play at that game.

So, let's start with the joint that you might be tempted to smoke after a tough midterm. After engaging in a capitalist transaction of goods and services, your money then filters its way to the big, bad cartel leader. For the sake of understanding this better, forget for a moment the simple economic truth that the big money involved is only so large because the prohibition drives up prices.

Anyway, who is this big, bad cartel leader? According to the White House, it's none other than Reg Weaver, leader of the NEA. But, instead of killing little kids, his group's members are just teaching them to be good students.

Hey, they might be good little terrorists now, but damnit, we have to reach the same reading and math level of other advanced countries. Maybe if he weren't afraid of the political repercussions, Bush wouldn't have taken so long to let the 9/11 commission continue its work. Maybe the commission would find it was really the NEA behind the attacks.

What it boils down to is, we really need to watch what we say. That is, think before speaking and understand that different people take things in different ways. I'm sure Paige didn't really mean to say that America's teachers are terrorists; but, it is what he said.

The idea that buying drugs enriches our nation's educators and lets them be better teachers is definitely preposterous. Yes, it doesn't make much sense.

But, hey, it seems to be this administration's policy.