Got bad kids? No problem. Send them into the desert to die. That’s right, youth boot camps are hot this week! MORE »

The Government Accountability Office finally proved what we suspected all along: Those comical anti-drug commercials — which cost $1.2 billion in taxpayer money — just make kids want to smoke a bowl. According to the (PDF) report:

The evaluation provides credible evidence that the campaign was not effective in reducing youth drug use, either during the entire period of the campaign [1998 to 2004] or during the period from 2002 to 2004 when the campaign was redirected and focused on marijuana use.

Notes anti-drug-war warrior Jacob Sullum, “In fact, during some periods and for some subgroups, exposure to the ads was significantly associated with an increased tendency to smoke pot.” MORE »

• Democrats seen to have a better chance to gain governorships than Congress. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.): “The math is not in our favor this cycle.” Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.): “If we’re going to win in ‘08, strengthening the Democratic party shouldn’t be through Washington, but through the states.” [WSJ]
• GAO finds government credit cards were misused and overcharged in the wake of Katrina. [WP]
• White House press briefings will be held across the street for at least seven months while the briefing room is renovated. [WP]
• Both parties are increasingly running minority candidates. [USAT]
• Adam Kidan takes responsibility for dealings with Jack Abramoff; says he was not duped: “I wish I had never met Jack.” [LAT]
• Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid made up nearly half of the total 2004 budget. [USAT]
• South Dakota tests the boundaries of abortion restrictions. [WP]
• Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) likes ruffling GOP feathers over immigration: “Party I couldn’t care less about. If it gets hurt by this, it deserves to be hurt.” [LAT]
• Military contractors are grinding for a “flattening of the defense budget.” [NYT]
• Administration supports Anna Nicole Smith in Supreme Court case. [WT]

We read today that the GAO has found the FDA’s review of the proposal to distribute the Plan B “morning-after pill” without a prescription “unusual.” What struck us: FDA staff was told by senior officials that the application “was to be rejected before the staff completed its scientific review and months before the decision was made public.” Burying the lead here — forget about Plan B, what are the FDA officials taking that makes them psychic?! We want a prescription for that. It would eliminate the need for Plan B, if nothing else… “Man, if I had known he was going to get me knocked up, I totally wouldn’t have had those last two Zimas”! MORE »