The Doctor Is In

President Bush has committed $500 million to his "Healthy Marriage Initiative", which helps "couples who choose marriage for themselves gain greater access, on a voluntary basis, to services where they can develop the skills and knowledge necessary to form and sustain a healthy marriage."

But it turns out that some of these "services" are (surprise!) religious-based organizations that equate "healthy" marriages with ones in which wives stay home and offer helpful advice to their overworked spouses:

"The married man won't go to work hung over, exhausted or tardy because of fewer bachelor habits, and because he eats better and sees the doctor sooner, thanks to his wife. She is also a good adviser on career decisions, and relieves him of chores, so he can do a better job."

In the meantime, the administration is cutting funding for programs that help women break into non-traditional fields of work with much higher rates of pay than the usual "pink collar" jobs. It seems that a healthily-married woman is a dependent one. Or a poor one, anyway.