There seems to be something notably off about our country's anti-poverty initiatives. First, Clinton stuck it to those mythical welfare queens, and now Bush has come along with his marriage initiatives.

Such initiatives are meant to stem all the horrible economic and social outcomes that result from people having out-of-wedlock children. What gets me is that it seems like it would be a lot easier to attack the "children" part of that equation, rather than the "wedlock" part. After all, marriage is a notoriously difficult and constantly shifting relationship, but not having kids is just better living through chemistry.

However, our nation's pharmaceutical fatcats are turning the tables. Marriage will soon start looking like a cheap and easy way to build some stability into your life now that our nation's largest supplier of birth control pills has jacked its prices for family planning clinics. I love the idea of telling your kid (just before you bundle her off to the orphanarium) that she wasn't an "oops" -- she was an economic side effect. Mommy couldn't afford the pill -- and now she can't afford you!