It's not women who belong in the home, it's this guy

Well, in a home, anyway.

Okay. This is why religion should not mix with politics - and possibly why we should stop electing the very religious.

Also one reason why I hate the Mormons as a group (despite having a good friend who's both a bishop and very liberal):

The first thing Frederick County Commissioner Paul Smith does when explaining his controversial views about a woman's proper place is to hand out a pamphlet from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families," the pamphlet reads. "Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children."

In other words, just as he told a local TV station and intimated at a public hearing before voting to slash half the funding for the county's Head Start program, a woman's place is in the home.

Smith (R), a 60-year-old lawyer and devout Mormon, insists he wasn't trying to stir anything up in making his views public. "But I hit a hot button or something."

His wife wanted to stay home? Fine. But - if you'll excuse the figure of speech - goddammit. How dare he slash Head Start because of his religious notions? Does he plan to fund a program to pay single mothers to stay home instead of working? Oh, wait. No, he hates them. Maybe he'll fund a program to pay them to get married to guys with jobs...

I really, really wish the Mormons - and others - would just keep their religion inside their own homes. Bastards.