Midday open thread

The New York Press had a reporter stalk Claire Danes and write an article about how easy it was. Feministe has details, and an email address in the event you think it’s as creepy as I do: editorial@nypress.com.

Katha Pollitt flays left-leaning pundits who have positive things to say about Mike Huckabee:

Is there some weird masochism operating here, whereby left-leaning men, weary of failure and scorn, roll over for rightwingers who smile and throw them a bone? Does the issue of abortion– which is a marker for a whole range of women’s issues–just not matter to them the way it does to women with the same politics? Are they so desperate for a candidate who uses the language of “economic populism,” –when he isn’t pushing regressive taxation– that they’ll overlook everything else? Which is more likely: a Republican president who limits women’s access to abortion, or a Republican president who limits laissez-faire capitalism? The question answers itself. I just wish more liberal male pundits were asking it.

Shorter Huckabee on Fox News Sunday: I didn’t say we should quarantine people with AIDS, I just thought it was a bad thing that we hadn’t done it. And I still agree with myself.

Meanwhile, on Meet the Press, Tim Russert actually did part of his job and asked Rudy Giuliani some tough questions. Tough enough, in fact, that this isn’t getting a lot of play:

Giuliani, who appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he did not believe homosexuality was aberrant. What is sinful are “the acts, not the orientation.”

Not that he’s in any position to judge other people’s relationships, but the distinction he draws does stand in direct contrast to his own orientation toward lying, cheating, scumbaggery. Which also leads to acts that could be deemed “sinful” if you happened to be pandering in a Republican primary.

In OH-05, the weather outside is frightful, and maybe the fire is delightful, but 30 degree temperatures, freezing rain, ice pellets and an ice storm warning haven’t kept the volunteers away. lpackard reports from the Weirauch campaign that the HQ is jammed with activists as they pick up their canvassing assignments and head out in to the ice to knock doors and talk with voters.

Four of the last five Britons held at Guantanamo will be freed, after the British government finally intervened with the Bush administration. However one will be sent to Saudi Arabia, where he may face arrest and torture. The last of the British detainees, Binyam al-Habashi, may face trial for statements extracted under torture.

Mr Stafford Smith said there was no evidence against Mr al-Habashi. “He was taken to Morocco and had a razorblade taken to his penis. Naturally, as any human being would do, he made statements saying whatever they wanted to hear.

CREW has a new report on massive waste and incompetence at the Department of Homeland Security, “Homeland Security for Sale – DHS: Five Years of Mismanagement”. Check out this new website for all things having to do with waste, fraud and abuse at DHS. (smintheus)