Amanda Marcotte's crusade against stovetops continues apace. TIME magazine's Belinda Luscombe today picked up the baton from the Slate writer, grousing about how "We Need to Stop Guilting Parents into Cooking Dinner."

While less strident in tone than the ever-joyless Ms. Marcotte, Luscombe nevertheless has a flair for the melodramatic as she shares her annoyance at the prep time and serial ingratitude she gets for her culinary efforts.

In Time’s “Ten Questions” interview in the September 23 edition, Time editor-at-large Belinda Luscombe asked Hugh Jackman about his new movie “Prisoners,” in which “Your character tortures a guy to try to find his kidnapped daughter.” Luscombe asked if this instinct kicks when his children are faced with the paparazzi.

Then Belinda – like Jackman, a native of Australia – went geopolitical and suggested this freaked-out-daddy torturer character is an appropriate metaphor for the United States: 

When Time's Belinda Luscombe asked "Ten Questions" of actress Sigourney Weaver, it became clear they were going to discuss liberal activism as well as her Hillary-clone role on USA's Political Animals miniseries.

It started with this: "Which Secretary of State do you think would make the best actor?" Weaver replied: "Probably all of them. I think James Baker is a very interesting character. I'd rather see him as an actor than as Secretary of State." Then they turned to the Vietnam era: 

Time magazine offered its "Ten Questions" interview to Chicago Mayor (and former Obama chief of staff) Rahm Emanuel, but Time's Belinda Luscombe largely stuck to light, airy questions like when the mayor talked of getting ideas on his swim, she asked, "Are you a Speedo or board-shorts kind of guy?" She also asked if he gets more sleep now, which kid was the favorite in his house growing up, and "Do you miss Oprah?"

Somehow, there wasn't space in Time for questions about Obama scandals like Solyndra or Fast and Furious, and when it briefly turned serious about national policy, Time pestered from the left about how Emanuel wasted that economic crisis he talked about:

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1920291-1,00.html"><img border="0" vspace="3" align="right" width="240" src="http://media.eyeblast.org/newsbusters/static/2009/09/2009-09-14-TIME-DeL... hspace="3" height="223" />Time’s Belinda Luscombe</a> has the skinny on how hard it was for ABC’s &quot;Dancing with the Stars&quot; to land former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay: &quot;When [casting director Deena] Katz reached out to former Texas Congressman Tom DeLay via his book agent, she didn't soften up the ground in advance. ‘It was a Hail Mary pass,’ she admits. Twenty minutes later, DeLay was in.&quot;</p><p>They’ve tried to hard to cast a politician. &quot;I’ve made no secret of the fact that Bill Clinton would be my ultimate get,&quot; said executive producer Conrad Green. &quot;I think we got as far as 'Hello, this is Dancing wi--'&quot; Luscombe added: </p><blockquote><p>Absent Clinton, DWTS's ideal political candidate is an elected official with a national profile, who has the time and stamina for five hours of rehearsal six days a week. Most incumbents are too busy, most retired politicians are too frail, and most losing candidates are too forgotten. That pretty much narrows it down to someone whose political career was cut short after a big scandal and -- since the show's core audience is older women -- preferably one that didn't involve infidelity. (Put the tux back in storage, John Edwards.)</p></blockquote><p>So how is Clinton the &quot;ultimate get,&quot; then?