Bob Cesca, 9/28/11

Editor of BobCesca.com, Media Producer

Government workers precisely encapsulate what the founders had in mind for this nation. A government of the people. The Republicans don't want you to think about government like this, even though it's the centerpiece of the American-style representative democracy.

Nelly Furtado, 9/29/11

Mother, singer-songwriter, record producer and actress

My thoughts immediately went back to a concert I performed as part of a celebration thrown by someone described as an "oil sheik" in Italy in 2007. That night, I met a "son of Gadhafi" who had helped pay for the celebration. I didn't know much about Libya then.

Rev. Al Sharpton, 9/29/11

President, National Action Network

As the strangeness unfortunately plays out yet again in another court drama over two years after Michael's passing, let's be sure to remember precisely who is on trial here.

Rep. Mike Honda, 9/29/11

U.S. Representative for California's 15th District

Contrary to popular opinion among U.S. foreign policymakers, the way to undermine growth of insurgencies in Pakistan is not through drone strikes, air and night raids, or covert operations,

Mario Lopez and Catherine Eusebio, 9/29/11

The Berkeley College Republicans' "Increase Diversity" bake sale reduces the historical and contemporary struggles that people of color and women face as we all seek access to education, employment -- a fair share of the figurative pie.

Scarlett Johansson, 9/29/11

Actress

In the Turkana region of Northern Kenya, there is some sign of hope. But there is also more work to be done.

Robert Scheer, 9/29/11

Editor, Truthdig.com; Author, 'The Great American Stickup'

With the Geithner appointment, and the even more disturbing selection of Lawrence Summers to be his top economic adviser, Obama sealed his fate as president. By turning to those disciples of Robert Rubin, the new president fatally betrayed his promise of hope.

Anna David, 9/29/11

Author

I think most of what today's "feminists" do is at best a waste of everyone's time and at worst a dangerous distraction from where we really should be focusing.

Lorraine Devon Wilke, 9/29/11

Writer, photographer, rock & roll vet

We've gone from the repressive culture of the Victorian era, through the enforced civility of the 40's and 50's, past the wild rebellion of the 60's and 70's, right up to the Pit Bull Throat-Ripping Mentality of the 2000's.

Wendell Potter, 9/29/11

Analyst, Center for Public Integrity; Former insurance company executive; Author

As I have traveled across the country in recent weeks, speaking to a wide range of audiences, one thing has become abundantly clear: the provisions of the Affordable Care Act already in effect are anything but abundantly clear to people.

Robert Koehler, 9/29/11

Syndicated writer

The division of the world into 194 random fragments, mostly born of war and exploitation, locked in a state of perpetual mistrust and ever-shifting tensions toward one another, is more problem than solution in the 21st century.

Karl Shaw, 9/29/11

Author

The past is chockfull of misfits and miscreants whose exploits litter the back alleys of history, never to surface in a high school textbook.

David Katz, M.D., 9/29/11

Director, Yale Prevention Research Center

$100 billion of our taxes is used to help (relatively) poor people procure relatively poor food (thanks to the prevailing, if not entirely correct, inverse association between food cost and nutritional quality) -- so they can get to really poor health.

Kristina Brittenham, 9/29/11

Lawyer in Los Angeles, California

Help us help you, Mr. President. Start beating us over the head with simple explanations of your choices that make sense. I don't want a policy paper -- I just want something I can say when someone says, "what was he thinking?" Give me nuts and bolts.

Larry Strauss, 9/29/11

Veteran high school English teacher, basketball coach, novelist

Some days when I actually spend most of my day teaching composition and reading, I think about what a luxury it is for a teacher to be able to do that. Because so much of what we do isn't exactly teaching.

John A. "Skip" Laitner , 9/29/11

Director of economic and social analysis, ACEEE

We can quibble over numbers and the exact set of calculations, but the data I observe indicate that as of last year, we were wasting something like 86 percent of all the energy we threw at the economic process.

Michael Brenner, 9/29/11

Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations; Professor of International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh

The kaleidoscope of broken shards that depicts the broken remnants of the American position in the greater Middle East conveys incoherence and fragmentation. There is a common element. It is Israel/Palestine.

Rev. Dr. Eric D. Barreto, 9/28/11

Assistant Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary in St. Paul

It is clear that the Ten Commandments are powerful cultural and religious symbols even if our knowledge of their actual contents is fuzzy at best.

Jon "Bowzer" Bauman, 9/29/11

Electoral politics and public policy activist

At least the Bushies bothered to pretend. With the rise of the Tea Party, those good old days of feeling the need to fake some sense of humanity are far behind us, and a new breed of openly Compassionless Conservatives has come to the fore.

Katherine Gustafson, 9/29/11

Freelance writer

Food writer Mark Bittman doesn't see himself as part of a vanguard in publishing, even though his newest work, Cooking Solves Everything, will be reserved for e-readers and iPads only.

Roya R. Rad, MA, PsyD, 9/29/11

Transpersonal and positive psychology

A self actualized human has moved above being motivated to satisfy the basic needs of food, shelter, financial security, relationships and self esteem, and has learned how to not get stuck and how to move deeper.

Ian Fletcher, 9/28/11

Author, 'Free Trade Doesn't Work: What Should Replace It and Why'

The best way to get a handle on where Rick Perry's real political heart lies is to look at his list of $100,000-plus donors, where we can follow the footprints of crony capitalism, also known as corporatism.

Saliba Sarsar and Hussein Ibish, Ph.D., 9/28/11

Regardless of what transpires at the UN, it must become the impetus towards increased commitment on the part of the international community to fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people and the yearning of Israelis for peace and security.

David Coates, 9/28/11

Worrell Professor of Anglo-American Studies, Wake Forest University, Department of Politics

It is time for Barack Obama to say to the American public that if they want effective (and sensible) government, the Tea Party pot needs to be totally emptied down the electoral drain.