Robert Reich, 1/26/12

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Aftershock'

Republicans are worried sick about Newt Gingrich's ascendance, while Democrats are tickled pink.
Yet no responsible Democrat should be pleased at the prospect that Gingrich could get the GOP nomination.

Peter Davis, 1/26/12

Academy Award-winning filmmaker, author and journalist

This month something happened to me that had never happened before. Absolutely unprecedented. It may be accurate to say that what happened to me is infinitely preferable to the alternative. I turned seventy-five.

Evelyn Leopold, 1/26/12

Journalist reporting from the United Nations

A lengthy solitary confinement can cause serious mental and physical damage and be considered torture, according to Juan Mendez, the United Nations rapporteur into torture.

Gordon Brown, 1/26/12

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

It is time for governments around the world to take urgent action on behalf of the millions of children in need of a decent primary education. A Global Fund for Education would be a bold step in the right direction.

Pat Mitchell, 1/26/12

President & CEO, The Paley Center for Media

If you only pay attention to the press coverage and/or tweets from Sundance this year, you might think it is all about celebrity sightings, but in fact, there is some powerful paradigm shifting going on as well.

Michael Shaw, 1/26/12

Publisher of BagNewsNotes, topping LIFE.com's 2011 Best Photo Blogs

This shot got the overwhelming share of attention -- a reactionary governor, overflowing with the same lack of respect for the president as the radical far-right she's aligned with.

Eric Boehlert, 1/26/12

Senior Fellow, Media Matters for America

It's becoming increasingly clear that Fox's programming and the radical, fear-based agenda it's setting for Republicans is now doing lasting damage to the Grand Old Party.

Bo Peabody, 1/26/12

Co-Founder and Managing General Partner, Village Ventures

We might not all agree on which politician is best for any given office, but we can all agree that every politician is made worse by the two-party system. So let's at least get rid of that before we do anything else.

Gavin Shulman, 1/26/12

Writer, Producer

If we really want to search out their true essence, there's always one place we can go to find out: Google. Let's start by searching "Mitt Romney is". This should be fun.

Hannah Weintraub, 1/26/12

16-year-old co-president of her school's women's advocacy club

I've been disillusioned by Seventeen's pixie dust more times than I would like to admit. The magazine manufactures self-doubt so girls will buy the quick-fix products displayed on their glossy pages.

Wendell Potter, 1/26/12

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

It might possibly cost the insurance industry $382 million to comply with the Affordable Care Act for the first two years. But the cost of allowing those companies to continue keeping consumers in the dark would be far, far higher, Mr. President.

Ingrid Newkirk, 1/26/12

President and co-founder, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

The annual bloodbath that comprises the largest kill off of marine mammals in the world, the Newfoundland seal "hunt" (a misnomer if ever there was one), is scheduled to start within weeks.

Lee Woodruff, 1/26/12

Co-Author, 'In an Instant'

We are all very much still on this journey. We are the parents now in so many ways, the executors and the advocates, the decision makers, accountants and the schedulers. We no longer act like children with our parents. The see saw has tipped.

Robert Scheer, 1/26/12

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

If Obama meant what he said in Tuesday's State of the Union address about holding the financial industry responsible for its scams, why did he appoint the old Clinton crowd that had legalized those scams to the top economic posts in his administration?

Menachem Rosensaft, 1/26/12

Professor of law and son of Holocaust survivors

My brother and every other child murdered in any genocide deserve to be remembered as fragile flames extinguished in tsunamis of hatred, intolerance and bigotry. Exploiting their memory to score cheap political points is obscene.

Mandy Moore, 1/26/12

Singer-songwriter, actress and PSI Ambassador

I am really hoping that the leaders of the world's most powerful companies walk away from Davos understanding the economic importance of global health. And that they make improving global health part of their business plans.

Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, 1/26/12

Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker

An area that requires infinitely more study is the role of environmental agents in breast cancer -- that is, food additives, cosmetics, pollution or chemicals that we come in contact with every day.

Dr. Jon LaPook, 1/26/12

Medical Correspondent, CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley

A stunning, modern teaching hospital with oxygen outlets in the walls is about to open in the town of Mirebalais, Haiti.

Steve Mariotti, 1/26/12

Founder, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship

Most of our national education efforts seek to teach low-income youth to become better workers. Why aren't we also teaching them how to own? If entrepreneurship is the engine of the American economy, why aren't we raising more creative entrepreneurs?

Rick Sanchez, 1/26/12

Journalist, reporter, news anchor

Regardless of whether Cubans see themselves as being different than Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Hondurans or other Hispanics, the fact is that the rest of the world tends to see us as one big homogenous group. And so whether we like it or not, these are our issues.

Andrew Brandt, 1/26/12

President, The National Football Post

Assuming Manning is healthy -- and that may be the biggest "if" of this entire discussion -- he may be the most attractive free agent in the history of football.

Dave Malloy, 1/26/12

Composer, Performer

Glee, in its presentation of Broadway songs as contemporary pop music, shamelessly auto-tuned and lip-synched, has helped to make musical theater more popular than ever. But, even if it is popular, musical theater is still uncool. Why is this?

Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, 1/26/12

Founding Director of the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University

There is a critical matter that sheds light on the potentially disastrous and costly ramifications of a military operation against Iran: the damages to peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Abdulrahman El-Sayed, 1/26/12

Social epidemiologist, Columbia University; fellow, Demos

Findings from NIH-funded research are used everyday to help doctors make treatment and diagnosis decisions -- not just in America but all over the world. That may end with the Research Works Act.