Cecile Richards, 2/1/12

President, Planned Parenthood Action Fund

The news this week that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, after years of pressure from political groups, will end its support of lifesaving breast cancer screening at Planned Parenthood health centers comes as a blow to women across America.

Bob Edgar, 2/1/12

President and CEO, Common Cause

The election is still more than nine months away, but it's already clear that in the race for the White House, "we the people" are running far behind "we the one percent."

Trey Ellis, 2/1/12

Novelist, Screenwriter, and Associate Professor at Columbia University

President Gingrich, as soon as Air Force One touched down on my hot, tropical tarmac I shuddered. I knew that I was lost. As the gleaming jet's door opened and you stood there on the top of the stairs, your ermine robe jauntily draped over your adorably hunched soft shoulders.

Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, 2/1/12

Former Governor of Michigan, Faculty at UC Berkeley, Host of "The War Room with Jennifer Granholm" on Current TV

The president succeeded in keeping plants open and saving jobs; Mitt Romney closed factory after factory and now he wants you to believe that the two are equivalent.

Michael Roth, 2/1/12

President, Wesleyan University

I'm embarrassed to say that one of the key places where candidates and citizens acquire a taste for -- and skills in -- negativity is higher education. For decades now, we have promoted a culture of criticism in which you show how smart you are by tearing apart somebody else's ideas.

Jared Bernstein, 2/1/12

Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Though Romney recognized that "...we have food stamps, we have Medicaid, we have housing vouchers..." he neglected to make the following four points.

Laurie David, 2/1/12

Producer, author, NRDC Trustee

Paula Deen's problem -- hers and America's -- won't be solved with a prescription from the pharmacy. But it can be solved with changes in the way we all cook, and eat.

Amb. Marc Ginsberg, 2/1/12

Former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco

It's high time to toss aside diplomatic niceties and place Russia in the diplomatic stockade for its sheltering of the illegitimate Bashar al-Assad from global wrath.

Al Gore, 2/1/12

Chairman, Current TV

Acidifying oceans, a result of the same carbon dioxide pollution that is warming our planet, is a problem of multiple dimensions.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, 2/1/12

Keeping children out of poverty in America will take more than just local community efforts. We need national policies that provide more opportunities for low-income families and put more Americans on a pathway out of poverty.

Esther Wojcicki, 2/1/12

Journalism/English teacher

Want to know how we can improve our schools using technology? Want to know how your son/daughter's education can be more effective?

Doug Kendall, 2/1/12

Founder and President, Constitutional Accountability Center

With friends like Senator Mike Lee, the Constitution needs no enemies.

Linda Bergthold, 2/1/12

Health policy consultant

In light of the aggressive attack on women's health by the Right, perhaps we should ask -- "Am I a woman or am I a puppet?" Our strings are being pulled far to the right, and many of us are fed up.

Derek Shearer, 2/1/12

Professor of Diplomacy at Occidental College and former US ambassador

LA should step up to the global marketing plate and rename our airport after Elizabeth Taylor, one of the great movie actresses of modern times. LAX should become LIZ.

Azeem Ibrahim, 2/1/12

Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School’s International Security Program

For the vast majority of the electorate, the economy trumps most other issues. Candidates who continue to raise anti-Muslim fears should be seen as irrelevant distractions from the real problems of the economy, jobs, civil rights, education and health care.

Tom Ortenberg, 2/1/12

CEO, Open Road Films

The Grey is a great story and thrilling to watch on the big screen, but that's all it is. Fiction. Fantasy. Made up.

Julianne Moore, 2/1/12

Actress

Valentine's Day has become a major children's holiday, and is for them, about friendship. So if we parents have to buy Valentines anyway, why not send the money to children and schools less fortunate than our own?

Rakim Brooks, 2/1/12

Ed Baker Fellow in Democratic Values at Demos and host of "The People" on WBAI.org radio 99.5 FM NY

This is the first interview in the Black History Month series "Perspectives on Black Politics in the Age of Obama."

John Feffer, 1/31/12

Co-director, Foreign Policy In Focus

If the house organs of the financial sector and the house intellectuals of the Right are all talking like a Marxist study group, then perhaps we are on the verge of a major transformation -- not only in terminology but, more importantly, in the facts on the ground.

Mark Shriver, 2/1/12

Senior Vice President for Save the Children's U.S. Programs

The solution to childhood poverty takes Herculean efforts, enormous investment and a driving national will, so everyone needs to be a hero. But the place to start is right here: getting off our butts and doing something.

Michael P. McDonald, 2/1/12

Associate Professor, George Mason University

What will happen in the general election if Romney is the nominee is anyone's guess. I suspect that Republican conservatives will line up behind Romney, but they will not do so enthusiastically, as the low voter turnout in contested states thus far shows.

Abraham H. Foxman, 2/1/12

National Director, Anti-Defamation League

The goal would be to temper the Islamicization of society and to ensure a moderate, balanced set of laws that does not ignore Islam but provides spaces for true democratic norms and protections for free speech and minorities.

Rev. Malcolm Boyd, 2/1/12

Writer-in-residence, Episcopal diocese of LA

Visiting the monastery of Vatopedi I saw the sea sweep right up to its gates... I'll never forget standing there in a rare moment following sunset just when darkness is about to fall.

Agapi Stassinopoulos, 2/1/12

Author of 'Unbinding the Heart'

It took me years to realize the value of replenishing myself and putting myself on the top of my to do list, of taking care of myself so I can take care of others. And at some point I really got that the key to happiness is to going deep inside myself and realizing that I was enough and that is what I call the process of unbinding.