Marlo Thomas, 03/15/12

Award-winning actress, author, and activist

We live on the park in New York where there seems to be a parade at least a few times a month for every possible nationality there is. One of the biggest is St. Patrick's Day, which of course thrills my husband. There's nobody named Donahue who doesn't love a St. Patrick's Day parade.

Jeffrey Goldberg, 03/15/12

National Correspondent, The Atlantic

George W. Bush was, in his own way, a philo-Semite, but he never would have made such a member-of-the-tribe kind of joke as Barack Obama did when I recently handed him a copy of the New American Haggadah.

Paul Heroux, 03/15/12

Middle East Policy Expert

Afghanistan's president called the murder of 16 Afghans an "unforgivable" crime. What will be the repercussions of one solider to all U.S. soldiers in the country? Is it worth it to be there any longer?

Robert Scheer, 03/15/12

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

Clearly people comfortable in the Washington-Wall Street axis have no sense of shame. They know all too well what Goldman and the other financial swindlers have been up to, causing so much misery for tens of millions throughout the world.

Erin Gross, 03/14/12

Writer, The Silver Screened Novels Network

In a world that is swamped with book-to-movie adaptations, one must wonder if the latest one will be as good as the book. When it comes to The Hunger Games, simply put, it is the most faithful adaptation one has ever seen.

Barbara Ehrenreich, 03/15/12

New York Times bestselling author

By the Reagan era, the "culture of poverty" had become a cornerstone of conservative ideology: poverty was caused, not by low wages or a lack of jobs, but by bad attitudes and faulty lifestyles.

Evelyn Robert de Rothschild, 03/14/12

Financier

I owe my life to the remarkable generosity of America's political system, which under legislation from Franklin D. Roosevelt welcomed thousands of children from England during World War II. It is out of this respect, and out of a fear for how money is corroding America's political system, that I call for a rethink of how we approach campaign finance.

Jared Bernstein, 03/15/12

Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Given the success of the Fed's stress tests on assessing the health of the nation's largest banks, various other institutions decided to embrace the model. Here are some early results.

Arianna Huffington, 03/14/12

As the seemingly endless GOP nomination fight grinds on, it's becoming clearer who President Obama's most formidable opponent is likely to be: himself.

Conrad Black, 03/15/12

Historian, publisher, and author

I liked and admired the late James Q. Wilson; he was a fine man and a rigorous intellect who made a positive difference, but where was he while American criminal justice was becoming the terrible conveyor-belt of corruption, hypocrisy, and abuse that it now is?

Thalia Zepatos, 03/14/12

Director of Public Engagement, Freedom to Marry

We hereby give you our blessing to go ahead and get married, because every wedding in America is an opportunity for all those who attend to think about how unfair it is for anyone to be denied the happiness, joy, love, support, and legal protections that come with marriage.

Rana Florida, 03/15/12

CEO, The Creative Class Group

I've been stuck in a corporate job my entire adult life. We recently had a management change over and I HATE my new boss. I've been dreaming of opening up my own restaurant for years and cooking is my passion. I have a family with three small children and can't loose the income of a stable job.

Hannah Weintraub, 03/15/12

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

In honor of International Women's Day last week, thousands of women gathered together in numerous countries to demand equal rights. This bravery is both remarkable and inspiring.

Jake Rush, 03/14/12

Jake Rush is a journalism student at the University of Utah.

Over 100 people packed into the multipurpose room at one of 721 Democratic caucus locations in Salt Lake County, a turnout exceeding even party officials' expectations. There were young voters, Latino voters, moms and dads with babies, and seniors.

Jacqueline Caster, 03/15/12

Founder and President, The Everychild Foundation

It's time America finally bucks the influence of those who financially benefit from an expanded prison industry as well as the "tough on crime" contingency and invest serious dollars in a "diversion track" to perfectly parallel the juvenile justice system of incarceration.

Mike Lux, 03/14/12

Co-founder and CEO, Progressive Strategies

It is amazing we live in a culture that allows the wealthiest and most powerful companies in the country cheat their clients and the public at large with impunity, and that their closest political allies aren't held to account as well.

Richard Grenell, 03/15/12

Longest-serving U.S. Spokesman in the History of the United Nations

The White House State Dinner invitation for Anna Wintour is yet another signal that Obama doesn't understand how important Syria's future is to U.S. national security.

Lorna Byrne, 03/15/12

Author, 'Angels in My Hair'

Every one who has even a drop of Irish blood has a special spirituality engrained within us -- a flame that burns deep down within our souls, connecting us to the deep spirituality of our roots.

Alaa Al Aswany, 03/14/12

Best-selling Egyptian author and columnist

By the standards of the Military Council, justice means that Egyptians can be shot dead, blinded, sexually abused and dragged through the streets, without a word of objection. When we say that the Military Council is responsible for all these crimes, the Military Council gets angry and sees us as provocateurs trying to bring down the state.

Jonathan Weiler, 03/14/12

Director of Undergraduate Studies in Global Studies, UNC Chapel Hill

Tom Friedman's column today calls for re-thinking American capitalism by striking a series of "grand bargains," and as usual his analysis of what stands in the way of such grand bargains bears no relationship to the realities of American politics.

Thomas de Zengotita, 03/14/12

Contributing Editor, Harper's Magazine

Why do I say that? I don't mean they are actually on the take. Too Third World. But they are fundamentally corrupt insofar as they tweak every decision they make that bears on politics in favor of the Republican party.

Gary M. Krebs, 03/14/12

Screenwriter, Author, Publisher

"A lot of freelancers have incredible skills but don't know how to market themselves and no one knows what they can do. A simple thing like creating an online portfolio on a web page can go a long way."

Patience Salgado, 03/13/12

Kindnessgirl.com

I had reached the 50-message mark in only a few hours. I was amazed how many were willing to share their stories and how much people are going through, both good and bad.

Bill Bigelow, 03/14/12

Co-director, Zinn Education Project; Curriculum editor, Rethinking Schools

First, does anyone really think that students will remember anything from the books' dull and lifeless paragraphs? Today's textbooks contain no stories of actual people. We meet no one, learn nothing of anyone's life, encounter no injustice, no resistance. This is a curriculum bound for boredom.