Simon Johnson, 03/19/12

MIT professor; Co-author, '13 Bankers' and 'White House Burning'; Columnist on fiscal affairs

With the so-called JOBS bill, Congress is about to abandon much of the 1930s-era securities legislation that both served investors well and helped make the U.S. one of the best places in the world to raise capital. We find ourselves again on a bipartisan route to disaster.

Sandra Fluke, 03/22/12

Public Interest Law Scholar, Georgetown University Law Center

Just as we will not be silenced when we are verbally attacked for speaking out, we will not go back to a society without the kind of health care for women that the Affordable Care Act provides.

Matt Damon and Gary White, 03/22/12

Today, on World Water Day, almost one in eight people on the planet won't be able to secure even a glass of safe water to drink. More than twice as many people won't be able to experience the dignity of using a toilet.

Arianna Huffington, 03/22/12

Smart delevering isn't just about cutting -- and the relentless emphasis on cutting has obscured the more important question of what is being cut. In far too many cases, our approach to delevering is keeping us from growing, and keeping us from tapping into all our resources.

Mohamed A. El-Erian, 03/24/12

CEO and co-CIO, PIMCO

On Friday, President Obama took two important steps with respect to the world's premier development agency.

Joyce Carol Oates, 03/23/12

Author

I read in a perfectly normal, conventional place -- curled up on a sofa in our living room, beneath a light, with my little gray cat Cherie purring and sleeping beside me, if I'm lucky.

Gary Hart, 03/22/12

President, Hart International, Ltd.

The political media have accepted the myth of "equivalence" that says political polarization and governmental dysfunction are the result of both parties going to extremes of right and left. It is a myth.

Jamie Lee Curtis, 03/22/12

Actress and children's book author

I am appalled that the term we use to talk about aging is "anti." Aging is as natural as a baby's softness and scent. Aging is human evolution in its pure form. Death, taxes and aging.

Richard Branson, 03/19/12

Founder, Virgin Group

Throughout Europe and Latin America, and in many U.S. states, a similar debate is playing out: Can and should the drug war be replaced with drug regulation that supports individuals with health issues and focuses law enforcement on serious criminals?

Marian Wright Edelman, 03/23/12

President, Children's Defense Fund

Where is the outrage over every single one of the thousands of children and teens killed by guns -- too many by gun slinging Americans unrestrained by common sense gun control laws.

Cheech Marin, 03/20/12

Actor/Comedian/Activist/Art Collector

The crowd that night had achieved the American dream -- free tacos. A new chant had come to define America: "TACOS, TACOS, TACOS." To think, this all started with Fritos.

Marlo Thomas, 03/22/12

Award-winning actress, author, and activist

I challenge anyone not to be moved by the video I just saw on YouTube. In it, a 41-year-old Israeli named Ronny -- a graphic designer, a teacher, a father -- looks straight into the camera and speaks.

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, 03/23/12

The team at PBS consists of dedicated people; constantly looking for ways to increase their audience. But there is always a danger, in any organization, of only seeing the world from the top down, and then counting heads to measure whether something is good or not.

Jacqueline Emerson, 03/23/12

Actress, Foxface in 'The Hunger Games'

I was probably the most nervous I'd ever been when I went up onstage to do my scene with Stanley Tucci! Imagine this: Your first line in a movie. Ever. Onstage. With your acting idol. Totally improvised. In front of three hundred people.

Sen. John Kerry, 03/23/12

U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

Two years ago today, President Obama signed into law our landmark universal health care reform. The 24/7 news cycle left little time to provide historical context, but it was a milestone a century in the making. One day a vote for health reform will be remembered the same way as a vote for the Civil Rights Act.

Dr. Peggy Drexler, 03/20/12

Author, 'Our Fathers Ourselves. Daughters, Fathers, And The Changing American Family'

The deep emotional connection between mothers and sons has been demonized for far too long.

Rev. Al Sharpton, 03/19/12

President, National Action Network

A young teenager walking home, armed only with candy and a drink, should never lose his/her life because someone in a gated community feels 'threatened.'

Ted Danson and Audrey Matura-Shepherd, 03/21/12

People in the tourism industry and many other Belizeans are concerned about what an oil spill in the middle of the reef would do to one of the world's natural wonders and to the future of Belize as a tourist destination.

Tammy Baldwin, 03/20/12

Fighting for Wisconsin -- US Senate 2012

For too long in America, there's been two tax systems: one for the middle class and another for the very wealthiest. This year, let's make tax season about restoring tax fairness for America's working families.

Marcus Samuelsson, 03/19/12

Chef and author

Michael Greger, M.D., 03/23/12

Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at The Humane Society of the United States

Which is more important, corporate profits or the safety and health of our loved ones? Using "pink slime" as a springboard, let's make our answer very clear.

Diane Ravitch, 03/18/12

Historian, NYU professor

We will have to learn to hold two ideas at the same time: We must both reduce poverty and improve our schools. We cannot fix our schools without strengthening the teaching profession and addressing the social conditions that shape their outcomes.

Doug Kendall, 03/21/12

Founder and President, Constitutional Accountability Center

As the Court turns to the Affordable Care Act next week, most eyes will focus on Tuesday's oral argument on the minimum coverage provision, but we should all be watching just as closely during Wednesday's argument on Medicaid.

Jonathan Safran Foer, 03/22/12

Author, 'Eating Animals'

Jews have a special relationship to books, and the Haggadah -- the user's manual for the Passover seder -- has been translated more widely, and reprinted more often, than any other Jewish book. Everywhere there have been Jews, there have been new Haggadahs.