Marlo Thomas, 04/05/12

Award-winning actress, author, and activist

Michael J. Fox did not permit the ravages of a disease to extinguish his spirit. Instead, he decided to fight back rather than lay back.

Mohamed A. El-Erian, 04/05/12

CEO and co-CIO, PIMCO

The markets' obsession with central bank policies will not go away any time soon. Moreover, it will evolve over time to also include the question that holds the key to sustaining over time the bull market: whether central banks will be able to hand off the policy challenge.

Dr. Peggy Drexler, 04/05/12

Author, 'Our Fathers, Ourselves. Daughters, Fathers, and the Changing American Family'

A gay man can grin and say ironically, "I'm a really good mother," which may mean that he performs the daily child care in his home, but his comment does not define him as a mom. Nor is a lesbian who coaches her son's hockey team a father. Both are just doing what parents do.

Chris Mooney, 04/05/12

Author, 'The Republican War on Science' and 'The Republican Brain'

Truthiness is the quality of knowing something in your gut or your heart, as opposed to in your head. Colbert didn't just diagnose a deep malady in American political discourse. He also used phrases that anticipated research results on the differences between liberals and conservatives.

Mike Lux, 04/05/12

Partner, Democracy Partners

President Obama's speech this week went after the extremists who control the Republican Party hard, and he nailed it. I was glad to see him explicitly tie Ryan and Romney to their Social Darwinist ancestors.

Nan Aron, 04/05/12

President, Alliance for Justice

It's probably too much to ask that the Supreme Court's right wing espouse the same principles from one case to the next. But legal flip-flopping is not the biggest potential problem in the Court's consideration of the Affordable Care Act.

Kathleen Fordyce Rohan, 04/05/12

Writer

Did I do everything I could to help him? Why do I get to live, blessed so far to be disease free? Why am I the lucky one who gets to enjoy the feel of our son's little arms around my neck?

David Wild, 04/05/12

TV Writer; Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone; Co-Author, 'Diary of a Player"'

Eighteen years ago, I was in Paris, France with the Counting Crows in the lobby of a beautiful little hotel when we all got the ugly big news that Kurt Cobain had died.

Noah Michelson, 04/05/12

Editor, HuffPost Gay Voices

It really has been six months -- and an incredible six months at that. But not every reaction to Gay Voices has been positive. We've received our fair share of disgruntled emails, Tweets, comments, and Facebook posts, and I'd like to address the four topics that I've heard about the most.

Bill McKibben, 04/05/12

Author of a dozen books, including 'The End of Nature' and 'Deep Economy'

There's a problem: the very word "subsidies" makes American eyes glaze over. If due attention is to be paid, we have to figure out a language in which to talk about them that will make it clear just how loony our policy is.

Seth Shostak, 04/05/12

Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute

Could there be a faster way to discover interesting galactic neighbors? Is there some scheme for detecting aliens that might work quicker than tuning in their radio transmissions or hunting down their laser pulses?

Robert Scheer, 04/05/12

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

The GOP has defined itself indelibly as the party of moneyed greed and unfettered imperialism. The Republicans are a sick joke, and their narrow ideological stupidity has left rational voters no choice in the coming presidential election but Barack Obama.

John Tirman, 04/05/12

Executive Director, MIT Center for International Studies

Americans are not much aware of the destruction our wars cause -- and if we don't know or feel that, why should we be more likely to restrain the politicians and generals when the next war looms? War without consequences is like a freebie. Why not try another?

Lyle Denniston, 04/05/12

Adviser on Constitutional Literacy, National Constitution Center

In today's polarized political environment, commentators can get caught up in the partisanship, and assume that government action not to their liking is necessarily driven by political bias. That borders on the silly and, at a minimum, shows a lapse of historical memory.

Sen. John Kerry, 04/05/12

U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

I love the groundswell of grassroots energy about the Kony 2012 video, but if you want to stop butchers like Kony all over the world, we need your attention and your activism every day that our international investments come under attack.

Wray Herbert, 04/05/12

Author, 'On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits'

Perception and sight are so crucial to putting that one has to wonder: What does the slumping Tiger see? Is it something different than the dominant Tiger saw in his heyday? New research may offer some insight on this question.

Robert Gallucci, 04/05/12

President, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Nations with nuclear material -- whether military or civilian -- must secure and eliminate stocks of highly enriched uranium and plutonium. The threat of nuclear terror is not just possible, it is quite plausible; if effective action is not taken, over time, it is probable.

Matthew Dowd, 04/05/12

Political strategist

Don't we want to know how Romney or Obama is going to create a better environment where women can have the choice -- to stay at home and raise a family or go to work full-time and not be judged on whether they are a good mom, or be given more flex time to do both?

Ken Jacobson, 04/05/12

Historically, corporations were understood to be responsible to a complex web of constituencies, including employees, communities, society at large, suppliers, and shareholders. But in the era of deregulation, the interests of shareholders began to trump all the others.

Cara Santa Maria, 04/04/12

Science correspondent, Huffington Post; editor, Talk Nerdy to Me

Synesthesia is a fascinating neurological condition that causes an individual to experience perceptual information through a sense modality that is unlinked to its source.

Michael B. Keegan, 04/05/12

President, People For the American Way

Hatch's claim is ridiculous. In fact, it is right-wing politicians and pundits who keep on "warning" us that Democrats will attack Romney's faith -- and then use those "warnings" as opportunities to slam Mormonism themselves.

Doon Baqi, 04/04/12

Army Officer, Paratrooper, Actor, Writer, Lawyer-in-training

Bringing in Daniel Craig seemed a subtle departure from the other Bonds. But, even in going more gruff, he still drank martinis, the proverbial tonic of refinement. Well, my devoted Bond comrades, it's all about to end. He is ditching the martini for a Heineken.

Sandra Steingraber, 04/05/12

Authority on environmental links to health

Why should cancer patients in the United States and Canada -- and those who love or diagnose them -- care about a report about looming water shortages in distant countries such as South Africa and Argentina?

Katie Goodman, 04/05/12

Award-winning comic, actress, author, creative coach, and social activist; KatieGoodman.com