Elizabeth Rigby, 01/16/13

Political scientist and policy analyst; assistant professor of public policy and public administration, George Washington University

We don't need a national discourse on poverty but a shift in attention away from disadvantage toward an examination of the concentrated advantages provided to those already flourishing in our society. It then becomes clear that it is not only poverty but inequality that plagues the poor.

Nina Bahadur, 01/14/13

Assistant Editor, HuffPost Women

I'm apparently supposed to look at each often-humiliated, clueless, insulting, entitled female character as an approximation of me. Are you kidding me?

Allison Tate, 01/14/13

Author, mother of four

I'm caught between the age of fertility -- of nausea, butterfly-wing kicks that can take my breath away, swollen breasts and baby blankets -- and the afterward. For the past ten years, an ellipsis has hovered over my head and heart as I wondered if another face would come to our family.

G. Roger Denson, 01/15/13

Cultural critic, essayist, novelist and screenwriter published with Parkett and Art in America

The anti-Zero Dark Thirty camp indicates in their statements that they have little awareness of the principles of irony, catharsis, and sublimation that dramatizations use to separate depiction of heinous activities from endorsement of them.

Russell Simmons, 01/15/13

Founder, GlobalGrind.com

In an era when the sadly misguided believe that we should fight fire with fire and arm teachers with weapons, I believe we should be supporting programs that don't need the threat of violence to make young people put down their guns.

Bianca Bosker, 01/15/13

Executive Tech Editor, The Huffington Post

A survey of 1,000 cell phone owners commissioned by Nuance, a provider of voice recognition software, suggests that people are developing closer relationships with the virtual assistants on their smartphones.

Dale Cooper, 01/15/13

Porn performer and writer

I believe that the prosecution for the United States threatened Swartz's emotional and physical well-being, and, faced with a court battle that he could not possibly finance with his own personal wealth, he took his own life. It bullied Swartz, and it should be held responsible in some way.

James Moore, 01/15/13

Best selling author, Director of Progress Texas PAC

Anyone who thinks Lance Armstrong's current apologia is more than self-serving is more naïve than people who think it's normal to ride a bike up a mountain faster than most athletes can ride one down.

Michael Hogan and Christopher Rosen, 01/15/13

Look, I get why rooting for Steven Spielberg can feel like rooting for the New York Yankees, but I think he overcame his worst instincts in this movie and created what you might call a late masterpiece. It's not my favorite movie of the year, but it's the strongest candidate for Best Picture.

Dan Froomkin, 01/15/13

Contributing editor, Nieman Reports

Had John Kiriakou actually engaged in torture, he wouldn't be in any trouble at all -- he never even would have been investigated. But because he talked about torture with reporters, he's going to prison.

Stephen Schlesinger, 01/15/13

Author and Fellow at the Century Foundation

Ever since last year's U.S. presidential election race ended, the much-discussed concerns over Iran's nuclear build-up have vanished from the national debate. A sudden shroud over Iran, however, does not mean that the dispute is going to go away. The Iranian spectre will pop up again in unexpected ways.

Molly Davies, 01/14/13

Mother

Mr. President, I am writing to you as a wife and mother of two young daughters, whose 34-year-old husband, Matthew Davies, faces 10 years or more in federal prison for providing medical marijuana to sick people in California, even though he complied with state law concerning medicinal cannabis.

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, 01/15/13

Senior Religion Editor, The Huffington Post

While the original choice to give the final 'good prayer' at your inauguration came under fire and withdrew that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of us to rise to this occasion in your time of need.

Jennifer Niven, 01/15/13

Author, "Becoming Clementine"

Nancy Wake, the former WWII spy called 'The White Mouse' by the Germans for her ability to evade capture, died last year at 98. She received so many medals for service, 'she lived out her old age on the proceeds from their sale.' If only this were true of other women spies of WWII.

David Beckmann, 01/15/13

President, Bread for the World

As we gear up for more deficit-reduction negotiations and potential across-the-board cuts to vital safety-net programs, our charge to President Obama is that he work with Congress to reduce the deficit in a way that strengthens protections around programs vital to vulnerable people.

Lincoln Mitchell, 01/15/13

Harriman Institute, Columbia University

Keeping people out of the Hall of Fame because of suspected or real connections to steroids may or may not be wise, but keeping people out because the voting rules have not changed to fully recognize expansion is not.

Will Bunch, 01/15/13

Author, 'The Backlash'

Swartz's persecution can't be passed off as an isolated incident. Instead, it feels more like the exclamation point on an administration whose commitment to maintaining secrecy, blocking transparency, limiting the flow of information and squelching dissent has been both unexpected and shocking.

Rocky Kistner, 01/15/13

Media associate, NRDC

The climate is changing, it's getting warmer and dryer in some areas and wetter and more flood-prone in others. Extreme weather is the winner in this game of fossil fuel addition, and we are all losers if we don't change our dirty-energy habits.

John Cusack, 01/14/13

Makes films

Recently, I sat down with George Washington Law School professor and constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley and my close friend Kevin McCabe to discuss WikiLeaks' impact on transparency, the government's response, and the comparison to the Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.

Craig Newmark, 01/15/13

Founder, craigslist and craigconnects.org

The VA is getting a lot of good work done, using IT to much better serve veterans by helping address the disability claims backlog, maybe their biggest challenge. Sure, the tech is a work in progress, but the greater issue involves skepticism and low expectations.

Howard Glaser, 01/15/13

Senior Policy Advisor to Gov Andrew Cuomo

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced legislation, (NY SAFE ACT), to give New York State the most comprehensive gun laws in the nation, which will keep guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous mental health patients and ban high capacity magazines and assault weapons.

Frank Sharry, 01/15/13

Founder and executive director, America's Voice

Democrats are more united than ever on immigration. Meanwhile, movement conservatives and Republican leaders alike know that the GOP faces an existential crisis: It has to regain its competitiveness with Hispanic voters or go the way of the Whigs. So what is likely to happen?

Joan Price, 01/12/13

Senior Sex Expert

By hiding your body and being embarrassed by it, you're buying into our youth-obsessed culture that says that only young, firm, fertile bodies can be sexy and alluring. Let's put that notion to rest right now!

John Stamos, 01/14/13

Actor and producer

After my dad died, Jack and I didn't talk any more than we had before. We didn't see each other more often -- nothing really changed. But Jack became that important male figure in my life that I wanted to make proud.

Jon Wiener, 01/15/13

Contributing editor, The Nation; professor of history, UC Irvine; author, 'How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey Across America'

It couldn't be a sadder thing to admit, given what happened in those years, but -- given what's happened in these years -- who can doubt that the America of the 1950s and 1960s was, in some ways, simply a better place than the one we live in now?

Matthew Modine, 01/14/13

Actor, Activist, Filmmaker, Humanist

As a nation we cannot be shackled to an archaic Second Amendment which is being shielded by a minority of Americans that demand the right to use weapons that are continually killing citizens across our country.

Ben Hallman, 01/15/13

Senior Financial Writer, The Huffington Post

I blogged about my own experience with guns and asked gun owners on Twitter what they think about the NRA's stance. Though hardly a scientific survey, most felt the NRA was way out-of-step with the interests of typical gun owners.

Mark R. Kennedy, 01/15/13

Professor of political management and director of the Graduate School of Political Management, George Washington University

The sparse result of months of partisan wrestling over the fiscal cliff portends a reduced likelihood that any of President Obama's second-term priorities, including immigration reform, will be addressed in the manner he outlines in his upcoming inaugural address.

Dr. Michael J. Breus, 01/15/13

Clinical Psychologist; Board Certified Sleep Specialist

Over the past two decades, chronic fatigue syndrome has won acceptance by the medical establishment. But much about the disorder -- its causes, its mechanisms in the body -- remain largely unknown.