David Bromwich, 01/19/13

Professor of Literature at Yale

The answers given by Bigelow and Boal to justify the normalizing of torture in Zero Dark Thirty have been vain, wheedling, and dodgy. They are a clever pair of filmmakers, without political or moral depth, but here, perhaps more than they realized, they were playing with fire.

Howard Fineman, 01/14/13

Editorial director, Huffington Post Media Group

Just because you beat Mitt Romney -- and John McCain before him -- doesn't mean you're a great president or even a particularly good one. President Barack Obama has proved to be brilliant at digital organizing and winning elections. But his presidency so far has been less than meets the eye.

Arianna Huffington, 01/15/13

We often bemoan the fact that those in Washington who get it wrong never seem to be held accountable, and those who get it right (even if not right away) always seem to be marginalized. Well, President Obama's nomination of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense is how the system should -- but seldom does -- work.

John Mackey, 01/17/13

CEO, Whole Foods Market

I believe that, if the goal is universal health care, our country would be far better served by combining free enterprise capitalism with a strong governmental safety net for our poorest citizens and those with preexisting conditions, helping everyone to be able to buy insurance.

Peter Farrelly, 01/14/13

Writer/director

What I'm proposing is simple: Every human being should have the right to unplug. There should be laws, amendments, legislation. When you leave your place of business, you should be done.

Marian Wright Edelman, 01/19/13

President, Children's Defense Fund

I have no doubt that Dr. King would be mounting a nonviolent poor people campaign to end rampant hunger, homelessness, and poverty today. Let’s honor Dr. King by our committed action to end child poverty and close the morally obscene gulf between rich and poor in our nation.

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.

Laurie David, 01/14/13

Producer, author, NRDC Trustee

Enough is enough. Beyoncé's Pepsi deal was a serious lapse of judgment. And the White House tarnishes its own "brand" by selecting her to sing the national anthem at the inauguration, unwittingly boosting the beverage industry that is helping to drive the obesity epidemic.

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.

Dr. Peggy Drexler, 01/16/13

Author, research psychologist and gender scholar

While it's easy for parents to get angry at men like Lance Armstrong for letting kids down, situations like his present a great opportunity to talk to kids about dealing with disappointment. And about what it means to admire someone for a particular talent or skill versus what it means to consider a person a role model.

Alexander Tsiaras, 01/18/13

Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, TheVisualMD.com

My goal is to visualize life in all its glory. And to see how daily lifestyle decisions affect the choreography of all of our cellular activity, causing disturbances stored in trillions of X, Y, Z coordinates.

Lisa Belkin, 01/16/13

Senior Columnist on Life/Work/Family, The Huffington Post

Just as it is becoming clearer that this might be the start of real change, it is also clear what is making it so: this one is about parents and children.

Michael F. Jacobson, 01/16/13

Executive Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest

Since 2007, the Xtreme Eating Awards have become an (almost) annual tradition. Today, we unveil the latest "winners." What we found is extreme by anyone's definition. Take a look at our nine dis-honorees.

Jonathan Weiler, 01/17/13

Director of Undergraduate Studies in Global Studies, UNC Chapel Hill

The ESPNs of the world have made "character" an attribute of athletic worthiness every bit as important as how fast someone runs the 40, or how far one can hit a baseball. In the process, the sports media complex has appropriated for itself the mantle of moral arbiter.

Jim Wallis, 01/18/13

Christian leader for social change

Wayne LaPierre's statement "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" is at the heart of the problem of gun violence in America today -- not just because it is factually flawed, but also because it is morally mistaken, theologically dangerous, and religiously repugnant.

Marlo Thomas, 01/18/13

Award-winning actress, author and activist

Here's a look back at some of those more memorable days in American history, when an ordinary citizen became an extraordinary leader.

John W. Boyd Jr., 01/17/13

Fourth-generation farmer

What are you hunting that requires the need of a semi-automatic weapon -- an instrument used for military warfare? This defies common sense and it should be central during the gun debate.
This kind of extremism is part of the reason I do not have an NRA membership.

Betty White, 01/16/13

Actress, comedienne, singer, author and television personality

Animals are near and dear to my heart, and I've devoted my life to trying to improve their lives. Since a girl like me already has more than I could hope for, I'm asking fellow animal lovers for a special birthday gift this year.

Ian Bremmer, 01/17/13

Author, 'Every Nation for Itself'

We live in a global political order that has become unmoored from the underlying trend of U.S.-led globalization. We have much less of a single moral guidepost and leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to act on their moral sensibilities.

Michelangelo Signorile, 01/14/13

Editor-at-large, HuffPost Gay Voices

Whatever you thought of last night, you'd have to agree that it was another indication of how it's becoming harder and harder for anyone in public life to have any real credibility and still be living in the closet.

Lulu, 01/17/13

Singer, songwriter and performer

There's so much music now that it's pretty impossible to hear all of it - but that doesn't stop me from trying. As we transition into 2013 and leave 2012 behind, I'll be taking much of the music from the last year with me.

Graham Nash, 01/14/13

Singer-Songwriter, Photographer and Activist

In my humble opinion, the judges' ruling, granting Manning a 112-day reduction in any sentence he might receive, is welcome but far short of true justice. If the military broke its own laws and President Obama even declared publicly that Manning had broken the law, then how can anyone say that this could be a "fair" trial?

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.

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.

Emma Gray, 01/16/13

Associate Editor, HuffPost Women

Megan Fox is hot. Megan Fox's face is symmetrical. Megan Fox is kind of sad about being so hot. According to Stephen Marche, author of Esquire's outrageous new profile of the Transformers and This Is 40 actress, this is a complex problem requiring a thousands-of-words meditation and a completely unnecessary jab at Adele, Lena Dunham, Lady Gaga and Amy Adams.

Peter Scheer, 01/16/13

Executive Director, First Amendment Coalition

Although the stock market yawned at Facebook's announcement of "Graph Search," its new search service, with investors wagering it would only hurt smaller, vertical search services like Yelp and Linkedin, the truth is that it is potentially much more significant than that.

Mohamed A. El-Erian, 01/16/13

CEO and co-CIO, PIMCO

Paul Krugman is right: Japan is attempting a paradigm policy shift with potential systemic implications; and sustainability and success are not certain. The outcome, still too early to tell, will be consequential for Japanese society and the global economy as a whole.

Heidi Klum, 01/18/13

Model, Actress

I have been volunteering for many years for charity organization UNICEF, and just a few weeks ago, I traveled to Haiti to learn more about the recovery efforts.

Bob Cesca, 01/18/13

Political Writer, Host of The Bob & Chez Show

This week, President Obama announced a bold series of new gun control regulations. The roster of actions went far beyond the expectations of gun control advocates, while blunting some of the paranoid delusions of the gun lobby and the Republican Party.