Garry Wills, 02/12/13

Author, 'Why Priests?: A Failed Tradition'

We live in a time when Catholic priests are an aging and shrinking group, damaged in morale and reputation, overstretched in their monopolization of all sacramental services. What we really need are no priests.

Marian Wright Edelman, 02/15/13

President, Children's Defense Fund

Our nation's children and families have suffered enough broken hearts. We are determined that children get a vote on common-sense gun safety measures to protect them from guns. Take action with us.

George Lakoff, 02/15/13

Author, 'The Political Mind,' 'Moral Politics' and 'Don't Think of an Elephant!'

That is how the president has changed public discourse. He has changed it at the level that counts, the deepest level, the moral level. What can make that change persist? What will allow such an ideal citizenry to come into existence?

Arianna Huffington, 02/11/13

If there's anybody in the White House who wants to do battle with unemployment as badly as George Bush and Dick Cheney (and a few dozen others) wanted to do battle with Iraq, I hope they'll get their war on in the second term.

Mary Roach, 02/15/13

author

In 2009, I walked onto the TED stage and gave a talk that included video of a Danish pig inseminator. The topic of the talk was orgasm, and the video related to a centuries-old debate over "upsuck."

Peter Diamandis, 02/15/13

Chairman/CEO, X PRIZE Foundation

Today scientists are closely tracking 434 asteroids that are large enough and come close enough to the Earth to be of potential future concern, and while none of these pose any significant risk today, increased surveillance is required.

Rita Wilson, 02/14/13

Editor at Large, Huff/Post50; Actor, Producer, Singer

I have a scrapbook full of memories, and decaying gardenias that will be passed onto my kids and grandkids. Will our kids have anything to save? If our kids don't make cards, or write poems, what will they show their kids when they're Post Fifty?

Howard Fineman, 02/15/13

Editorial director, Huffington Post Media Group

The question is whether this often heavy-handed, and yet often darkly amusing, TV show is accurate or fair or somehow useful.

Marlo Thomas, 02/15/13

Award-winning actress, author and activist

We've been talking about our hopes for a woman president since... well, since as long as I can remember. And for much of that time -- as with any long-sought dream -- the fantasy never quite lived up to the reality.

Al Gore, 02/14/13

Chairman, Generation Investment Management and The Climate Reality Project

A new study funded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health reveals that the Tea Party Movement was planned over a decade ago by groups with ties to the tobacco and fossil fuel industries.

Dr. Peggy Drexler, 02/16/13

Author, research psychologist and gender scholar

If your child is the troublemaker, it's important to help set him straight sooner rather than later -- ideally before he gets labeled and before he finds himself losing friends.

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, 02/11/13

Senior Religion Editor, The Huffington Post

Catholics may be surprised at how closely non-Catholics follow these very public moments in their Church, and how invested other Christians, and people of other faith and no faith are in the machinations of the Catholic Church.

Erin Cooper, 02/16/13

Doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology, Temple University

Understanding why some women fake orgasm as a method of avoidance while others fake orgasm to make their sex life more fun is important. These are factors that may have a significant impact on women's self-esteem and romantic relationships.

Mohamed A. El-Erian, 02/14/13

CEO and co-CIO, PIMCO

It is not surprising that the G-7 statement did very little to dampen currency movements. I also doubt that the other likely short-term objective -- that of pre-empting currency disagreements at Friday's G-20 meeting -- will be fully successful.

Mark Ruffalo, 02/11/13

Actor/Director

If rumor becomes plan, then the residents of the Southern Tier become unwilling lab rats in our governor's fracking experiment. It's an experiment that risks ruin for many in the form of poisoned water, toxic air, burning flare stacks, mystery chemicals, and 24/7 noise.

Kate Spencer, 02/13/13

Writer, producer

When people come down on Lena Dunham for these things, they're coming down on all women. They're reinforcing the negative criticism and commentary many of us already put upon ourselves.

Pete Townshend, 02/11/13

Musician, Author

As a performer, in front of an audience, I operate very differently from the way I do sitting here writing. I am myself, there is no act, but I am a different self, one that I only meet when I walk onto a stage or into a television studio. I have no fear.

Cecile Richards, 02/15/13

President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund

Women's preventive care -- including birth control -- is basic health care. This shouldn't be a revolutionary idea, but unfortunately it is to some.

Ben Hallman, 02/13/13

Senior Financial Writer, The Huffington Post

More government, more problems. That was theme of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's televised response to the State of the Union address last night. As evidence, Rubio offered up the lesson of the housing crisis, created, he said, "by reckless government policies."

Christy Turlington Burns, 02/14/13

Founder, Every Mother Counts, Director/Producer, NO WOMAN, NO CRY, global maternal health advocate, mom, model

I am hopeful that the combination of an unprecedented female leadership in Congress and the opportunity for our own voices to break through will make sure women's rights and status in society are fully equal to men's and truly secure all over the world.

Chris Noth, 02/15/13

Actor

As a New Yorker, last year climate change hit home like never before. That's why this Valentine's I am doing everything I can to show some love for the rainforests (and the groups protecting them).

Allison Tate, 02/15/13

Author, mother of four

Five is a whole hand. It is no longer a baby, not even a toddler or a preschooler. Five is a big deal.

Jared Bernstein, 02/12/13

Fmr. Obama administration economist; CNBC and MSNBC contributor

Clearly, in an economy where for decades growth has failed to reach our lowest wage workers, it's time to raise the wage floor to ensure that low-wage workers have a decent shot at a fair wage.

Melinda Gates, 02/11/13

Co-chair, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

We've rendered the phrase "the art and science of" almost meaningless by using it to describe nearly any endeavor. But "art and science" is a nuanced way to think about the unique properties of teaching, one of the most important endeavors in any society.

Tim Chartier and Dean Chadwin, 02/15/13

As basketball fans around the world focus their attention on Sunday's NBA All-Star Game, one player stands above the rest. LeBron James is clearly the league's best player. An important question lingers: is LeBron the Greatest of All Time, or GOAT?

Kerry Kennedy, 02/11/13

President, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights

I urge every American to watch The Invisible War and hear the stories therein. And to those few in the position to influence this year's Oscar considerations, I urge you to consider what your vote in the documentary category can mean for America

Leo W. Gerard, 02/11/13

International President, United Steelworkers

His fifth State of the Union speech this week gives President Obama a perfect opportunity to proclaim to all of America that he will preserve the freedom to engage in collective action. It's an important moment for him to say the word 'union' loudly.

R. Gil Kerlikowske and Benjamin Todd Jealous, 02/14/13

It is clear that we cannot simply arrest our way out of the drug problem. Instead, we need smarter, results-based criminal justice policies to keep our communities safe, including treatment for people with substance use disorders and mental health issues.

Brendan DeMelle, 02/11/13

Executive Director, DeSmogBlog.com

A new academic study confirms that front groups with longstanding ties to the tobacco industry and the billionaire Koch brothers planned the formation of the Tea Party movement more than a decade before it exploded onto the U.S. political scene.