Dr. Karin L. Smithson

Psychotherapist and spirituality expert

As college doors start to swish and swing open, slurping young people back in for fall classes, I feel compelled to put my hand up and say, "Wait, you forgot something."

David Coates

Worrell Professor of Anglo-American Studies, Wake Forest University, Department of Politics

The only way in which to effectively push back this ever more carefully orchestrated Tea Party tide is to challenge Republican assertions and policies with the same degree of self-confidence and directness with which their advocates present them.

Michael Calderone

Senior Media Reporter, The Huffington Post

How did the Times miss out on Washington Post sale scoop when profiling publisher?

Robert Reich

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Beyond Outrage'

Instead of spending August on the beach, corporate lobbyists are readying arguments for when Congress returns in September about why corporate taxes should be lowered. But they're lies. You need to know why so you can spread the truth.

Deborah Yaffe

Author

These days, it seems, everyone's a Jane Austen fan. Who doesn't love the witty repartee of the sparring lovers in Pride and Prejudice -- you read it back in high school, right? -- or the date-night pleasures of the Emma Thompson movie made from Sense and Sensibility?

Max Jacobson-Fried

Writer, CrossFitter

I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point in my mid to late 20s, I reached a state of general malaise. I knew CrossFit had something to do with doing 100 pull ups and throwing up, which was a fancy stretch from my normal routine. I signed up for an Intro course and jumped right in.

Raymond J. Learsy

Author, 'Ruminations on the Distortion of Oil Prices and Crony Capitalism'

There is no transparency whatsoever in the trading of oil on the commodity exchanges. We don't know who is taking positions and for whose account.

Adam J. Rose

HuffPost Standards Editor

I don't know enough about hacking and odds are you don't, either. I set out to learn more at DEF CON, a hacking conference with enough discussions on civil liberties, ethics and philosophy to delight a liberal arts major. Charged to "live an examined life," we should all think harder about our technology, privacy and security.

Ellen Kellner

Mindful thinker and author

At the office, are women powerful because of their destructive power? Are we all nothing more than Disney villains? When I'm powerful, is it the result of being caustic? I hope not, but in hearing my colleagues pronouncement, "is it true?"

Dan Treadway

Associate blog editor, The Huffington Post

Why does an organization formed when the idea of paying money to attend a sporting event was in its infancy still operate under the same (now completely out-of-context) model?

Adam Hanft

Political Columnist, CEO of Hanft Projects

The decision to close as many as two dozen American embassies and consulates, based on intelligence reports about an upcoming Al Qaeda attack (or attacks), is nothing less than a public relations and recruiting bonanza for them.

David J. Eicher

Editor-in-Chief, Astronomy magazine

What UFO proponents and sci-fi story writers too often fail to appreciate is the distance scale of the universe. It is HUGE. REALLY HUGE.

Randy Pipkin

2013 National Chair, Breakthrough ALS

Dear Mr. Rodriquez, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge your recent comments about "fighting for your life." I would like you to understand what that profound, emotional claim truly means.

Adam Green

Co-founder, Progressive Change Campaign Committee (BoldProgressives.org)

Open Debates will be a game changer in our political process -- ensuring that questions get asked that the public actually cares about. What starts in Massachusetts will hopefully become the norm for local, state, congressional, and even presidential debates in the future.

David Halperin

Attorney, advocate, writer at RepublicReport.org

What will become of the rest of the old Washington Post Company, publicly traded and run by the Graham family? The fact is that the Post Company was already dominated, in several respects, by its lucrative Kaplan education subsidiary.

Rohin Dhar

Co-founder and CEO, Priceonomics

Let's agree that diamonds are bullsh*t and reject their role in the marriage process. Let's admit that as a society we got tricked for about century into coveting sparkling pieces of carbon, but it's time to end the nonsense.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Rabbi and Writer

Why am I here? Because no country on earth today reminds us moderns of the responsibility of man to his fellow man and no country has bounced back from a genocide with such determination, forgiveness, and resilience.

Jeff Jarvis

Author, 'Public Parts' and 'What Would Google Do?'

I am glad Bezos is using his wealth to save a great and necessary American institution. But I hope and pray the real value he brings is his entrepreneurship, his innovation, his experience, and his fresh perspective, enabling him to reimagine news as an enterprise.

Richard (RJ) Eskow

Writer; Senior Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

Which Jeff Bezos will publish the Washington Post: the anti-tax libertarian or the iconoclastic business thinker? We don't know. But either way, the plot thickens.

Jonathan Weiler

Director of Undergraduate Studies in Global Studies, UNC Chapel Hill

Now that Commissioner Selig has thrown the book at Alex Rodriguez, it is past time for sports media to stop giving a free pass to the man who is most responsible for having allowed the steroid problem to fester for as long as it did -- the commissioner himself.

Ben Greenfield

Fitness and Triathlon expert; Get-Fit Guy podcast host

Of course, even the very best flat-stomach workout isn't going to do much for you if those nice muscles you build are covered with a layer of nature's comfortable camouflage -- a.k.a. fat.

Sean McElwee

Writer

Jesus, as all great reformers have, sided with the oppressed. This new kind of skewed fundamentalism is radically new and far removed from true Christianity. True Christianity offers us a far superior doctrine -- one of social justice, love and equality.

Lincee Ray

TV enthusiast

I can forgive ABC for forcing the viewing audience to sit through Chris Harrison masterfully negotiating three hours of mostly fluff, because there were some pretty exciting moments that made me stand up and yell at my own television.

Tom Engelhardt

Editor, TomDispatch.com

It's harder these days to imagine a use for such a heroically solitary statement -- not in an America in which spying and surveillance are boom businesses, and our latest potential Nathan Hales are corporate contractors, who often don't get closer to the enemy than a computer terminal.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mary Anne Hitt

The Clean Water Act is one of our nation's greatest statutory achievements. But 40 years after the Act was passed, the coal industry is still polluting with impunity, thanks to a loophole that no other industry enjoys.

Shakira

Singer, Activist and Founder of the Barefoot Foundation

My career as a singer has given me my greatest gift of all--my voice. It's a gift that allows me to express myself as an artist but also one that affords me a platform to shine the spotlight on issues infinitely more important than my own career.

Dean Baker

Co-director, CEPR; author, 'The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive'

President Obama seems to think that the country should be thankful to Larry Summers that we didn't have another Great Depression. This is like telling little kids that if they don't eat their spinach the bogeyman will get them.

Seth Shostak

Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute

I endeavor to keep an open mind. After all, anyone can make a scientific discovery. And if that someone is outside the cozy halls of academe, how can they make their case? However, I would like to offer an FAQ service for those who would call or write with extraordinary claims.

Ellen Dolgen

Author, 'Shmirshky: The Pursuit of Hormone Happiness'

Where are my keys? If it's the umpteenth time you've asked that question today, you're undoubtedly frustrated. Chances are you want to find the cause -- and fix it before you go and lose your keys again!