Michael Shaw, 12/05/12

Publisher of BagNewsNotes, topping LIFE.com's 2011 Best Photo Blogs

Beyond the pitched cries of editorial impropriety, perhaps it's not all clear what the subway photo is really about. When you think about it, for example, what the photo offers is not the story of what happened so much as its consequence.

Robert Reich, 12/05/12

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

If we had a functional government America would address three "cliffs" posing far larger dangers to us than the fiscal one.

Lisa Belkin, 12/05/12

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

The space between the moment you learn you are pregnant and the one when you reveal that to the wider world is the most intimate time in a woman's life. You are quite literally carrying a secret.

Jedediah Purdy, 12/05/12

Professor, Duke Law School; Author, 'A Tolerable Anarchy'

Is having fewer children the mark of decadence? The New York Times' cultural conservative, Ross Douthat, has been arguing that. But he is seriously, even dangerously wrong, and that the people he's criticizing are the ones who are taking responsibility for the future.

Oprah Winfrey, 12/04/12

Chairman and CEO, Oprah Winfrey Network

At the end of each school year in South Africa -- which is right now -- I teach a class to the 12th graders at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. It's my last chance before they move out into the world of college and beyond to try and cram everything I wish someone had told me into a week's curriculum.

Bill McKibben and Lawrence J. Hanley, 12/05/12

Superstorm Sandy has made it clear that no matter how hard some politicians try to ignore climate change, climate change will not ignore them -- or any of us.

Rev. Al Sharpton, 12/05/12

President, National Action Network

When the top 2 percent were enjoying tax breaks and stockpiling prosperity, there was no sharing. Now they have the audacity to ask seniors, minorities, folks whose children fought in our wars, the disenfranchised and the most vulnerable among us to sacrifice some more. Does that seem fair?

Rebecca Hughes Parker, 12/05/12

Attorney, Journalist, Editor of FCPA Report

Twins for Kate? The princess's hyperemesis gravidarum has led to speculation that she is having twins. With this speculation about twins comes the misconceptions about twin zygosity and twin inheritance that have persisted, even among skilled medical professionals.

Bill Moyers, 12/05/12

Managing Editor, Moyers & Company

Until now, this hasn't been the best year for media mogul Rupert Murdoch. But Murdoch's luck may be changing.

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, 12/05/12

Senior Religion Editor, The Huffington Post

What are we to make of the morality tale of giving the homeless man a pair of shoes when the man is not homeless, has an undesirable past and has apparently discarded the shoes?

D.L. Hughley, 12/05/12

Actor and stand-up comedian

No one likes kids blasting their crappy music. No one likes babies crying on airplanes either. But you don't get to kill them.

Bill Werde, 12/05/12

Editorial director, Billboard

It feels good to take a day and celebrate the accomplishments of the top female executive talent. So it raised an eyebrow or two when Katy came to the stage to accept her Woman of the Year award, and "I am not a feminist" were among the first words from her mouth.

HuffPost Labs, 12/05/12

Highly Technical. Excellent Flavor.

Innovation is like a gas, it becomes more powerful the more it is compressed. Our hope is that by making it easier for the builders in NYC to meet one another and exchange ideas, we can help this community grow even faster and accomplish even more for bringing our city, our country and our world into the future.

Joseph A. Palermo, 12/04/12

Associate professor, historian, author

Before the liberals write the GOP's obituary it would be wise to acknowledge the role other "bubbles" play in inventing new and ingenious ways to get people to vote against their own self-interests.

Emmeline Zhao, 12/05/12

Associate Education Editor, The Huffington Post

The question is not whether education is "still worth" the cost, but how to reform education (via campus culture, course curriculum, learning standards, etc.) so that it is still worth it on a practical level -- and how to make formal education more affordable and accessible to all.

Arianna Huffington, 12/03/12

Whether or not we go over the fiscal cliff, around the fiscal curve, or down the fiscal slope remains to be seen, but one thing is already certain: Our political debate has already gone over the cliff.

Kitty Kelley, 12/03/12

America’s bestselling investigative biographer

Born poor, Stanley Tretick became prosperous through hard work and immense talent, which earned him many professional prizes as well as the respect and affection of his peers.

Tom Engelhardt, 12/04/12

Editor, TomDispatch.com

Dear President Obama, Don't these "accomplishments" of yours sometimes amaze you? Don't you ever wake up in the middle of the night wondering just who you are?

Ben Greenfield, 12/05/12

Fitness and Triathlon expert; Get-Fit Guy podcast host

This season, consider not succumbing to peer pressure and societal acceptance of holiday weight gain and instead stay physically active and avoid unplanned eating. Your body will thank you when the New Year rolls around.

Adam Goldberg, 12/05/12

Front Page Editor at The Huffington Post

Thriller turned 30 a few days ago. This album is beyond compare. It's not pop music. It's Michael's music. This album doesn't pander, it brings joy. Pure and simple.

Electric Literature, 12/05/12

Saving literature one reader at a time

While writers may welcome the Oulipian challenge of crafting prose fit for a tweet, Twitter isn't the first outlet for experimental publishing. And it likely isn't the last.

Neil Steinberg, 11/27/12

Columnist, Author

New York's a nice place to visit: museums, theater, that lady with the torch. But I wouldn't want to live there, not when Chicago is such a much better place to live. Why? That's easy. Here are the top 15 reasons.

Sen. Chris Coons and Sen. Johnny Isakson, 12/05/12

Scientific advances and their successful implementation -- as well as the leadership of the United States -- have brought us to the brink of an AIDS-free generation. The last 10 years have seen tremendous progress and millions of lives saved -- and we can't stop fighting now.

The Foodcommander, 12/04/12

The Foodcommander is the creation of NY-based private chef and performer Daniel Isengart.

The Foodcommander's first seasonal offering is a challenge: He is urging you to make cookies that are decidedly un-American, won't ever be available as a semi-homemade commercial product, and will never be served on a plane.

Richard (RJ) Eskow, 12/04/12

Writer; host, 'The Breakdown'; Senior Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

The GOP "counter-offer" to the president's fiscal-cliff proposal isn't really an offer at all: It's a rehash of the tired and extremist right-wing economic warfare which the American people soundly rejected last month.

Gordon Brown, 12/05/12

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; UN Special Envoy for Global Education

Just 72 hours ago in the Indian capital of Delhi, 14 children were freed from slave labour. They were being held in dark, insanitary conditions and forced to work for up to 15 hours a day making Christmas decorations.