Mattea Kramer and Jo Comerford

It's 2023 -- and this is America 10 years after the first across-the-board federal budget cuts known as sequestration went into effect.

Trita Parsi

President, National Iranian American Council

While a very slight glimmer of hope existed after the fraudulent elections in 2009 that the negative trajectory could be reversed through the ballot box, even that small probability may now have been eliminated.

Jared Bernstein

Fmr. Obama administration economist; CNBC and MSNBC contributor

Because they can indefinitely shield their foreign profits from U.S. taxes, meanwhile engaging in endless (legal) schemes to avoid taxes in countries where they book those earnings, the link between the profitability of American companies and the well-being of America is broken.

Hollye Harrington Jacobs

Nurse, Social Worker, Educator, Author www.TheSilverPen.com

The important thing to know is that children take their coping cues from us, the trusted adults in their lives. This isn't to say that we should cover our emotions. Not at all. Rather, we need to model healthy coping mechanisms for our children.

Ken Harbaugh

Executive Director, ServiceNation

I realize how lucky I am. I have a job I love, with health care, and a family I can talk to whenever I want -- thank you Skype. But every time I fall asleep in some distant hotel room, I ask myself, "Is what I did today worth more than tucking my kids into bed?"

Rep. Steny Hoyer and Rep. Barbara Lee

From infants to seniors, the sequester affects at-risk Americans in every age bracket, and its cuts will harm families trying to put food on the table. Simply put, the sequester will erect road blocks along the pathways out of poverty.

Jennifer Rowe Walters

Mother, Wife, Okie

Tornadoes. For me and my fellow Okies, it's probably one of the first words we hear as children. We play "tornado" with our friends. But this. This is something that no amount of experience, no ingrained, Okie-native understanding of the weather or geography can ever prepare you for.

Wray Herbert

Author, 'On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits'

The elderly have never been honored in American society. They have more often been stereotyped, stigmatized and pitied. And according to Princeton University psychological scientist Susan Fiske, this unfair ageist stereotyping could become even darker with the new influx of seniors.

Jeb Bush

Former governor of Florida

Most Americans agree that coming to the United States legally should be easier and with less cost than coming to the country illegally. Unfortunately, right now, that is not the case.

Beth Woolsey

Writer, humorist at the Five Kids Is A Lot of Kids blog

If you pay attention, kids will teach you how to laugh loudly, how to love deeply and how to live fully. They will also ruin all your stuff.

Amitai Etzioni

Professor of international relations, George Washington University

The president is either moping or muttering defensively about the abuses by the IRS and the tragedy of Benghazi. As I see it, if he wakes up tomorrow and is willing to speak up, there are a few things he could fairly state. First, any suggestion that "the IRS" went after the Tea Party are bogus.

Marcus Samuelsson

Award-Winning Chef, Restaurateur & Author

Children want to mimic adults. They notice when you choose to prepare fresh vegetables over calling in another pizza pie for dinner. They will see that food made with love and care outweighs going through the drive-through window.

Joanna Montgomery

Wife, mother, writer, survivor

We all know that cancer changes a person forever. It clearly changes us physically. It also changes us emotionally. Now here's the part no one really tells you: Cancer really does a number on your sexuality, especially us women.

Elliott Negin

Director of News & Commentary, Union of Concerned Scientists

Given the Heartland Institute's penchant for misrepresenting science, you would think reporters would be curious about who finances its work. You would be wrong.

Meaghan Garvey

Illustrator, writer

Kanye West is white America's worst nightmare. Because as much as one may attempt to dismiss him, you still have to turn on your regularly scheduled late night comedy program and stare him in the face. You can't avoid Kanye. He's made very sure of that.

Peter Dreier and Richard Appelbaum

If journalism's role is to not only report the facts but also to expose wrongdoing, then the Times deserves kudos, and a Pulitzer Prize, for documenting and explaining the emergence of Bangladesh's new sweatshop economy as a major source of the clothing that American and European consumers buy every day.

Joe Robinson

Work-life balance, stress management educator, speaker, and author, 'Work to Live''

There seems to be a trend here. Illness and stress. Spending wild amounts of money and stress. The culprit behind so many of our health problems is staring us in the face. Want to cut chronic diseases and health bills? Start with stress, the crisis at the heart of the health care crisis.

Allen Frances

Professor Emeritus, Duke University

May has been a dispiriting month for psychiatry and a sad and worrying time for our patients. Three of the leading mental health organizations have squabbled among themselves -- promoting silly and competing 'paradigm shifts' while ignoring the unmet needs of our patients.

Sec. Kathleen Sebelius

Secretary of Health and Human Services

This is a time when you're making big decisions about the future. You might be embarking on a new career, transitioning to a different city. I'm sure the last thing you're thinking about is health insurance. But unfortunately, the unexpected can happen.

Roya R. Rad, MA, PsyD

Faculty of psychology, ECPI University

At the end, positive thinkers are better problem solvers and have better interactions. In addition to that, people who are positive thinkers are happier and more satisfied with their life.

Grover Norquist

President, Americans for Tax Reform

America is the most immigrant-friendly nation in the world and we are also the richest; that is not a coincidence. Immigrants have been coming to our shores since the Pilgrims landed and they bring with them determination, innovation, and the entrepreneurial spirit that built this great nation.

Bernard-Henri Lévy

French philosopher and writer

Today's vandals, who might, God forbid, become tomorrow's terrorists, have no program whatsoever. They resemble the public hoodlums Nietzsche spoke of as the rising force in the great modern democratic cities, filling the lull with the simple rage to break the bonds among men.

Dustin Lance Black

Founding board member, American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER); Academy Award-winning screenwriter, 'Milk'

It seems that the message we too often miss from Milk's work is that all Americans have an interest in equality because soon we will all be minorities in some way or another. Harvey called this his "coalition of the us's" -- not only gays but blacks, Asians, seniors, the disabled.

Meathead

AmazingRibs.com, Barbecue Whisperer, Hedonism Evangelist, Omnivore

The best smokers to buy this summer.

Mohamed Daadaoui

Associate Professor of Political Science, Oklahoma City University

Gathered in the faculty-in-residence apartment in one of the university's residence halls, a few students, staff and I watched the local TV coverage of the twister as it slowly built momentum and turned from a mild storm to a giant two-mile monster tornado that wreaked havoc leaving a path of destruction in its trail.

Jeanne Bishop

Murder victims' family member

Two elementary schools had been hit by the level EF4 storm. Children were dead. Parents who flocked to the school were reportedly kept away from the perimeter so that rescuers could hear any voices that might be crying for help. My first thought as I surveyed the rubble was, Why?

Andrew Yang

Founder and CEO, Venture for America

Our young people desperately want the chance to participate in and lead our nation's economic and cultural revival. They're up for the challenges that they're going to inherit. It only remains for us to present the path to address them.

Aaron Gouveia

Blogger, The Daddy Files

Guys see the low bar set for dads on commercials and TV shows and will only rise high enough to meet it. And when their wives dress the baby in a shirt that basically calls them idiots, they'll soon learn they're expected to be know-nothing dolts, so there's no need to improve.

Marlo Thomas

Award-winning actress, author and activist

I am an unrepentant news junkie. If I'm not getting the latest stories online, I 'm hearing them blaring from the TV in the next room. And have I introduced you to my husband, Phil? He makes me look uninformed. So, between the two of us, we're practically a 24-hour cable news station.