Why We Lost Healthcare

John Neffinger, 12.15.2009

KNP Communications

For Obama to do his job, he needs progressives to do theirs: let progressives fight on the left flank to make room for the President to steer a middle course. Otherwise the "centrists" will always win.

NATO and Climate Change

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, 12.15.2009

Secretary General, NATO

Climate change presents security challenges of a magnitude and a complexity we have never seen before. Preparing for it is not a choice -- it is an urgent necessity.

The Obama Team is Taking Credit for a Bush Policy in North Korea

Richard Grenell, 12.15.2009

Fmr. director of comm. and public diplomacy for the US Representative to the UN

During the Bush years pressure on North Korea was greatly increased, not decreased, as the current White House and New York Times say. That the Obama team is taking credit now is a shame.

Time for 'Housecleaning' in Copenhagen

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 12.15.2009

President of Brazil

If Copenhagen is to be a success, all must pull their weight. This means avoiding the temptation to polarize the debate along the North-South divide, or wasting time looking for scapegoats.

Are Bank Executives Really Stuck in the Fog?

Rep. Edolphus Towns, 12.15.2009

Common sense should have told these gentlemen that when the President of the United States summons you to the White House, you check the weather ahead of time and plan accordingly.

Chuck Norris Says Obama Wants Mary to Abort Jesus

Chris Kelly, 12.15.2009

Writer, Real Time with Bill Maher

If you want to put the Bible in schools but you think Mary might have aborted Jesus, if she didn't have to pay for it, you don't get to talk anymore. Even Chuck Norris should be able to process that.

Can the Obama White House Course-Correct in Time to Avoid Hitting the 2010 Iceberg?

Arianna Huffington, 12.14.2009

If the Obama White House is going to change course in time to avoid hitting the looming 2010 electoral iceberg, the president and his advisors need to immediately jettison the notion that the public's widespread anger over joblessness and the bank bailout will be dissipated by the magic bullet of passing a health care reform bill.

HuffPost Premiere: "Christmas Is for Lovers" Music Video

Dave Stewart, 12.15.2009

Musician, former member of Eurythmics

You don't have to look very far to see the romance of the holidays is losing out to consumerism. I say we romantics of the world unite and take the holiday back.

Top Ten PR Blunders of 2009

Rich Robinson, 12.15.2009

Media Strategist, Robinson Communications

For some this was, as Queen Elizabeth might say, "annus horribilis" -- a horrible year. For the rest of us, it was another lesson in public relations crisis management.

As Anchors Change at ABC and MSNBC, Will Executives Ignore Diversity Again?

Eric Deggans, 12.15.2009

TV/Media critic for the St. Petersburg Times

Until you work on these issues, it's hard to appreciate how difficult it is to diversify newsrooms. But it's time for TV outlets to cast their gaze beyond the usual suspects.

Menopause: Marketing Fear

Susan Kim, 12.15.2009

Playwright, TV writer. Author: "Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation" w/Elissa Stein

Years ago, a retired advertising executive confided to me that the key to a good pitch lay in the skillful manipulation of fear and desire. This is certainly true for hormone replacement therapy.

I Don't Feel Well

Evan Handler, 12.15.2009

Actor, author, screenwriter, and journalist

I'd ask, "What is the world coming to?" except the rest of the world seems to be making sense. Of the industrialized nations, it's only ours that doesn't provide some form of "universal" health care coverage to its citizens.

Pennsylvania Burning: Feds Levy Charges In Immigrant Killing and Police Cover-Up

Brian Levin, J.D., 12.15.2009

Director, Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, California State University

The United States Department of Justice announced a sweeping set of indictments levied
by a federal grand jury connected to a racially motivated killing and alleged police corruption in Shenandoah, PA.

A U.S. Commitment to Developing Nations: The Key to Unlocking Copenhagen

Frances Beinecke, 12.15.2009

President, Natural Resources Defense Council

The US is the only nation that has yet to signal its commitment to medium-term financing for developing nations. This is what developing nations are waiting to hear.

Where to Find an Enemy If There Is None?

Matvey Ganapolskiy, 12.15.2009

It may surprise many readers to hear that anti-Americanism represents one of the cardinal principles of current Russian domestic policy. Obama, however, is doing his best to change that.

Meryl in the Sack With Alec

Erica Abeel, 12.15.2009

Author of the novel Conscience Point

Nancy Meyers -- attractive, blonde, quick-witted -- goes where Hollywood fears to tread: she makes rom-coms about later-life love. We're discussing her latest film, It's Complicated.

Pass Financial Regulatory Reform, Then Break Up the Big Banks

Robert Creamer, 12.15.2009

Political organizer, strategist and author

With no regard for history -- and here I mean the events of only 12 months ago -- the Republicans and Big Banks have the audacity to contend that the creation of jobs requires the lowest levels of regulation possible.

StimCity: What America's Mayors Think of the Stimulus

Harry Moroz, 12.15.2009

Drum Major Institute for Public Policy

Stimulus projects designed for job creation have proven ineffective. To find out why, I spoke with a handful of the nation's mayors, both Democratic and Republican.

To Call Blair Bush's Poodle Is An Insult to Poodles

Harry Shearer, 12.14.2009

Actor, author, director, satirist, musician, radio host, playwright, multi-media artist

Something rather interesting is going on in Great Britain these wintry days: an official inquiry, broad-ranging in its declared scope, into the way that country got involved in a little conflict in Iraq.

The Anti-Development Crisis: Who's Really to Blame for Lost Jobs This Christmas

Jo Guldi, 12.15.2009

Historian, Harvard Society of Fellows

The culprits for the current recession are more numerous than the Wall Street bankers who profited from it. The deeper culprits are the economists and politicians who pushed fake development for years.

Local Governments Can Lead Fight Against Climate Change

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 12.15.2009

Even in the absence of national and international commitments, we must not ignore the tremendous movement that is already under way to solve our environmental and energy problems.

Disabled Veteran Homeless In Detroit: Meet Leon

Mark Horvath, 12.15.2009

Founder of InvisiblePeople.tv

Leon is a Vietnam veteran who has been homeless for six years. After serving "the greatest country in the world," he is lost somewhere in the pile of Veteran's Administration disability claims.