Richard (RJ) Eskow

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

Apple's $100 billion in offshore profits is managed in Reno, tracked by accountants in Austin, and stored in Manhattan banks. That's called having your apple and eating it too. It's up to our leaders, not corporate executives, to fix this problem.

Lee A. Saunders

President, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO

Scott Walker and his tea party cohorts bought the snake oil of austerity. They forced the Badger State to drink it. And Wisconsin's families are suffering because the governor ignored the evidence that it is a toxic brew.

Valerie Tarico

Author, 'Trusting Doubt' and 'Deas and Other Imaginings'; Founder, WisdomCommons.org

When it comes to matters of individual conscience, Washington State voters have a don't-mess-with-us attitude that makes Texans look like cattle--and it goes way back.

Tom Engelhardt

Editor, TomDispatch.com

To destroy our planet with malice aforethought, with only the most immediate profits on the brain, with only your own comfort and wellbeing (and those of your shareholders) in mind: Isn't that the ultimate crime?

Stephen A. Brunton, M.D., FAAFP

Executive Vice President for Education, Primary Care Education Consortium

Like anything, when it comes to health care, there is a careful balance that needs to be achieved between doing what is best for the patient, and being prudent in managing costs to the system.

Tom Hayden

Former State Senator and leader of sixties peace, justice and environmental movement. Director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center.

Where Garcetti goes from here is momentarily upward -- television interviews, magazine covers -- before his handlers guide his approach back to the mundane mess at City Hall. How will he try to reconcile with labor leaders used to having their way?

Ocean Robbins

Author, Speaker, www.foodrevolution.org

Have you noticed that when it comes to food policy, the U.S. Congress isn't always an unflinching champion of the public interest? Today, you have an opportunity to do something about that.

Jason Stanford

Democratic consultant and writer

A new General Accounting Office report demonstrates that cheating by school officials on standardized tests has become commonplace despite the use of security measures the report recommends.

Alex Nowrasteh

Immigration Policy Analyst, Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity

E-Verify is in theory supposed to keep unlawful immigrants out of the labor market. But in reality, not only will it fail to keep people out, it will also hinder job creation with expensive new regulations.

Keli Goff

Author and Special Correspondent, TheRoot.com

Much like Matthew Shepard's death in 1998, the recent violence in New York will hopefully inspire some people who have been on the fence, and believe that LGBT rights is not their problem, to understand that regardless of your skin color, or sexual orientation, the fight for equal rights matters to all of us.

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.

Bradley Foster

Founder, Giant Steps Coaching

You don't have to be an expert in leadership to see that there is a critical shortage of great leaders in the world today. Problems we face are not being addressed by "leaders" we have.

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.

Chris Weigant

Political writer and blogger at ChrisWeigant.com

The politics of immigration reform are already messy, and they're just going to get messier. The hurdles are going to get a lot higher, and a lot harder to clear. Whether they can be cleared or not may depend on the final tally the bill gets in the Senate floor vote.

Patte Barth

Director, Center for Public Education

The authors of Parent Trigger Laws will say their intent is to empower parents. But, as with so many things, good intentions alone do not translate into good actions.

Russ Belville

Host of The Russ Belville Show

Now, a new poll released in Oregon shows that the locals do seem to know more about the political climate for legalization here, with an astounding 57 percent of likely 2014 voters supporting a specific tax and regulate proposal for marijuana legalization.

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.