FAST AND SPURIOUS

Lisa Belkin, 06/26/12

Senior columnist for Life/Work/ Family, The Huffington Post

We felt Nora Ephron knew us, not because she was one of us, but because she was so much more, a distillation of what women felt but didn't yet know, or would have said if they'd been clever enough. The quips the rest of us wished we'd made, but didn't think of until the moment had passed? Ephron gave us voice.

Lynda Resnick, 06/26/12

Author, Rubies in the Orchard

Her writing was flip and deep. She thought about things, everyday things, and then wrote about them in the most approachable way. Like "Come on girls, we see this thing alike, don't we?"

Howard Fineman, 06/26/12

Editorial Director, AOL Huffington Post Media Group

The Newsroom is a paint-by-numbers Sorkin effort, given a frisson of media interest and buzz only because the workplace this time is the media itself. Nothing gets us going like someone we don't like preaching to us about our shortcomings.

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, 06/27/12

Senior Religion Editor, The Huffington Post

Why should anyone be religious when so many of the wars and prejudice have been based on religion?

50 Cent, 06/27/12

Rapper and entrepreneur

Music is my passion. It¹s allowed me to get where I am today, and­ my success in the industry helped me start other projects and businesses. I don't listen to just one genre, so my music collection and playlists reflect all types of artists and music.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, 06/27/12

Civil rights activist

Harassing Eric Holder into resigning or pushing to have him prosecuted for contempt are clearly partisan strategies designed to obstruct this mission. In this election season, Republicans have abandoned all pretense of cooperation in a crisis.

Marge Baker, 06/27/12

Executive Vice President for Policy and Program, People For the American Way

Make no mistake: the Corporate Court has a very different agenda for unions than it has for corporate big spenders. In a decision last week, the Court started to chip away at the rights of unions to influence elections while continuing to leave corporations free to spend as they choose.

Scott Mendelson, 06/27/12

Film critic at Mendelson's Memos, Valley Scene Magazine

Seth MacFarlane's Ted joins the ranks of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Observe and Report among razor-sharp cultural satires cleverly disguised as dumb comedies.

Hilary Rosen, 06/26/12

Communications, media and political strategist

I debate politics for a living and yet with Nora, it was harder. She held them to a standard that most people who love politics don't ever do. Her insight and cynicism was of the sort that when people feel like she does, they turn away. But Nora leaned in.

Jessica Prois, 06/27/12

Editor, HuffPost Impact

To call attention to the developing crisis in the Sahel we're asking our readers to road-test a new social-network platform called Thunderclap, which allows people to send one uniform message, either by tweet or via a post to other social networks, like Facebook.

Timothy Karr, 06/27/12

Campaign Director, Free Press and SavetheInternet.com

Cable giants like Comcast and Time Warner have come to dominate information access in the United States. And they're using this new power to squeeze out competitors and remake new media in their old image.

Margot Wallström and General Sir Richard Shirreff, 06/27/12

Sexual violence in conflict is a serious, present-day crisis affecting millions of people around the world. It is used by political and military leaders to achieve political, military and economic ends, destroying the very fabric of society.

MaryAnn Sleasman, 06/27/12

Staff Writer, TV.com

How many spots were filled tonight? How many are left? Who actually made the cut? Did anyone actually approach singer Shanice Hayes about ditching her dad, the other half of her duet act? We spent a lot of time talking about it and then never talked about it again.

Sara Wilson, 06/26/12

Senior Editor, HuffPost Weddings & HuffPost Divorce

Her line about divorce encapsulated everything about Nora Ephron: how smart and funny and incisive she was; how she possessed the world's most finely tuned bullsh*t detector; how she couldn't help but go straight to the heart of the matter.

Pattie Sellers, 06/27/12

Editor-at-Large, Fortune

Nora Ephron, who died of leukemia on Tuesday at 71, made everyone more human.

Martin Garbus, 06/26/12

Trial lawyer, author

The first paragraph of Citizens United is just arrogant, self-interested foolishness. The second is that plus something far more dangerous.

Brian Frederick, 06/26/12

Executive Director, SportsFans.org

While most fans are celebrating the official announcement of a four-team playoff, keep in mind that college football remains firmly in the control of a cartel that cares more about protecting its own profits than fairly and equitably maximizing revenues for the benefit of all.

Joseph A. Palermo, 06/26/12

Associate professor, historian, author

We could learn a lot from the election of 1912 where a third and fourth party shook up the foundations of corporate control. It's a disgrace that 100 years ago the United States could run an election with far greater choices than it is capable of running today.

Michelangelo Signorile, 06/26/12

Editor-at-large, HuffPost Gay Voices; SiriusXM radio host

To actually endorse a candidate who calls for stripping you of rights seems totally crazy and pathological -- unless perhaps you don't believe the candidate will ever do such a thing. And that is actually what gay Republicans who are voting for Romney will tell you privately.

Lloyd I. Sederer, MD, 06/26/12

Medical director, New York State Office of Mental Health

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University released a report on addictions today that is remarkably comprehensive and even more remarkably honest in portraying the virtually utter failure to identify and effectively treat addiction in the U.S.

Dr. Peggy Drexler, 06/26/12

Author, Research Psychologist, Gender Scholar

With Obama enjoying as much as a 20 point lead with women, who many pundits say could be the key to the election, you'd think the Romney would be a little more accommodating. But Romney's positions could not be clearer.

J. J. Abrams and Eric Greitens, 06/26/12

Respected for their service and applauded for their sacrifice when they return home, today's veterans are also, in some important ways, deeply misunderstood by the people they fight for.

Susan Blumenthal, M.D., 06/26/12

Public Health Editor at HuffPost and Former U.S. Assistant Surgeon General

Significantly reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is a key component in solving America's obesity crisis.

Devon Corneal, 06/25/12

Lawyer, Mother

Before I became a parent, I would have sworn none of this ever would have happened. I'm from the Northeast. We wear clothes. We do not wander about the house in our underwear... The idea of walking around half clothed in front of my kid? No thank you.