John Feffer

Open Society Fellow

More than a decade ago, I sat down with the head of the academy of architecture in Pyongyang. There was one element missing from their architecture program: North Korean builders paid virtually no attention to energy efficiency

David Macaray

Labor columnist, playwright and author

The day will surely come when some future president awards the Medal of Freedom to George W. Bush. It will happen. But why on earth would an ex-president need the same medal that Richard Petty got?

Lisa Belkin

Chroniqueuse travail/famille, The Huffington Post

Are there any mothers (or fathers) on screens big or small this year who haven't screwed their children up, or over? Do you have any screen role models?

Regina Weinreich

Author, 'Kerouac's Spontaneous Poetics'

Just as this year's Nobel Peace Prize winners -- three women -- were announced, this film season features two films that focus on women rulers: one, Margaret Thatcher, a hawk; the other, Aung San Suu Kyi, a dove who is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Laurence Watts

Freelance journalist; board member, American Military Partner Association

As I slowly became aware of politics, I admired Thatcher, like many others did, as a "strong leader." It was only after I discovered I was gay and studied politics that I realized her policies were, in fact, anti-gay.

Christina Patterson

Writer and columnist, 'The Independent'

Some of us think that if you're going to boast about knowing things, or people, you should probably actually know them, because it doesn't take long, in an age of smartphones and Google, to find out if you don't.

Nathan Gardels

Editor, NPQ, Global Services of Los Angeles Times Syndicate/Tribune Media

German dominance of Europe is already enough of a fact to prompt British Prime Minister David Cameron to opt out of any role in the future of a German-run European Union that would constrain British sovereignty.