Brian Pierce
Top 50 Film Commentaries
With both Milk and Frost/Nixon opening nationwide this coming weekend, I thought it would be fitting to take a look back at some of the best social or political commentaries to appear on the big screen.
The Limiting of American Power
The New York Times reported today that the Bush administration has since 2004 secretly given broad authority to the military to carry out attacks on al-Qaeda in 15 to 20 countries including Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and others. Some thoughts on the implications on American foreign policy follow.
Transition Predictions
Author’s Note: This post was written October 31st, before the election happened and any appointments were made. Already, I’m looking partly stupid and partly prophetic: I did not predict Rahm Emanuel as CoS, but I did predict Robert Gibbs as Press Secretary. Anyway, consider this an open thread on transition predictions.
A Dispatch from Colorado
Friend of Urbanagora and occasional contributor Jon Monteith was recently sent by the Human Rights Campaign to Colorado to campaign on behalf of Democratic senatorial candidate Mark Udall with some additional volunteer work for Barack Obama and congressional candidate Betsy Markey. All three candidates won. Jon provided a report from the field on the eve of the election for HRC’s blog. It’s interesting stuff. The report follows after the jump.
Election Predictions
For the past week or so, contributors, readers, and friends of Urbanagora have been compiling our Official 2008 Election Predictions. We put swing states, close senate races, and more into the mix. Now that the campaigning is over, go out and VOTE, then come back and check how we think it will all turn out.
Top 12 Horror Movies
So I realize it’s a little late to deliver a list of my favorite horror movies given that Halloween was yesterday. But because Halloween was yesterday, I was watching some horror movies I’d never seen before, and wanted to be able to include them here. This list is complete with some brief thoughts from yours truly, as well as clips and trailers. I of course haven’t seen every scary movie ever made, so there may be some glaring omissions here, but I think it’s a pretty solid list.
Colin Powell Says What Needs To Be Said
Not his endorsement of Barack Obama. The endorsement is all well and good. It will consume some news cycles and run down the clock, and maybe even persuade a few moderates who are on the fence. But I think we should take a step back from the campaign for a second and look at two things Powell said that are only peripherally related to this election. They are deeply important points and Powell put them very eloquently.
How Will Obama Govern?
With little more than two weeks before the election, it appears rather likely that Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States. Here’s a look at some of the different models an Obama presidency could follow, and why each one may or may not happen.
Welcome to the New Urbanagora!
Well, folks, there’s been a lot of chatter about this for a while, and it’s finally here: the all new, redesigned Urbanagora. We very much hope you like it. Let us know what you think in the comments, and here are a few tips on some of the new things we have…
The #1 Reason to Vote Obama
Via my sister, here is all the proof I need that Barack Obama is the most brilliant leader in at least the past century:
As my sister said: “He only alienates the loser half of the city.”