Bryan Farrell is a New York-based writer, covering topics that range from the environment and climate change to foreign policy and militarism. His work has appeared in a number of publications, including The Guardian, The Nation, In These Times, Plenty, Earth Island Journal and Foreign Policy In Focus. He is also an editor and writer for Waging Nonviolence, a blog that covers nonviolent actions around the world.

Blog Entries by Bryan Farrell

The Real Trouble With Obama's Back-to-School Speech

Posted September 11, 2009 | 06:26 PM (EST)


President Obama's speech to the nation's students earlier this week sparked an outcry (as well as some boycotts) from the far right over fears of "socialist indoctrination." The administration did its best to assuage such fears by making the text of the speech available to schools beforehand. But what they...

Read Post

An Inglourious Basterdization of History

16 Comments | Posted September 5, 2009 | 03:49 PM (EST)


In one of the most memorable scenes from Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Brad Pitt's character gives his army of Jewish soldiers a pep talk so rousing audiences can't resist whooping with excitement after he says, "We're in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin."

But audiences aren't...

Read Post

Penn State's Frightening Defense

Posted April 30, 2008 | 01:00 PM (EST)


Standing in the student section of Penn State's Beaver Stadium during football season always felt like witnessing a war unfold before your eyes. First the band would enter, marching in military-like formation and literally drumming up support from the crowd, while the cheerleaders would start up the most boastfully imposing...

Read Post

Obama's Shortsighted Vision of Unity

Posted March 19, 2008 | 11:27 PM (EST)


Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech appears to have raised Obamania to new heights with its so-called frank discussion of race relations and politics in America. Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic could barely contain his excitement, calling it "searing, nuanced, gut-wrenching, loyal, and deeply, deeply Christian," as well...

Read Post

The End of Big Politics

Posted October 19, 2007 | 02:50 PM (EST)


When news of a new high profile candidate entering the presidential race broke Wednesday, it must have been a little disappointing for all those Al Gore fans to find out it was only Stephen Colbert raising the stakes of his comedic attack on politics. But before anyone nervously heads back...

Read Post

Taking Back the Election

Posted October 16, 2007 | 04:40 PM (EST)


In a letter addressed to "the Ron Paul Faithful" posted last week on CNBC.com, managing editor Allen Wastler defended his decision to pull a post-debate poll that asked readers who they thought had won. He believed the poll had either been "hacked or the target of a campaign" because after...

Read Post

What Would Paris Do?

Posted June 15, 2007 | 05:56 PM (EST)


While the latest Paris Hilton news may seem like a headline ripped straight from The Onion, it was in fact Barbara Walters who reported that America's favorite gossip page star has found God during her stay in jail and is now reading The Bible.

As expected, the media...

Read Post