Welcome to the Home Page of Associate Professor Carole Kennedy

Links of interest:

Political Science Dept. at SDSU

Kennedy Office Hours for Spring, 2007: M 9:00-11:00 a.m. in the SSRL Lab (PSFA-133) and W 7-9 p.m. in my office (NH-128) and by appt.

"Democracy doesn't work without citizen activism and participation, starting at the community. Trickle down politics doesn't work much better than trickle down economics. It's also a fact that civilization happens because we don't leave things to other people. What's right and good doesn't come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it – as if the cause depends on you, because it does. Allow yourself that conceit - to believe that the flame of democracy will never go out as long as there's one candle in your hand." Bill Moyers from "This Your Story - The Progressive Story of America - Pass it On

"The battle to reclaim democracy is going to be a difficult one. Our freedoms were not granted to us by any governments. They were wrested from them by us. And once we surrender them, the battle to retrieve them is called a revolution. It is a battle that must range across continents and countries. It must not acknowledge national boundaries but, if it is to succeed, it has to begin here. In America. The only institution more powerful than the U.S. government is American civil society. " Arundhati Roy, Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (Buy One, Get One Free)

San Diego State University Forum on War and Peace

"To be "antiwar" is not a simple position. It means disentangling the strands that connect the weapons industry with the lack of will for diplomacy and coherent foreign policy. It means understanding what the militarization of a society costs, economically and socially and in terms of civil liberties, the propaganda of violence as both heroism and efficient solution. It means probing the official versions to reveal how and why we are being driven toward aggression. To be "antiwar" is to be for public debate and knowledge, the foundations of democratic polity." Adrienne Rich in The Nation, Making the Connections

"The doctrine of preemption – the idea that the United States or any other nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future – is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of self defense. It appears to be in contravention of international law and the UN Charter. And it is being tested at a time of world-wide terrorism, making many countries around the globe wonder if they will soon be on our – or some other nation's – hit list. " Senator Robert Byrd, on the floor of the U.S. Senate, February 12, 2003, in War: The Most Horrible Human Experience

"Taking advantage of the fear, anger, and sense of nationalism felt by so many Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration and its allies in Congress and the media are now seeking to justify an unrelated military campaign that would have otherwise been unimaginable. The most effective antidote to such arrogance of power is democracy. Unfortunately, in times of international crisis, many Americans are wary of exercising their democratic rights and are reluctant to oppose a president's foreign policy. Yet, seldom in U.S. history has it been so important for Americans to raise their concerns publicly and challenge their elected representatives to honor their legal and moral obligations. " Stephen Zunes in Seven Arguments Against Bombing Iraq

The New York Times.

The Los Angeles Times.

The San Diego Union-Tribune.

CNN Interactive

The Washington Post on-line

Blogs I read daily:

Talking Points Memo

DailyKos

Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman

Ruy Teixeira's Blog

My (current) favorite epigraphs:

"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."

--E. B. White

"All voting is a sort of gaming, like chequers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong . . . . Even voting for the right thing is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority."

-- Henry David Thoreau

"Essay on Civil Disobedience" (1849)

"It doesn't matter who casts the ballots. What matters is who counts the ballots."

-- Joseph Stalin

"You hide in your mansions, while the young people's blood Flows out of their bodies and is buried in the mud."

Bob Dylan

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."

Dante

"No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap." Carrie P. Snow

"Another world is not only possible, but she is on her way. And on a quiet day ... you can even hear her breathing!"

Arundhati Roy

"No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots." -- Barbara Ehrenreich

"Pray for the dead, but fight like hell for the living." Mother Jones

None Dare Call it Treason

"The bottom line is that nothing is more important in a democracy than the right to vote. Without it there cannot be a democracy. And implicit in the right to vote, obviously, is that the vote be counted. Yet with the election hanging in the balance, the highest court in the land ordered that the valid votes of thousands of Americans not be counted. That decision gave the election to Bush. When Justice Thomas was asked by a skeptical high school student the day after the Court's ruling whether the Court's decision had anything to do with politics, he answered, "Zero." And when a reporter thereafter asked Rehnquist whether he agreed with Thomas, he said, "Absolutely, absolutely." Well, at least we know they can lie as well as they can steal."

Vincent Bugliosi, in The Nation