Time to Pay the Price

There is a part of me that does not like confrontation. That part is largely fueled by fear of the consequences, which can often (usually) be messy before they get good, if ever. Because I teach at a state (public) college, I am reluctant to state strong opinions on this blog, because students read it and I don't want my classroom and my relationship with them to be about me or my opinions. They don't pay for that, I don't get paid for it, and it's not professional.

However, I am a human being and an American with free speech rights. I can say what I want, with the understanding that some people won't like it and some people will find ways to retaliate against me, even though I would not retaliate against them (for example, reporting on them to the administration of my college) for their communication behavior.

I signed the Manhattan Declaration because I agreed with its viewpoints; at the time I did not realize that doing so also meant I was saying I would pay the price for my stands if the time came. Maybe I shouldn't have signed it, but I did, so I can't act like I didn't. Otherwise all action and speech becomes meaningless. I believe everything we do in this life, or at least everything we choose to do and affirm, has meaning and matters. That was one of the key themes of my novel.

All that to say the following:
1. I am appalled by Justice Vaughn Walker's decision, both its conclusions and its reasonings. I am against same-sex marriage. It will ruin this culture, and my reasons are not just religious, despite his assertions to the contrary.
2. I am unapologetically pro-life, although I don't always like what some prolifers do to support the cause. That doesn't change the fact that abortion is morally wrong, that those who have had or supported an abortion need forgiveness and healing, and that those who believe there aren't enough abortions in this country already are evil (despite what office they hold). Any restrictions on abortions that states can get away with imposing are fine by me.
3. I respect Muslims as human beings and support their religious freedom. I do not understand why they feel it is appropriate to put a mosque near ground zero, but they do have a right to do so, I suppose, as long as a synagogue or church would not be disallowed in the same place. However, I do not believe the feeling is mutual with very many Muslims. I disdain what some elements of Islam want to do to this country. This story http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08/07/medical-charity-americans-killed-militants-remote-area-n-afghanistan/ is frightening. Show me a time in the last 500 years (or more) where Christians attacked and killed Muslims trying to do humanitarian work.
4. The present state of the economy should be a wake-up call to our materialism, lassitude, and selfishness. Maybe if a family goes down to having one wage earner, that's a good thing. Maybe if the state of Georgia and the Board of Regents or any other state agency has to survive on the funds allotted to it (and not depend on presidential stimulus money), we might omit useless programs, focus on teaching instead of pointless research (especially in the soft sciences and liberal arts), and pay our administrators less (their overblown salaries are well documented.) The stimulus was a disaster.
5. I don't really care why President Obama loses the next election (other than Hillary winning), but I hope he does. I suspect if he does get defeated (and he may very well win another term, God help us), it will be because of profligate spending. We cannot afford the man, whose only solution to every problem is to throw federal money at it and blame Bush when it doesn't work.
6. I am tired to bloviators on the right. You do not speak for me. Quit talking for a while.

My opinions do not matter. But if they make you mad or scared, ask yourself why rather than thinking me an idiot

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