Paul Mell: Lpaulhoodjr's Blog

Civil political discourse in our country has become unacceptably tiresome and practically nonexistent, particularly with leftist liberals who find themselves out of power at present in every place but college campuses. Politics has become increasingly more strident and vituperative, which I attribute in part to the hopelessly one-sided main (Lame?) stream media and in part to gerrymandering districts by incumbent, career politicians who want to ensure continuation of their cushy jobs and perks, which they continue to heap on themselves. This is the reason why term limits, which I don’t favor because the voting public is abdicating its responsibility, may be a necessary evil. But I digress…

Instead of being the loyal opposition while they’re out of power, like the Republicans (I am a conservative, not a Republican) were when they were the minority party, the unfortunate mantra of today’s Democrat Party is “resist.” The Democrat Party has been hijacked by extremist groups like the open borders crowd, ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter. They offer no positive alternative solutions to any of the problems that we presently face. Their singular goal seems to be to weaken the federal government through violence and endless protests, as well as the mindless 24/7 calls to impeach President Trump. Representative Maxine Waters has become the poster girl for today’s Democrat Party, which is great news for Republicans because she is certifiable, irresponsible and very dangerous. I’m certain that President John F. Kennedy rolls in his grave every time that he thinks about the current status of the Democrat Party.

I’ve seen confirmed occurrences of some 200 acts of aggression toward Republican politicians and appointees. This is not funny. What’s intriguing about the threats that the leftists are making is that they themselves haven’t played their threats for anarchy and violence to their logical conclusion: civil war. Despite what the biased media wants desperately for us to believe, regular, working, God fearing Americans disagree with the Democrats on the merits on just about every issue. Even though Hillary Clinton garnered more popular votes than President Trump, the red vs. blue election map showed that President Trump won just about all of the country geographically except for some liberal urban bastions as well as the albatross that is California.

Many of President Trump’s supporters are armed to the teeth, while most liberal snowflakes aren’t armed with anything other than a megaphone. I like President Trump’s supporters in that battle. If a “civil war” or even significant civil unrest breaks out, what side do you think that the armed forces are going to take? The side that cut their funding and military preparedness for years under President Obama, or the side of President Trump, who is very pro-military and has proven it by significantly bolstering their funding and even creating a new space corps? In my opinion, only a fool would say the former. The rank-and-file military loathed President Obama, who was very obviously anti-military. With an armed citizenry and the military on its side, I like the side of the right very much. This really shouldn’t be much of a fight.

However, the leftists seem to be oblivious to this reality. I’m less than sanguine about the chances of avoiding some conflict that will include violence and murder. Who wants to see that? Certainly not me. However, that appears to be the direction toward which these liberal thugs are pushing to their ultimate peril. God help us all. As Dirty Harry might say, “make my day.”

I was bored on my flight back to Detroit, so I figured that it was time to blog.

I’ll start with the NFL and the National anthem flap. I deeply respect the players’ right to protest. However, I deeply disagree with the decision to disrespect our country by protesting during our national anthem, which is or should be one of the things that unify us. And protest on your own time and not at your game. It may surprise some to learn that there’s no free speech right in a business context.

This is all governed by the player’s contract and the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players’ union. The league could have and should have stopped this foolishness, but they were scared of the players. However, I predict that when the owners calculate the cost of their cowardice,I bet that things change. I’m simply serving as a change agent as I discuss in the next paragraph.

To me,this transgression, which was a breach of trust, warranted serious punishment. After careful and prayerful consideration, I determined that the death penalty was appropriate. Therefore, I’m boycotting the NFL.

That’ll do it for now, but like our meely mouthed congressmen, I reserve the right to revise and extend my remarks, as well as the remainder of my time.

Like many of you, I’ve been deeply troubled by the vociferous and unprecedented onslaught of Antifa, in league with their surrogates in the liberal main stream media, against a sitting president of the United States. However, I was equally appalled and saddened by the senseless murderous act in Charlottesville VA.

I worry deeply about where we’re headed and pray that another civil war doesn’t break out. I also think it absolutely wrong to attempt to judge old historical figures by today’s mores because they never had a chance to live under those mores.

We’re all a product of our past experiences. I’m a product of the deep south and was born in 1960. My home state, Louisiana, was under Reconstruction for 12 long and difficult years, the longest of any Confederate state. Like it or not, Reconstruction was unnecessarily harsh (it decimated New Orleans) on the south and created a lot of ill will that I heard about as a child. The level of corruption and misappropriation by those in control during Reconstruction was breathtaking. We had some Confederate money when I was a child. I lived through desegregation and the civil rights struggle.

Despite my southern upbringing, my ancestors fought on both sides of the Civil War. One ascendant, who was in one of the Tennessee militias, spent three years in a Union prison camp. Another ascendant fought for one of the Michigan militias. Therefore, I’m torn between the two sides.

I’m glad that an extraordinary leader, Abraham Lincoln, took up the struggle and acted to save the Union. Slavery is wrong, no matter how you slice it, and I’m glad that it ended. However, as a constitutional conservative who believes in states rights and limited government, I don’t like at all how the U.S. Supreme Court has eroded the Tenth Amendment to something just short of a suggestion. I believe that this erosion has resulted in a considerable loss of personal liberty, which is anathema to me.

Which brings me to the Confederate monuments. It might interest you to know a few facts about Robert E. Lee. At the time that the Civil War broke out, Lee was the best general we had. Had Virginia not seceded, General Lee would have been in charge of the Union army. However, back then (remember, the country wasn’t even 100 years old, and most of the states hadn’t even been part of the country for 50 years), one’s loyalty was to one’s state, so when Virginia seceded, General Lee went with the commonwealth.

Did General Lee have any feelings about slavery? Yes, he did. General Lee opposed slavery and, in fact, had freed his slaves ten years before the Civil War began. However, because General Lee was such a good and fair man, not a single slave left his plantation until after the war ended. In fact, General Lee even provided for one former slave in his will.

After the war, General Lee assumed the presidency of Washington College (now Washington & Lee), but only lived for five years after the Civil War ended. Did General Lee have any feelings about erecting monuments to Confederate heroes or flying any of the several Confederate flags? Yes, he did. Importantly, General Lee was against them because he felt that they would retard the healing that was necessary.

This issue is a very complex one. My initial reaction to the proposal to remove the Confederate monuments in New Orleans was to summarily oppose it. This immediate visceral reaction was no doubt influenced by the fact that New Orleans’ mayor, the sorry Mitch Landrieu (who is spending all his time running for the 2020 Democrat presidential nomination instead of governing a deteriorating city), was proposing the removal.

My first question was why now? These monuments have been up for a long time, some since the 1870’s. I lived in the greater New Orleans area for about 20 years, and I don’t recall a single public complaint about these monuments until last year. Did the monuments suddenly become repugnant and offensive? If so, how did that happen?

However, if you get past the peculiar and very interesting timing issue, the question of whether the Confederate monuments should come down becomes a fair one. People are claiming that these monuments negatively affect them. However, I must first express a deep reservation about this issue.

I am deeply concerned by what seems to be a now public effort to rewrite our history. Students have been subjected to years of intentional rewrites of history in public schools, which are run by the teachers’ unions. Nevertheless, the rewrite effort is now public through the removal of historical monuments and the changing of names or streets, parks and buildings. I believe that history has much to teach us, that we’ll lose if we obliterate the truth and replace it with a liberal narrative.

If anyone could demonstrate to me that he or she is physically or psychologically affected by the Confederate monuments, then I’d be in favor of their removal. However, I’m not inclined to favor removal because this appears to be but a part of an overarching political plan to resist a sitting president. In my opinion, their resistance is bordering on treason, if it hasn’t already crossed that line. We all have choices. If a monument offends you, just don’t look at it. Problem solved.

I’ve not blogged in a while, in part because I’ve been weighed down lately by a personal health issue that, thankfully, has turned out to be nothing of concern. However, during the nine long days between the biopsy and receiving the results, which were interminable to me, my brain conjured up quite a parade of horribles that caused me some loss of sleep and quite a bit of consternation.

Yesterday, I received the good news that the abnormal growth on my right ear was not malignant. Whew! All that worry for naught. Now what?

I must confess that I’ve not written a gratitude list in quite a while, even though I know well how therapeutic writing a list of things for which we are grateful can be because I’ve written many over the years to get through some rough patches. Given my good news, I thought that I’d share a partial list of that for which I am grateful.

I begin with a couple of quotes about gratitude:

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that thankfulness is indeed a virtue. William John Bennett.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others. Cicero

He is a man of sense who does not grieve for what he has not, but rejoices in what he has. Epictetus

You can’t be hateful if you’re grateful. Shorty

I’m grateful for:

Being alive today, during the greatest period in which to live.

My good health.

Living in the greatest country in the world, one where I am free to pursue my passions.

My faith in God, which, though occasionally tested, always carries me through.

My loving parents, Paul and Marilyn, who gave me a great life.

My brothers, Doug and Keith, who I love dearly, even though I don’t see them very often.

My loving wife, Carol, who came into my life at a low ebb and who patiently and gently loved me back to life.

My wonderful sons, Paul and Evan, who have made me a very proud papa.

My ex-wife, Lynn, for giving me two wonderful sons and for keeping me humble.

My wonderful job, and the people with whom I work.

All of my friends, of which God has blessed me with many.

My abilities and talents, of which God blessed me with many.

A warm and wonderful home in which we live.

Plenty of food to eat, in which I regularly overindulge (and it shows).

The wonderful game of baseball.

Hot running water.

Amazing technology, which permits me to do so many things, including writing this blog.

Our amazing cat, Callie-Cat, who I love dearly.

My family on both sides, including my aunts and cousins.

My in-laws, who accepted me into their family.

My love of music and my music collection.

My love of books, and my personal library.

I could go on and on, but, hopefully, you get the point. And, more importantly, that I understand that I’ve been extremely blessed. I truly am fortunate to have what I have, and I’m grateful for it. I really do try to focus on what I’ve got and not on what I don’t have.

It is therapeutic to go through a gratitude list exercise, and, if you’ve never done one, or it’s been a while since you have, you really should consider taking this path because it truly makes you feel good.

I choose to live in gratitude. It’s truly a great place to live.

Those of you who know me at all know of my unquenchable love of all things about The Game: baseball. All of the teams are working out now either in the Grapefruit League (Florida) or the Cactus League (Arizona), and spring training games begin on Wednesday, February 22. I’m so excited!!! For me, the off-season is such a downer; I refer to it as The Void. The Hot Stove League (trades, rumors, free agent signings, etc.) heats up from time to time, but there isn’t that healthy daily dose of Vitamin B (baseball) that I crave and need.

I’ve been enthralled with The Game since I was first introduced to it as a small child. One of the greatest days of my life was when my parents gave me a small portable transistor radio at around age 9, which became my connection to My Team: the Houston Astros. I listened to every game, vicariously going through all of the ups and downs of a season with the team just as though I was a part of it.

During the games, I paced all around our neighborhood with the radio tucked up at my ear, listening to the wonderful calls of then Astros play-by-play announcers Gene Elston and Loell Passe. It was magical. I celebrated good things, was crushed when bad things happened, and I sometimes questioned a managerial move out loud. While I love watching games on television, there’s just something about baseball on the radio that I love. The current Astros radio broadcast team of Robert Ford and Steve Sparks are awesome at their craft.

I remember one night when the Astros were playing the Dodgers on the west coast, and the game started after my 8:00 p.m. bedtime. However, not to worry. I just got under the sheet, turned the radio down real low and listened anyway. One night I listened until 4:00 a.m. because the game went well into extra innings, which I love and view as free baseball.  I say a silent prayer that each game that I watch (that doesn’t involve my Astros) goes into extra innings! Of course, I want the Astros to win convincingly every game in  regulation nine innings!

My late mother, who honestly couldn’t care a less about baseball, and I had a ritual that we went through every spring from 1969 on until her death last October. Before the season started, Mom would ask me who would win the pennant, and my response was always the same: the Houston Astros. Never mind that I’ve only been right one time since 1969 (2005). It was a ritual, and it is one that I will sorely miss this season.

I miss Mom terribly. But I want to be clear about this: my Houston Astros will win the pennant this year! That’s for you, Mom!!!

Play ball!!!

Recently, I was summoned for state jury duty. I always see jury duty for what it is: an important public service, a civic duty. Millions of good people have died for my right to a trial by jury, so I figure the least I can do is not to bitch about it or try to get out of it and just show up on the appointed day, which I did, armed with a book in hand, since the wheels of justice often are very slow to move (in which case was true).

As luck would have it, there was only one case that needed a jury that day, and it was a civil case, which, here in Ohio, only requires eight jurors and two alternates. I went through voir dire and admitted that I knew the lawyers, yet I wasn’t excused at that point. However, ultimately, I was not selected to be on the jury for that week-long trial, for which I was grateful since I had plenty of important things to do at work.

My history with jury duty goes back to my days as a judge’s law clerk back into the mid-1980’s. I have to confess that, prior to that job, I hadn’t given jury duty a second’s thought. Back then, as the judge’s law clerk, I was besieged with requests from people wanting me to help them get out of jury duty. I became somewhat callous and incredulous at these numerous requests, and I used to counter back with this question:” What if we let everyone out of jury duty who wanted to get out of it?”

I would then explain the whole civic duty thing and tell them that juries wouldn’t be either good or fair if the only people who served on juries were those who wanted to serve. Suppose that you or a loved one was facing a serious charge, and you really wanted a fair jury. Would you like your chances with only those who want to be on juries to exercise a little power, or would you want a cross-section of your community peers to be there?

I told them that I would want the latter, right about the time that I would tell them that their request to get out of jury duty was denied. I told them that the odds of getting picked to be on an actual jury were very small because most cases settle on the courthouse steps before trial, so that, at most, it would be a slight inconvenience. While I’m certain that I didn’t make any friends doing this, I hoped that the people would come around to my way of thinking.

As a practicing lawyer, I actually served on two criminal juries and was foreman on one of those juries. We reached a unanimous guilty verdict in an I-12 drug trafficking case. While the other jury was impaneled, the DA and the defendant reached a plea bargain agreement, thereby obviating the continued need for the jury, so we were excused. That one would have been an interesting trial because it involved a defendant who’d robbed a convenience store armed with a squirt gun, which the DA was trying to treat as a real gun for purposes of the aggravated robbery charge.

The jury that I was on that reached a verdict was a very educated jury for a cross-section of the public-at-large. I wasn’t the only lawyer on the jury of 12; there was a plaintiff personal injury lawyer also on that jury, as well as a Ph.D. and two others with master’s degrees. Nevertheless, I was astonished at what some of the jurors during deliberation thought was important during the trial. We had to hash through quite a bit of irrelevant nonsense, which wasted a lot of time, before we were able to discuss the facts actually adduced at trial. It really opened my eyes as an office lawyer who spent very little time in a courtroom.

However, I used to employ my jury experience often in my estate planning and tax practice. I used to tell my wealthy clients who were contemplating intra-family litigation about my jury service and experience, and that it was my opinion that they should redouble their efforts to avoid litigation at all costs. I explained that they had no true peers of equal or greater wealth down at the courthouse, and that there was a great likelihood that they’d be painted as spoiled rich kids who were complaining about nothing, wasting the court’s precious time.

I told these desirous wanna-be litigants that these courthouse people, including judges, may well dislike them so much that they could go out of their way to make sure that they lost their case. I told them that the chances were far better if they just continued trying to work things out.

This tack didn’t usually endear me to these often self-righteous souls who wanted to spend lots o’ principal over principle. However, my sworn duty as a counselor at law, which I took very seriously, required that I impart that advice. Thankfully, in just about all of those situations, cooler heads prevailed, and they avoided litigation.

Jury service is an important civic duty that we all must take seriously and agree to serve when asked. There aren’t many places on this planet where a trial by jury is a right. It’s a precious right that must be buttressed by a public willing to serve as jurors.