An Echo from the Past: Beverly Park

There is a movement afoot in the City administration to tear down the play structure at Beverly Park.

Fifteen years ago, I was on the Board of the group that built it. It cost more than $250,000 in donated money and services, and got the entire community together to build. And it was a magnificent structure---a dream playground built to tease the imagination, and to give kids the chance to run and play with no rules and few restraints. Over the years, the city failed to maintain it, and let it fall into disrepair---failing to provide even the minimal maintenance that would have kept it the crown jewel of the City's parks. Now, while the structure itself is still as solid as ever, it's in bad need of repair---and rather than fixing it, the geniuses that let it decay want to tear it down and replace it with a plastic playscape that looks cheap, and that few kids really enjoy.

At a meeting of the Livonia City Council, today, we had to start trying to convince a group of politicians that it makes more sense to spend a LESSER amount of money to fix it than to spend more money to tear it down and replace it with something inferior. I was the opening speaker, and our consultant followed with an outline of what the structure could be with some repairs. We made the City's plan look foolish and short-sighted...but there are no signs that the foolish, short-sighted people of the world are anywhere in retreat.

We'll see how this turns out; for now, it was enough that we did well...and by the turnout at the first of many meetings, we may have the Forces of Foolishness running scared.


JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

The Current Forecast: Cold and Gray

The Government, it seems, is up to its old tricks, ignoring pressing problems while solving problems that largely aren't there. This time, though, we may be stuck with an even bigger-than-usual bill for the mess.

Geithner's current plan contains a number of flaws, many of them flowing from the notion that our current problems are "fixable" through governmental action. From this neck of the woods, it seems that our problems---self-inflicted though they may be---are simply not amenable to quick fixes. Sadly, this means that we may be in for a long downturn, one that will not end until the excesses of the past---the overspending and speculation that came along with the wild rush after riches of the past fifteen years---have been paid for.

The Economist carries a piece on Obama's domestic shortcomings to date...which are beginning to become apparent. Unfortunately, though, there are no easy answers: if there were, we'd have done them already. And though it's depressing to think about it for too long, no "plan" we adopt will be perfect. And figuring out what we should do, and where we should go from here, will simply be the harsh and unavoidable ordeal of picking the least terrible from among a host of awful options.


JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

A Bully with a Badge

Life in the Big City can be rough, and those of us in law enforcement often see humanity at its worst. Unfortunately, sometimes this brings out the worst in those charged to "Serve and Protect" the community. And it looks like this was the case in Dallas, Texas recently...where a police officer stopped grieving family members racing against death from seeing a dying relative for one last time.

We expect many things from our police officer: common sense is near the top of the list.

The Dallas police chief has apologized for the actions of the Dallas Police Officer, Robert Powell. Unfortunately, the family will never get back those precious minutes when life was slipping away.

Abraham Lincoln once observed that most people can stand up to adversity, but if you really want to test a man's character, give him power.

Unfortunately, not everybody passes the test.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

Thinking Outside the Box

As we face our current economic crisis, there is one obvious solution to all of our problems that appears to have escaped everyone's attention. It is far simpler than the ones presently being debated in Washington these days, but poses much less of a risk to our future well-being. And, from the looks of things, it stands just as good a chance of making things better, without carrying the added risk of sacrificing our principles for the sake of expediency.

If we simply sacrificed a virgin instead, we'd be doing no real harm to the economy. In fact, by diverting attention away from some of the counterproductive measures currently under consideration, we might actually help things along. And this could easily be turned into a "two-fer" kind of solution, since it would be just as effective at combatting Climate Change (nee Global Warming) as anything the High Priests are currently trumpeting, and far less costly.

And just thinking ahead, hoping to avoid any obvious pitfalls in the plan...in the event that we have problems locating a virgin, we could probably substitute a goat. Or, if we were really serious, a sheep. If I understand the protocol, goats and sheep don't have to be virgins. Historically, the fact that they had to spend so much time hobnobbing with Greek herders in the Good Old Days meant that the requirement simply never occurred to anybody). That's why they're the customary substitute in cultures where virgins are largely unavailable.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

Goodbye to an Old Friend

We buried Callie today.

She died last December, a week before Christmas. Seeing that she was starting to suffer as a result of a lengthy illness, Nonie and I took her for a last walk...and a last drive to the doctor, where she fell asleep in our arms.

Because of the business and bustle of the holidays, and the press of winter, we decided to postpone laying her to rest until the weather changed. Today, in the first days of a new spring, we took her to one of her favorite places on Earth---the Yanik Family Farm, just outside of Jackson. And there, on a hillside beneath some trees, we put her in the ground.

Jason was there too, needing the chance to say a last goodbye. And we all helped dig her grave, and lay her in her final bed.

I was all right until we took her out of the plastic bag the Vet had stored her in. But seeing her again brought back all the old memories---the playful puppy, the loving companion, the pure joy she showed whenever anyone returned...or showed her the slightest love or attention.

Partings are always sad; and losing someone you love, no matter what species she may be, is always painful.


JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

Signposts on the Road to Disaster

This past week wasn't a good one for those who still hold hope for America---or for the world.

We've seen the rampant greed demonstrated by the various bonus-laden Wall Street executives who led our economy into the sewer. Right beside them were a host of preening, self-important politicians, who gladly accepted whatever perks their fat-cat buddies were willing to slip them in order to look the other way. Between them, we have the American public---being led down the road to disaster by people we trusted to know what they were doing---and by the very people we elected to tend to the public welfare.

I really hate to say this, but I think that in many respects our current problems just reflect the reality that our country---or, at the least, the "elites" that define our country for us---has become. When it became more important to protect "self-esteem" than to be concerned about accomplishments, I think we entered a dangerous stretch of history for ourselves.

Among the critical moments in a democracy is when the public realizes that it can vote itself money from the public treasury. For us, that moment came during the Great Depression, when we first turned to the Government to rescue us from a crisis. Over the last 75 years, we've seen the role of government gradually expanding, at the same time that cultural influences were undercutting our traditional notions of personal responsibility. Now, I think we're facing yet another critical moment...and it's not looking pretty.

At heart, I remain a hopeless romantic, and so I'm still not convinced that things will end in disaster. I hope, instead, that the public will recoil from the spectacles we see in Washington and Wall Street...cashier the lot of them...and start anew, having been chastened about being too trusting when it comes to spending public money. But I've also read about the various stages of development in a democracy...from Despotism to Liberty and back again...and we do seem to be a bit more than half-way through the cycle. And just as Rome collapsed as a result of its own excesses (and was promptly overrun by barbarians), I don't think America is immune from the same fate, if we allow ourselves to be guided by our greed and passions, rather than our ideals and principles.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

A Modest Amendment

Looking out over the morass that is currently the US economy, it is clear that changes are needed. Everywhere we look, greed and stupidity seem to reign supreme, and from the sounds of the squawks coming down from Capitol Hill, nothing seems likely to change. Blithely ignoring its own complicity in creating the mess, Congress is preening like an oversized, waddling turkey, with every member rushing to denounce the outrage du jour arising as a result of their various hastily-conceived, hastily-crafted, and never-quite-read-or-even-looked-at-too-closely bailout packages.

If produced and choreographed professionally, the result would be a hilarious, if wildly improbable farce, filled with pratfalls by the pompous and well-earned comeuppances abounding. Unfortunately, the price tag for this production is proving well beyond the means of its target audience. While it might be amusing at matinee prices, having the country pay the $1 trillion price of admission has removed most of the show’s humor, and left the troupe’s backers—the increasingly angry taxpayers of this country—up in arms.

The play’s traditional next act—sharpened pitchforks, hot tar, and plenty of feathers—strikes at least one observer as entirely too predictable. While venting outrage on the chorus line of fools and incompetents who led us into this mess may satisfy us for the moment, there is no guarantee that a new cast of characters would do any better. Replacing our current set of fools with another would, it is true, carry the advantage of sending the whole sorry lot packing. But just replacing them with an entirely new set of fools will hardly solve our problems. It might provide a few more sordid plot lines to the melodrama that American Politics seems to be trending toward, but it will do little to fix our present train wreck of an economy—or keep us safe in a world filled with people who hate us.

On the other hand, the simplest solutions often work best, merely because there is so little that can go wrong with them. So perhaps it’s time we tried applying to Congress a lesson in reality familiar to every small business owner or working parent. In short, giving to Congress a slice of life from the “little people” who appear to factor into none of their equations.

Congress and the President often pay lip service to the role of small business in this country. But they do not understand what real responsibility is like at the level where people work and earn a living. Unlike the Federal government, the millions of Mom & Pop operations in this country can’t live on non-existent earnings, year after year. They have to make their payroll. And pay their bills. And pay their taxes. And if there’s nothing left over for them to take home after all their expenses are met, they can’t simply print money to pay themselves.

Our elected leaders, on the other hand, have billions of dollars in other people’s money to play with. And can always get more—either by raising taxes, or by printing it. Predictably, this has led them to be a mite careless in their stewardship.

The solution, it seems to at least one petulant observer, would be to give them an “ownership stake” in the bottom line: simply put—they should be paid out of the money left over after paying all the bills. If there’s none left—if, for example, the country is running a deficit—then they’ll get an IOU for their salary. Just like all the naive taxpayers in California, who thought a tax refund entitled them to actual money. Or, better yet, in addition to the country’s thanks for doing such a wonderful job, they’ll just get a dollar. After all, if it’s good enough for the CEOs of the various and sundry failed companies we’re bailing out by the billions of dollars, it should be good enough for Congress—whose spending habits We The People have been bailing out for years. In fact, we could probably even raise their official salary: by the looks of things, it wouldn’t cost us anything. And who knows—we might even attract a few people to public office who knew what they were doing. Or some naive souls who still think of public service as a sacrifice made for the Public Good, rather than a means of helping friends and colleagues help themselves to other people’s money.

Of course, there may be a few bugs to work out. We wouldn’t, after all, want to let Congress guarantee their salary simply by jacking up tax rates too high. (That risk would be nearly as obvious as the risk of giving billions of our dollars without strings to people whose chief claim on the money is their ability to squander billions of their own dollars). So we might want to add a provision to restrict the Government’s share of our money to a reasonable amount—enough to do everything it needs to do, but not enough to get into too much trouble. Twenty percent of our Gross Domestic Product should do it (though the amount isn’t cast in stone; the modesty of this proposal does not, after all, include an immodest claim of infallibility). After all, that’s twice the amount they’d get if everyone simply “tithed” their income. And we could always include a provision letting Congress go above their new constitutional “Cap” by declaring a state of National Emergency—during which, of course, all elected Federal officials would gladly defer all but a nominal dollar of their salary until the crisis they led us into is passed.

Assuming that most state legislators would be more willing to impose some sort of control on Congress than they would be to face the pitchforks of their disgruntled constituents, getting three-quarters of the states to approve the amendment should pose few problems. This means that all we’d really need would be a two-thirds vote of each House—which, given their adamance that those in charge of failed companies should be willing to serve for a dollar a year, would only be a problem if hypocrisy dared to show itself publicly in the halls of Congress.

Proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

(1) The salaries of the President, Vice-President, and all members of Congress shall be payable on the first day of January of each year, for the ensuing year. Such officers may elect to defer their salaries over the course of the ensuing year; the salary of newly elected officers will become payable upon taking office.

(2) Except for any officer mentioned in Section (1) who was newly elected to a first term of office during the preceding year, and notwithstanding any other provision of law establishing their salaries or other remunerations, neither the President, Vice-President, nor any member of Congress shall be entitled to draw more than one dollar ($1) in salary, in any year in which the budget of the United States runs, or is projected to run, a deficit. For purposes of this Section, all federal expenses, including trust funds and any and all special appropriations, shall be included in the calculation of a deficit. The refund of any salary paid to an affected officer during a year in which the budget is in deficit shall be payable by the officer to the Treasury of the United States on April 15th of the following year. Failure to make a timely payment of excess salary shall be grounds for removal from office.

(3) Except during times declared by Congress to be a National Emergency, the tax revenues of the United States shall be limited to twenty percent (20%) of the Gross Domestic Product, as calculated by the Department of the Treasury. Excess taxes collected shall be proportionately refunded by April 15th of the following year, unless Congress has established a proportional system of tax credits to accomplish the same purpose.

(4) During a time of National Emergency declared by Congress, the President, Vice-President, and all Members of Congress shall draw a salary of one dollar ($1) per year, until such time as Congress declares that the emergency is over.


JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

No Shortage of Blame for the Bail-Out Mess

With fingers pointing in all directions, the nation's press and politicians are scrambling to assess blame for the lastest in an unending chain of blunders relating to the country's financial mess. Typical is a recent article in the Washington Post, in which the White House is determined to throw Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner under the bus.

This action comes as the Obama Administration seeks to avoid taking the blame for the failure of Congress to anticipate the level of irresponsibility that bailed-out financial giants like AIG would show, by using bailout funds to provide performance and retention bonuses to the executives and other geniuses who caused the mess in the first place.

In point of fact, it appears that the bonuses were specifically exempted from Federal limitations through an amendment crafted and sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut...who was among the vocal critics of the practice until he was reminded that it was the "Dodd Amendment" which allowed the bonuses. And, of course, the amount of money spent---roughly $150 million...or about 0.1% of the amount Congress approved for the hastily-crafted, unread, and essentially undebated bailout package---was too small for them to bother with. Chump change...or so it seemed to them at the time.

Of course, that was before everything hit the fan. Now, our elected leaders are trying to outdo each other in their expressions of outraged incredulity. Simply put, now that they are feeling the heat of an outraged country, Congress is pretending to be shocked---shocked!!---that companies would actually do what Congress permitted them to do. And to prove their outrage, there is talk afoot to impose a confiscatory tax to recoup any bonuses that the executives---some of whom no longer work for the firm that was giving them a "retention" bonus, and many of whom, being foreign nationals, are beyond the range of Congressional sputtering---are too unpatriotic to return.

Of course, changing the law after the fact is unconstitutional: the "Ex Post Facto" clause prohibits Congress from taking action to punish people after the fact. And the "Bill of Attainder" Clause forbids them from passing laws directed against specific people who have roused their ire.

Not that such legal limits will constrain anyone---the Constitution seems to be resemble a giant imaginary sieve these days, and is hardly a thing that politicians bother with when their own self-interest is on the line. But unless people wake up, all the fuss and feathers may very well succeed in distracting enough people to serve politicians' main aim: to divert attention away from themselves---all of whom share a significant share of the blame for our current troubles---and onto the shoulders of a convenient scapegoat du jour.

Of course, some of us keep hoping that the country will wake up and start paying attention to the fools and scoundrels we have in charge of things these days. But then again, some of us are just hopeless idealists...still struggling to hold on to a dream of what this country could be if its people were only wise enough to choose their leaders with the same care they use to pick their breakfast cereal.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

Bipartisan Lunacy

Though I still consider myself an idealist, and somethinng of a hopeless romantic, these days I never cease to be amazed by the lunatics of both political parties. From my chair, it looks like the Democrats are doing everything they can to make the Republicans look good; in fact, anyone with a short-enough memory might forget that the Republicans spent much of the last ten years destroying the myth that they were the party of "fiscal responsibility." I think they may well be messing up a once-in-a-generational chance to effect a tidal shift in US politics: figuring that power is of no use if they can't abuse it, they seem intent on shutting out the GOP from any real involvement in trying to figure a way through our current economic troubles, and are insisting on doing things their own way. If I'm right about the likely course of the economy for the next fiver or ten years---and what we're facing is more like 1932 than 1982---then they're likely to own the economic mess that's coming, whether or not they had the power to prevent it. And just like most people have forgotten (or never actually knew) about the Dems' complicity in the meltdown, if things keep getting worse they're likely to forget about the role the GOP played in letting everything spiral out of control. After all, the Republicans' sins of the recent past merely involved bungling a war and squandering hundreds of billions of dollars. The new Democratic Adminstration started out by moving a deciminal point out an additional level on the deficit, and they seem intent on making blunders of their own throughout the rest of the world.

All in all, I 'm starting to wonder if we'd be better off selecting our "elected leaders" by lottery, rather than electing them. We certainly don't seem to be doing such a bang-up job of picking them out by ourselves. Despite my high hopes from Obama, he now seems bent on consorting with the lunatics of his own party. And I'm starting to wonder whether random chance might not at least give us a chance of putting someone in charge with a grown-up's sense of responsibility.

JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.

A New Chapter Begins

Today marks the official start of my retirement from the Prosecutor's Office.

I had to get up early, to go to Ann Arbor for a class on repairing books.

Tomorrow I get up early, to go back to work at the Prosecutor's Office...preparing for my next big case.

And then Tuesday, I get up early again to go to Lansing, to argue a case in the Michigan Supreme Court.

From at least one retiree's perspective, this new chapter reads a lot like the old ones.