Legal Loan Sharking

With all of the talk and concern about predatory lending practices, why is it that Web sites are still covered with ads like this one?

I don’t know what the girls in it have to do with getting a mortgage, but one gets the impression the ad is intended to appeal to non-white customers. I think the use of the term sub-prime should be stopped. The uninformed might get the impression it has something to do with the Prime Rate, and not unqualified borrowers.

The problem isn’t just with those who aren’t credit-worthy. The herd mentality that led to the stock market surge in the late 90’s simply jumped over to real estate. Professionals traded up to a bigger house than they could otherwise afford. The assumption was an $850,000 home would be worth $1m in no time. Combined with the hope, if not expectation, that interest rates wouldn’t go up significantly, some people with healthy incomes are now in trouble because the value of their house is down, and their adjustable mortgage rate is up.

More Westfield Waste

Argh. More bad news out of Westfield State College.

Westfield State rape suspect sought

Tuesday, April 10, 2007
By GEORGE GRAHAM

WESTFIELD — The Westfield State College Department of Public Safety has identified a suspect in the reported on-campus rape of a female student Friday morning. As of late yesterday afternoon, no arrest had been made in the case, which was reported in Davis Hall about 6:15 a.m.

Friday, officials said. “We think this is a singular incident rather than a predatory situation,” Arthur R. Jackson, vice president of student affairs at Westfield State, said yesterday. Jackson described the suspect as a “young man” but declined to state whether he is a student.

“Because the report is under investigation, we are not releasing further details at this time,” said Paul V. Scannell, director of public safety at the college. Scannell said that college public safety officers are working closely with Massachusetts State Police in conducting the investigation.

The student was assisted by campus personnel and is now with family, officials said. A campus-wide notice issued Friday advised all students to keep their room doors locked and report anything suspicious to campus police at (413) 572-5262.

©2007 The Republican

Violence, both actual and alleged, happens on and near many college campuses — the accusations and outcome of the Duke University case is a recent example — but Westfield State is a small school, and Davis Hall was my dorm.

God Bless You, Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has died. He wasn’t young, and he was way older than he had a right to be, considering he never quit smoking, but it still sucks that he’s gone. Vonnegut wrote The Sirens of Titan, a book that l enjoyed reading very much, and he wrote the wonderful TV movie called Between Time and Timbuktu. It was produced by WGBH in Boston for PBS, back when it was called National Educational Television. The movie opened with Cousin Brucie, so I had to love it. It’s not available on video, sorry to say. The show also featured the comedy team of Bob and Ray, who got their start on Boston radio. Ray Goulding was absolutely hilarious in Between Time and Timbuktu as Walter Gesundheit, a parody of the legendary TV newsman Walter Cronkite.

Petula Clark In Scotland

Petula Clark 1955
Petula Clark is in Scotland at the moment, for a couple of concert appearances. The Herald in Glasgow has a very nice feature about her visit. [Link]

Can you believe it? She’s still called a “former child star” over there! That was some 60 years ago, but she still can’t shake the title in the UK.

The article fails to mention the online PETition requesting a Damehood for Petula. I remedied that omission by adding the comment shown below.

Pet Petition

Iran Today

Did I say Iran? I meant to say I ran, as in “I went running today.” Although it’s already yesterday. That was only 2 miles, but Sunday I ran 5.75 miles.

For months I didn’t think I would ever be running again, due to my ongoing ankle problem. No, it’s not all better, and it never will be. It is what it is and I’m learning to live with it.

Thanks to special exercises I learned in physical therapy, and a pair of custom orthotic inserts made by Jerry Pratt (no relation that I know of) for my Brooks Beast shoes, I’m slowly but steadily getting back into it.