Blog of law articles

Hi kids, I hope you have all bought or downloaded Van Morrison's latest -- a remarkable live performance of his first (and perhaps finest) record, Astral Weeks. It's number 4 in music at Amazon and for good reason. Give it a listen.

Okay, we already reported on the Herald's latest idea of a cost-cutting measure -- having its reliably conservative TV critic, Glenn Garvin, write a weekly column on the editorial page. His inaugural column, on the 11th Circuit panel decision on Vamos a Cuba, displayed a stunning ignorance of basic First Amendment law, somewhat surprising given that Glenn ostensibly is a journalist.

His latest column reveals Garvin to be as ignorant of financial matters as he is of the law. Ha ha, Glenn calls the President the "Predator-in-Chief" because he is promoting low-interest loans as a way for the banks to get out of the foreclosure crisis. And according to Glenn they are "adjustable rate," just like the ones offered by the banks that got so many homeowners in trouble:

Through a combination of government subsidies and arm-twisting of banks, the Obama plan will slash interest rates -- in some cases, probably to less than 3 percent -- until a borrower's payments are no more than 31 percent of his gross income . . . for the first five years. Then the interest rate jumps to market levels. A week ago, that was known as an ''exploding adjustable-rate mortgage,'' because so many of the people who took them got financially blown up.

Uh, no they're not. The ones offered by the banks were predatory -- like the credit cards -- because they offered low teaser rates but "balloon," grotesquely above-market rates when the introductory period ended.

But Glenn has never let facts get in the way of a good story.

Oh, and here's an article about (another) cocaine princess and federal court.

You knew I had to link to that one.