AddieStan

For New York-area transplants to Washington such as your Webwench, the hiring of Erik Wemple, editor of Washington CityPaper to lead the venerable, if tumultous, Village Voice , was an exciting turn of events. However sorry we were to lose Wemple's editorial prowess in the service of the city where real people actually live that comprises Our Nation's Capitol, it was gratifying to think that Wemple's sensibility would permeate the Voice , which has been locked in a struggle with its new owners for its very soul. Well, it seems as if the souless have prevailed ; Wemple has rescinded his acceptance of the post at the helm of the Voice . Good for him for having the integrity to refuse the job on any but his own terms. The Apple's loss is our gain, as Wemple stays on at CityPaper .

If her devotees had at times seen your blogstress's dire warnings about the state of the U.S. Constitution in a Chicken Little light, your cybertrix finds herself sadly vindicated by yesterday's decision by the Supreme Court, which renders the Fourth Amendment -- the one that ostensibly protects U.S. citizens from unreasonable search and seizure -- virtually toothless. No longer are police required to announce themselves before barging into your home with a warrant. (And, of course, the Great Decider has already determined that his minions do not need a warrant of any kind in order to monitor your telephone calls and e-mails.) From Charles Lane in today's Washington Post : At issue in yesterday's case, Hudson v. Michigan , No. 04-1360, was the "knock and announce" rule, which has deep roots in Anglo American law. In 1995, the court made it part of what defines a "reasonable search" under the Fourth Amendment, without saying how it should be enfo...