Additionally Noted

Josiah Ober,"Learning from Athens," Boston Review, March/April 2006, points to ancient Greek poleis as testing grounds for democracy and tyranny. Despite its limitations, including slavery and excluding women, Princeton's Magie Professor of Classics argues, Athenian democracy relied in a wide diffusion of knowledge and a broad participation in decision-making that allowed it to thrive for many years.

The fat lady sang for Ben Domenech, a 24 year old editor at Regnery Press, three days after he was hired by the Washington Post into a part-time position as a conservative blogger at Red America. There were complaints about his reference to Coretta Scott King a"Communist" the day after her funeral, but evidence that he was a serial plagiarist, as an undergraduate at William & Mary and a contributor to National Review, sealed his fate. As an editor at Regnery, Domenech has handled books by Michelle Malkin, Hugh Hewitt, Ramesh Pannuru, and others.

The Emory Wheel reports that both civil and criminal charges pending against David J. Garrow for 3½ years were quietly dropped two weeks ago. The terms of the settlement were undisclosed. Charged with simple battery by a female staff member of the Law School at Emory in September 2002, he was suspended for six months and did not return to campus when the suspension ended. Garrow resigned from the Emory faculty in August 2005, when he took a position as a senior fellow in American history and law at Homerton College, Cambridge.

Finally, farewell to Peggy Appiah -- poet, novelist, and folklorist -- daughter of Sir Stafford Cripps, wife of Joe, and mother of Abena, Adwoa, Amma, and Anthony. Thank you for an extraordinary life and to Eric Alterman for the tip.