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ABCDE The censors arrive


ANINDEPENDENTNEWSPAPER EDITORIALS


Do Republican leaders really want to ride into power with a burst of small-minded intolerance? T


HE NATIONAL Portrait Gallery’s suc- cumbing to pressure to remove a video fromanartexhibitishighlydisappointing. Worse than disappointing are the politi- cians and self-appointed censors who are


pressing the gallery to dismantle the entire exhibit and are using the controversy to threaten themuse- um’spublic funding. The portrait gallery, an arm of the Smithsonian


Institution, has been host to “Hide/Seek:Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” since Oct. 30. The exhibit includesworks depicting same-sex por- traitsbysuchartistsasAndyWarhol,GeorgiaO’Keef- fe andAnnie Leibovitz.Among the 105 pieces in the original exhibitwas “AFire inMyBelly,” a four-min- ute film collage by David Wojnarowicz, who pro- duced the filmin the 1980s after his partner died of AIDS. The film contains an 11-second clip of ants crawling over a crucifix — an image The Post’s art critic, BlakeGopnik, asserts could be understood as


Guilty of averting catastrophe


A ‘scandal’ at the Fed


insolvent firms through permanent infusions of taxpayer dollars. It’s the extension of short-term lifelines, secured by recipients’ assets and payable, with interest, in amatter ofweeks ormonths.Until private channels of interbank credit revive, the central bank should lend freely at a high rate to solvent firms, on good collateral, just as Walter Bagehot, the 19th-century British intellectual, rec- ommended more than a century ago. And with some variations, that is basically what the Federal Reserve did during theGreatPanic of 2008, sparing the U.S. and world economies possibly irreparable harm. Sowhy are some treating the elucidationof these


W


factsasascandal?Werefer todisclosureWednesday of 21,000 Fed emergency operations totaling $3.3 trillion from December 2007 to July 2009. Though the broad outlines of these programs were always public, Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), the socialist whose amendment to the financial reform bill forced the more specific revelations, persists in calling them“secret loans”;hewaxes indignant that the Fed did not demand tougher terms and that someof themoneywent to“foreign”banks. “Has the Federal Reserve become the central bank of the world?”Mr. Sanders asked. Uh, yes—because theU.S. dollar is the currency


of the world. Providing short-term liquidity to foreign central banks andU.S.-based subsidiaries of foreignprivatebanks is themodestpriceAmericans pay for the benefits of the dollar’s reserve currency status—benefits that include the current relatively cheap financing of our huge budget and trade deficits. Mr. Sanders said Wednesday that the Fed should have paused during the panic to demand thatbanks cut their credit cardratesor lendtosmall businesses as a condition of liquidity aid. But households and small businesses might have gone under completely if the big banks failed while the


HENPANICseizes the financial system, a central bankmust be the lender of last resort. This is not the same as bailing everyone out, in the sense of rescuing


anexpressionof “thehideous,heart-rendinglossofa loved one” who has been “defeated and cast in the dirt, without the strength even to defend himself fromthe tiniest of insects.”According to theportrait gallery’sdirector, the videowas a secondary element intheexhibitandnooneanticipatedcontroversy. But thenthemuseumreceivede-mailsandcallsof


complaint, culminating with the declaration by the president of the Catholic League that the video amountedto“hatespeech.”Soon-to-beHouseSpeak- er JohnA.Boehner (R-Ohio) andincomingMajority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) tagged the entire exhibit as “questionable,” a misuse of “Americans’ hard- earneddollars” andcalledfor it tobe shutdown.Mr. Cantor warned the museum to “be prepared for serious questions come budget time.” The gallery removedthevideobuthasrightlyresistedshuttering theexhibitasawhole. Art isoftencontroversial. It canprovokeor infuri- ate justas easilyas it caninspireandthrill.Disagree-


ments abound over its very definition. Public sensi- bilities must be taken into account when taxpayer fundsareinplay,buttheuseofpublicdollarsdoesnot give lawmakers the right tomicromanage or censor displays.Norshouldtheoccasionaldust-upbejustifi- cationfor threatened retributionagainst these valu- able national assets. We hope Mr. Cantor’s threats promptmanyadditionalWashingtonians tovisit the exhibitandjudgefor themselves. ForMr.BoehnerandMr.Cantortousethisepisode


to grandstand about fiscal responsibility is particu- larly silly. All exhibits at the portrait gallery are funded by private donations; some $750,000 in pri- vate fundswas spent to curate “Hide/Seek.”Roughly $6millionayearinpublicfunds—apittanceinfiscal terms — pays for care of the private collections, employeesalaries,buildingmaintenanceandsecuri- ty. “Hide/Seek” should be a platform for cultural debate,not thetargetofamisguidedpoliticalvendet- ta.


TOMTOLES


FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2010


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR dletters@washpost.com


Acquitted by a typo I’mamazedat theacquittal inVirginiaofamanwho


passed a stopped school bus [Metro, Dec. 1]. The acquittal resulted from a misreading of a law that states, “Apersonisguiltyofrecklessdrivingwhofailsto stop,whenapproachingfromanydirection,anyschool buswhichis stopped. . . for thepurposeof takingonor dischargingchildren.” Thejudgerulingonthecaseassumedthatthewords


“stop” and “school bus”were linked and that theword “at” needed to be added. He’s wrong. Anyone reading the sentence intelligently would know that the word “stop”needsnoobject; itmeanspreciselywhatitsays— stop!—and that thewords that are actually linked are the words that follow: “when approaching from any direction”and“anyschoolbuswhichis stopped.” Admittedly, the sentence would read better if the


comma that follows “any direction” were deleted, but eventhewayitreadsnow,Ifail toseehowanyonecould possiblymisinterpret it.


LeonardGreenberg,Sterling l


The problemwith the badlywritten Virginia lawis


not that theword“at” ismissingbut that a commawas misplaced. Putting the comma twowords latermakes the text unambiguous: “A person is guilty of reckless drivingwho fails to stopwhen approaching, fromany direction, any school bus which is stopped on any highway, private road or school driveway for the pur- poseof takingonordischargingchildren.” Commas save lives, as the saying goes,whichisbest


exemplifiedbythedifferencebetween“Let’seat,grand- ma!”and“Let’s eatgrandma!” JeffLaBeaujardiere,SilverSpring l


If this is JohnG.Mendez’s “greatestmoment ever,”


his lifeuptothispointmusthavebeenprettyunevent- ful. So he was having a bad day, having been laid off fromhis job and his tools stolen, when he passed the school bus.Thosewere not the only things he lost that day.Hedefintelyshouldhave lost some self-respect. Celebrating this court victory is a travesty. We all


losewhen someone gets off on a technicality.Kudos to Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Mor- rogh,who respectfullydisagreedwiththe judge’s lame decision, which obviously ignored the common-sense intent of the statute.Mr.Mendez should have had to takehismedicine. CharlesR.Hardesty,Huntingtown,Md.


The voters, not so easily decoded I am not surprised by the belief of Rep. John A.


Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen.MitchMcConnell (R-Ky.) that they have clearly heard and understood the public’sdesires [“Achance toheedthe voters,”op-ed, Nov30],but Iwonder if theyareconfusingthepublic with their constituencies. The very first item they note intheir op-edis that voters “wantus to focus on preventing a tax hike on every taxpayer.” Really? This is the first thing they have heard “loud and clear?” Then how do they explain the Pew Research Center’sNovember poll that showed only 34 percent of Americans support continuation of the Bush tax cuts in full? Moreover, only a slim majority (56 percent) of Republicans did so. The majority of the American public either support total repeal (28 percent) or repealing cuts for the wealthy (30 per- cent). It appears the only entitlementsMr.Boehner and


Mr.McConnell support are ones to their own set of facts.


Fed haggled with them. Given that the banks paid that the Fed back, with interest, and the Fed even turned a profit on some of its lending,we’d say that Chairman Ben S. Bernanke had a more sensible assessmentof therelevant trade-offs thanhiscritics. Most shortsightedofall is thenotion—whichMr.


Sanders shares not only with others on the left but also with a substantial number of conservative Republicans such as Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.)—that the Fed should have detailed its emergency lending programs even earlier. Indeed, Mr. Sanders de- manded such disclosure at the height of the crisis. While certainly in keepingwith the usualAmerican preference for transparency, real-time disclosure would have defeated the purpose of the Fed’s


last-resort lending and harmed the public, since it wouldhave triggereda runonanybankthat availed itself of short-termaid. Capitol Hill Fed-bashers hope thatWednesday’s


disclosures may lead to annual audits of the Fed’s interest-rate setting — which would damage the central bank’s independence. That must not hap- pen. To be sure, there may be some value in disclosingthespecificsof large-scaleFedemergency operations, longafter theyareover—aswasdone in this case. Here and there the record may show imprudent risk-taking by the Fed in the heat of a crisis.Butwhatwe’ve seenso far is further evidence of thecentralbank’svital roleinpreservingfinancial stability.


Investigating Mr. Ensign The Justice Department won’t prosecute, but there’s plenty for the Senate Ethics Committee to dig into. T


HE JUSTICE Department has decided not to pursue criminal charges against Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) for his efforts to find lobbyingwork for thehusband of a


woman with whom he was having an affair. Likewise, the FederalElectionCommission(FEC) dismissed a related complaint concerning $96,000 that Mr. Ensign’s parents paid to the mistress andher family.Before the senator claims vindication, a review of his actions is in order — including, we would hope, by the Senate Ethics Committee. It was in June 2009 that Mr. Ensign acknowl-


edgedhehadhadanadulterous relationshipwith CynthiaHampton, a family friendwhoworked in his campaign and who was the wife of his top Senate aide.Mr. Ensign’s candor about the affair came after the embittered husband, Douglas Hampton, sent a letter to FoxNews disclosing the affair and describing how“the actions by Senator Ensign has ruined our lives and careers and left


3Join the debate at washingtonpost.com/localopinions LOCAL OPINIONS


The truth behind panhandling Petula Dvorak’sNov. 30Metro column, “Pan-


handling: the uncomfortable truth and lies,” shined a light on an important issue. But it also perpetuated unfortunatemyths. Each individual begging


for change has his or her own story.Not all are virtuous, not all are truthful. Neither are many people. But what is different is that unlike most of “us,” beggars have very few options or resources. What is left of safety net programs—whether


Despite food programs, many homeless go hungry.


service times can be impossible without access to transportation or a place to store belongings, especially for people with disabilities.Hunger is a daily experience for many homeless people: In a national survey, 40 percent reported that they’d gone a day without food in the previ- ous 30 days.


Acknowledging people’s humanity is critical,


shelter, drug treatment or health care — is in extremely short supply. Also scarce are afford- able housing and living-wage jobs. Food is on that list, too. Yes, there are food programs, but getting to them at the designated


and spare change can make a difference. But the most important thing we can do is to urge our elected representatives to make ending hunger, homelessness and poverty the priority it should be.


Maria Foscarinis, Washington


The writer is executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.


my family in shambles.” Troubling details emerged about how Mrs. Hampton had been promoted around the time of the affair and how her son ended up working for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, then chaired by Mr. Ensign. Most curious was the payment froman account controlled byMr.Ensign’s father of $96,000 in April 2008 to Mrs. Hampton, her husband and two of their children. Mr. Ensign said the money, paid after he told his parents about the affair,wasmade “out of concern for the well-being of longtime family friends during a difficult time.” The New York Times had a different take, reporting the senator had previ- ously told theHamptons hewanted themto leave their jobs and the payment was to be severance. In dismissing a complaint that the payment violated federal election law, the FEC said it did not have enough evidence to prove the money was anything other than a gift. More unsettling than this payment was how


Mr.Hampton left his $144,000 job inMr.Ensign’s office and, courtesy of Mr. Ensign’s entreaties to political backers, secured lucrative work as a lobbyist. Evenmore troubling,Mr. Ensign ended up advocating for the interests of those who had hired Mr. Hampton. The Times reported, for example, that in July 2008, Mr. Ensign, after a request from Mr. Hampton, called Transporta- tion SecretaryMary E. Peters to plead the case of an airline having a dispute with her department. Federal law prohibits congressional aides from lobbying their former bosses or other colleagues for one year after departing their government jobs. Mr. Ensign has said his actions were unrelated to Mr. Hampton’s efforts and that he “complied strictly with all the rules and laws of the ethics of the Senate.” We’re now waiting to see if the Senate Ethics


Committee, conducting its probe into thismatter, believes Mr. Ensign has behaved in the way U.S. senators should behave.


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WalterBlotkamp,Vienna l


SenateMinority LeaderMitchMcConnell (R-Ky.)


and House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R- Ohio) wish to define compromise for the president as “hearing the voters” and accepting the entire agendaof the victoriousRepublicanswithanuncrit- ical eye. Perhaps their op-ed would retain even a shred of credibility had they begun itwith a sincere apology to those of us who supported President Obama and his agenda in 2008, only to have our priorities snuffed out time and time again by two years ofRepublican obstruction. AndrewKindem, Baltimore


No apologies for Tom DeLay I’m surprised at The Post’s rather legalistic


explanation of why Tom DeLay’s activities did not fit the definition of money-laundering — and therefore that it was “a fair point” that his trial and convictionwere examples of “the criminalization of politics” [editorial, Nov. 29]. Maybe I need to understand what is included in


the editorial board’s definition of “politics.” Does it include “clear end runs” around election law? Does it include plans to use funds fromthese end runs to load legislatures to redistrict? Does it include lobbyist trips to Scottish golf courses?Does itmean his “conduct was wrong” but not illegal? Does it mean that the purpose of politics is a “no-holds- barred approach to political combat”? I would suggest that his behavior and your apologia for this behavior are some of the reasons Americans are sorely tired of politics. Maybe Mr. DeLay’s lawyers presented testimony “that money swaps were common” for the Republican National Committee, but itwas clearly against the intent of the Texas law. Al Getz,Washington


WhatMr. Bush’s AIDS effortsmissed Former president George W. Bush’s attention to


America’s role in the global fight against HIV/AIDS is welcome [“AIDS in Africa: Why it’s America’s fight,” op-ed,Dec. 1], yet the absence ofHIV preven- tioninhis appeal is striking.WhileMr.Bush’s legacy for funding and treatment is laudable, when it comes to prevention it is fundamentally flawed. Discredited abstinence-and-be-faithful (AB-on-


ly) programs were central to the strategy of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEP- FAR) to prevent sexual transmission of HIV under Mr. Bush. Unfortunately, that strategy continues today. PEPFAR’s 2010 operational plan indicates that close to 20 percent of prevention funding is still dedicated to AB-only programs. In Uganda, where unprotected sex is driving the epidemic, the United States is spending more on AB-only programs than on all other programs to prevent sexual transmis- sion. New HIV infections will not subside until PEPFAR embraces truly comprehensive, evidence- based approaches to prevention. PresidentObama’s legacy shouldbe toput anend


to funding abstinence-and-fidelity-only programs. Serra Sippel,Washington


The writer is president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity.


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