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ANINDEPENDENTNEWSPAPER EDITORIALS


The Putinization of Hungary? A power-hungry prime minister is about to embarrass the European Union. N


EXT MONTH many European Union members may be regretting their sys- tem of a rotating presidency. That’s because the gavel will be handed to Hungary, whose populist and power-


hungry government has just adopted a media law more suited to an authoritarian regime than to a Western democracy. The right-wing Fidesz party of Prime Minister


Viktor Orban won 53 percent of the popular vote in an election this year but gained 66 percent of the seats in parliament — enough to change the constitution. It proceeded to take over or attack the authority of every institution it did not control, including the presidency, the Supreme Court and the state audit office; the central bank is now under its assault. Meanwhile,Mr. Orban has overseen passage of


two media laws that will put Hungary in a league with Russia and Belarus on press freedom. One puts Fidesz in control of state television channels and all other public media outlets. The second,


Restoring Arlington Cemetery


21st-century technology, transparency and oversight are necessary.


surfaced of mismarked graves, discrepancies in accounting and recordkeeping, and headstones found in streams. Hundreds of calls poured in from family members of fallen servicemen and women, demanding answers and expressing con- cern about the integrity of the final resting places of their loved ones. Much has changed since. But much work still remains. One problem that plagued Arlington was a


W


broken leadership structure plagued by mistrust and deception. Lack of ability and accountability cast a long shadow. Many employees failed to receive anything beyond on-the-job training, and the workforce lacked sufficient depth even for employees to be able to attend off-site seminarson operating machinery.Millions of dollars spent to digitize records generated useless image files. Given the wide range of problems, the recent discovery of eight urns in a single grave, while deeply regrettable, is not entirely surprising. Arlington has acted responsibly by beginning a criminal probe to identify the misplaced fallen and determine whose action led to this situation. To restore the nation’s confidence, continued


efforts to improve the way things are done at Arlington, through technology, transparency and the establishment of clear protocols, will be necessary. Already, steps have been taken to


HAT DOES IT MEAN to restore ac- countability in the nation’s cemetery? Six months ago Arlington National Cemetery was in turmoil as reports


approved by parliament on Tuesday, creates a powerful Media Council with the authority to regulate newspapers, television, radio and the Internet. The council may issue decrees and impose heavy fines — up to $950,000 — for news coverage it considers “unbalanced” or offensive to “human dignity.” Journalists can be forced to reveal their sources, and the council can search editorial offices and require that publishers reveal confidential business information. All five members of the council will be Mr.


Orban’s party followers. As the representative for press freedom of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe put it, “such concen- tration of power in regulatory authorities is unprecedented in European democracies, and it harms media freedom.” Hungary’s private media have strongly protest-


ed. So have its democratic neighbors, who have compared Mr. Orban to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Theforeign minister ofLuxembourghadthe sense to publicly question whetherHungary was suited


to take over the rotating presidency Jan. 1. But some governments have kept quiet, preferring not to stir up yet another controversy in the crisis- plagued E.U. That’s the wrong approach. Europe cannot


allow amembergovernment to flout fundamental freedoms without consequence.Someready lever- age is available:Hungary is due to host a Europe- an Union summit meeting in Budapest in May, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expected to attend. Mr. Orban should be given a choice between curbing his concentration of power and amending the media laws—or suffer- ing the humiliation of having the EuropeanUnion andtheUnited Statesmoveor boycott his summit.


TomToles is away.


MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2010


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR dletters@washpost.com


Checking your privacy at security Whenever I read about the Transportation Secu-


rity Administration’s fast and furious spending of our tax dollars [“TSA’s embrace of technology draws questions,” front page, Dec. 21], I’mreminded ofmy family’s 2008 vacation to Ireland and England. At Dulles International Airport, we strolled


through security. A fewdays later at Dublin Interna- tional, the security screener stopped us. She was seeing scissors in my then-10-year-old daughter’s backpack. “You’re going to have to empty that pack.” She interrupted my friendly chatter about how my daughterwasusing her school backpack andhowI’d neglected to properly empty it of her school supplies before our vacation. “I’m seeing five pairs of scis- sors,” she said sternly.We dumped out the backpack and surrendered the scissors. Yep, all five pairs. An Irish security checker prevented those five


pairs of scissors from taking a 30-minute commuter hop from Dublin to Manchester, England — while our TSA let them fly for seven hours across the Atlantic. But in the summer of 2008, the agency hadn’t yet


spent $8 billion of our tax dollars for new and unproven screening technologies. We must be safe now.


Suzanne Picard, Kensington l


Regarding the Dec. 23 front-page article “TSA


procedures offend followers of many faiths”: While I am not insensitive to the qualms some


people have about their privacy as they go through airport security, I for one want to go on record as being delighted with the full-body scanner. I have had two hip replacements and have had the experi- ence of being pulled aside every time I have gone through security. I have been wanded and patted down in full view of other passengers, and, yes, it’s annoying and embarrassing. But this month, for the first time, I went through the full-body scanner at ReaganNational Airport and was delighted with the lack of fuss and the speed with which I cleared security. I have no compunction about any infringe- mentonmy privacywhenit’s in the cause of safety in the air, though, since I’ma 76-year-old grandmother, I don’t think I was ever much of a threat. Jennifer Santley, Falls Church l


I am offended by TSA procedures not because of


my religion but because ofmy age. Iama66-year-old woman,wife, mother and grandmother, andwhenI last flew in September, my underwire bra and a metal clasp onmy slacks set off the machine. I stood there while a TSA worker wanded and clutched at me.“Youmustwearexpensive bras sinceminenever set this off,” she said. It was a conversation I didn’t want to have with her or in public. I, too, am a modest person who has spent my


lifetime loving my country, not wishing harm on anyone and trying to respect others. This spring I will have knee replacement surgery, and the thought that I will be singled out for scrutiny every time I fly makes me almost physically sick. To be treated like a potential criminal is, for me,


CAROL GUZY/THE WASHINGTON POST


Hundreds of Christmas wreaths donated by theMaine-basedWorcesterWreath Co. are on the graves at ArlingtonNational Cemetery this month.


improve the workplace culture and establish clear protocols for marking burial sites. That such fundamental measures were not in place before suggests the extent of the problem. ArlingtonCemetery continues tomake funerals


for fallen service members its first priority. This has always taken precedence at thecemetery, even in times when its other missions of recordkeeping and grounds maintenance were being short- changed. It is critical that the cemetery and its staff make certain that accountability is estab- lished and that past mistakes are not repeated. Accountability does not mean identifying every single grave site — the cemetery has been in use since the Civil War, and variations in burial practice, the effects of time and erosion, andmany other factors would make this task absurd and impossible. Rather, it means developing a clear


understanding of past failures and moving for- ward with improved technology for accurate recordkeepingandscheduling, sufficient training, and established areas of responsibility. With assistance from high-tech companies in


Northern Virginia, Arlington is beginning tomove toward an IT structure capable of meeting the demands of the nation’s largest military cemetery. Arlington still relies on manual recordkeeping; going forward, it should consider technology available in the private sector before creating an entirely newsystem. Those who work at Arlington have made head-


way in improving operations, but the nation’s confidence in its national cemetery won’t be restored overnight. This process demands contin- ued forthrightness from those in charge of Arling- ton and continued oversight.


46 executions too many Lawmakers in states with the death penalty should push to abolish it. T


HERE IS REASON for hope when no new death sentences are imposed in death penalty states, as happened in Virginia and Georgia in 2010. Also heartening are


drops in the number of executions in places such as Texas, which has long been the nation’s leader in capital punishment but put to death seven fewer inmates this year than in 2009. The downward trend is welcome.We hope that


it is heading toward abolition. Only then will there be certainty that the state has not put innocents to death. Nationwide, the number of executions fell from


52 in 2009 to 46 in 2010, according to a report by theDeathPenalty Information Center, a nonprofit organization that studies capital punishment. Texas was responsible for 17, more than twice as


many as any other state; Virginia, whose 108 executions since 1976 are second only to Texas, carried out three executions. The report reaffirms the trend away from


capital punishment. The number of death sen- tences has fallen by almost 50 percent since 2000, when 224 inmates were sentenced to death. In 2010, 114death sentences were imposed. Although 35 states allow capital punishment, only 12 carried out executions this year. The nation’s growing skepticism over capital punishment is fueled by several factors. Juries appear less willing to impose death sentences when given the choice of imposing a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Most death penalty states offer this option, including Texas, which passed such a law in 2005. Litigating a


capital case is expensive—on average $3 million, according to the death penalty center — and exceeds the costs of imprisoning an inmate for decades. Most important, there is the concern over


possibly putting an innocent person to death. Since 1973, some 130 death row inmates have been exonerated, largely through the use of DNA evidence. Yet not every state allows death row inmates access to such testing. Some states, most recently New Mexico and


New Jersey, have abolished the death penalty. Maryland, which has five inmates on its death row and has carried out only five executions since 1976, came tantalizingly close in 2009. State lawmakers should renew the effort when they reconvene in 2011.


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


How to entice gifts of life This question posed by reporter Jenna John-


son, “Should he give a kidney?”[Metro, Dec. 24], should never have to be asked. More than 100,000 men, women and chil- dren need life-saving organ transplants, according to the Donate Life Web site. This is inexcusable given the number of viable organs that are buried with many of the annual 34,000 traffic accident victims as well as thousands of bodies claimed by natural causes. Our problem as a nation is that we are loath


to check that box on our driver’s licenses that will enable our organs to be used to sustain life in others when they are of no use to us. I


Have organ donors go to the top of the list of potential recipients.


understand religious sensitivities, but this is outrageous. Since appeals to common sense don’t seem to work, we sadly need to appeal to self-interest. The easiest way is to place all the persons who have checked the donation op- tion in the top category of recipients, provided that they did so for, say, five years and


had no known organ problem at the outset. Within this category, all of the current crite-


ria would apply, but these persons, after five years, would be the first to get available organs. If this wouldn’t solve the problem, it would go a long way toward doing so. John R. Powers, Alexandria


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dLetters can be sent to letters@washpost.com. Submissions must be exclusive to The Post and should include the writer's address and day and evening telephone numbers. Letters are subject to editing and abridgment. Please do not send letters as attachments. Because of the volume of material we receive, we are unable to acknowledge submissions; writers whose letters are under consideration for publication will be contacted.


Editorial Page Editor JACKSON DIEHL


degrading and humiliating. I try to take a larger view, but I have come to dread flying and being treated roughly and disrespectfully. This has noth- ing to do withmy religion. Isn’t there a better way? Claudia C. Smith, Reston l


I’d like to thank you for running the series of


articles highlighting the problems with the TSA and its often-questionable approaches. As a frequent flier, I find the new techniques and technology ineffectiveandarbitrary,andIdonot believe thatwe are any safer. I recently flew from Baltimore-Wash- ington International Marshall Airport to Boston, and the TSA had three lines open at the security checkpoint. One of those lines had the newfull-body scanner, while the other two had traditional metal detecting machines. It was the passenger’s choice as to which line to take. If someone were actually hiding a banned substance, couldn’t he just choose the non-scanner lines? Not only are the procedures an invasion of privacy, but they also seem to lack common sense.


Todd Young, Norwood, Mass. l


When are Americans going to reject the balloon-


ing cost and inconvenience of the TSA, and accept the simple fact that their absolute safety cannot be assured by the government? We are spending billions on reactions to past


threats when everyone knows that simple human ingenuity will eventually come up with an original plan that will succeed. It probably won’t even have anything to do with air travel. People are at greater risk when they get in their cars to drive to the mall. Tired of big government?Write your representa-


tives and tell them to spend your money paying down the national debt instead. Accept the fact that life entails risk and the absolute certainty that you will not get out of this world alive. Geoffrey L. Hughes, Fredericksburg


The Clinton economic model


According toHaroldMeyerson [“Obama’s liberal scorecard,” op-ed, Dec. 22], when compared with President Bill Clinton’s, President Obama’s legisla- tive record comes out on top. Furthermore, Mr. Meyerson suggested that Mr. Clinton contributed little, unlike Mr. Obama, to “greater social or economic equity.” Mr.Meyerson overlooked the fact that underMr.


Clinton we had the largest expansion of the peace- time economy, in which all economic brackets benefited. WhenMr. Clinton was elected president, we had deficits as far as the eye could see. When he left office, there was not only a surplus but also plans to pay off the national debt. The way Mr. Clinton achieved this spectacular economy was by raising taxes on the wealthy, a progressive way to solve the economic problems of that time.UnlikeMr. Obama, Mr. Clinton did not cut taxes for the wealthy or increase the estate exemption from taxes. Under Mr. Clinton, the country was better off in


2001, when he left office, than in 1993, when he was elected. Mr. Obama could do a lot worse than emulating Bill Clinton’s economic policies. Reba Shimansky, New York


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