There's lots of good stuff on the CTK press review today about possible repeal of the Czech "lustration laws," those old laws banning high-ranking commies, secret service agents, and other baddies from state positions.

It's long been speculated -- by some, not by many -- that the best way to deal with the continued popularity of the Communist Party (which never said sorry for that whole pre-1989 thing) is via detente, i.e. treating them like any other party to de-radicalize them. That's what Jan Jandourek of MfD seems to say, also pointing out that the authors of the law wanted it to be in place only until "the democratic process is complete." Is the democratic process complete? Maybe yes, maybe no (I lean toward yes), but the problem is that there's no empirical test of completion.* Sort of like Bush's never-ending War on Evil, which also will always seem to require some extraordinary permanantly temporary measures.

Petruska Sustrova in Lidove noviny (LN) says the KSCM has recently started to come out from its isolation and more and more people are calling for the party's "rehabilitation."

(Hmmm. Wonder who we have to thank for that. Could it be the president, Faust himself?)

Patricie Polanska writes in Hospodarske noviny (HN),"It cannot be ignored, however, that for many thinking about the lustration laws means to touch one of the few tangible 'punishments' for communist officials for their crimes, harassment and degradation of human dignity," she says.

Good point, but I'm not 100% sure about that logic. You call forcing somebody to work in the private sector "punishment"?

* I just realized that's the second time I used that phrase in as many days. Whatever.