It's difficult to believe that you are really as dim as you appear to be, Old Guy.

As to locking people up, have you never heard of the case of Maher Arar? Computer technician and Canadian citizen, apparently on the basis of his Syrian name alone, he was detained at a the John F. Kennedy airport in New York. He was returning to Canada and had done nothing to arouse suspicion, but he did have that Syrian name. When he asked what the charges were, he was not answered. When he asked for an attorney, he was denied. They held him incommunicado for several days and interrogated him. When he was unable to provide any of the information they seemed to think he had (he was exactly what he told them he was, and had no connection with any terrorist group whatsoever), they shipped him overseas where he was held for a year in a tiny cell (actually, a hole in the ground), taken out every day, and tortured. For a year! Finally, when his overseas torturers reached the conclusion that he knew nothing, they released him. He returned to Canada, and has filed suit against the United States government, but the suit has been denied. Maher Arar was completely innocent of what the American authorities assumed. His "crime" was his Mid-Eastern name. Google "Maher Arar" and educate yourself. There is plenty of material out there on him and what was done to him.

That's only one of many similar cases.

Have you not heard of Guantanamo? Hundreds of people held for years without being charged with anything, and denied counsel. And "interrogated."

Bush and his minions can lock up anybody they want and hold them incommunicado--and without counsel--merely by dubbing them "enemy combatants." Or any one of several other handy terms they've invented. And they claim to be answerable to no one. This is unconstitutional and a violation of several stipulations of the Bill of Rights, in addition to being a violation of the Geneva Accords, and several domestic and international laws. This is very much the kind of thing that Bush and the members of his administration have accused Saddam Hussein of doing. Think about it!

If you're not aware of what's been going on in this country lately, Old Guy, then if you've not been living on Arcturus Five, you must have had your head in a bucket. Or getting all of your "news" from sources like the Fox News Service and Rush Limbaugh. Or--you actually think what the Bush administration is doing is just dandy. In that case, you most certainly cannot regard yourself as any kind of conservative. Wild-eyed, rabid radical Right, most assuredly. Or worse! But conservative, no.

But then, even talking to you is undoubtedly a waste of time.

Don Firth