Hey, MAV...

Hmmm...well, words in themselves can trigger some pretty hot reactions from people. As we have all discovered.

Best not to be too hasty in reacting to them. It would be interesting to know exactly what the Senator meant, and what he was thinking when he said that. I can think of a number of possible angles, some of them entirely contradictory of each other, but I am not gonna go into it.

I have some friends, perfectly nice people, who were severely harassed at the US border by American customs officials. They were on their way from Canada to a musical event in New York State, I believe it was.

I have no idea why these particular customs officials picked on Don and Caroline and their kids. Don and Caroline are perfectly harmless and mild people, who have never caused any trouble to anyone that I know of.

I suspect those customs guards were just in a lousy mood that day, or maybe they were in a mood to exert power over someone...the "little Hitler" complex.

At any rate, they humiliated Don and Caroline, bullied them, searched their vehicle meticulously for 3 hours or so, and repeatedly referred to them as "white trash".

How about that, eh? I'm sure their intentions were somewhat nastier than Senator Byrd's, but they no doubt felt quite justified. Don and Caroline were turned back at the border...for being "white trash", since no other reason could be found to refuse them entry to the land of the free and the home of the brave.

By the way, Canadian border officials can be real bastards on occasion too, so I'm not saying you've got a monopoly on them down there...

- LH