Naemanson: I do understand your point of view. Total mistrust of govenment leaders, total distrust of government. Rather than seeing the glass half full, the glass is half empty.

It is true that in the election Bush did not win the popular vote. However, he won the election because we do not choose our presidents by popular vote as you well know. I am of the opinion that the majority of the American people DO support Bush and his policies in realtion to handling the terrorist threat. Why? Because his popularity rating has constantly remained 70+% since 9/11. If the majority of the American people were opposed to his policies, his popularity would plummet. You seem to put great store in the value of the popular vote, therefore, I would think you would recognize the value of popularity polls.

I believe that law abiding citizens have nothing to fear from the FBI. True, there were abuses of power in the past, but as has been pointed out in this thread, the purpose for those abuses was to ensure J. Edgar he would continue to have a job. Those days are long gone, I believe.

Another point we will disagree on probably is the need for profiling. The terrorist acts in the past have not been committed by 80 year old grandmothers, they have been committed by middle easterners between the ages of 17 and 40. Airport screeners should cease making detailed searches of grandmothers, former governors of states, who are also Medal of Honor winners, and concentrate on middle eastern males between the ages of 17 and 40.

You, and probably the majority of those contributiing to this thread probably believe otherwise. That's fine with me. You have as much right to an opinion as I do. So the one thing we might agree on is that right. The right to disagree.

DougR