You sound like the chicken, m'dear

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No 401 K here. I'm even more chicken. What money I have saved I've put in guaranteed CDs. It hasn't made much, but at least it's still there. Yeah, I'm feeling lucky.

He has lied to Americans and to the world so many times that if he actually made a mistake and told the TRUTH, nobody would be able to recognize it.

LOL at *pro-terrorist.* Is that the *talking point* word of the day that you studied at the table while drinking your daily dose of Kool-Aid? I'm not pro terrorist by any stretch of the imagination. I'm also not gullible. As far as bizarre, I think people who can't think for themselves, see the forest from the trees and continue to defend a known manipulative, deceitful liar until the end, regardless of facts to the contrary, are beyond bizarre.

And as far as J. C. Penney bills, check the date below. As I said, this is nothing new. I doubt you need to worry about your credit card bills, though. Bush only attacks those who disagree with him or catch him in lies. Ask Valerie Plame.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Walter Soehnge is a retired Texas schoolteacher who traveled north with his wife, Deana, saw summer change to fall in Rhode Island and decided this was a place to stay for a while.

So the Soehnges live in Scituate now and Walter sometimes has breakfast at the Gentleman Farmer in Scituate Village, where he has passed the test and become a regular despite an accent that is definitely not local.

And it was there, at his usual table last week, that he told me that he was madder than a panther with kerosene on his tail.

He says things like that. Texas does leave its mark on a man.

What got him so upset might seem trivial to some people who have learned to accept small infringements on their freedom as just part of the way things are in this age of terror-fed paranoia. It's that everything changed after 9/11 thing.

But not Walter.

We're a product of the '60s, he said. We believe government should be way away from us in that regard.

He was referring to the recent decision by him and his wife to be responsible, to do the kind of thing that just about anyone would say makes good, solid financial sense.

They paid down some debt. The balance on their JCPenney Platinum MasterCard had gotten to an unhealthy level. So they sent in a large payment, a check for $6,522.

And an alarm went off. A red flag went up. The Soehnges' behavior was found questionable.

And all they did was pay down their debt. They didn't call a suspected terrorist on their cell phone. They didn't try to sneak a machine gun through customs.

They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance. And they learned how frighteningly wide the net of suspicion has been cast.

After sending in the check, they checked online to see if their account had been duly credited. They learned that the check had arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account hadn't changed.

So Deana Soehnge called the credit-card company. Then Walter called.

When you mess with my money, I want to know why, he said.

They both learned the same astounding piece of information about the little things that can set the threat sensors to beeping and blinking.

They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.

Walter called television stations, the American Civil Liberties Union and me. And he went on the Internet to see what he could learn. He learned about changes in something called the Bank Privacy Act.

The more I'm on, the scarier it gets, he said. It's scary how easily someone in Homeland Security can get permission to spy.

Eventually, his and his wife's money was freed up. The Soehnges were apparently found not to be promoting global terrorism under the guise of paying a credit-card bill. They never did learn how a large credit card payment can pose a security threat.

But the experience has been a reminder that a small piece of privacy has been surrendered. Walter Soehnge, who says he holds solid, middle-of-the-road American beliefs, worries about rights being lost.

If it can happen to me, it can happen to others, he said.

(Bob Kerr is a columnist for The Providence Journal. E-mail bkerr@projo.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)

or not. You can still be predjucial against others, and you obviously have problems with women.

saying 'I know the history of psychiatry. YOU don't know the history of psychiatry.' and then yammering on and on about Scientology.

I'm sure your opinions are not soley based on that one sound bite, and the assertion that shoulder rubbing is *groping.*

I'll tell ya what's pathetic it's the fact that the liberals think that Middle East situation disintegrated during the Bush administration. The Middle East has been unstable for years, eons in fact.

It is really unfortunate that we cannot seem to dig this dialog out of the gutter long enough to actually examine the pros and cons of the real issues in this election, and that we spend such inordinate amounts of time resorting to repugnant repartee, revolving around these divisive personal attacks on our candidates, their wives and their various collective associations. Looks like we would rather dish dirt than consider, even for a single second, the value of our diverse experiences, perspectives and ideas; nor are we willing to extend any respect whatsoever as we attempt to define and mediate our differences, examine our common objectives and come up with fair and equitable compromises that reflect and represent to the greatest degree possible the very best we have to offer. Why is it that we cannot recognize how desperately we need to foster unity, seek consensus, create solutions, propose and implement policies? It�s dumb, and it�s truly sad. Is that who we really want to be?

Let�s see. What else could we be talking about? International issues, such as foreign policy, Homeland Security, war and peace, free trade, human rights, refugees, immigration, oil and energy. How about domestic issues like gun control, crime, drugs, civil rights, jobs, the environment. Then there are our pocketbooks, the budget and economy, government reform, election reform, tax reform, Social Security, welfare and poverty, technology, the infrastructure. Let us not forget the social issues, to include education, health care, abortion, families and children, corporations, principles and values.

My husband had me listen to it. It's a riot. (It's political that's why it's here).

You sound like the chicken, m'dear - sm