On Sun, 6 May 2012 03:45:30 -0500 (CDT)
Mike Miller <mbmiller+l at gmail.com> wrote:
> I was using "sudo synaptic" to get that error, but if I use simply 
> "synaptic", then it runs, but it notes that I do not have root 
> permissions.  

I always use gksudo or kdesudo when starting graphical applications
as root.  Maybe just using "sudo" could have been part of the problem?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo#Graphical_sudo

-Max