Once again, I never said anything about using sudo or not using sudo, I
fully understand the concept of a super user, why root isn't a login
option by default, etc... I understand the tool of sudo and that su is
switch user, not super user. My question has to do with the default
boot options in Hardy.

Setting a root password or not is irrelevant to what I am talking about.
I am talking about the fact that if you use the recovery boot option
enabled by default in the boot menu, you are greeted with 3 options once
boot finishes. One of which will drop you - without asking for any kind
of password - to a command prompt under root!

So anyone who gets access to your system for even a few moments can
reboot into root and do whatever they want!

If your laptop is stolen, the impressive and iron clad security of the
Linux system is undermined and made irrelevant by the fact that Ubuntu
gives root access without a password prompt by choosing the recovery
boot option.

So, as I said, I have no discussion here about sudo or su or anything -
or if a root password should be set or not - all I am saying is that to
me it is a huge security concern to have a boot option right there for
anyone to use that allows unprotected root access.