newbie question about type conversions

I can't seem to figure out how to convert a varchar to a text or a text to char or anything. I've tried doing exactly
asthe good documentation says but this is the kind of response I get... 

foo=> select orgname from organization;
orgname
----------------------
Douglas Ventures
Progressive Consulting
(2 rows)

foo=> \d organization;

<---SNIP--->
| orgname   | varchar() not null   |    25 |
<---SNIP--->

foo=> select text(orgname) from organization;
ERROR:  function text(varchar) does not exist
foo=> select orgname::text from organization;
ERROR:  function text(varchar) does not exist
foo=> select char(orgname) from organization;
ERROR:  parser: parse error at or near "orgname"
foo=> select orgname::char from organization;
ERROR:  function char(varchar) does not exist

any suggestions?

<Note: Linux Redhat 5.2 postgreSQL 6.3.2
-Andrew
adouglas@bellsouth.net