ok, I enjoy moral debate, even if I don't always agree with other people. So I'm about to shoot off my mouth. If this sort of thing bothers you; remember that you have a 'd' key. Make appropriate use of it. > 2. It counts even more if you are human and have a > sense of morality. My sense of morality says that the Holocaust was a tragic event for a great many people. However, my morality also says that the past is the past; and agnoizing over it will make you bitter and hateful and sap your sanity. Working to prevent tragic historical events from re-occurring, is a far better way to honor the memory of the past, than pointing blame at the sons of the sons of those who might have some guilt by association. > 3. The complicity of IBM in supplying the Nazi machine > with such data tracking methodologies is equal to > being a partner in the mass extermination <snip> In this case, the words of Jesus "Dost thou blame the sword for the hand that wields it?" spring sharply to mind. Especially since IBM today has almost no relation to the Evil Empire of 10 years ago (too many people changed jobs, too much stock has changed hands, too many products gone by the wayside); let alone Herman Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company. (My bad history says that International Buisness Machines wasn't formed until 1948). If one wishes to look at balancing factors, what about IBM's work on prosthetic limbs? during the 1950s, my grandfather worked with IBM on the development of the 'electrical arm', one of the first powered prostheses for amputees. I'm sure one can find other examples of things that IBM has done which have benefitted humankind. Sure, they did it for profit; that's what companies do. They probably charged the Germans through the nose for those tabulating machines, too. If one took a close look at Japanese companies, I'm sure there's a great deal of hidden guilt there, in some people's eyes. Just about everybody is guilty of something; by commission, omission, or association. I prefer to judge based on the present and predicted future, rather than the distant past. Carl Soderstrom.