CompuServe Messages

Earl, I agree absolutely that just because something's legally justifiable that's not justification for doing it. But the notion of "honor" or a "higher mission/calling" can be a bit dangerous. I lived for a year in a small town in Germany, and one of our neighbors was a 73-year-old Nazi former intelligence officer who used to come over for coffee and tell us how back in 1940 he *really believed* that there was a Jewish conspiracy, etc., and that Hitler was the "savior" of the world, who was just not recognized in his time and made some logistical mistakes. It was fascinating to listen to the sincerity in his voice, and *very* *frightening.* The US Government also claimed a higher calling when they exterminated 15 million American Indians, and Thomas Jefferson wrote several long essays defending slavery as necessary to the republic, citing the examples of ancient Rome and Greece to prove that a culture/society without slaves was doomed. All this is why we have laws – because your higher calling or ethical conclusion might not be mine…and might even be a little dangerous to me! I've been to Sri Lanka (spent time in both Colombo and Kandi), which I assume you meant when you said Ceylon, and also have spent a lot of time on many visits to various parts of southeast asia, including Taiwan (and even wrote an article about the international computer market for InfoWorld back in 1981, with pictures of computer stores I took in Europe.) The situation there is that people still buy computer hardware and software from reputable sources because they want reliability, quality, service, and upgrades. Just like here! –Thom (with respect for your opinions and positions, and great admiration for the accomplishments of Altsys)