On Apr 25, 12:48*am, "Ed Huntress" wrote:
...
I just watch out for the underlying principle. For most of my life,
copyright has been an important issue in my work. I just don't like the idea
that people should get all of that work for free.

This time, I'll reverse myself on the issue for this particular set of
circumstances. It's not like a private, individual writer having his work
taken away.
...
Ed Huntress

I tossed this one out to see the reactions. I worked for MITRE, which
is structured as a private company doing public-interest consulting
funded by federal contracts, another approach to expert technical
assistance not subject to bureaucratic and political overhead.

I took the governmentese writing classes, though I wrote only manuals
and circuit descriptions. The instructor mostly discussed the various
administrative models from the rule-based formalism of a bank to the
wild-west power struggles Harold Geneen encouraged at ITT.

We have never agreed on a single model for functions that combine
private and public interest. We range from phone-pole monopolies for
otherwise private utilities through complete government control
(NASA), and some like water works may flop back and forth. Fire
departments were once private companies. In the case of the NEC
volunteers create standards that become law, a de facto practical
compromise between private special interest and elected authority.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System
According to the Board of Governors, the Federal Reserve is
independent within government in that "its decisions do not have to be
ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or
legislative branch of government." However, its authority is derived
from the U.S. Congress and is subject to congressional oversight.

jsw