Jim laments (perhaps rhetorically):
I am not sure why people on the Internet want to silence people.
Don't forget, the Roman Catholic Church burned, at the stake, thousands of Minorites in the middle ages because the 'heretics' believed in poverty and not in wealth. The Church thought that if people practiced the joys of poverty, they would lose control of them.... the Emperors also feared poverty and were afraid of any philosophy that did not have wealth and power as the quintessential elements. It is anti-social to speak of "other paradigms", "what the NSF did with all their money over the years", "which government employee now has an executive job with what network company"... etc.... It is not appropriate to speak of it anywhere, NANOG is no exception, because of the potential explosiveness of the issues. That is why questioning these things leads to flames. As long as everyone is making $$$, no one cares what ethics are violated or how corrupt the process has become. And, if you get too close to the truth, they just award you a contract to silence you! Please, just pipe me to /dev/null, where I belong. My love and hope of a 'better, less commerical Internet' goes to /dev/zero as well :-( Bravo Internet Minorites and Bravo Internet Franciscans !! Lead me to the stake, for I shall die a glorious death. Quixotically Speaking, The Man of LaMancha ( I'll go quietly to the stake, and not disturb the Faith ) Goodbye, for I have sinned against Mother Network, and shall banish myself from writing for a random time interval. BTW: Before I go, how do I request the entire funding history of the Internet by NSF, by contractor, deliverable, and dollar amount... does that take The Freedom of Information Act ?? ---- And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear You shout and no one seems to hear And if the band your're in starts playing different tunes I'll see you on the dark side of the moon. -Roger Waters