On Sat, 10 Sep 1994 08:54:45 -0400, Aaron Goldblatt wrote:
 
>...but this really is an issue with >larger ramifications, as we watch Disney t
ake Manasas. It may seem like a large
>leap to make, but I sense a dichotomy being set up that is imaginary. The
>discussion seems to indicate that the information non-profits have is somehow
>less tainted by the drive for filthy lucre than anyone else.
 
I have missed most of this correspondence so what follows may already have
been said or be irrelevant, but I would suggest that the tax-exempt status
accorded to non-profits is based on a distinction that is not imaginary,
or, to put it another way, the recognition that the inevitable costs of
at least some worthwhile activities -- whatever we mean by
that -- cannot be recovered in the marketplace and that as a society we
have some kind of stake in keeping them going.  It is also probably true
that we have accepted the idea that the "information non-profits have is
somehow less tainted" -- or at least that they are disinterested -- a fine
word fallen into disuse, unfortunately -- in how they use that information
and democratic and open in how they make it available.  Isn't that the
deal?
Ken Yellis
Assistant Director for Public Programs
Peabody Museum of Natural History
170 Whitney Avenue
Box 208118
New Haven, CT 06520-8118
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