public/private setting bug?

This issue has been fixed for me once (by webchick), but as soon as I edited the node, it reverted to the old behavior, and is once again locked on private. The problem is that the checkbox to make the post public is disabled at the html level. Even if I set it to checked using the web developer add on, it doesn't change.

node: http://groups.drupal.org/node/11017

Thanks.