In the end, I think this will hurt Amazon and the Kindle more than anyone.  I realize there are points to be made on each side, but Amazon's action turns me off. (Aside to free marketers and libertarians: yes, we do understand the Amazon has the right and the freedom to stop carrying any products they choose, just as we each have the right to use BN.com, Powell's, brick & mortar, etc, as well as the right to bitch and moan when our favorite companies stop sell stuff we want to buy from them. There is no debate on this point. I hope that clears it up for those of you who pose yourselves, rhetorically anyway, as being "confused" on this issue.)

As Scalzi wrote, "If nothing else, this bit of asshattery on the part of Amazon has well and truly cured me of any desire to ever get a Kindle."

I did consider a Kindle. The only reason I haven't bought an ereader the this point is that I've been waiting for the field to settle down (don't feel the need to pay premium rates to an early adopter) and I have about a hundred unread books at home now. 

Regardless of the details of the debate, I hope other publishers push back on Amazon, and give Amazon the choice to strip their site of all major book publishers. Sure they can squeezed them one at a time, but how long can they afford to punish everybody. I doubt Amazon intends the punishment of Macmillan to last long, Amazon is losing revenue here too.

Principia Mathmatica being finished, I felt somewhat at a
loose end. The feeling was delightful, but bewildering, like coming out of
prison. Being at the time very much interested in the struggle between the
Liberals and the Lords about the Budget and the Parliament Act, I felt an
inclination to go into politics. I applied to Liberal Headquarters for a
constituency, and was recommended to Bedford. I went down and gave an address
to the Liberal Association, which was received with enthusiasm. Before the
address, however, I had been taken into a small back room, where I was
subjected to a regular catechism, as nearly as I remember in the following
terms:

Q. Are you a member of the Church of England?

A. No, I was brought up as a Nonconformist. 

Q. And have remained so?

A. No, I have not remained so.

Q. Are we to understand that you are an agnostic?

A. Yes, that is what you must understand.

Q. Would you be willing to attend church occasionally?

A. No, I should not.

Q. Would your wife be willing to attend church occasionally?

A. No, she would not.

Q. Would it come out that you are an agnostic?

A. Yes, it probably would come out.

In consequence of these answers, they selected as their
candidate Mr. Kellaway, who became Postmaster General, and held correct
opinions during the War. They must have felt that they had had a lucky escape.

– The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, 1872-1914

Unless you've been, then you can't. My only sorrow is that Samuel R. Delany didn't teach there my year.* Don't live with the fuckin' pangs of fuckin' sorrow. Go to Clarion.

*1999.

Inviting a Friend to Supper

by Ben Jonson

             Tonight,
grave sir, both my poor house and I
             Do
equally desire your company;
             Not
that we think us worthy such a guest,
             But
that your worth will dignify our feast
             With
those that come; whose grace may make that seem
             Something,
which else could hope for no esteem.
             It
is the fair acceptance, sir, creates
             The
entertainment perfect, not the cates.
             Yet
you shall have, to rectify your palate,
             An
olive, capers, or some better salad
             Ushering
the mutton; with a short-legged hen,
             If
we can get her, full of eggs, and then
             Lemons,
and wine for sauce; to these, a coney
             Is
not to be despaired of, for our money;
             And
though fowl now be scarce, yet there are clerks,
             The
sky not falling, think we may have larks.
             I'll
tell you of more, and lie, so you will come:
             Of
partridge, pheasant, woodcock, of which some
             May
yet be there; and godwit, if we can;
             Knat,
rail and ruff, too. Howsoe'er, my man
             Shall
read a piece of Virgil, Tacitus,
             Livy,
or of some better book to us,
             Of
which we'll speak our minds, amidst our meat;
             And
I'll profess no verses to repeat;
             To
this, if aught appear which I not know of,
             That
will the pastry, not my paper, show of.
             Digestive
cheese and fruit there sure will be;
             But
that which most doth take my muse and me
             Is
a pure cup of rich Canary wine,
             Which
is the Mermaid's now, but shall be mine;
             Of
which had Horace or Anacreon tasted,
             Their
lives, as do their lines, till now had lasted.
             Tobacco,
nectar, or the Thespian spring
             Are
all but Luther's beer to this I sing.
             Of
this we will sup free, but moderately;
             And
we will have no Poley or Parrot by;
             Nor
shall our cups make any guilty men,
             But
at our parting we will be as when
             We
innocently met. No simple word
             That
shall be uttered at our mirthful board
             Shall
make us sad next morning, or affright
             The
liberty that we'll enjoy tonight.

Does not include volumes I gave up on, nor books I reread in this time period. Nor does it include magazine & website short fiction read. 23 works of fiction, 2 poetry, 78 books total: 

The China Study   Colin Campbell (see note at bottom).

Letters to a Young Contrarian   Hitchens (made me wish I was braver and more intellectually honest).
The Way of the Superior Man    David Deida
Free as in Freedom    Sam Williams
Becoming Vegan    
The Art of Money Getting    P.T. Barnum
Understanding Comics    Scott McCloud
Vegan Freak    Bob Torres and Jenna Torres
How to Be Idle    Hodgekinson
Unmarketable    Anne Elizabeth Moore
Making Comics    Scott McCloud
Rules of the Game    Neil Strauss
On Becoming Fearless    Arianna Huffington (meh, suprisingly unsubstantial. I still love Arianna though.)
The Republic    Plato
Ode to Kirihito    Osamu Tezuka (medical-genre manga from the creator of Astro-Boy)
Your Best Poker Friend    Alan Schoonmaker (I've stopped playing now.)
Healthy at 100    John Robbins
Born Standing Up    Steve Martin
The Freedom Manifest     Hodgekinson
Free Culture    Lawrence Lessig (Read a lot of "copyfight" type books this year.)
The Pickwick Papers    Dickens
Things I Overheard Talking to Myself    Alan Alda (he is awesome — and he's strive to think rationally, while still maintaining an optimistic world view. This is my life's goal.)
Diablerie    Walter Mosley
The New Kings of Nonfiction    Glass  
My Own Kind of Freedom    (Firefly unauthorized fanfic) Steven Brust  
After Dark    Haruki Murakami   (I have absolutely no recollection of reading this book.)
Three Lives    Gertrude Stein (2 parts good but found Stein's attempt to write from the perspective of an African-American woman utterly unconvincing).
The Secret Life of Puppets    Victoria Nelson (pretty cool. a very broad definition of puppets, btw.
Vagabonding    Rolf Potts
The Color Out of Time    Michael Shea
The Mind of the Market    Michael Shermer
The Nine    Toobin (Best political book I read this year. About the Supreme Court from Reagan era through Gore v. Bush and now.)
Traitor to the Living    Philip Jose Farmer
80/10/10 Diet    D. Graham

Bernard Malamud: A Writer's Life 
by Philip Davis

The Land of Oz    Baum (I never read these as a kid. I missed out. They kick ass.)
Ozma of Oz    Baum
Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz    Baum
Selected Speechs, Messages, and Letters of Lincoln (Rinehart)
The Road to Oz    Baum
The Emerald City of Oz    Baum
The Patchwork GIrl of Oz    Baum
Tik-Tok of Oz    Baum
Old Flames/Right to Life    Jack Ketchum 
Team of Rivals    Doris Kearns Godwin (Best book on this list.)
From Idea to Story in 90 Seconds    Ken Rand (not as useful as "10% Solution" for me.
Devil May Care    Sebastian Faulks  "writing as Ian Fleming." (Set in 1969, a respectable job.)
Manhunt    James L. Swanson
The Scarecrow of Oz    Baum
Rinkitink in Oz    Baum
Learned Optimism    Seligman (Very Good)
Comic Wars    Dan Raviv
Nobody Runs Forever    Richard Stark
Ask the Parrot    Richard Stark
Authentic Happiness    Martin Seligman
Dirty Money    Richard Stark
The One Percent Doctrine    Ron Suskind
The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems   Billy Collins
The Innocent Man    John Grisham (nonfiction). (For some reason, Grisham focuses on the least interesting and least tragic of three men who were all sentenced for murders they didn't commit in one bad year in one badly-run town.

The Dark Side    Jane Mayer
Hit and Run    Lawrence Block (Disappointing entry in an otherwise excellent series.)

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need    Daniel H. Pink & Rob Ten Pas   (7 Principles — Talk about padding!)

Ballistics    Billy Collins
Tribes    Seth Godin (meh. I'm over these "guru" guys. I think the only way to suceed using their prinicples and to become an time management guru, motivational speaker, or marketing evangelist yourself.)
Schulz and Peanuts    David Michaelis   (Excellent biography.)
Copyright's Paradox    Neil Weinstock Netanel  
How Fiction Works    James Wood (Sometimes illuminating, entirely enjoyable little book on the elements of fiction, especially the novel since Flaubert.
A Long Line of Dead Men  Lawrence Block

Of these, one book, The China Study by T. Colin Campbell changed my life. discusses the
findings of the best, most comprehensive, rigorous, studies ever done
on human nutrition. illuminating on a lot of reasons the government
hasn't managed to support or educate on good nutrition. Though
Campbell is a vegan, he grew up in a ranching family before becoming a
medical doctor and researcher. he strives to keep his reporting
rational and only to assert what the evidence indicates. If nothing
else it's a great book about the politics of food and the politics of
scientific research. If you wants some facts, but are skeptical and
suspect veganism is new-age magical-thinking frou-frou that you don't
want any part of, give this book a chance, and you might be suprised. I
was.

He apologizes for swearing, but not for the real abuse, namely the abuse of the 911 emergency number for his personal complaining. He still doesn’t get it, does he?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

John Amato found the truth in the BBC Petraeus interview and nails it down:

Crooks and Liars » We’ll aways do just well enough in Iraq to never leave.

Putin’s America

Jesus (Thatcher – Foreign Policy Experience + Succession Party Background+Trooper Gate) / Palin = Armageddon 2013.

I love it when pundits — who get msm air time to say what they think — get caught on tape actually SAYING WHAT THEY THINK!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost