Amazon's Nonprofit Innovation Award is down to the ten finalists, and now you can vote with your dollars. The idea is good (encouraging innovation in nonprofits), the list of finalists looks sound... and one of the judges is Henry Fucking Kissinger.

Oy, Bezos, what were you thinking?

For me, there's always this "yeah, but.." thing going on with Amazon. On the one hand, they're (in my experience) a pretty good company to deal with: better than adequate customer service, good range of products, even a pretty sweet deal on shipping if you shop there regularly. Their wishlist application is usable, if not perfect, and they are convenient. On the other hand, they're getting to be an 800-lb gorilla in bookselling terms, and I worry about the squashing of local bookstores, and then there are things like the 1-Click Patent Fiasco and Henry Fucking Kissinger. (On yet a third hand, even the famously intractable Stallman has apparently granted Amazon provisional forgiveness for the patent absurdity.)

So I dunno. I guess I'll just keep on with my present policy, which is to continue shopping at Amazon but also remember to share the love a bit (Powell's is right here in Portland... envy me, bibliophiles elsewhere!) when it comes to books.

(hat-tips for the Kissinger NSA link: Randy via Jeanne )