Hello scveteran, welcome to MobileRead!
It looks like the Kindle 2 would meet nearly all of your needs. The issues/questions would be:
- Your collection of PDF books. The Kindle does not read PDF files. They can be converted for use with the Kindle. If they are mostly text, it the conversion works pretty well. If the PDF has a lot of charts, graphs and tables, you won't be happy with the results.
- The Net Library. It depends on the formats available.
- I would assume Amazon would do business with the government.
- The Kindle 1 has page turn button that are easier to use for people with hand issues but you'd have to buy one used and would not have a warranty (or not much of one left).
Check out the link to the "Kindle Myths and Partial Truths" wiki in my sig for more information on the Kindle.