POT, KETTLE: Maureen Dowd on Narcissism.

ESQUIRE: Obama as “the Megan Fox of the White House.” Does that mean his presidency is Transformers 2? Well, a lot of stuff is getting smashed up to no visible effect . . . .

SIGN OF THE TIMES: NY-23: Winning Democrat Bill Owens was A-rated by NRA (as was Hoffman).

BAD NEWS FOR BLOOMBERG, GOOD NEWS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS: “After last night’s results came in, Bloomberg’s anti-gun group is down another 16 mayors in Pennsylvania.”

RON BAILEY: Freakonomics authors freak out environmental activists by suggesting a technical fix for global warming. As the faith weakens, the persecution of heretics must be stepped up.

PHYLLIS CHESLER: Censored! The Truth About Hizb ut-Tahrir.

PASSING THE SMELL TEST: “A dog’s sniff helped put Curvis Bickham in jail for eight months. Now that the case against him has been dropped, he wants to tell the world that the investigative technique that justified his arrest smells to high heaven.”

THE MOST IMPORTANT RIGHT TO ARMS VOTE OF 2009.

WINNING, DEFINED.

FROM FAUSTA WERTZ, a local angle on the New Jersey race.

AUTO INDUSTRY shifting to a low-impact refrigerant.

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.

CHANGE: Business Bankruptcy Filings Increased 7% in October. “Business bankruptcy filings jumped in October, reversing two consecutive months of declining commercial filings and indicating that bankruptcies could continue to rise as the economy struggles to stabilize.”

PERSONAL CHEMISTRY: “Every day we’re exposed to thousands of man-made chemicals, some of which seep into our bodies and remain there for decades. What that means for our health, we don’t fully understand–but I subjected myself to a battery of new tests in search of answers.”

FOLLOWING UP ON BOINGBOING, the Anchoress has some thoughts on Obama and Internet freedom. And more.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS show hypocrisy on earmarks. This is no way to win back a majority, guys. Especially with Tea Partiers coming to DC tomorrow.

STUDY: Lots of local, green electricity possible for most of the U.S. I’m skeptical, as most green promises tend not to live up to the hype. But I’d like it to be true.

UPDATE: Charles Austin writes: “Your comment on the latest green promises would seem to be a variant on how we ended up with President Obama, as so many from Ann Althouse on down are discovering now.” Well, it’s important to distinguish between what’s probably true, and what we’d like to be true — but human beings often conflate the two.

AN EMBARRASSMENT: Harvard Alum Accused of Arson. “A recent Harvard Law School graduate has been accused of setting fire to a New York City chapel that houses the remains of unidentified victims of the 9/11 attacks, leading to public outrage from the victims’ families.”

POLITICO: Even safe Democrats feeling at risk.

ANDREW IAN DODGE: David Cameron Likely Britain’s Next PM, But He May Yet Blow the Chance.

HEH. Promises kept.

UPDATE: “No core principles.”

TRAFFIC CAMERAS VOTED DOWN in College Station, Texas. Actually, they pretty much always lose when they’re put to a vote, which is why city fathers try to proceed by indirection.

ASSOCIATED PRESS: STIMULUS WATCH: Salary raise counted as saved job.

UPDATE: “This could only come from people who never worked in the private sector.”

Plus this: “Meanwhile, back in Chicago, they’re saving more jobs than exist … kind of like Chicago elections. Save early, save often!”

ANOTHER UPDATE: “So does this mean that the Administration’s pay Czar is destroying jobs by reducing salaries?”

EMILY BAZELON: Maine Didn’t Give Gay Marriage A Chance.

RACE AND CLASS in elite colleges.