DEREK LOWE: Where Drugs Come From.

TIM CAVANAUGH: Don’t Fear The Briar Patch, Matt Taibbi.

EVERYTHING SEEMINGLY IS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL: Radioactive rabbit trapped near Richland.

THEY’RE ALWAYS IN THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK: Extinct Bears Found Underwater.

HOME ROBOTS GUARD HOUSES.

2010’s 100 BEST Movies and TV on Blu-Ray.

Related: Best Movies and TV on DVD.

IF YOU MISSED IT LAST NIGHT, check out my interview with Scott Rasmussen on what comes next between now and 2012.

WHERE’S MY SALMON? Fatty Fish Protects Against Prostate Cancer.

WHO NEEDS A HYBRID? Audi launches pair of new TDI-powered A4 models; sedan to get 53.5 mpg. “Packing 2.0-liter TDI engines, the pair of new models – a sedan and an Avant (wagon) – boast near best-in-class fuel economy ratings of 53.5 mpg (U.S.) and 51.1 mpg, respectively. . . . Increased efficiency often comes at the expense of performance, but Audi claims that its 2.0-liter TDI mill makes no such sacrifice. Engine output is listed at 136 horsepower and torque at 236 pound-feet which combine to propel the A4 sedan to 62 miles per hour in 9.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 134 mph. The wagon, with its added weight, completes the sprint to 62 mph in 9.8 seconds and continues to 129 mph before packing it in. Both models feature a six-speed manual trans with slightly lengthened gear ratios, some aerodynamic tweaks aimed at improving drag and come shod with low-rolling resistance tires.”

MICHAEL SILENCE: “It’s people like Olbermann who have made ethical journalism a George Carlin joke.”

THE TEN WORST STATES FOR BUSINESS IN AMERICA.

JESSE FOX MAYSHARK EXPLAINS why East Tennesseans love their guns. Nice piece. (Via SayUncle).

POLITICO: Centrist Dems rip ‘tone-deaf’ White House.

IN THE MAIL: From Mary Elizabeth Strunk, Wanted Women: An American Obsession in the Reign of J. Edgar Hoover. Love the cover art.

WANT TO HELP WOUNDED SOLDIERS? Please support Project Valour-IT.

NOW THEY TELL US: SEC eyes hedge fund backed by Barney Frank pal. “Sussman made headlines last month when the Herald reported that U.S. Rep. Barney Frank flew to the Virgin Islands last Christmas on Sussman’s $25 million Dassault Falcon 2000EX luxury jet along with Sussman’s fiance, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Frank’s partner James Ready.”

NEW IBD/TIPP POLL: Americans’ Message To New Congress: Less Gov’t, Please.

A new IBD/TIPP poll on public attitudes suggests that Tuesday’s event was less an election than an intervention: Stop what you are doing; you’re hurting us all.

A majority of the public wants Washington to stop the spending that has exploded the budget deficit. In a listing of top priorities for Congress, cutting the deficit by cutting spending came in No. 1, cited by 53%. (Fully 73%, including a majority of Democrats, said this is a “high priority.”)

Will they listen?

THOUGHTS ON the ephemeral nature of political power.

OUR CREDENTIALED-NOT-EDUCATED GENTRY CLASS: New York, Arkansas…You Know, the Midwest.

CHANGE: Twitter Hires Hill Staffer To Help Pols.

THINKPROGRESS festoons itself with updates of shame.

VIA THE MIRACLE OF AMAZON RECOMMENDATIONS, sandwiches that keep for three years without refrigeration. But I couldn’t find any canned cheeseburgers. . . .

UPDATE: Robert McManus writes: “Big deal. Haven’t you ever heard of Spam on Wonderbread? It has the half-fife of plutonium.”

HEADLINE OF THE DAY: Obama calls for compromise, won’t budge on tax cuts.

POLIWOOD: Voices in American Film: Ozark Mountain Men v. Mahattan’s Upper Weird Side. Plus, how the Oscar process really works.

ON ELECTION DAY, the words mattered. “Obama seems to confuse disagreement with his policies with attacks on his character. And that’s why he meant what he said when he used the word ‘enemies.’ Many of the voters who cast their ballots Tuesday understood that.”