memeorandum: Libertarians: the new 'It' faction — It's altogether fitting … (Scott Galupo/Washington Times)

5:30 PM ET, November 24, 2007

Top Items:

Australia: PM John Howard Ousted In Elections — Australian Prime Minister John Howard has suffered a humiliating election defeat and the opposition Labor Party has swept into power. — Mr Howard, who had been seeking a fifth term after 11 years of conservative rule …

Discussion: Tim Blair, The Newshoggers, TalkLeft, Power Line, Right Wing News, Chuck Adkins, QandO and Middle Earth Journal

Michelle Malkin:

John Howard loses in Australia — Australian PM John Howard, staunch US ally and outspoken critic of jihad and the global spread, lost his re-election bid. He was Australia's second-longest serving prime minister behind Liberal Party founder Sir Robert Menzies. All Americans should mark the end of his tenure with gratitude.

Discussion: Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Bolt, Patterico's Pontifications, Right Voices, Say Anything, Tim Blair, BitsBlog, The Belmont Club, Macsmind and TigerHawk

Tim Johnston / New York Times:

Australia's Prime Minister Defeated After Four Terms — Prime Minister John Howard of Australia suffered a comprehensive defeat today, with a coalition led by his Liberal Party losing its majority in parliament. — After four terms in office, he will be replaced by Kevin Rudd, a Labor Party leader and former diplomat.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Rook's Rant, Daimnation!, Sweetness & Light, Shakespeare's Sister and PoliBlog (TM)

Rohan Sullivan / Associated Press:

Labor Party wins big in Australia — SYDNEY, Australia - Conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered a humiliating defeat Saturday at the hands of the left-leaning opposition, whose leader has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Group News Blog, DownWithTyranny!, All Spin Zone, Firedoglake and EU Referendum

Tim Johnston / New York Times: Bush Ally Defeated in Australia

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Good riddance to John Howard

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Eschaton, Vox Popoli and The Carpetbagger Report

ABC News:
Rudd turns a new page for Labor

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Jules Crittenden: Pre-9/11 Era — Another one of the original three who stood up …

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Thank You, John Howard

Discussion: Time, ABC News, Middle Earth Journal and A Chequer-Board of Nights …

Barbie Dutter / Telegraph: Labour sweeps to victory in Australian election

Andy Soltis / New York Post:

'BLAME U.S. FOR 9/11' IDIOTS IN MAJORITY — 'PLOTS' THICKEN IN SHOCKING POLL — Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the federal government had warnings about 9/11 but decided to ignore them, a national survey found. — And that's not the only conspiracy theory with a huge number of true believers in the United States.

Discussion: Neptunus Lex, Right Wing Nut House, bustardblog, michellemalkin.com, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Death, alicublog, JammieWearingFool, The American Mind, Blue Crab Boulevard, QandO, Betsy's Page and Wake up America

Enrique Andres Pretel / Reuters:

Poll says Chavez loses Venezuela referendum lead — CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has lost his lead eight days before a referendum on ending his term limit, an independent pollster said on Saturday, in a swing in voter sentiment against the Cuba ally.

Discussion: Say Anything, Blue Crab Boulevard, Right Voices and QandO

Dan Keane / Associated Press:
Chavez: Only a 'Traitor' Will Vote No

Discussion: A Chequer-Board of Nights …, JammieWearingFool, Wake up America, Dean's World and Six Meat Buffet

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

As Democrats See Iraq Gains, a Shift in Tone — As violence declines in Baghdad, the leading Democratic presidential candidates are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on Iraq: acknowledging that success, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress there …

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard, Prairie Weather, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, democracyarsenal.org, abu muqawama, Hot Air and UrbanGrounds

Michael Kinsley / Washington Post:

Who Needs Experience? — Hillary Clinton declared the other day — apropos of whom, she didn't say, or need to — "We can't afford on-the-job training for our next president." Barack Obama immediately retorted, "My understanding is that she wasn't Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, DownWithTyranny!, TalkLeft, Prairie Weather, Democratic Strategist and Political Machine

Boston Herald:

Mitt calls for judge to resign — Several warnings ignored, documents show — Presidential hopeful Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday demanded the resignation of his own judicial nominee after she sprang a violent convicted killer over the summer, as new details emerged showing that the judge ignored warnings …

Discussion: TalkLeft and Don Surber

Michael Levenson / Boston Globe:
Romney calls for judge to resign

Discussion: michellemalkin.com and AMERICAblog

Washington Post:

lib •er •tar •ian — a person who believes in the doctrine of the freedom of the will — 2. a person who believes in full individual freedom of thought, expression and action — 3. a freewheeling rebel who hates wiretaps, loves Ron Paul and is redirecting politics

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, LewRockwell.com Blog and Blogs of War

Lorraine Woellert / Bloomberg:
Paul Expects to Raise More Than $12 Million in Fourth Quarter

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Washington Note and TIME: Swampland

Mark Steyn / Orange County Register:

GOP looks like the party of diverse ideas — Democrats, meanwhile, have got a woman, a black, a Hispanic and a preening metrosexual - and they all think exactly the same. — Recommend — Only five weeks left to the earliest Primary Day in New Hampshire history, and still …

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard, Flopping Aces, The Belmont Club and Betsy's Page

Terry Tang / Associated Press:

Illegal immigrant rescues boy in desert — PHOENIX - A 9-year-old boy looking for help after his mother crashed their van in the southern Arizona desert was rescued by a man entering the U.S. illegally, who stayed with him until help arrived the next day, an official said.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Impolitic, Wake up America, Chuck Adkins, TalkLeft and The Unapologetic Mexican

David Espo / Associated Press:

Social Security to become key issue — WASHINGTON - Three years after the collapse of President Bush's plan for private Social Security accounts, Republican presidential contenders are eager to try again. Not so the Democrats, who gravitate toward increasing payroll taxes on upper-income earners to fix the program's finances.

Discussion: MyDD

Terry Eastland / Weekly Standard:
The Huckabee Surge — He's running strong in Iowa, but has he peaked?

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Townhall.com

Gateway Pundit:

Garry Kasparov Arrested at Russian Rally! — Garry Kasparov seized by police at a rally in Moscow! — Kasparov was forced to the ground and beaten, his assistant Marina Litvinovich said in a telephone interview from outside the police station where he was being held- CNN.

Discussion: Associated Press and Riehl World View

Los Angeles Times:

35 homes burned in Malibu brush fire — Clouds of smoke rise over Malibu as seen from Thousand Oaks. At least 35 structures have burned in the fire and hundreds more are threatened. — At least 35 homes have been burned and about 200 more are threatened in Malibu as a wind-driven fire …

The Atlantic Online:

The Iranian Line — Interesting stuff: "Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that his country could suspend uranium enrichment if the United States and Western Europe agreed to acknowledge that its nuclear program was peaceful."