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.

'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.

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.

As Democrats See Security Gains in Iraq, Tone Shifts  —  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 …

Impeachment: If not now, when?  —  Lawmakers need to stand up for the Constitution and support impeachment  —  The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

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

Revised Rule for Employers That Hire Immigrants  —  The Bush administration will suspend its legal defense of a new rule issued in August to punish employers who hire illegal immigrants, conceding a hard-fought opening round in a court battle over a central measure in its strategy to curb illegal immigration …

U.S. Scales Back Political Goals for Iraqi Unity  —  With American military successes outpacing political gains in Iraq, the Bush administration has lowered its expectation of quickly achieving major steps toward unifying the country, including passage of a long-stymied plan to share oil revenues and holding regional elections.

Kasparov Gets 5 Days in Jail for Marching  —  Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion and opposition leader, was arrested Saturday and sentenced to five days in jail after trying to lead a march to the offices of the federal election authorities.  —  Mr. Kasparov was taken into custody during …

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 …

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.

The San Francisco Chronicle deceives its readers through comment-deletion trickery  —  [UPDATE 1, Sat., 11-24-07, 12:30pm: Software Exec Brags About Crypto-Deletion Feature; see below.]  —  [UPDATE 2, Sat., 11-24-07, 2:20pm: Reader Documents "Graylist" of Banned SFGate Users Who Don't Know They're Banned; see below.]

Disabled veterans jeered at swimming pool  —  Injured soldiers who lost their limbs fighting for their country have been driven from a swimming pool training session by jeering members of the public.  —  The men, injured during tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, were taking part in a rehabilitation session …

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 …