Pentagon Review Sees Three Options in Iraq  —  More Training of Iraqi Troops a Likely Focus  —  The Pentagon's closely guarded review of how to improve the situation in Iraq has outlined three basic options: Send in more troops, shrink the force but stay longer, or pull out, according to senior defense officials.

Envisioning U.S. Talks With Iran and Syria  —  IN Washington these days, an idea the White House once treated as anathema is suddenly gaining currency: to sit down and talk directly to Iran and Syria.  —  Tony Blair is recommending it.  The Iraq Study Group headed by James Baker and Lee Hamilton may do so, too.

"Kramer's" Racist Tirade — Caught on Tape  —  WARNING: WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE IS PROFANE AND RACIAL  —  Michael Richards exploded in anger as he performed at a famous L.A. comedy club last Friday, hurling racial epithets that left the crowd gasping, and TMZ has obtained exclusive video of the ugly incident.

Kerry: Botched Joke Won't Affect 2008  —  Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry insisted on Sunday his "botched joke" about President Bush's Iraq policy would not undermine a possible White House campaign in 2008.  —  "Not in the least," Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in said when asked …

Fighting the Last War  —  Richard at Hyscience discusses Seymour Hersh's big scoop that Iran is nothing to worry about.  I heard that guy speak once.  It was a bizarre experience.  The Pentagon press I had dinner with that night were talking about his weirdness, and one of them observed …

Preferences Forever?  —  The University of Michigan's president does her best George Wallace impersonation.  —  Michigan voters struck a blow for equality this month, when 58% of them approved an amendment to the state constitution banning racial discrimination in public universities and contracting.

Fox News Channel preps right-leaning satire  —  Fox News Channel might air two episodes of a "Daily Show"-like program with a decidedly nonliberal bent on Saturday nights in late January, with the possibility that it could become a weekly show for the channel.

Why Does the Non-Southern Strategy Drive People Batty?  —  It is increasingly clear to me that either my non-southern strategy argument causes people to take leave of their senses (particularly their mathematical abilities), or they simply refuse to accept compelling and mounting evidence as fact.

The 'Confession'  —  An illiterate double-murder's killer book.  —  Just thinking aloud here, but what do you suppose the reaction of Fox News and the Murdoch press would be if Black Entertainment Television had commissioned a lucrative tie-in for O.J. Simpson, and had sat …

Republicans plot to bring down Pelosi ... and Clinton with her  —  New Speaker's embarrassing week has made it easier for her opponents to attack  —  Republican strategists plotting their party's comeback after it lost control of Congress have identified the "first lady" …

Rep. Frank offers business a 'grand bargain'  —  Reduced regulations for more job benefits  —  Representative Barney Frank has proposed in a series of meetings with business groups a "grand bargain" with corporate America: Democrats would agree to reduce regulations and support free-trade deals …

Gov.'s push for healthcare may get a push back  —  Schwarzenegger has made cutting costs and covering the uninsured top priorities, but he'll meet resistance.  —  SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's most ambitious aspiration yet — to extend medical coverage to millions …

Anti-War Activists Plan 'Global Orgasm For Peace'  —  (CBS/AP) SAN FRANCISCO Two peace activists have planned a massive anti-war demonstration for the first day of winter.  —  But they don't want you marching in the streets.  They'd much rather you just stay home.

Holocaust Archive Tells Many New Stories  —  The 21-year-old Russian sat before a clerk of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate's office, describing the furnaces at Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp where he had been a prisoner until a few weeks previously.  —  "I saw with my own eyes how thousands …

Saddam trial 'flawed and unsound'  —  The trial of Saddam Hussein was so flawed that its verdict is unsound, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch says.  —  HRW said "serious administrative, procedural and substantive legal defects" meant the 5 November trial for crimes against humanity was not fair.

The Great Liberator  —  IF John Maynard Keynes was the most influential economist of the first half of the 20th century, then Milton Friedman was the most influential economist of the second half.  —  Not so long ago, we were all Keynesians.  ("I am a Keynesian," Richard Nixon famously said in 1971.)

CRITICS TO KICK RUDY PATOOTIE  —  NY FOES TARGET 'AMERICA'S MAYOR' IMAGE  —  Some of Rudy Giuliani's fiercest city critics are set to launch "swift boat"-type strikes to inform voters around the nation about the former mayor's behavior before 9/11, The Post has learned.