• Charlie Pierce, author of “Idiot America,” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the news of the day.

• The White House is bracing for a tough sell of President Obama’s long-awaited decision on whether to commit tens of thousands of new U.S. forces to the stalemated war in Afghanistan, even as the president met Monday with top advisers for possibly the last major deliberations before an announcement.

• In a Cabinet meeting yesterday afternoon, President Obama acknowledged fledgling economic growth had not yet improved things on the jobs front and previewed a summit next week aimed at helping find ways to spur job creation.

• Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said yesterday that the Dems are determined to push through a health care overhaul bill, President Obama’s top domestic issue, with or without support from opposition GOP-ers.

• A bitter dispute over abortion that prompted Rhode Island’s Roman Catholic bishop to ask Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) not to receive Holy Communion has revealed the depth of the divide among Catholics over how politicians should reconcile their faith with their public duties.

• Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific for a live edition of Right Wing World.

• Comedian Hal Sparks joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific for another edition of “Humpdays with Hal.”

• Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus yesterday unveiled changes to his compromise health care proposal intended to alleviate the concerns of fellow Dems as the panel began debating more than 560 proposed amendments to the measure. Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) both introduced amendments to include a public option in the Baucus plan.

• World leaders, including President Obama, converged yesterday in New York to focus on climate change, with the clock ticking down toward a summit this year in Denmark, where a global climate change pact is to be signed. Negotiations for the global pact have stalled and yesterday’s gathering was aimed at jump-starting those talks.

• Prodding Israel and the Palestinian Authority to restart talks aimed at a permanent resolution of their conflict, President Obama dropped a demand for an Israeli settlement freeze.

• Economists expect an already deep recession to get even worse in 2009, according to the National Association for Business Economics survey released this morning. Companies will lay off more workers and hoard more cash during the next 12 months.

• Obama is enjoying about a two-thirds approval rating for his first days as president, a poll released Saturday found. The Gallup survey found 68% of Americans approve of Obama’s performance as president. That’s a number near the high end for new presidents, but short of President John F. Kennedy’s 72% in 1961.

• New York Senator-designate Kirsten Gillibrand said yesterday that she plans to “hit the ground running.” She spoke to reporters after finishing a congratulatory lunch in New York City with newly minted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), and NY Gov. David Paterson.

• President Obama struck down a rule Friday that prohibits U.S. money from funding international family-planning clinics that promote abortion or provide counseling or referrals about abortion service. Obama says that he plans to “initiate a fresh conversation on family planning.”