• Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about the importance of passing meaningful health care reform.

• President Obama is expected to nominate Ben Bernanke to a second term as head of the Federal Reserve today. Bernanke, a Republican who has played a central role in the government’s extraordinary response to the recession and 2008 banking panic, will have to be confirmed by the Senate.

• The Obama administration launched a criminal investigation yesterday into harsh questioning of detainees during President Bush’s war on terrorism, revealing CIA interrogators’ threats to kill one suspect’s children and to force another to watch his mother sexually assaulted.

• The Los Angeles County coroner’s finding that the death of Michael Jackson was a homicide could mean criminal charges for his doctor, who told investigators that he administered a mix of powerful drugs to treat the pop star’s insomnia hours before his death.

• President Obama played tennis with his wife and golf with his buddies yesterday, starting his first vacation in office on Martha’s Vineyard of the coast of Massachusetts.

• Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• House Dem leaders conceded yesterday that concerns raised by fiscally Conservative Blue Dog Democrats will prevent the chamber from voting on a health care reform bill before the August recess begins at the end of the week.

• A senior administration official said Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, MA Police Department will be visiting the White House on Thursday. The meeting among the three men will take place at 6pm.

• Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced yesterday that he will not vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. The committee is expected to vote today on Sotomayor’s confirmation.

• Michael Jackson’s personal doctor administered the powerful anesthetic Propofol to help him sleep, and authorities believe the drug is what killed the pop singer, a law enforcement official told the AP yesterday. On June 25, the day Jackson died, Dr. Conrad Murray gave him the drug sometime after midnight, the official said.

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform, Obama in Russia and at the G-8, and the possibility of another stimulus package.

• Carol Leifer joins us in studio at 8:06am Pacific to promote her upcoming gigs, and to talk about her book, “When You Lie About Your Age, The Terrorists Win.”

• President Obama is embarking on three days of multinational talks at the G-8 summit in Rome on climate change, the global economy, and world hunger in the second and most policy-laden stop of his three-nation, weeklong trip.

• Al Franken became a senator yesterday, being sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden and drawing thunderous applause in the Senate chamber. Former Vice President Walter Mondale, a Minnesota native, accompanied Franken. Franken was introduced by fellow Minnesotan and Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

• It was not spectacular, extravagant, or bizarre. There were songs and tears but little dancing. Instead, Michael Jackson’s memorial was a somber, spiritual ceremony that reached back for the essence of the man. If there was a shocking moment, it came from Jackson’s daughter, Paris-Michael, who made the first public statement of her 11 years, dissolving into tears, and saying she loved her daddy very much.

• Marc Malkin of E! Entertainment calls in at 7:30am Pacific to report live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles before the Michael Jackson memorial service.

• President Obama, working to drastically reshape U.S. relations with a skeptical Russia, said today in Moscow that the two countries are not “destined to be antagonists.” Obama used his speech to further define his view of the U.S.’ place in the world and, specifically, to argue that his country shares compelling interests with Russia.

• Today’s public memorial at Los Angeles’ Staples Center for Michael Jackson includes the spectacle surrounding the show – legal drama, screaming fans, star power, live worldwide broadcast, unsavory accusations, even a parade of elephants – all adding up to what could be the biggest celebrity send-off of all time.

• With health care legislation at a crossroads, the nation’s hospitals are near agreement with a Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and the White House to pick up part of the cost of President Obama’s plan for expanded coverage, officials said yesterday.

• Robert McNamara, the secretary of defense who was vilified for prosecuting the Vietnam War, then devoted himself to helping the world’s poorest nations, died yesterday. He was 93.

• “The Rude Pundit,” Lee Papa, calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about his blog at RudePundit.Blogspot.com, about Palin’s resignation, and how George Washington would kick the teabaggers’ asses.

• The FBI, in a rare response to rampant rumors on the internet, said it is not investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on public corruption charges. The speculation began almost immediately after Palin’s unexpected announcement on Friday that she would step down as Alaska’s chief executive with 18 months left in her term.

• Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev end a seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry with a meeting in Moscow today, each declaring his determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship.

• Listings for tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial service at Los Angeles’ Staples Center tomorrow appeared on eBay and Craigslist as soon as winners were notified yesterday. One listing asked for a “Buy It Now” price of $20,000.

• Vice President Biden said the Obama administration “misread how bad the economy was” but stands by its stimulus package and believes the plan will create more jobs as the pace of its spending picks up. Biden said the nation’s 9.5 percent unemployment rate is “much too high.”

John Fugelsang

Of course, the big topic of the morning will be Michael Jackson’s death, but we will also touch on Farrah Fawcett’s death, and weave a little Iran and Mark Sanford in there.  Enjoy!

Click Here To Find Your Congresspeople!

Capitol Switchboard: (202)224-3121