• Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to co-host Right Wing World.

• Hal Sparks joins us in studio at 8am Pacific for another edition of “Humpdays With Hal.”

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform and Obama’s Afghanistan speech.

• Declaring “our security is at stake,” President Obama ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops into the long war in Afghanistan last night, nearly tripling the force he inherited but promising an impatient public to begin withdrawal in 18 months. The buildup will begin almost immediately and will cost $30 billion for the first year alone

• Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) asserted yesterday during a rancorous floor debate that President Obama’s health care reform will shorten the lives of seniors by cutting Medicare. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) decried such comments as scare tactics designed to kill legislation that he said would improve some benefits for seniors. At times, the debate recalled the raw charges and countercharges of the summer’s town hall meetings.

• Copies of e-mails between the White House party crashers and a Pentagon official undermine their claims that they were invited to President Obama’s first state dinner.

• Rep. John Larson (D-CT), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the economy.

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the public option.

• Health care legislation shepherded by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) would expand coverage to 94% of all eligible Americans at a 10-year cost of $829 billion, congressional budget experts said yesterday, a preliminary estimate likely to power the measure past a major hurdle within days. The CBO added the measure would reduce federal deficits by $81 Billion over a decade.

• House Republicans failed yesterday for a third time to oust Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Rangel is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for his financial and fundraising activities.

• Opposition to President Obama’s health care overhaul has dropped dramatically in a matter of weeks, the latest AP poll has found. The public is split 40-40 on supporting or opposing the health care legislation. An even split is welcome news for Dems, as sharp improvement from September, when 49% said they opposed the Congressional proposals and just 34% supported them.

• House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) calls in at 6:35am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to help us with Right Wing World.

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

• The Senate Finance Committee yesterday rejected two amendments to include a government-run public health insurance option in the only compromise health care bill so far. The amendments were opposed by all 10 GOP-ers on the committee and a few Dems, including committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus of Montana.

• A powerful earthquake in the South Pacific hurled a massive tsunami at the shores of Samoa and American Samoa, flattening villages and sweeping cars and people out to sea, leaving at least 99 dead and dozens missing.

• The U.S. is speeding up its military withdrawal from Iraq, sending 4,000 more troops home next month. The reduced number of troops in Iraq marks the latest U.S. step in winding down the six-year war.

• 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.

• Comedian Jeffrey Ross calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about his new book, “I Only Roast The Ones I Love: Busting Balls Without Burning Bridges.”

• Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was revising his sweeping health care bill yesterday to address some serious concerns from fellow Dems about insurance costs. The changes possibly include cutting in half a penalty for people who don’t comply with a new requirement to purchase insurance.

• President Obama said yesterday that better economic days are coming thanks to innovation and some help from the government. Obama delivered a pep talk and a plug for his economic recovery plan yesterday at a community college in New York.

• A bill being offered in the House and expected to pass easily would provide 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits for more than 300,000 jobless people who live in states with unemployment rates of at least 8.5% and who are scheduled to run out of benefits by the end of September.

• People in Georgia are bracing for more rain today after a deluge flooded streets and homes, killing at least 6 six people yesterday. The governor has declared a state of emergency in the 17 counties hardest hit by flooding.

• Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners calls in at 7:05am Pacific to discuss the need for more spirituality in the debate on health care reform.

• Eric Boehlert of Media Matters for America calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about accusations of racism against President Obama, and Fox News smearing ACORN.

• Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) unveiled the Senate’s version of health care reform yesterday. The plan would require all Americans to have health insurance, but lacks a public plan option or even a trigger for a public option.

• The White House says President Obama doesn’t believe he’s being criticized because of his race. They were asked about the topic following comments on Tuesday by former President Jimmy Carter. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says some people have disagreements with some of Obama’s decisions but that those concerns were not because of his race.

• ACORN, an advocacy group under fire after some employees were caught on camera appearing to advise a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp to lie about the woman’s profession to get housing help, said Wednesday it is ordering an independent investigation and is refusing new admissions into its service programs.

• Mary Travers of 1960’s folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, has died, according to her publicist. She was 72.

• MSNBC’s David Shuster calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the heath care rallies over the weekend, and other news of the day.

• President Obama sternly warned Wall Street yesterday against returning to the sort of reckless and unchecked behavior that threatened the nation with a second Great Depression. Obama warned the financial titans that they could not count on any more bailouts.

• Senate health care negotiators said yesterday they’ve narrowed their differences on a host of difficult issues with just a day or so left to seal an elusive bipartisan deal that could change the course of debate over President Obama’s plans to overhaul health care. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) said he’ll have a formal proposal tomorrow to meet a deadline for moving ahead.

• House Dems reaffirmed plans to take up a resolution as early as today scolding defiant GOP Rep. Joe Wilson, who shocked colleagues by yelling “You lie!” during President Obama’s address to Congress last week.

• Patrick Swayze, the actor who danced his way into viewers’ hearts with “Dirty Dancing” and then broke them with “Ghost,” died yesterday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

• In a speech that drew fire even before he delivered it, President Obama is telling the nation’s schoolchildren he “expects great things from each of you.” Obama is scheduled to deliver the talk from a school in Virginia today. Conservatives have urged schools and parents to boycott the address, saying that Obama is using the opportunity to “indoctrinate” their children.

• President Obama insisted yesterday “the time is now” for healthcare reform as he geared up for a major address to Congress tomorrow aimed at getting his top domestic priority back on track. “It’s time to do what’s right for America’s working families,” Obama told a wildly cheering crowd at a Labor Day picnic held by the AFL-CIO in Ohio.

• After a nearly 40-day recess that was anything but restful, House Dems are returning to work today still unsettled over pending health care legislation. Conservatives are still leery of supporting a government-funded insurance option and Progressives are still threatening to bring down the legislation if it does not contain a robust version of the public option.

• Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), who is the Senate Finance Committee Chairman, has circulated a new proposal that could breathe new life into health care reform. Baucus’ proposal does not include a public option, but calls for health care cooperatives to be included in health care exchanges.

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian Margaret Cho calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about her new fall tour, her appearance on E!’s “Chelsea Lately” tonight, and her new Lifetime series, “Drop Dead Diva.”

• The battle to overhaul health care intensified yesterday, with President Obama accusing GOP critics of putting politics ahead of policy and a top GOPer saying Dems’ plans would undermine the country’s economic future.

• Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) said yesterday that a closed-door meeting between Dems and GOPers resulted in a tentative agreement on several substantive issues as part of what is considered the first possible bipartisan health care bill, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she was willing to limit a proposed tax increase after Dems threatened a revolt on the issue.

• The Obama administration’s annual midsummer budget update is sure to show higher deficits and unemployment and slower growth than projected in February, and that could complicate his efforts to get his signature health care and global-warming proposals through Congress. The release of the update has been put off until the middle of next month, giving rise to speculation they’re trying to delay the bad news until Congress leaves town on summer recess.

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:35am Pacific to talk about the economy and the stimulus.

• CIA Director Leon Panetta recently testified to Congress that the agency concealed information and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001, according to a letter from seven House Democrats to Panetta made public yesterday. The letter contained no details about what information the CIA officials allegedly concealed of how they purportedly misled members of Congress.

• House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said Tuesday he would consider supporting a second economic stimulus bill, but said people need to give the package that passed in February more time to work.

• Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) said yesterday that lawmakers still need to come up with $320 billion over the coming decade in taxes to pay for health care reform. The remaining cost of the bill would be paid for through savings in Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs.

• The leaders of the G-8 nations issued a joint statement last night expressing serious concerns about the post-election violence in Iran, as well as its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, but the G-8 will not push for new economic sanctions or tougher enforcement of those that exist, the Obama administration announced yesterday.

• 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.

• CNN’s John King, host of “State of the Union,” calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about health care and the latest on Iran.

• Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the progress that Congress is making on health care reform.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to hang out and promote his one-man off-Broadway show coming this July.

• Iran’s supreme leader today rejected opposition claims that last week’s presidential elections were rigged, describing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s win as “definitive” and calling for an end to days of protest.

• The Senate yesterday passed a $106 billion spending bill that includes about $80 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, sending the bill to the White House for President Obama’s signature. The money will fund the wars through October.

• Key Senate Democrats are paring back subsidies designed to make insurance more affordable as they reach for bipartisan support on health care legislation. An outline circulated yesterday by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) also leaves open the possibility that there would be no direct government competition against private insurers.