• Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) held four town hall meetings in his home state yesterday. He said that there were large turnouts because people are scared about health care reform. Some booing and arguments occurred, but the overall tone was more orderly than similar health care meetings by Dem politicians.

• With the recession easing, the Federal Reserve has begun pulling back. It said that in October, it will wind down a program to buy U.S. government bonds. The central bank seeks to remove its expansive efforts to support the economy soon enough to prevent inflation but not so son that the fragile economy is quashed.

• President Obama threw a big White House party yesterday to celebrate Sonia Sotomayor as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Latino justice. The event was packed with Sotomayor’s family and friends, lawmakers, issue advocates, Hispanic community leaders, and two of her fellow Supreme Court justices.

• President Obama awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom to 16 “agents of change” yesterday, highlighting their accomplishments as examples of the heights a person can reach and the difference they can make in the lives of others. Recipients included Sidney Poitier, Ted Kennedy, Billie Jean King, Stephen Hawking, and Harvey Milk.

• Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian John Fugelsang calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care protesters, cash for clunkers, and other news of the day.

• The Senate voted last night to extend the “Cash for Clunkers” program with an infusion of $2 billion. White House aides said earlier that President Obama will quickly sign the bill into law to prevent any interruption to the popular incentive.

• Judge Sonia Sotomayor made history yesterday when the Senate confirmed her to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. Sotomayor was easily confirmed in a 68-31 vote. 9 GOP-ers joined a unanimous Dem caucus in supporting her nomination. She will be sworn in at the Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Roberts tomorrow.

• Pakistani intelligence officials say that Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a CIA drone strike that targeted a house Wednesday. Mehsud is enemy number one in Pakistan and is believed to be behind some of the biggest attacks in that country.

• John Hughes, director of “The Breakfast Club,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and “Sixteen Candles,” died of a heart attack in New York yesterday. He was 59.

• Comedian Will Durst calls in at 6:30am Pacific to do a little bipartisan bashing and to promote his upcoming gigs in Washington, DC.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to give us even more info about the Birthers.

• Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Judge Sonia Sotomayor is expected to easily win Senate confirmation today as two more Republicans, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri and Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, announced their support for the country’s first Hispanic high court pick.

• President Obama announced yesterday that the federal government will provide $2.4 billion in grants for the development of more fuel-efficient, battery-powered automobiles. Obama’s announcement was the latest in a series of administration initiatives designed to accelerate a nationwide transition to a “green economy.”

• Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was convicted yesterday on 11 of the 16 corruption charges against him in a case that included the discovery of $90,000 in his freezer. A federal court jury convicted Jefferson on four bribery counts, three counts of money laundering, three counts of wire fraud, and one count of racketeering.

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis calls in at 7:05am to give us the White House perspective on health care reform.

• Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about the “Birther” phenomenon.

• After more than six hours of negotiations among White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, talks between House Democratic leaders and key Blue Dog Democrats broke up last night without a deal on health care reform. The talks are expected to continue today.

• The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday approved the nomination of federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, setting up a final confirmation vote by the Senate. At least 5 GOP senators have announced their intention to support Sotomayor, making a confirmation by the Dem-controlled Senate a virtual certainty.

• The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is expected to ask the Obama administration for additional troops and equipment, according to a senior U.S. military official familiar with Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s thinking.

• Hawaiian officials this week said they have once again checked and confirmed that President Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born citizen.

• 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. Ron Kind (D-WI) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian Hal Sparks joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to talk about all things politics and pop culture, and to give Steph some backrubs.

• House Dems put their divisions on display over the details and timing of health care legislation yesterday despite fresh attempts by President Obama to hasten a compromise on the issue that looms increasingly as a major test of his clout. President Obama will hold a news conference on the issue tonight at 8pm Eastern.

• An Associated Press poll shows that a majority of Americans are back to thinking that the country is headed in the wrong direction. While President Obama still has a solid 55% approval rating, 54% think the country is going in the wrong direction, up from 46% in June.

• The Senate Judiciary Committee put off its vote yesterday on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for one week amid objections from the panel’s conservative GOP-ers, even as Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) became the latest GOP-er to publicly commit to voting for Sotomayor.

• Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), the longest serving senator in history, returned to the chamber yesterday after being absent for more than two months due to illness.

• Administration officials defended President Obama’s broad health care proposals yesterday and urged a skeptical public not to judge the Dems’ overhaul until Congress writes the final version. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that it’s “a work in progress,” and said “more will be done. The House and Senate are committed to working with the president to get this done.

• Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the top GOPer on the Senate committee reviewing Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination said yesterday her testimony did not settle his concerns about elevating her to the Supreme Court. “I was troubled by a number of the things the nominee has said, a number of the rulings she has made,” he said.

• The House Intelligence Committee will investigate whether the CIA broke the law by not telling Congress earlier about a secret program to deploy hit teams to kill individual Al Qaida members. Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) announced the investigation in a statement on Friday.

• A self-described “more contrite” South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford wrote an op-ed, published in newspapers around South Carolina yesterday, trying to win forgiveness after admitting to an affair and being incommunicado while he left the state for several days. He vowed to “begin the journey of trying to get things more right with you and others.”

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to talk about the news of the day.

• Questions surrounding Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s past speeches generated more controversy in the final day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearings yesterday, as Dems again called her a mainstream jurist and GOPers portrayed her as a liberal activist likely to legislate from the bench.

• Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday she would be willing to lower the amount of a new surtax on wealthy Americans to pay for health care legislation if more savings from proposed reforms can cover the cost of the bill.

• Speaking at the NAACP’s annual convention in New York, President Obama last night commended the progress of African-Americans but said there was still much work to be done. Obama highlighted some of his administration’s policies as examples of how the government is attempting to break down the barriers of inequity.

• Explosions tore through the Ritz-Carlton and J.W. Marriott hotels this morning in south Jakarta, Indonesia, killing nine people and wounding at least 50. Police found an unexploded bomb on the 18th floor of the J.W. Marriott Hotel, but they were able to diffuse it.

• Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about the Sotomayor hearings and about health care reform.

• The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about the Sotomayor hearings and Sen. Jeff Sessions’ racism.

• Sonia Sotomayor strongly asserted her adherence to the law while senators from both parties pressed her on her personal views on issues such as abortion, gun control, and executive powers on the third day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Sotomayor consistently answered she needed to know the specifics of a particular case, such as applicable state statutes and other facts.

• One of several proposals to overhaul the U.S. health care system passed a Senate committee yesterday, with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) praising the $600 billion plan as a step toward his longtime goals. GOPers said it costs too much and would ration care to Americans.

• Iran’s crackdown on protests after its disputed presidential election has “shifted” its prospects for direct talks with the United States, but they remain on the table, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday.

• Comedian Michael Ian Black calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about his new Comedy Central show, “Michael & Michael Have Issues.”

• Veteran political reporter Richard Wolffe calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about his new book, “Renegade: The Making of a President,” and about the news of the day.

• Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Sonia Sotomayor faced tough questioning yesterday on political issues and controversial statements from her past, with both Dems and GOPers saying she responded well and appeared certain to win confirmation as the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.

• House Dems unveiled their revised version of health care reform yesterday, offering a proposal that includes a government-funded health insurance option, required both individuals and employers to participate, and taxes the wealthy to help cover costs.

• A passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed this morning in northwest Iran, and all on board were feared dead. 153 passengers and 15 crewmembers were on the Caspian Airlines jet.

• Ian Millhiser, Legal Policy Analyst for the Center for American Progress, calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about the Sotomayor confirmation hearings.

• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the Sotomayor hearings.

• U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor said yesterday that her hotly disputed judicial philosophy is, in fact, quite simple: Remain faithful to the law. In her first day of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sotomayor sat impassively as senators detailed a deep divide between Dems and GOP on whether she is the best choice to fill the vacancy left by Justice David Souter’s retirement.

• Congressional demands for an investigation grew Monday over new disclosures that a secret CIA program to capture or kill Al Qaida leaders was concealed from Congress for 8 years, perhaps at the behest of former Vice President Dick Cheney. The program was cancelled last month by CIA Director Leon Panetta shortly after he himself first learned of it.

• President Obama yesterday pressed Democratic leaders to pass health care reform legislation in both houses of Congress before August and expressed confidence about the ultimate outcome for his top domestic priority. “Don’t bet against us. We are going to make this thing happen,” the president proclaimed.

• Attorney General Eric Holder is leaning toward appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration’s interrogation practices. “Newsweek” is also reporting that Holder has asked his staff for a list of 10 candidates who might serve as that prosecutor if one is named.

• After weeks of meeting senators and preparing for tough questions, Sonia Sotomayor today begins the formal hearings on her nomination to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. Sotomayor, 55, received a good-luck phone call yesterday from President Obama.

• Dems on the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday proposed a graduated tax on wealthy Americans to pay for health care reform. The new tax would apply to individuals who make more than $280,000 a year and married couples who make more than $350,000 a year.

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has life-threatening pancreatic cancer, a news report in South Korea said today, days after new images of him looking gaunt spurred speculation that his health might be worsening following a reported stroke last year.

• Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Missouri) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about President Obama’s Middle East trip, the economy, and Sotomayor’s nomination.

• Funny guy Brian Whitman joins us in studio at 8am Pacific to hang out and discuss the news of the day.

• President Obama this morning in a speech in Cairo, Egypt spoke of the tensions between the United States and Muslims saying “the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam. Obama hopes to start “a new chapter of engagement” between the U.S. and the Muslim world.

• Judge Sonia Sotomayor continued making the rounds on Capitol Hill yesterday, meeting several additional U.S. senators who will help decide whether she becomes the country’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.

• New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed same-sex marriage into law last night. The bill, which passed the House 198-176 yesterday, also was approved by the state Senate, 14-10.

• President Obama, providing the first real details on how he wants to reshape the nation’s health care system, urged Congress yesterday toward a sweeping overhaul that would allow Americans to buy into a government insurance plan.

• Veteran political reporter Richard Wolffe calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about his new book, “Renegade: The Making of a President.”

• President Obama will arrive in Saudi Arabia today, his first stop on a Middle East trip that will include a major speech intended to repair a damaged U.S. image. The president will deliver the widely-anticipated address in Cairo, Egypt, tomorrow in hopes of reaching out to Muslims and begin a dialogue.

• Debris located early yesterday in the Atlantic Ocean off the northeast coast of Brazil is wreckage from the Air France jet that disappeared Monday, Brazil’s defense minister said. No survivors have been found.

• Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor sought yesterday to hit back against Republican charges that she would let her background dictate her rulings, telling U.S. senators of both parties in private meetings that she would follow the law as a justice.

• President Obama is leaving the door open to taxing health care benefits, something he campaigned hard against while running for president. The federal government would reap about $250 billion a year if it treated health care benefits given to employees like wages and taxed them.

• Ted J. Boutrous Jr., law partner with Ted Olson, calls in at 6:30am Pacific to discuss the constitutionality of Prop. 8 and to explain why he, Ted Olson, and David Boies are going to the Feds now to overturn it.

• CNN‘s Paul Begala calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about GM, Sotomayor, North Korea, the economy, gay marriage, and other news of the day.

• General Motors, the nation’s largest automakers and for decades an icon of American manufacturing, filed for bankruptcy this morning at 8am Eastern. President Obama will address the nation shortly before noon Eastern to explain the rationale for the filing and his hopes that this is the best route for a turnaround.

• The U.S. will not accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday at an international conference. His comments came amid growing concern across the globe over North Korea’s latest nuclear test and test-firings of short-range missiles.

• GOP-ers kept the pressure on the president’s pick for the Supreme Court over the weekend, saying that Judge Sonia Sotomayor is an activist judge who will bring a leftist agenda to the bench. The White House said that it’s clear that Sotomayor’s life experiences will give her information about the struggles and hardships that people are going through that will make her a good judge.

• Nevada is legalizing domestic partnerships, with the state Assembly voting last night to override a veto by the governor.

• Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners, calls in at 8:06am Pacific to talk about President Obama’s plan for national security, the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, and the upholding of Prop. 8.

• Melissa Etheridge calls in at 8:30am Pacific to discuss the upholding of Prop. 8 and what that means for her relationship.

• Former President George W. Bush at a speech in Michigan last night repeated Dick Cheney’s assertion that the administration’s “enhanced interrogation” program, which included waterboarding, was legal and garnered valuable information that prevented terrorist attacks.

• President Obama is expected to announce today the creation of the position of cyber czar, a person who will coordinate the nation’s efforts to protect government and private computer systems from hackers, criminal gangs, terrorists, and spies.

• Israel must halt West Bank settlement activity and the Palestinians need to increase West Bank security to advance the Middle East peace process, President Obama said yesterday after meeting with Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

• Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the longest-serving GOPer on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said yesterday that he believes Sonia Sotomayor is headed for a Supreme Court confirmation.

• Eric Boehlert of Media Matters for America calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about how the Right Wing Media is already attacking Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

• President Obama marked another 100-day anniversary yesterday – this time the anniversary of the enactment of his $787 billion economic stimulus package. Obama told a crowd in Nevada that “we are already seeing results” from the federal government’s economic boost.

• Opponents of California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages launched a new court challenge yesterday, led by lawyers who were on opposite sides of the case that settled the 2000 presidential race. Attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies have asked a federal judge to block California from enforcing the ban, known as Prop. 8.

• Newt Gingrich has called Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a racist, and he’s demanding that Obama’s pick withdraw her nomination. On Twitter, Gingrich said that “new racism is no better than old racism.”

• Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) announced last night that he intends to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter in a Pennsylvania Democratic primary pending a discussion with his wife and young daughter.

• Dennis Herrera, City Attorney for San Francisco, calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about yesterday’s California Supreme Court decision upholding Prop. 8.

• Federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor called President Obama’s decision to nominate her to the Supreme Court “the most humbling honor of my life.” Conservative voices and interest groups put together an immediate message portraying Sotomayor as an “activist” liberal.

• California’s highest court upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages yesterday, but allowed about 18,000 unions performed before the ban to remain valid. It was the same court, dominated by GOP nominees, that ruled in May 2008 that the state constitution guaranteed gay and lesbian couples the “basic civil right” to marry.

• Former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik was indicted on charges of making false statements to White House officials vetting him for the secretary’s seat at the Department of Homeland Security in 2004.

• The 4-year-old daughter of boxing legend Mike Tyson died yesterday, a day after she was injured in a treadmill accident at her home. She had been strangled by a cord connected to the machine.