• The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) joins Steph in studio in NYC at 8:05am Pacific for “Rude Mondays”

• Tim Robbins calls in at 8:35am Pacific to promote “The WTF Festival” at The Actors Gang in Culver City, CA.

• President Obama pledged to end the ban on gays serving openly in the military in a speech to the Human Rights Campaign Saturday, but acknowledged to a cheering crowd that the policy changes he promised on the campaign trail are not coming as quickly as they expected.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travels to Russia today hoping to win Moscow’s backing for a strong stance on Iran’s nuclear program and looking for progress on a new arms control pact.

• Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said yesterday that any added military deployment in Afghanistan smaller than the 40,000 troops reportedly requested by the top U.S. commander there “would be an error of historic proportions.” McCain also said that the war there could not be won with fewer than the 40,000 troops requested.

• Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will all be calling in TOMORROW to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 11:05am TOMORROW to hang and talk about all things politics and pop culture.

• Under the menacing threat of violence from the Taliban, Afghans headed to the polls today in the war-ravaged nation’s second-ever national election. Thousands of NATO and Afghan soldiers provided security at the polls and more than 30 observer groups were on hand to monitor the voting.

• President Obama appealed yesterday to faith-based groups to help garner support for his plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system. Obama urged the listeners to reject information about his plans, noting, “There are some folks out there who are, frankly, bearing false witness.”

• A cancer-stricken Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has written a poignant letter to Massachusetts leaders asking that they change state law to allow a speedy replacement of him in Congress, instead of the special election now required. Kennedy wrote, “It is vital for this commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate.”

• “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.”