• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) President Gerald McEntee calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about their grassroots effort to get health care reform passed.

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

• The White House shot down concerns yesterday that middle-class families may face a tax increase in order to combat rising deficits and a struggling economy. The concern came after the Obama administration’s two top money men floated the idea that tax increases to fund the nation’s economic recovery could extend into the middle class.

• Frustrated with the pace of bipartisan talks, Dem leaders yesterday promised to push a sweeping health care bill through the Senate whether they get GOP support or not.

• Former President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to North Korea this morning on a trip seen as a mission to win the release of two jailed American reporters and to ease tensions over Pyongyang’s recent nuclear defiance.

• Jennifer Palmieri, Senior Vice President of Communications for the Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about Obama and the Bush torture memos.

• Actor Jason Alexander joins us in studio at 8:30am Pacific to promote his production of “The Fantasticks” at U.C.L.A. and to talk about the politics of the day.

• President Obama left open the possibility of criminal prosecution yesterday for former Bush administration officials who drew up the legal basis for aggressive interrogation techniques many view as torture. Obama said it will be up to Attorney General Eric Holder to decide whether or not to prosecute the former officials.

• President Obama’s national intelligence director Dennis Blair said in a memo to staff last night that Bush-era interrogation methods may have yielded important information about terrorists and may have provided a deeper understanding of Al Qaida, but he said that we do not need these techniques to keep America safe.

• Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner testified before Congress yesterday, defending President Obama’s bank bailout, answering questions about TARP’s transparency and Obama’s plan to encourage private investors to help banks get rid of troubled assets.

• Comedian Michael McDonald calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about the topics of the day and to promote his comedy gig at the Improv in Irvine, CA.

• Insurance giant AIG will have to return to the Treasury Department the $165 million it just paid out in executive bonuses, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said yesterday in a letter to congressional leaders. The money will come from the operations of the company in the amount of the retention awards just paid.

• New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo confirmed in a letter to Congress that this year, after receiving federal bailout money, AIG paid 73 employees bonuses of more than $1 million each. 8 people received $4 million or more. Cuomo also confirmed that 11 of the employees no longer work for the company.

• Edward Liddy, the CEO of AIG, will take the hot seat today in a hearing before a House Financial Services subcommittee. The hearing’s purpose is to find how AIG arrived at its “terrible situation” and why it’s receiving so much taxpayer money.

• President Obama urged both Dem and GOP members of Congress yesterday to provide him with “constructive alternative solutions” if they disagree with any sections of his 2010 budget proposal. Given the magnitude of the nation’s problems, Obama said, “we don’t need more point scoring, we need more problem solving.”

• Bill Maher calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about the new season of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and about the DVD release of “Religulous.”

• Author Austin Hill joins us via ISDN at 7:30am Pacific to talk about some of the weird presidential trivia contained in his book, “White House Confidential: The Little Book of Weird Presidential History” in celebration of Presidents’ Day.

• President Barack Obama will sign the economic stimulus bill Tuesday in Denver, Colorado. Aides cited a desire to get out of Washington, to go “out west in an area hit hard economically, away from the politics of Washington. Denver is described as “a place that will see the benefits of the bill in hiring workers.”

• Freshman Sen. Roland Burris released an affidavit Saturday that contradicts his statements last month to a House committee investigating former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment. Members of the impeachment committee are calling for Burris’ resignation, but Burris is insisting he hadn’t done anything wrong and never misled anyone.

• President Obama plans to appoint senior administration officials – rather than a single “car czar” as had been discussed – to oversee a restructuring of the auto industry. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers will oversee the across-the-government panel.