• 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. 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.