EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IMAGES IN THIS POST  —  It's been written countless times that Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino is something of a walking contradiction.  But let's take him at his word that the tragic death of his son Patrick in 2009 caused him to re-assess his life, his past, and his values.

SEIU officials: Stern to resign  —  Service Employees International Union President Andrew Stern, one of America's most prominent labor leaders, is set to resign, according to a member of the union's board and another SEIU official.  —  The President of an SEIU local based in Seattle …

Washington Memo: Baffled by Health Plan?  So Are Some Lawmakers  —  WASHINGTON — It is often said that the new health care law will affect almost every American in some way.  And, perhaps fittingly if unintentionally, no one may be more affected than members of Congress themselves.

Bill Kristol: Kagan Would Be Respectable Choice for Supreme Court, But Republicans Should Oppose Her  —  Well folks, here's some of the rhetoric we're going to be hearing from the GOP on this upcoming Supreme Court nomination.  Bill Kristol talks out of both sides of his mouth and while saying …

A GOP divide on Palin's Hub rally  —  Some key figures plan to stay away  —  Sarah Palin, 2008 vice presidential candidate, has her speech scheduled for 10 a.m. on Boston Common.  (Gerald Herbert/Associated Press)  —  Unsure where they fit in among the restive masses of the “tea party movement …

Nuclear Security Summit: Obama Invokes Mushroom Clouds  —  Nearly a decade ago, a President of the United States used the specter of a nuclear blast to argue his case for invading a foreign country.  “We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud,” President Bush's …

Senators End Impasse on Extending Jobless Aid  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate on Monday agreed to consider a temporary extension of unemployment benefits after four Republicans joined Democrats in voting to debate the proposal, which has become the focus of an intensifying fight over deficit spending.

Obama team is optimistic on deficit  —  The federal deficit is running significantly lower than it did last year, with the budget gap for the first half of fiscal 2010 down 8 percent over the same period a year ago, senior Obama administration officials said Monday.

Healthcare law to sock middle class with a $3.9 billion tax increase in 2019  —  Taxpayers earning less than $200,000 a year will pay roughly $3.9 billion more in taxes — in 2019 alone — because of healthcare reform, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress's official scorekeeper for legislation.

Lehman Channeled Risks Through ‘Alter Ego’ Firm  —  It was like a hidden passage on Wall Street, a secret channel that enabled billions of dollars to flow through Lehman Brothers.  —  In the years before its collapse, Lehman used a small company — its “alter ego,” in the words of a former Lehman trader …

Miss. Confederate History Month ignores slavery  —  JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour drew criticism for proclaiming April as Confederate Heritage Month without mentioning slavery, the second governor this month to come under fire for the omission.

‘Little punk staffers’ fuming at GOP  —  First, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Capitol Hill staffers have no “contact with reality” and spend “their entire life being arrogant to visitors from back home.”  —  Then, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) …

The Sarcasm of Sarah Palin  —  Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin delivered a well-received speech on Friday at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, an address defined — as almost all of her public pronouncements have been in the 18 months since she emerged on the national political scene — by a stinging sense of sarcasm.

‘BARTER WITH YOUR DOCTOR’.... Once in a great while, we get a peek at Republicans' health care ideals, but rarely do we see them articulated as candidly as Sue Lowden described them last week.  —  Lowden is a former state senator and chair of the Nevada Republican Party.

Obama spokesman Gibbs sounds eager for future strategist role  —  Robert Gibbs does not seem particularly attached to his office.  —  There is a dormant fireplace ("a problem with the flue," Gibbs said), a cluttered desk, a flat-screen television and a smaller monitor simultaneously displaying C-SPAN, MSNBC, the networks.

Taking the Fight to the MSM: Andrew Breitbart At the Southern Republican Leadership Conference  —  Andrew Breitbart at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.  —  On racism: … On the famous Congressional Black Caucus walk through the Tea Partiers on Capitol Hill: