The WSJ reports:

President Barack Obama plans to request new funding from Congress for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he risks a backlash from antiwar lawmakers. . . . Rep. Lynn Woolsey, a California Democrat and leader in the 77-member congressional Progressive Caucus[,] is . . . concerned about the planned escalation in Afghanistan. "I don't think we should be going there," she said.

Similar sentiments echo across the House. Rep. Jim McGovern (D., Mass.) said he fears Afghanistan could become a quagmire. "I just have this sinking feeling that we're getting deeper and deeper into a war that has no end," he said.

The Masters started today. All eyes on Tiger. I root for the Spanish brat, Sergio. And Lefty. But watching Tiger is watching the greatest golfer of all time and it is not even close (Nicklaus comes next on longevity grounds, Hogan on peak performance in '53.)

This is an Open Thread.

Kevin Drum points to Dan Drezner's entertaining piece on the "political lessons of Passover. Here is a taste:

Commenting on Greg Sargent's piece on discontent in some Left blogs about the lack of financial support from ostensible allies (Full Disclosure - I have no idea about the finances of this blog other than it costs money to have it. I know that attracting advertisers has never been a thought in what I write. The fact is none of us are professional bloggers in any sense.), Eugene Volokh writes:

[I]f an ostensibly independent blogger has a general pattern of demanding advertising — even indirectly, rather than in some personal communication — from institutions in exchange for publicizing the institutions' work, that sort of relationship strike me as harder to disclose in any transparent way. And my sense is that historically this sort of deal has been seen as not entirely kosher in the newspaper business, or for that matter in the opinion magazine business. Naturally, readers expect that an opinion magazine would have editorial biases. But I don't think they expect that the opinion magazine would be making advertising dollars from positive coverage (or "free publicity") that it provides to various organizations.

(Emphasis supplied.) More . . .

HuffPo has a nice story about 5 interesting Passover traditions from around the world.

President Obama and family will be holding the first seder ever celebrated at the White House.

Best wishes to all observing.

The Web page here. The Executive summary here. The Full report here (PDF).

Roberto Carlos is an undocumented immigrant who, after an argument with his boyfriend, decided he wanted to be deported to Mexico. His first thought, after a police officer responded to the argument, was to punch the officer.

He ... decided not to after the police told him it would not be in his best interest to do so.

Good decision. Carlos then shifted to plan B.

That was when he took off his clothes and ran down the street. He was charged with indecent exposure and was being held for immigration officials.

Need we mention that Carlos had been drinking?

Defending who? Why the government lawyers who wrote this brief (PDF). Actually, this diary is an attempt to defend the Obama Administration for the positions Hertz and Company took on behalf of the illegal surveillance case discussed here by Glenn Greenwald (btw, good on Olbermann. I have ripped him more times than I can count so I owe him a kudo.)

Of course the problem is not with Messrs Hertz, et al. The issue is the POLICY of the Obama Administration that authorizes the assertion of the defenses raised. And yes, the authorization of these defenses does constitute policy. We are all hopeful the courts will reject these arguments but the Obama Administration has embraced these views, which reflect Bushism on steroids.

So congrats dkos diarist, you have done a fine job of defending Hertz and Co. Not so good a job defending President Obama and Attorney General Holder.

Speaking for me only

The public defender crisis in Georgia has prompted new litigation.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday ... in Elbert County Superior Court, says hundreds of defendants unable to afford their own lawyers are not being provided representation as required under law. If lawyers for the defendants are not provided, their cases should be dismissed, the suit says.

Funny how "law and order" legislators are willing to enact new criminal offenses and harsh penalties, but are unwilling to fund indigent defense. How will the "law and order" lawmakers explain the potential dismissal of hundreds of criminal prosecutions caused by their irresponsible budgeting? [more ...]

James Slaughter is a customs officer who (in his own words) "bleeds red, white and blue." He's offended that five of his fellow ICE officers (again in his own words) "bullied their way into my house" to search for an illegal immigrant they believed he was harboring. It turned out that the immigrant was staying at a residence on East 26th Place, while Slaughter lives on East 26th Street. Oops.

Slaughter's complaint that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated (a complaint he lodged in a pending civil rights suit) seems to be based on his feeling that, as a true patriot, he was gravely wronged by ICE's error. In Slaughter's words: "I serve my country, and then they do this to me?"

Actually, Mr. Slaughter, you got off easy. When you said you were a Customs officer, your fellow ICE employees retreated. If you were a foreign resident with a green card, or Hispanic, or just about anyone else, the officers would likely have ignored your protests and continued their search until they eventually discovered their error. [more ...]

. . . President Obama's TV viewing habits:

President Barack Obama can’t stand to be without his “Entourage.” . . . For less R-rated fare, he tunes into “Hannah Montana” or “SpongeBob SquarePants” in the White House with his daughters. Aides said he would have watched Monday night’s NCAA championship on TiVo on his way home from Iraq Tuesday night.

MORE . . .

Jonathan Taplin today:

The fifth column of progressive blogs is libertarians pretending they are liberals. . . . Barack is a man of good will who is as smart a President as we have had the privilege to be served by in the last half century.

(Emphasis supplied.) Andrew Sullivan in 2001:

The middle part of the country—the great red zone that voted for Bush—is clearly ready for war. The decadent Left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead—and may well mount what amounts to a fifth column.

(Emphasis supplied.) In 8 years, some of us have now been called "traitor" by adulators of a Republican President and now a Democratic President. Jersey colored issue "analysis" from both spectrums.

Speaking for me only