CNN reports that President Obama will announce his bid for a second term as President as early as Monday. His first fund-raiser will be April 14 in Chicago.

Fund-raising for Obama's re-election is likely to shatter all previous records:

The president is making his campaign official slightly earlier than is typical for an incumbent so he can get a jump on fund-raising in a season that's likely to shatter all records. Obama’s team has been asking campaign bundlers to raise $350,000 each, no easy task since campaign finance laws limit gifts to $2,500 per donor. Two sources tell CNN the campaign team hopes that in total their bundlers will raise $500 million, leaving the campaign to raise another $500 million and amass a record-breaking $1 billion war chest.

Obama raised $745 million for the 2008 election.

CNN says Dems are worried about the amount of money Karl Rove and the Hunt brothers are likely to raise for the eventual Republican nominee. And Donald Trump told ABC News that he's willing to spend $600 million of his own money if he decides to run.

There's college basketball today and tonight. I'm taking Kentucky (-2) and VCU (+3).

Open Thread.

It's opening day for the Colorado Rockies. They are playing the Arizona Diamondbacks. It's a beautiful, sunny 70 degree day here. Go Rockies!

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Via Law Prof Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy: Judge Jack Weinstein has written another scathing indictment of our drug sentencing laws and policy in a multi-defendant crack cocaine case.

The case is United States v. Bannister, No. 10-CR-0053 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 24, 2011), and the 125 page opinion is available here. Some quotes below:[ More...]

NYTimes:

The United States economy showed signs of kicking into gear in March, as the Labor Department reported Friday that it added 216,000 jobs and knocked the unemployment rate down another jot, to 8.8 percent.

All YouTube videos without ads today will have a 1911 mode which plays them in silent movie style.

Two years ago today, Hillary challenged Obama to a bowl-off.

April Fools on Twitter is here

Happy April Fools day everyone! This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chavez has resigned after only 18 months on the job. He has been the subject of controversy ever since leaked Wikileaks cables were disclosed that cast him in a negative light.

One "embassy cable from September 2009 called Chávez Chávez's nomination "totally unexpected and politically inexplicable."

It noted that he "has strong detractors within the Mexican human rights community" because of botched prosecutions in the murders of women in the northern Mexico border city of Ciudad Juárez in the 1990s, when he was the top state prosecutor.

The cable suggested Chávez Chávez "is a less capable political operator, who will be overshadowed by García Luna and stymied by his considerable human rights baggage."

President Calderon has nominated a woman, Marisela Morales to replace him. She currently serves as the head of the organised crime special investigations unit.

Open Thread.

My point of view on the Libya intervention has been described in recent posts. My question is to those who support the action -- events are moving fast - how much intervention will you support in Libya? Take the poll.

A welcome news story to wake up to: Haxtun High School, located in a farm town in Northeastern Colorado, will have its spring prom catered by inmates at the Sterling Correctional Facility.

This may be the inmates first catered prom, but the community is used to their catering other functions, including some National Honor Society banquets and town functions. At the latter, they whipped up some tasty cinnamon rolls.

The tradition is not new. This year, the inmates will be cooking around 120 meals, including chicken alfredo, vegetables, salad and cheesecake.

The cooking is not done inside the school, but behind it. Other local communities also use the inmates' catering services, "which is supported by an inmate culinary training program."

Reentry programs are a win-win for all. They teach inmates skills with which to get jobs when they are released, lowering the risk of recidivism, which makes the entire community safer.

Open Thread.

Update (TL): I'm still decompressing from spending 5.5 hours of my day at the jail and driving to and from it. The only thing I'm looking forward to right now is ordering in a "King and I" (crispy Vietnamese soft-shell crab with avocado, cucumber and rice noodles and chile-lime sauce) and watching American Idol, Survivor and Justified. Libya and the news will have to wait for me, but I'll check in to read comments.

This news - Libyan Rebels Retreat Further, will heighten the focus on this issue - Washington In Fierce Debate On Arming Libyan Rebels:

The Obama administration is engaged in a fierce debate over whether to supply weapons to the rebels in Libya, senior officials said on Tuesday, with some fearful that providing arms would deepen American involvement in a civil war and that some fighters may have links to Al Qaeda.

President Obama said the other night that the objective of intervention in Libya is not regime change. He said the US had important interests in Libya, but regime change was not necessary to protect those interests, although regime change would be a preferred outcome. He also said the intervention was "humanitarian" in nature. So here's my question - is providing arms in a civil war "humanitarian?"

Speaking for me only