How to pay for a pardon

I'm sure everyone remembers when Clinton pardoned Marc Rich after Rich's wife poured over a million dollars into Clinton's campaign and library. How might one pay for this? In case racketeering and selling Iranian oil (without paying any taxes) wasn't enough, he's now accused of reselling Saddam's oil through the oil for food program. Thankfully he did some of this after his blanket pardon and can still be prosecuted; that is, until Hillary is elected and pardons him again. (title links to article)

Chinese Expansionism

China, our friendly trading partner, has of late begun pressing territorial disputes with a whopping 13 of its neighbors. While some disputes involve stopping illegal immigration or stopping those evil Taiwanese from being allowed to vote, the great majority are for energy: oil and natural gas. I’m hopeful that someone in the government might notice that China has a rapidly increasing demand for energy coupled with a willingness to aggressively seek to enforce land claims. Unfortunately, President Bush was too interested in selling cell phones to China and buying cheap consumer goods to even remain neutral in the recent Taiwanese election; he told the people of Taiwan that seeking independence “would appear to unilaterally change Taiwan’s status and for that reason we’re not supportive of [independence].” Bush, the hawk for whom I voted, chose the People’s Republic of China over Taiwan, one of the few countries that still likes us. (title links to article)

Legal Woes

The other day I was given a ticket in Humble (the white trash version of Pasadena). I told the cop that I lived in Pasadena (contrary to my DL) and he gave me a ticket for failure to get my address changed. I have to plead not guilty and convince a judge that my residence is my permanent address, not my Pasadena address.

I found some case law on point, and I doubt much would annoy a municipal judge more than citing cases. Actually, I think I have something that will annoy him even more: I made a self incriminating statement prior to any reading of Miranda rights, so I'm planning on moving to have the statement to the cop quashed. If it works, there's nothing that the prosecutor could use to meet their burden; if it doesn't work (which I'm certain it won't), I'll still get to cite cases and find other ways to make a fool of myself.