Princes of note, old, new, don't fail:

Beg the king's pardon for me, and seal,

And a basket to raise me, I'll sit upon:

So pigs behave, to each other, they say,

When one pig squeals, all rush that way.

Will you leave him here, your poor old Villon?

                                                   FRANCOIS VILLON

To err is human,

To forgive...Divine

                                                   ALEXANDER POPE

I AM NOT A CROOK!

                                                    richard milhous nixon

The first amnesty is generally attributed to Thrasybulus in ancient Greece (403 B.C.E.); but fifteen centuries earlier the Babylonian kings, on accession to the throne, would declare a misharum, involving a general discharge from legal bonds of both a civil and a penal character. (An analogy may be found in the biblical "jubilee laws.") The Romans, on the other hand, developed a number of forms of clemency, and these influenced subsequent developments in  European law

CURLY RAND PAUL

Paul wrote an op-ed in a Kentucky newspaper in which he imagined what he'd do if he were the state's then-governor, Ernie Fletcher, who was facing accusations that he'd violated state hiring laws.

"What would I do if I were governor?" Paul wrote in the now defunct Kentucky Post on August 23, 2006, according to the Associated Press. "First, I'd have pardoned myself and everyone included nearly a year ago. Without a pardon the case goes on and on."

The day after Paul's op-ed reportedly appeared, Fletcher signed an agreement admitting wrongdoing by his administration, and the charges were dropped. (Fletcher had previously issued a blanket pardon to any staff members affected by the incident, according to NYTmore

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPP6L1_ooaQ

There seems to be an awful lot of forgiveness in the air.

UNITED STATE SUPREME COURT

12/09/09: The justices heard arguments in two separate cases concerning the law on Tuesday. One involved Conrad M. Black, the newspaper executive convicted of defrauding his media company, Hollinger International. In his Supreme Court briefs, Mr. Black argued that the law should not apply to him because he had not contemplated that Hollinger would suffer "some identifiable economic injury."...

The second appeal was from a former Alaska legislator, Bruce Weyhrauch, who did not disclose that he had been soliciting work from a company with business before the Legislature. Mr. Weyhrauch argued that the federal honest services law should not apply in public corruption cases where no violation of a state disclosure law was alleged. ..

The court will hear a third honest-services case in the spring, that one involving Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former chief executive officer of Enron Corporation.   NYT

6/25/10: The Supreme Court on Thursday significantly narrowed the scope of a law often used by federal prosecutors in corruption cases and called into question the fraud convictions of Jeffrey K. Skilling, a former chief executive of Enron, and Conrad M. Black, a newspaper executive convicted of defrauding his media company.  times

http://blog.insure.com/2010/03/17/california-investigating-health-insurers-for-illegal-business-practices/

21 USC 13 subchapter 1, Part B

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/csa/811.htm#a

If you are ever looking at vagaries in the law, take a gander at this one sometime.

It appears to me that the Attorney General of the United States could wake up one morning with a headache and take Vicodin off THE LIST and make it legal.

SAN DIEGO - On Friday, April 2nd at 1:30pm, Donna Lambert has been ordered to be arraigned on additional charges stemming from her arrest in the Operation GreenRx Sting in San Diego County last February 2009.  San Diego County is well known for its fierce attempt to overturn California's state medical marijuana laws. Advocates have long criticized the San Diego District Attorney's office for targeting and prosecuting medical marijuana defendants who collectively associate under the Medical Marijuana Program Act.    

These additional charges come directly on the heels of the quick acquittal of the only other defendant of the 14 medical marijuana collectives to go to trial.  The other 12 arrested accepted plea bargains.  On paper, the District attorney, through fear, obtains a 94% conviction rate.

Deputy Chief Prosecutor Head of Narcotics, Steve Walter is prosecuting this case of two quarter ounces of medical marijuana, which a preliminary judge already stated Donna Lambert, "clearly was not in it for profit".

At the 995 hearing, both the Head of Narcotics and the judge agreed that the Attorney General guidelines had no standing in court, as "they were opinion, not law."
Steve Walter also stated that the San Diego District Attorney wished to establish that no exchange of marijuana for money between patients was legal, although he admitted he had not read current case law.  Mr. Walters went on to explain that this was a political case.  This may be politics for the district attorney. But this is life and death for Donna Lambert," said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, deputy state director for the Drug Policy Alliance in  Southern California .   http://www.medicalmarijuanaofamerica.com/states/73-california/406-san-diego-county-continues-medical-marijuana-prosecution-of-terminally-ill-patient.html

GEORGE W. BUSH

In his final acts of clemency, President George W. Bush on Monday commuted the prison sentences of two former U.S. Border Patrol agents whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer ignited fierce debate about illegal immigration.

Bush's decision to commute the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who tried to cover up the shooting, was welcomed by both Republican and Democratic members of Congress. They had long argued that the agents were merely doing their jobs, defending the American border against criminals. They also maintained that the more than 10-year prison sentences the pair was given were too harsh.   http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D95QC5OO0

ABRAHAM

Lincoln is widely acclaimed to have recognized the strategic potential of clemency during a time of war. He pardoned a considerable number of Union soldiers in a conscious effort to boost the morale of Northern fighting forces. At the same time, Lincoln pardoned citizens from rebellious states in an attempt to regain their loyalty and trust. Indeed, Lincoln was widely admired among Union troops because of the perception that he took a genuine interest in their well-being. This perceptions was, of course, reinforced with each pardon of a military offender (Holland 1866, 431; Wiley 1950, 106). Wiley (1950) reports that of all the sentences of death imposed on Union soldiers for sleeping on post that crossed Lincoln's desk for his signature, none received his approval (106).  http://ednet.rvc.cc.il.us/~PeterR/Papers/paper4.htm

SATAN

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was admitted to the hospital Friday after experiencing discomfort, the latest health scare for the 69-year-old Republican leader who has a long history of heart disease...

Cheney was not feeling well on Friday and went to see his doctors at George Washington University. On their advice, he was admitted to the hospital for further testing.

Cheney's heart attack earlier this year was his fifth since age 37. A heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart muscle is blocked. In that episode in February, Cheney underwent a stress test and a heart catherization.

When the end finally comes for this warrior chief, I sure hope the Good Lord aint feelin that divine.