Martha gets five months for 'lying' about a crime she wasn't charged with

[Lindacooks]

but REPUKE Rep. Janklow got 100 days for KILLING SOMEONE.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/01/22/janklow.sentencing/

and not only that, but the taxpayers have to pay for Janklow's civil judgment the family may win against him, because a Federal judge (what do you bet Repuke appointed????) says that Janklow was ON DUTY at the time he killed the motorcyclist:

http://www.argusleader.com/news/Wednesdayarticle2.shtml

Gee, I wonder if Martha's a Democrat??

[GoBucksBeatBush]

1. martha shouldn've learned from tricky dick...

it's not the actual (or not actual, in this case) crime that will get you, it's the cover-up. in this case, she should have just shut her pie hole, and not tried to massage things on the front end of the investigation. granted she's probably a dem, and even worse, she's a successful woman, so she HAD to be brought down, but still...

such a shame to see kenny boy do a perp walk though. hopefully they'll drag his trial out long enough so that he's not convicted until after Jan. 20, 2005. there's no doubt in my mind that's what kenny's angling for when he says he wants a speedy trial; a presidential pardon, which will be hard to come by with a president kerry.

[progressivebydesign]

16. I don't agree that she tried to "massage things"..

She was proclaiming her INNOCENCE! Now that is a crime? How far we have fallen. If you are charged with a crime, and you tell everyone you're innocent, HOW can you be charged with doing so? This was a railroad.. the macho DA wanted a notch on his belt. Makes me ill to see what they charged her with.. I guess she proclaimed her innocence outside the Free Speech Zone, that's it.

[tom_paine]

2. Yep. It is tough to be out of favor with Imperial Amerika

Our justice system is a laugh. Not quite as bad as the Nazis or Soviets yet, but only in degree, not reliability.

Martha had as much chance of a fair shake in an Imperial Court as Trotsky would have in Stalin's Court.

Meanwhile Imperial Drug-Addict, Seller, and Doctor Shopper Limba will, as I predicted, walk free as a bird.

God, I want America to be a Free Country again! But talking about it doesn't make it happen...

[ClintonTyree]

3. I will finally...............

feel safe walking the streets again now that this vicious criminal has been brought to justice! Now, on to Kenny Boy Lay. I'm SURE he'll get the same treatment that Martha did, right? RIGHT?
What a joke.

[Cat Atomic]

4. Why should I defend some rich inside-trader?

Because she votes Democrat? Screw her- I'm sorry.

The fact that Bush's buddies get off for the same crime doesn't absolve Marth Stewart of guilt.

[trumad]

5. Bigger picture...Look at the bigger picture....

if you can?

[Cat Atomic]

10. The bigger picture is that the establishment wants a symbol.

Something showing that they're "tough on corporate crime", which is a joke. They found their symbol in Marth Stewart, a wealthy asshole engaging in insider trading.

And I should feel bad for her? I don't give a shit about her politics. She's on the other team no matter who she votes for.

I think *you're* having trouble seeing the bigger picture- not me. This is bigger than the usual silly "us vs. them" Democrat/Republican bullshit.

[trumad]

17. wealthy asshole?

You've been reading way to many Enquirers.... Is she an asshole becuase she's wealthy? Otherwise, how do you know she's an asshole?

[Cat Atomic]

18. Way to focus on nothing.

Thumbs up.

[trumad]

24. focus on nothing....

are you a poor asshole? Betcha that got your attention even though I didn't mean it.. You call somebody an asshole youmbetter well back it up....

[Cleita]

8. I think it actually speaks for a double standard.

If it's all right for them, it should be all right for her. I don't think anyone should be convicted and do time for the same crimes committed by our President, when he sold Harken Energy because he knew it was going under. Excuse me but bring charges against this clown now that they have set a precedent with Martha. Watch the presidential pardon come through with the speed of lightning.

[Selwynn]

11. It's make making the punishment fit the "crime."

If you feel that Stewart deserves jail time when others get lighter setences for even more serious behavior then, ok I guess.

[Cat Atomic]

14. I didn't say that, did I? In fact, I said the opposite.

If they started letting Republicans off the hook for murder tomorrow, I wouldn't start demanding that Democrats be let off, too.

[Virginian]

15. She was not convicted of inside trading.

From what I have heard, she did not talk to the president of Imclone before she sold her stock. She just happened to know him.

She was talking to her stockbroker who recommended she sell. That was why she sold. He also happened to tell her that the head of Imclone was dumping his stock.

That is not inside trading, that is a stock tip and divulging another clients personal business (violation of confidentiality).

If your broker was your friend and offered you a tip, wouldn't you take it?

She was convicted of shooing the investigator out of her office.

She was also convicted of trying to protect her friend who gave her the stock tip.

She was also convicted of stating on TV that she was innocent.

I think there are two reasons why she was brought to trial. One is because she is a powerful woman. The other is because she has made contributions to Democratic candidates among whom is Ted Kennedy's son Patrick.

[qanda]

6. Personally, I think the whole thing STINKS!

And Democrats should be beside themselves that the government was allowed to this to Martha Stewart.

[Cleita]

7. Not only is Martha a Democrat, but an uppity and

successful WOMAN Democrat. She's a woman who made a fortune without any help from her husband or any other man. We can't have that can we? She should know her place and write children's books.

[Selwynn]

12. Please - maybe she should not do things that are illegal, first

[Cleita]

19. She really didn't do anything illegally, but she did lie under oath,

they claim, about it. It turns out that the person who was supposed to have tipped her off had testified that it wasn't true that he had this "previous to the stock crashing" conversation with her. What I read in the paper yesterday was that she had been losing money in the stock market from buying high risk, but potentially high yield stock, which is a crap shoot. She panicked and sold the stock because of this.

She said she had told her broker to sell at a certain price and this supposedly is the lie. Apparently someone wrote this on her file after the date of the sale. They knew because the ink was different. I sure smell a witch hunt here myself. How determined were they to get her if they were comparing ink on files?

Yes, she's a terrible, terrible criminal and thank God we have people in charge of our government now who protect us from terrorists like Martha.

[GiovanniC]

13. My Boss Literally Called Martha "Uppity" Today

He was being dead serious.

As in, "I never really liked Martha Stewart anyway. I know some people do, but I can't stand her -- she's way too UPPITY for me."

[Cleita]

20. I never cared for Martha the person. myself, because the women

I find I have to socialize with at times looked down their noses at anyone who wasn't the perfect homemaker like Martha taught them to be. But I certainly can defend anyone from injustice. So she's outted as a flawed human, but IMO her biggest crime was getting rich on the junk she sold to adoring women.

[President Jesus]

9. Martha's complete list of campaign donations

Gee, I wonder if this had anything to do with her prosecution?

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=CT&last=Stewart&first=Martha

Here's what I don't understand...Dan Burton???

[napi21]

21. I think Martha does deserve to do some time.

You're right, she was not convicted of insider trading. You must remember, Martha used to be a stock broker! She knew the risks of "the appearance of wrong doing"! Altering an email message, even if she then had it changed back to the original shows she knew something didn't smell right. Lying about having a standing sell order in place for a long time simply wasn't true.

I honestly think she would not have been found guilty if she had simply been a successful decorating advisor, cook, and magazine publisher. She could have claimed that she just didn't know talking to her broker and acting on an insider tip was wrong, but because of her past history in the stock market, she couldn't do that.

It is the lying and cover-up that got her, just as it does many others.

[soothsayer]

22. Unless you fabricate evidence that leads to an invasion of Iraq

then it's ok

[napi21]

23. Absolutely NOT! NO ONE should get away with it!

I'm not absolving shrub, or Tenet, or Rummy, or any of the others, the same as I think Lay and the boys should spend a LOT of time in Fed. prison. All I said was, Marth knew better, and she also should pay a price.

[Canuckistanian]

27. Not only was she a stock broker

Wasn't she also on the Board of Directors for the NYSE? There's no way she can play dumb here.

[OneTwentyoNine]

25. How much time will Bush get for his Harken stock sale??

Just as FUCKING illegal as anything Stewart did. I can't believe there isn't one SOB in this so called "news media" that has the GUTS to bring this up.

David

[Canuckistanian]

26. Not technically true. It was a crime all on it's own.

Making false statements to federal investigators is still a crime on it's own, and you don't mitigate one crime by committing another.

I have no sympathy for Martha Stewart. She stole, pure and simple. And "only $10,000"? What do you think you and I would get for stealing that much? Yes, it was only a drop in the bucket for someone like her but that's a whole years salary for some these days.

The only tragedy I see in this is that this will not be used as a precedent for jailing other, far more egregious criminals.