Posted on 07/19/2004 4:28:34 PM PDT by ComtedeMaistre
The gleeful reaction to the government railroading of Martha Stewart, by so-called "conservatives" on this forum, totally sickens me.
Conservatives are outspoken in criticizing blacks who live in the ghetto, or the NAACP, for their hostility and hatred for middle-class whites, especially white Republicans. But the hatred I have seen on this forum for Martha, exceeds the hatred that leftist blacks have for white Republicans.
I am not one of those who believes that Martha should have been allowed to walk scott-free. But not all types of perjury are the same. If you lie during a trial involving a murder charge, and your lies cause an innocent person to be convicted of murder, then that lie is of greater magnitude, and deserves greater punishment, than lying about a stock trade.
An appropriate punishment for Martha should have been 100 hours of community service. That is a harsher punishment than any of the government bigwigs who lied over Iran-Contra received. Or, for that matter, more than the executives of the big tobacco companies who lied to congress received. Hey, even Al Sharpton did not do jail for destroying the life and career of poor Mr. Pagones, after he accused him of child rape. Sharpton only had to pay $60,000 as defamation for libel.
Who cares about the 200 employees who lost their jobs in her company?
Poor Martha
I wish i had a several hundred acre estate to finish my time after a 5 month stint in jail.
The reaction you describe, ComtedeMaistre, is that eager iconoclastic glee (so typical 60s) at any a chance to demote or excuse oneself from a standard of culture in dress or manners.
IMHO, MS doesn't deserve the penalty.
She was offered a suspended sentence if she would plead guilty to lying to the court and submit to a PERP WALK (taken in front of the press in handcuffs). The SEC loves Perp walks, because it sends a signal to the rest of Wall Street.
When she refused, the prosecutors went after her throat.
You poor thing. If it makes you feel any better, Martha got the absolute minimum for the crime. We got tired of judges letting thugs off with wrist slaps, so we legislated minimum sentences. Unfortunately, Martha lied and sealed her own fate.
Comparing a minimum sentence (or any other sentence for white collar crimes) to terrorism is ridiculous.
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