Martha Stewart Calls for Sentencing Reform

[Wordie]

<snip>
NEW YORK (AP) -- Martha Stewart, in a Christmas message posted on her personal Web site, called Wednesday for sentencing reform and took a swipe at the "bad food" in prison.

Stewart, who is roughly halfway through a five-month sentence for lying about a stock sale, urged fans to think about the women she has met in prison who are "devoid of care, devoid of love, devoid of family."

She suggested Americans should push for reforms in federal sentencing guidelines for nonviolent first-time offenders and particularly for drug offenders, who she said would be better served by rehabilitation than prison.<unsnip>
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MARTHA_STEWART?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[w4rma]

1. Something good might come out of this after all. (nt)

[Wordie]

3. Just what I was thinking...and why I posted this. :) eom

[Eloriel]

15. I knew in my heart it would

And I can't WAIT to see all the good that comes of this. Martha gets a lot of flack around here, but I'm a diehard fan. Not rabid, but strong. And this experience, I think, will be sterling for her, round out her soul a bit too. And hopefully do some good for these women.

[fryguy]

2. yup

Well if there's anyone out there who would know about the harshness of the federal sentencing guidelines, it would be Martha Stewart. Aafter all, she is only almost half way through serving her hard time down in west Virginia.....

[Blue_Roses]

4. I want to know when Ken Lay will

be going to prison. Martha donates 100% to Dems and I still think this thing stinks.

[Wordie]

5. But by going after her, what they may have created is this highly visible

middle class person, who thousands still think very highly of, who now, due to the actions of those who went after her, has an insider's knowledge of the working of the prison system! LOL Amazing how things work out in the end, isn't it?

[Blue_Roses]

6. true

and Martha is tough and I think some definite good will come out of it. It just makes me mad that Ken Lay and his Enron buddies are still running around free, as well as getting huge tax breaks in the process:mad:

[orpupilofnature57]

7. Fu-k Martha,boo hoo hoo,a figure head of piggery in America!!

Let's be remorseful, for Vietnam vet's living on the street.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[hollowdweller]

10. So Martha's a Democrat? That and the fact that she is a self made success

explains a lot about the vitrol and "Hillary" treatment she has always got and her charges.

[Name removed]

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[Piperay]

22. One thing has

nothing to do with the other.

[intheflow]

24. Martha Stewart isn't middle class

and never was. She was raised with a silver spoon.

That being said, I think this experience will be good. I may not have liked her obsessive attention to flower arrangement or cake decoration, but she was always eloquent.

If she put the same kind of zeal and attention to detail into prison reform, she'd be a tsunami force to be reckoned with.

[Bridget Burke]

25. Martha Helen Kostyra was born in 1941 in New Jersey

She eventually had 5 siblings. The family moved to a house in Nutley, New Jersey when she was three years old.

She was middle class. The owner of a caviar business appeared on her show once--explaining the types of caviar, etc. She reminisced that her father used to go to his family's shop every Christmas to buy smoked fish. There was no caviar in the Kostyra household, although there was never a shortage of good food. Martha learned a lot about cooking from her mother.

She's not middle class any more.

[The Gigmeister]

11. Fuck Martha and her White Color crime!!!

It's about time someone other than down on their luck Blue Color people spent some time in jail.

I don't feel sorry for her at ALL! She can eat shit for all I care. And besides, she's staying in a fucking resort.

Boo-Fucking-Hoo!!!

[orpupilofnature57]

12. Tell it like it is !! WELCOME GIGMEISTER

[The Gigmeister]

14. Hey thanks man!

I mourned for a few weeks after the election and now it's time to chin-up for a WIN in 2008!!!

So, here I am!!! :)

[sonicx]

16. what did Martha do?

[Orangepeel]

18. she was convicted of lying about committing a crime she wasn't charged wit

She avoided losing $16,000 by selling some stock that she allegedly knew was going to crash because her stockbroker told her it was going to.

However, she wasn't charged with this crime, because the evidence was slim. She was charged and convicted of lying to federal investigators about it.

[sonicx]

21. convicted of 'lying' about a crime she didn't commit

that makes sense...

[hollowdweller]

17. Alderson isn't a resort! Have you ever been by there?

[Stinky The Clown]

29. Very true .... it is what its name implies .... a P.R.I.S.O.N.

Camp Cupcake it isn't. They do the usual prison stuff. Strip searches, loss of identity, regimentation, humiliation .... all of it.

If you disbelieve, ask (aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh BRAIN FART ...... arrrgggghhhh ...... the woman who went to prison for not ratting on Clinton ... what's her name?)(Getting old SUCKS!!!!)

[lildreamer316]

19. Okay..so why

..aren't the MALE white collar criminals (Enron, etc.) in jail with her? How many people's pensions and jobs and life savings did SHE fuck up? Oh, I'm sorry...she's rich, therefore guilty of everything. Nobody said she wasn't guilty of protecting her money illegally; but at least it was HER money.Nobody said she wasn't a privileged, blue-blood, dyed-in-the-wool bitch. But if you're going to make an example of someone for abusing power, she was really not the right choice. I guess some people are still scared of strong women who know what they want. At least she is trying to help those less fortunate in life than her. More than I can say for many.

[Piperay]

23. If Kenny Lay

went to jail then I would maybe feel that Martha should too but until then I will say Martha got scapegoated and got a bum rap! :argh: :mad:

[REP]

20. Good For Her

I'm not a Martha fan, but definitely not a Martha hater, either. This makes me think even more positively about her that she's thinking about the plight of other people and speaking out. Good for Martha!

[Skittles]

26. I am hoping this experience makes Ms. Stewart more human

she's always come off as a bit of a cold fish. I've never liked her but I do feel she was railroaded. She is correct that jail should not be an option for non-violent first time offenders. And more resources should be poured into counseling and therapy for those young offenders who clearly are on the wrong path and beginning a journey of life-long criminal activity.

[itzamirakul]

27. I was never a real fan of Martha, but...

I still think she was railroaded because she is a Democrat.(Or at least, she supported the party with donations).

[Stinky The Clown]

28. This whole Martha thing can really turn out to have a silver lining

First of all, as has been discussed already in this thread, there's a good deal of misconception about her. She is certainly very, very rich now, but she came from decidedly middle class roots. What she has, she earned. You may not like her as a person (I don't) but you can not help but admire her. She made it on her own terms in a man's world. (Why is it that a hard charging, demanding man is a positive image, but the same traits in a woman are seen as bitchy?:shrug:) She's a lifelong Dem and gives generously to Dem causes.

Her "crime" was just this side of truly trumped up. They were bound and determined to get her, and they did.

She's shown grace and bravery. Her sentence is even now under appeal, but she decided to go to prison and get that behind her. She did not have to go when she did. Imagine if her sentence gets overturned on appeal. She will be "The Martyr from Hell" to those who put her through this. And that would be the Chimpus Khan administration.

As to working for prison/sentencing reform, she's nearly as popular as Oprah with millions of loyal fans. When she speaks, millions listen. She is, indeed, an influential person.

The fact is that her business suffered but has made a comeback - virtually to where it was before this shit storm hit her. So she can pick right up where she left off ..... or she can pick up and head into new directions.

She may well become a vocal ally for our side.

So yeah, its okay to say "fuck Martha". But it may be a "fuck you" that is ill advised and against our own best interest.