posted
Martha Steward has been found guilty on all four counts.
Each count carries possible prison time of 5-7 years.
My favorite was how the journalists figured out how to get the word out -- no cell phones were allowed, so they came running down the steps of the courthouses waving red flags and numbers. Pretty funny...
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I have to say good riddance, simply because I loathed the woman long before this scandal! I'm wondering how leinient the sentencing will be, and if she will just end up in a halfway house or something for most of her term.
posted
Heh, I clicked on the story that said "Ashcroft Hospitalized" and across the top was the banner "Martha Stewart convicted on all four counts". An image of Martha Stewart putting the smackdown on Ashcroft flickered through my mind.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Could somebody explain this to me? Why do so many people hate this woman? Her cutsey stuff does nothing for me, so never watch it. Just like I do with the O2 channel. Why do people have such strong feelings about her?
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
I think it's likely that people hope she'll be made an example of. Certainly she should not be treated any differently in the eyes of the law, but I find it strange for anyone to feel glee about a woman, with a family, potentially going to jail for 20 years.
Posts: 1855 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
She's supposed to be a major, uh, well, bitch. I've heard that she showed up drunk at her ex-husband's new wedding and ruined it, etc, etc. The idea of such a cheery, homey woman being a cold-hearted frost queen is pretty irritating.
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I doubt that she will see jail time. A large fine and a suspended sentence. This is a first time offense, non-violent and she is no threat to the community. The amount of money involved was small, for her, and her worst crime is trying to cover it up.
She will just be able to have a new magazine, called Martha Stewart's Prison.
posted
Sure that the general public's recent extreme dislike of big business fraud won't change anything?
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Why don't I like her. It really isn't anything personal.
What bugs me is that for all she claims to be "practical do it yourself" her programs are the most impractical around. Do I care about an obscure Yak cheese from Mongolia? Or how to fold a decorative napkin 20 different ways? I've also heard her get her facts wrong on subjects I do know something about on her radio blurbs.
You also never truly see her dirty in her bad painting jeans with splatters all over them, like you do on many of the other DIY shows. She never tells you how much hard sh*t work is involved in getting a room to the stage where you can even start to implement her ideas on swag drapes, and it appears like you can do it with the snap of your fingers.
posted
Actually in the room we just made habitable at our new house, we put tab top drapes in instead of swags. The former decor was blood maroon and spray painted gold.
The room that is the master has roman blinds for the moment, but needs to be totally redone due to dirty peach-beige paint and a pink shag rug. I'm gritting my teeth for the moment and normally just turn off the lights so I don't have to look at it much.
The room under construction currently has a robin egg blue wall, a color which I like much better on classic cars. It was also decorated with Sailor Moon curtains, and bright red trim.
We won't even mention other than in passing the giraffe tile paint job that was in the kitchen.
quote: Actually in the room we just made habitable at our new house, we put tab top drapes in instead of swags. The former decor was blood maroon and spray painted gold.
Those are my school colors... Ehehehe...
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Everyone keeps telling me how horrible she is, but I can't help feeling very sad for her. Jail or no jail.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I'm not a big Martha Stewart fan. In fact I will go out of my way not to have to see or hear the woman. But it mystifies me that there are males who have been implicated in much worse white collar crime (much more egregious lying, much larger dollar amounts) who haven't even had charges brought, much less been convicted. Kenneth Lay of Enron is only one example that comes quickly to mind. If he's had any charges brought against him, I haven't heard of it.
Yet people keep acting like Martha Stewart murdered somebody or something. I'm not saying that she did nothing wrong and shouldn't bear some consequences for what she did do. But I'm mystified by this cheering for her to get the full 20 years.
How much time did Michael Milken spend in prison? Twenty-two months, according to his own website. Charles Keating? Sentenced to ten years, he spent five years in prison. Although he was fined, Neil Bush never did any time for his actions in connection with his savings and loan scandal. Each of these men were involved in swindles involving at least millions of dollars.
Martha's crime, from what I've read, was worth around the $50,000 mark. 20 years doesn't sound much like justice to me.
Just my cynical two cents worth.
Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
A lot of people didn't like Martha Stewart before she sold her stock, not only because of her personality, but because her show and published calendars make it look as if all she does is those cutesy useless projects and her house must magically clean itself. I'm sure she has a housekeeper or six and much more storage space than most people. So she has plenty of time to wrap twigs and arugula in raffia.
I do think it's unfair to have singled her out. I agree with littlemissattitude. There are a lot of non-celebrity men who have gotten away with an awful lot worse. I understand what she did was technically unlawful. But her real crime is only in her poor choice of brokers.
Posts: 1379 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
I have avoided Martha Stewart, so she hasn't exactly impacted my life much for the positive or negative. I do wonder about K-Mart though. Their whole theme is "Martha Stewart Living". Guess they bet on the wrong horse.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I've never been a fan of Stewart, though I find it odd that she's singled out for prosecution while Ken Lay roams free -- I'm sure it's just a coincidence that she was once one of the Democratic Party's largest contributors.
Her career's a joke, but somehow I don't think that's why she's being prosecuted.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
At worst, MarthaStewart was stupid enough to follow bad advice from her broker's assistant (and she knew it was bad advice because of her previous career on WallStreet). At most, she saved $40thousand -- ~1/20,000th of her net worth at the time -- which wouldn't have paid for the interruption of listening to her broker's assistant's call.
Meanwhile, the men who looted $billions at Enron, WorldCom, etc are still running around free as birds. Most don't even have the slightest fear of ever being prosecuted. And the jerk who presided over WallStreet during that time got paid over $140million for being an unbelievably incompetent regulator.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Aspectre you've hit the nail on the head there. The celebrity (no matter how much she is loved/loathed) gets the the book thrown at her publicly, while some real villains have their "justice" played out quietly behind closed doors, or not at all.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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