Cynical Nation

I really don't have anything else to say about Martha Stewart -- except for this. I've finally identified the difference between liberals and conservatives on this issue. The conservative response is, "What sentence would you or I have gotten had we done this?" while the liberal response is, "What kind of sentence did Ken Lay get?"

Of course both these questions are unknowable; the former is strictly hypothetical (I guess) and the jury's still out on the latter. (The Enron case, being nowhere near as straightforward to prosecute as Stewart's, understandably takes more time.) Nonetheless, we all seemed convinced we know the answers.

I don't know what it is about this woman that makes her such a political touchstone, causing people to bring ideological baggage from both sides. We all seem more interested that her sentence prove some kind of a larger point rather than simply be suitable punishment for her crime.

Anyway, that's all I have to say about the old ho-bag.