What? Nelson Mandela guilty of insider trading?
I was going to steer of the Martha Stewart fiasco, but my conscience will no longer let me do that. Plus, she has said something so incredibly outrageous that I'm ready to heave my guts all over the keyboard.

First, let me say that I think she got off easy. If it had been you or me up on those same charges, we'd already be in prison serving as Bruno's bitch every time he dropped his soap. But Martha got off with a mere five months, and she has the nerve to complain about it, and scream that she's going to appeal. Well, good. And if there's any justice in this world, the appellate court will agree that her sentence was indeed a farce, and instead send her to prison for five years.

But here's the part that really pushed me over the edge: Stewart is now comparing her situation to Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years rotting in a South African jail for the heinous crime of being opposed to apartheid.

My God!! Is Martha Stewart really that far out of touch with reality?

Granted, it's not like she slashed someone's throat and dumped the body in a drainage ditch like so many of us ordinary folk have done, but the fact remains that she received an illegally obtained tip about a stock ready to go down the toilet, and then lied about it to federal investigators. Granted, no physical harm was done to anyone. But what about the millions of ordinary Americans who have invested their life savings in the stock market, especially retirees? Does anyone honestly believe that those same anonymous people would have received a courtesy call from their stockbroker under the same circumstances? No, of course not. And the end result was that a lot of small investors--perhaps your own 79 year old Aunt Gladys--lost thousands of hard earned dollars when ImClone tanked.

And that's why Stewart's conviction is a victory for the little people like you, me, and dear old Aunt Gladys.