Love her hate her the new Martha

Was the conviction of Martha Stewart worth the effort? Martha said the the five months she spent in prison was life altering and life affirming. She also forgot to say it made her very rich. Prison seems to have been a good thing for her. Punishment has two goals: penalize the wrongdoer and deter potential wrongdoers but I don't think either goal was achieved. She turned it to her advantage. Her prison episode right from the beginning was one big successful spin. Serving time was like a paid leave of absence. The week she went to prison she signed a 5 year contract with her company for 1.4 million dollars a year and her 30 million shares of Martha Stewart Living were worth 270 million dollars. When she walked out of the prison gate five months later her 30 million shares were worth 1 billion dollars. Martha sometimes comes off as rude, demanding and cheap but in prison she became an advocate for the oppressed, a friend to the lonely and a forger of wild greens to spice up the jail house food. We all knew she was a perfectionist but we did not want to think of her as mean and a cheat. When she left prison she wore a cape the inmates had made for her and even rented a flat bed truck so the reporters would have a better vantage point from which to take pictures of her. If only the inmates would have given her a broom stick to go along with the cape she could have really made a grand exit. As Americans we like to throw our villains to the ground and make them cry uncle, but if they cry uncle we will let them go. We always want to see our sinners suffer in the town square, once we have seen that and savored it for awhile we forget their sins. The Queen of Domesticity will be back bigger than ever. Women are eager to see their rags to riches heroine back in the game. Don't be surprised at her rapid journey from felon to Queen of Domesticity. In America the only currency that counts is sizzle and Martha is smoking.