Friday, March 04, 2005

It's a good thing

Yippee! I logged on to the Web today to see the happy news that Martha has indeed been released from prison. The only thing that disturbs me was the news that if she wants to work in her garden, her "garden activities" must be planned in advance, cleared through her parole officer, and be included in her maximum-allowed 48-hour work week (in which she is allowed to leave her home).

Excuse me, but as a gardener who is currently without a garden, I can vouch for the fact that time spent pulling weeds, planting bulbs, watering, etc. does not conveniently fall within the workweek. It's kind of extracurricular.

So what if Martha is actually, you know, working during her five months of house arrest. How will her gardening get done? I completely understand that she should get pre-approval for activities that take her off her property, but what, she's supposed to say "from 10 a.m. until noon on Saturday, April 16, I plan to water my flower boxes and sow some lettuce seeds." What if something in the garden needs immediate attention, something that couldn't be planned for? This is very distressing. But then, I suppose she has a gardening staff who can tend to those garden emergencies. I sure hope so.

Before Martha's trial and conviction, I was only a casual reader of her magazine and viewer of her television show. I would certainly not have considered myself a "fan," per se. But my admiration of her has multiplied exponentially since her trial. Yes, what she did was technically wrong, but prison time? Please. She was totally singled out because of who she was.

No one was hurt by her "crime" (i.e., prices of the stock she dumped didn't take a nosedive and harm other investors). I love it that some violent offenders see less time inside a prison than she did. Yeah, that's justice. So I rallied behind her for that reason, then gained even more admiration when she decided to do her time and get it over with so she could move on, instead of just sitting banking on the appeals process. Cool, very cool. And smart. And gutsy. But then, look at what this woman has achieved in her life. She wasn't born rich; she built her own success. And that success will continue to grow, I have no doubt. I know plenty of other people who like her more now than ever.

I've never been a huge fan of "The Apprentice" (I have a hard time with bad comb-overs), but I am eagerly awaiting the new version starring Martha. He Who Puts Up With Me thought I should audition for it, which amused me, since I thought the same thing after the show was announced...for about 30 seconds. I'd rather be a domestic goddess in a more limited sphere, thank you very much.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i take exceptional offense at your "nobody was hurt" comment about martha selling her stock. lets say you buy stock in a company at $20 and the ceo of the company calls all her friends to tell them bad news is coming out tomorrow and they sell. as soon as the bad news comes out, the stock drops to $5, anyone who didn't have that "insider" information is financially hurt. consider owning 1000 shares, being out $15,000 might feel worse than a punch in the face.

lou, spam & henry

Anonymous said...

and, yes, the price of the stock dropped ... from a high of $75 a share to a low of $5 within six months. almost a 94% drop.

l, s & h

Anonymous said...

Well, "anonymous," I have to disagree with you, and stand by my posting.

Yes, the stock fell after Martha and others dumped their stock with "insider" information, but it fell because imclone was denied FDA review of one of the drugs they had in development. In fact, Martha dumped her stock when it fell below $60 per share, yet in the ensuing 3+ years the stock has risen as high as $80 a share (it currently trades at $39 and change). The stock has had widely varying highs and lows since the Martha incident, with the lows largely tied to publicized difficulties getting drugs to market.

The bottom line is that if imclone stockholders didn't panic dump, they could have made a profit on more than one occasion in the last 3+ years.

So check your facts, please, before you "take offense."

T J Sawyer said...

Even more importantly, Erbitux, ImClone's drug at the center of the controversy was later approved by the FDA! see http://my.webmd.com/content/article/82/97169.htm

Was anyone guilty of real crime? Sam Waksal says he learned his lesson as:
“If you've broken the law, don't talk to the U.S. government" see
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/02/60minutes/main576328.shtml