Enough with the Martha conspiracies, now

Can we finally dispense with the notion that Martha Stewart was targeted because she was a powerful woman?

Remember back when she was charged? It happened right about the same time the Enron and WorldCom scandals were unfolding, and I must have heard and/or read this sentence 1,000 times:

'They're going after Martha Stewart because she's a powerful woman, but if you're in the old boys network like Bernie Ebbers or Ken Lay, you can get away with anything.'

Remember that? Well, it was nonsense then, and it is proven to be nonsense now.
Martha Stewart committed a relatively small crime (and it was crime, let's not forget), did a couple of months in a country club prison, and immediately picked up where she left off, running her very successful company that made her a lot of money when she was in the pokey.

Ebbers, on the other hand, committed a major crime . . . and was stripped of everything he owned and will spend the rest of his life in prison. And, if you believe the legal analysts, Lay is in for the same kind of thing.

Sometimes, the system really does work.