THE MARTHA STEWART CASE IS A FARCE
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JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Given what I know about the Martha Stewart case, I have serious doubts that she is guilty of anything--other than being wealthy and unpopular with some folks. Unfortunately, being wealthy and unpopular is enough to land someone in prison. Just look at the examples of Michael Milken, Charles Keating, and Leona Helmsley.
Insider trading laws are vaguely written and arbitrarily enforced in order to keep investors and company officials off balance. In Roman times emperors posted their rules so high that they were far beyond the range of anyone to be able to read them. Thus, the average Roman would always have to wonder if he were breaking the law or not. Today, it is the folks on Wall Street who must wonder if they are being targeted by any US attorneys.
The obstruction of justice charges that Stewart faced are what got her convicted. In their most literal sense, laws against obstruction of justice basically say that individuals, once accused by the federal government of wrongdoing, cannot defend themselves. That is because, by definition, a defense is a claim that prosecutors are wrong, and in the modern world of federal courts, telling a US attorney that he or she is wrong is by definition to engage in obstruction of justice.
US attorneys seriously damaged capital markets and the NASDAQ stock exchanges through their predatory and outrageous prosecutions of Michael Milken and Microsoft. It was the average American who suffered most during the NASDAQ crash in 2000 and 2001.
All they have achieved is to have a well-known person being sentenced to prison and owning a felony record. Oh, and we now see some federal prosecutors behaving as though they had just solved the Case of the Century. These are dark times, indeed, for the pursuit of justice in the United States of America.
Insider trading laws are vaguely written and arbitrarily enforced in order to keep investors and company officials off balance. In Roman times emperors posted their rules so high that they were far beyond the range of anyone to be able to read them. Thus, the average Roman would always have to wonder if he were breaking the law or not. Today, it is the folks on Wall Street who must wonder if they are being targeted by any US attorneys.
The obstruction of justice charges that Stewart faced are what got her convicted. In their most literal sense, laws against obstruction of justice basically say that individuals, once accused by the federal government of wrongdoing, cannot defend themselves. That is because, by definition, a defense is a claim that prosecutors are wrong, and in the modern world of federal courts, telling a US attorney that he or she is wrong is by definition to engage in obstruction of justice.
US attorneys seriously damaged capital markets and the NASDAQ stock exchanges through their predatory and outrageous prosecutions of Michael Milken and Microsoft. It was the average American who suffered most during the NASDAQ crash in 2000 and 2001.
All they have achieved is to have a well-known person being sentenced to prison and owning a felony record. Oh, and we now see some federal prosecutors behaving as though they had just solved the Case of the Century. These are dark times, indeed, for the pursuit of justice in the United States of America.
By the by...where's Marvin? Shouldn't he be here, defending his positon?