Martha Stewart is going to the pen.

Today it was announced that Ms. Stewart would spend five months in jail for her role in obstructing an federal securities investigation. The normal sentence for a conviction such as hers is ten to eighteen months, so she got off a little light. As she left the court room she promised, “I’ll be back.”

Critics cheered the move as striking a blow against fat-cat corporations hoping to make up for not nailing Ken Lay a while back. In reality, most people can’t handle that a woman can run a wildly succesful company with a great sense of business accumen unless she’s a bitch. It’s a shame too. She broke the law and needs to be punished in some fashion, but time in prison for her mistake is silly. A big fine and some community service on NPR would have been fine with me. Martha, you’re no Nelson Mandela, but you are okay in my book.