It's a good thing
Hot damn! Martha Stewart -- goin' to the slammer! Convicted Friday on all four remaining counts. It's not really corporate accountability. But in Bush's America this is probably as close as we're likely to get.

There was an ironic note. After the verdict the Justice Department went through the usual chest thumping prosecutors do after a conviction. According to NPR, the prosecutors said that one of the messages the conviction sends is that people shouldn't even think about insider trading. When I heard that, I couldn't help remembering that they didn't even charge her with insider trading. The charge that came the closest to that was actually dropped by the prosecutors before the jury began deliberations.

I guess the lesson is if you commit insider trading and you leave a paper trail and you're an unsympathetic figure, then you may be going to jail.

Granted, it's not the strongest message in the world. But it's a good thing.