Saving Martha

Arise ye supporters of Martha, the time has come to do your part.

Martha Stewart yesterday urged about 100 of her friends, to pick up pen and paper and tell it to the judge. Stewart is asking for testimonials from her circle of acquaintances (those not suffering from any stock troubles) advising the judge that jail time is not quality time. Stewart asks her friends to provide an opinion of her character, her work ethic, integrity and probity.

Perhaps she should expand the request and ask for even more help. Judging by the public reaction to her recent court case, the Stewart battalion is ready for action. Her website Martha talks is full of glowing praise, testimonials to her importance in the lives of her fans and a call for days of action to Free Martha Now. 140,000 e mails have been received at Martha talks, 35,000 of them since the verdict was delivered. However, she probably shouldn't count on the support of Deborah Norville, who seems a tad miffed at the High Priestess of Homemaking.

No doubt shaking off that criticism, and with sentencing still a number of months away, it’s a safe bet that the diva of domestic organization can probably get all her true supporters lined up properly. Judge Cedarbaum had best advise the mail room to hire on some extra staff; otherwise the OT involved for receiving the flood of letters to come will not necessarily be a good thing.