The Martha Stewart Fan Club, a curious collection of bitchers and moaners and hand-wringers, has been half baking the preposterous notion that Stewart is a celebrity victim of Wall Street’s street cleaners.

Gang, go cook a plum pudding or something.

Martha’s fans (dare we say some of them are journalists?) just don’t get it.

Face it, this is a woman who lied to the federal authorities. This is not your Aunt Bea. So please, please, enough with the ‘Poor Martha’ stories.

The U.S. Department of Justice did send a message through the home-decorating tycoon with her conviction on all counts of making false statements and obstructing justice about her sale of ImClone shares.

But, at a time when investors are fed up with the repugnant abuse of power by the rich and famous on Wall Street, it’s a message that needed to be sent and I suspect it will be sent again and again – at least in the U.S.

If the founder and former CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO-NYSE) goes to jail as anticipated and the lifestyles empire in her name goes down with her, it will be one hell of a wakeup call that will resonate throughout the investment community.

The tragedy would have been if the authorities had let Stewart off the hook for lying to the federal authorities about the reasons for her well-timed stock transaction.

And if Stewart ends up in jail, then she will have plenty of time to think about who got her into this mess. She might want to start by looking into a mirror.

Stewart is a former stockbroker and former director of the New York Stock Exchange.

Don’t you think she should have known the rules of the game when it comes to trading securities and dealing with the Securities and Exchange Commission?

Don’t you think she should have known the consequences of trying to cover up her reasons for selling ImClone stock?

Stewart obviously thought she was above the law.

But the former model is now the model on a poster for all that is wrong on Wall Street. As court testimony portrayed her, she is not only a liar but also pompous, bad-tempered, bullying and avaricious. Court heard the lifestyle prima donna even threatened to take her business elsewhere if her brokerage firm Merrill Lynch didn’t change the on-hold telephone music.

When Stewart likely could have gotten off with a slap-on-the-wrist fine, she lied about her reasons for selling $262,000 US in ImClone Systems shares the day before the company issued news that crashed the stock. Newsweek has reported that Stewart turned down a deal that would have kept her out of jail.

Oh, you want to talk about the real victims here?

How about the shareholders of Martha Stewart Living who bought into the company because they worshipped the lifestyle superstar and then watched their shares melt down like a failed souffle because of Stewart’s bonehead transaction and subsequent lies?

Unfortunately, the Martha Stewart Fan Club is sporting blinders and refuses to acknowledge that it was she who cooked the souffle that blew up in her face.

* NO RELATION TO MARTHA: Warren Buffett recently churned out his annual letter to his shareholders that, off the top, stated Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A-NYSE) gained $13.6 billion in net worth in 2003, a 21-per-cent return (which is a heck of a lot better than the performance of Martha Stewart Living).

However, Buffett’s current view of stock market valuations may be a sign that a healthy correction is on the way. A typically frank Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has a dim view of the market.

“We are neither enthusiastic nor negative about the portfolio we hold,” said the world’s most admired and respected investor.

“We own pieces of excellent businesses – all of which had good gains in intrinsic value last year – but the current prices reflect their excellence.

“The unpleasant corollary to this conclusion is that I made a big mistake in not selling several of our larger holdings during ‘The Great Bubble.’ If these stocks are fully priced now, you may wonder what I was thinking four years ago when the intrinsic value was lower and their prices far higher. So do I.”

The complete letter is at www.berkshirehathaway.com

* SAGE WORDS: “Yesterday’s weeds are today being priced as flowers.”

– the Warren Buffett letter.



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