On Friday we found out that Martha Stewart is getting five months in prison, five months house arrest, and a $30,000 fine.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the sentence. As you may have read in previous posts, I really don't care for people whose riches have made them arrogant, and made them feel they are above others. So I started surfing one of my favorite sources for news,Google News for her reactions, to see how it affected her.
The following quotes are from a piece on CNN entitled:
Martha: I cheated no one

"I didn't cheat the little people. ... We're all little people. I didn't cheat anybody out of anything."

"There are many, many good people who have gone to prison ... Look at Nelson Mandela."

Appearing before television cameras outside the courthouse, Martha called it a "shameful day."  "What was a small personal matter became, over the last two years, an almost-fatal circus of unprecedented proportion,"

I don't pretend to really care about insider trading.  Nor would I throw the first stone at Martha, because I have broken the law before too. That said, I think the "little people" quote identifies how she feels about the public at large. The fact that she had to restate it shows she knew she made a misstep.

The second quote shows that she still considers herself a good person even though she broke the law. To mention herself and Nelson Mandela in the same position as good people going to jail was kind of odd. It would be wrong to say she compared herself to him explicitly, but implicitly or subconsciously, I think she considers herself suffering like he did. See if you think so-here's some biographical links:

Nelson Mandela-Freedom Fighter and Nobel Peace Laureate 

Versus...

Martha Stewart:Entrepreneur, TV Host and Former Stockbroker and Millionaire

I don't see it....He probably knows how to field strip an FN Assault Rifle and she knows how to make lovely place settings. I don't think they could be much more different if the were from different planets.

I realize she is still appealing the case, and the other statements have to be seen through that light, but her self-righteousness is still becoming very wearing on me. I think on a whole, she still thinks that she is above judgment. I hope some time spent in very close proximity with little people changes her in a good way. What would be nice is if when the appeals are up, and she is done defending herself she could throw us all a little tiny bone composed of 2 words.......

"My Bad"