We felt that we had to address the Martha mayhem.

In the veil of darkness last night, Martha Stewart left Alderson Prison, a.k.a. "Camp Cupcake", in West Virginia, boarded a private jet and shuttled back to her enormous (does 150+ acres qualify?) Bedford, New York compound for a five month house arrest, after which her sentence for lying to investigators about her alleged role in illegally trading stocks of ImClone will be complete. I could be dumb, deaf and delirious, but is Martha being treated like a heroine/rock star by the media? Did I not see news clips of stores in West Virginia selling out of Martha memorabilia? Did I not see quadrillions of news feeds regarding Martha's "return" on the net this morning? I know we have a fascination with criminals and evil empires, but honestly.

I understand how the whole underdog caricature that Martha has portrayed during her last five months of incarceration plays into her recent rising star. What I don't understand is, why Martha? Why don't we cheer harder for other more likeable underdogs, like Martin Scorsese? Or likeable law breakers, like Robert Downey Jr. Martha is a well documented hot head who, by most accounts, has no real redeeming qualities other than that she is business savvy and rich. We can cheer for Warren Buffett (second richest person on Earth) because he is folksy, down-to-earth and inconspicuous. We can even cheer for Bill and Melinda Gates (sort-of) because they are parting with a great deal of their wealth and giving it to the greater good. We can't be a booster for Martha because, well, there's nothing really to cheer about.

I understand that media hype has a mind of its own, and it's not necessarily shared with that of its audience. NICE acts as a counterweight to the news out there in honor of all of you who see through this publicist driven madness.

Have a great weekend. Maybe bake some killer cookies, crochet a killer shawl, and, by all means, stay away from all that news junk.

D. Robert -- New York, NY