Neal Boortz on Martha Stewart

Libertarian talk radio host Neal Boortz has this to say about the state of celebrity-worship in America:

This woman is a felon. She committed a crime. She lied to federal prosecutors! Now she's our de-facto Queen! Talking faces on the news this morning were telling us that she looked very relaxed! Very casual! She was waving and smiling! She has such enormous energy. Grinning, fawning anchors.

This is sick! This is the American celebrity-worship culture taken to the extreme! None of this is going to make any difference in the lives of any of you, yet you would think that Martha had just discovered a cure for cancer judging from the television coverage.

Here's my email response to him:

Hi Neal - daily reader of the Nuze here. I abhor the celebrity-worship that's taken over this country as much as you do, but I really must point out a point of disagreement from today's Nuze:
"This woman is a felon. She committed a crime. She lied to federal prosecutors!"
I agree she was convicted by a jury in a federal court, and therefore is a felon. However, that's where the agreement ends. What crime did she commit? She lied to federal prosecutors about something she did that may or may not have been criminal (what makes a given trading action constitute "insider trading" is debatable and handled pretty much on a case-by-case basis), and we'll never know if it was criminal because those same prosecutors never felt confident enough about it to charge or try her for it. So in essence she lied about a crime she didn't commit. If I find my nearest federal prosecutor and tell him I've killed the family next door to me when in fact they're still alive, can I be convicted in federal court for lying to federal prosecutors? I certainly hope not, or how far has this great experiment we call America fallen.