Stewart Sentencing Tomorrow
The Christian Science Monitor today has an interesting story about Herb Hoelter, a sentencing consultant hired by author and former publisher Martha Stewart in preparation for her scheduled sentencing Friday. (“Martha Stewart Preps for Pprison, Consultant in Tow,” by Ron Scherer and Sara B. Miller.)

Studies have shown that such advisers have had an impact in reducing sentences and finding alternatives to incarceration.

In Stewart’s case, Hoelter has been involved with her proposal to do community service at the Women’s Venture Fund, which teaches urban women entrepreneurial skills. […]

If Stewart does get jail time, Hoelter will be instrumental in trying to convince the court to send her to a minimum security facility close to where she resides in Connecticut. At a federal “camp,” Stewart would live in a dorm, would walk to a dining hall, and could get a job working outdoors.

“A white-collar criminal with no prior arrests, convicted of a nonviolent crime, scores out to a minimum facility,” he says.

As for the New York Times, the paper takes a strangely soft tack, with a sometimes snide touch, fixated on Stewart’s social life, and misplacing the paper’s 1,850-word piece by Constance L. Hays and David Carr, “Before Facing Judge, Stewart Is Out and About,” in its business pages, rather than in the Sunday Styles section. Pull quote:

Far from going into seclusion after the outcome of her trial, Ms. Stewart is making the rounds of all the best parties in the city and at the beach, rubbing elbows with Tom Brokaw or Paris Hilton’s parents, lifting a glass, nibbling a canapé, chortling at an A-list joke. She remains involved at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, where the August issue of her flagship magazine, Martha Stewart Living, has “Relax and enjoy!” as its cover theme.

She might as well. We all might as well.

Times Have Changed
Bohemian Grove, where old white men like Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and William Safire reportedly wander the woods in the altogether, engage in urinating sword fights, dress up in drag, and gawd only knows (and I mean that) what else, now includes, as members or at least guests, the likes of musicians Bob Weir and Steve Miller(of the Grateful Dead). Poo-pooing the seeming incongruity (and presumably doing so behind a tall tree), The Wall Street Journal reports (“Bohemiam Rhapsody: One Thing in Flux At the Grove Is Music,” by George Anders; subscription required): “Mr. Weir's spokesman did point out that the former Grateful Dead musician grew up in Atherton, Calif., one of the country's wealthiest communities. ‘Bob knows how to handle himself around fancy people,’ the spokesman said.” And the tie-dye set, too, don’t forget the tie-dye set.

[Note: Additional items may be posted to “PP&T” after initial publication but only on the day of publication, excluding post-publication addenda. Such items, when posted, are designated by an asterisk.]

[Post-publication addendum: Have you hit the Rittenhouse tip box lately? It’s sitting, awfully lonely, in the sidebar at right, under the heading “Summer Drive.” Thanks a million. No . . . thanks a few bucks.]

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