Okay, I’m officially declaring this entire Martha Stewart case the winner of the “Um, haven’t we maybe got better things to do with our time?” award:

NEW YORK (AP) — Martha Stewart took her defense straight to the public Thursday, writing in a newspaper ad “I am innocent” and “will fight to clear my name” in a federal insider trading case that pressured her to step down as head of her retail and media empire.

The queen of home decor resigned late Wednesday as chairwoman and CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which made her a fortune and stamped her style on everything from magazines and TV screens to bed linens and bath towels. She plans to stay on as creative chief and a member of the board.

Stewart’s resignation came hours after federal prosecutors in New York charged her with obstruction of justice, conspiracy, securities fraud and lying to investigators.

She pleaded innocent on all counts before a federal judge, saying “not guilty” in a calm, deliberate tone and with little expression on her face.

I’d like to go on record with a hearty “whoopty-shit.” Hey, guess what? Unemployment’s still skyrocketing! The rest of the world still hates us! The top half-percent still controls 80 percent of the money! And at corporations all across the world, far more corrupt people are making decisions that actually affect many of our lives, as opposed to Martha Stewart’s little insider trading problem, which affects … yep, that’d be almost nobody. Directly, anyway.

The media’s giving it way too much attention (that includes the god-awful TV movie NBC made about it, which starred Sybil Shepherd, and which will achieve immediate immortality on the Lifetime Movie Network, alongside Tori Spelling’s magnum opus, “Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?”). So’s the justice department, for that matter; don’t they have naked statues to cover up, or immigrants to lock up indefinitely?