WWMD

What would Martha do? Let’s dish.

This weekend Martha Stewart attended the glitzy White House Correspondents' Association dinner carrying a small camera. "Why the camera?" asked yesterday's Washington Post. "I'll be blogging on the Martha blog" she said, "You should check it out," she told Post readers.

So the Sassistas!^TM checked out The Martha Blog (subtitled, "up close & personal") to see Martha's exclusive pics from the Correspondents' Association dinner. Alas, they were not yet posted, but we did find a post for a similar occasion called: "My evening at Madonna's 'Raising Malawi and UNICEF' Benefit." In this post we were invited to "CLICK HERE TO SEE MY PHOTOS FROM WEDNESDAY NIGHT (Feb. 6, 2008)!"

SO WE DID!!! And there we saw Martha's photos of The Donald, Tom Cruise and Kate, Rihanna, Timbaland, Nelly Furtado and Alicia Keys. According to Martha, "Everyone was dressed in mostly Gucci and looked spectacular, especially our hostess Madonna, who was sitting with her daughter Lourdes, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Rosie!" WEWMD? (What else would Martha do?) She would also take photos of the countless appetizer platters of beef carpaccio and leek and tomato tarts that began the evening, not to mention, the beautiful table settings and individual menu designs. The Sassistas!^TM were particularly taken by a Martha photo of an empty champagne flute and half-empty white wine glass side by side, simply captioned, "Pretty."

Curious about the purpose of the fund-raiser because it wasn't clear in Martha's post, the Sassistas!^TM did some research on Malawi and learned that, according to the United Nations, "an estimated 5 million of Malawi's 12 million people are hungry this year. . . . While the population has more than tripled, 85 percent of Malawians remain subsistence farmers, struggling to survive with primitive means and extremely vulnerable to devastating food shortages."

One of the comments on Martha's Madonna Fundraiser post said,

I didn't see a pic of you there! I just love Tom Cruise and Kate. She is such a doll. Rosie and the Trump were at the same affair? Were their any tufts of hair flying anywhere? Africa has some real sad times there now. Kenya, Darfur, AIDS . . . the list is . . . desperate. Thank you all for caring for them. I am sure God smiles on this.

We're sure Martha would want a picture of that. One last thing, Martha: WWJD?

Comments

[Miss Missasista]

Sassistas!, I'm going to need some help with this one. First of all, why is Martha Stewart standing anywhere near Colin Powell? Was he a recent guest on her show sharing his culinary skills? I don't get it. Let me try to figure this out. Here's Martha (I will not preface her name with sista), a convicted money hound attending a fundraiser! Oh, puhhhllllleeeeeezze! I looked at all those photos on her blog. Where are the pictures of the desperate people from Malawi? I don't understand these fundraisers. After paying for all the glitz and glamour of the evening, how much money is actually raised? Why is Gucci attired needed? Why not just a nice outfit from JC Penney's? Sassistas!, you are right on with your question to Martha. WWJD? I wonder if between looking at all her cookbooks, decorating books, and how-to-scam-the-market-and-make-money books, if she has ever picked up the Book. Sassistas! this is a very thought-provoking post today. It has not only left me feeling even more disrespectful than I was before of Martha, but questioning the genuiness of this whole Hollywood-powerhouse-help-the-desperate scene. Jesus wouldn't be at this fundraiser. He'd be walking side-by-side, hand-in-hand with the people of Malawi - no hands free to hold a camera.

[Westsista]

This is how dumb I am - when I read the first mention of Malawi I thought it was the Asian child that Madonna recently adopted. Thanks for clarifying that later in post.

[Flannista]

Colin Powell was at the Correspondents' dinner and Martha clearly had to be seen with everyone, including Powell, who, to his credit, tends to avoid the limelight.

Miss Missasista -- we always love your sass. You are asking all the questions we asked when we came across this story yesterday. And Westsista -- what has media coverage of Hollywood come to that we first associate a foreign word with the name of a celebrity's adopted child rather than an entire country? We all do it, so don't feel bad.

[Carolyn]

I don't get it. The whole dang thing is total excess overload. The colonel should've supplied some finger-lickin'-good and cole slaw, (Miss Missasista, love you, gal), and everyone could have been clothed from off the rack J.C. Penney's or Sears. One of those Gucci's could have fed an entire village for a year. These people, these glorified 'beautiful people' spend millions on a spread for themselves in order to raise thousands for the truly needy. What a handy tax-write off. Bet those Gucci's were donated, too. Hope they choked on their leeks in shame.

[Flannista]

Martha provides photos of the tomato and leek tarts as well as the beef carpaccio on the blog, in case you want to see them "up close & personal."

When we wrote this post yesterday, we know that Martha would be an easy target, but the more we insassigated it, the more we realized it was about all those "glorified beautiful people," so aptly termed by Carolyn.

A couple of weeks ago, I accidentally caught five minutes of "Excess Hollywood," and Matissta discovered me with me jaw dropped open in complete silence. Perhaps the best thing is not to pay any attensass at all.

[Carolyn]

Yes, I do believe the ignoring just might starve the monster.

[Chrysosistah]

This phenomena of "watching the 'beautiful' people" reminds me of a quote by a great Sassista: "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Fortunately, I know I can rely on my daily dose of "soup" here for great "insassite" and ideas ;-)

[Flannista]

Love the Eleanor Roosevelt quote -- one of the greatest sistas who ever lived. Thanks for sharing, Chrysosistah. (Love, too, the word, "insassite"!)

[babysis]

Kinda makes me feel part of one big family when liberals trash each other like this. What I don't get is anyone who says man is basically good and should live up to his potential. What Jesus would do and say is I love you helpless sinners and I've made peace with God on your behalf. Now love each other in that grace.

[Carolyn]

Love it!! Of course babysis, you're not talking to me since I'm not a liberal or a helpless sinner and have always lived up to my potential!!

[Westsista]

Since I've already exposed my ignorance, I'm going to jump back in here and say something else that might not be the most brilliant. I don't care what the "beautiful people" wear or what they say or how shallow they are. I DO want them to spend money where it can do some good. Although bad behavior can't be cancelled out by good deeds, I'd rather see good deeds along bad behavior any day of the week than bad behavior alone.

I'd like for it to get chic-er and worth more in status to make grand gestures toward the poor and toward combatting global warming. Let's hear it for some peer pressure among celebrities to fork over vast amounts of resources for those who most need it.

But that's just me. When Don Imus got into trouble for his ridiculously bigoted and insensitive remarks, I mourned his firing and absence from public view. Whatever else you could say about him (and there's plenty) he gave and raised MILLIONS for children and those in military service. I have wonderful compassion and sensitivity but no millions to give.

Money is money whether its given with an open heart or comes from a tiny little black-hearted bigoted one. Money means food, water, homes, medical care, etc.

Does this mean I can be bought? I don't think so, but maybe you can rent me with your good deeds toward those who desperately need them.

[Carolyn]

Look, we're all in huge need of a big ole fat helpin' of grace. I resent somebody having a gazillion dollars and throwing a few lousy bucks in the pot, is all. But, I also resent people getting in the '10 Items or Less' lane when they've got, like, 30. Maybe I've got more of a problem than them?
I never heard of--what is that place? Malawi? I hate to see people starving anywhere, and I guess that's just the 'it' place of the moment. Call me backwards, but we've got plenty of starving people right here, and people deciding between medicine and supper. Most of the stuff sent overseas never gets where it's sent. Before we do much more of that, I'd like to see a system in place that gets it where it needs to be, and have every belly filled here at home.

[Westsista]

I hear you about starving people here. Yeah, that would be nice. Still. Even if people are in the "it" cause of the moment, they still need the help. Unfortunately I don't know how to ensure that everything gets sent where it is supposed to. That's why some people travel with their donations to poor places and help hand it out.

I think you're essentially right - poor people tend to give a higher proportion, but still even the lower percentage given by a filthy rich person is a bigger pile than a larger percentage of a pittance.

Of course you're annoyed by annoying people in line who flaunt the simple guidelines. This is why one isn't allowed to carry firearms into public places.

[Flannista]

The Sassistas! have been away from the Sassophere for most of the day and can we just pause and say how grateful we are to know and love such thoughtful sistas? We never dreamt going into this that our posts would elicit comments that are often so much more enlightening and heartfelt than the posts themselves. We are honored. Thank you. And please be patient as we continue to find our way.

During the course of the day, I began to feel bad about dissing the rich folk, remembering what Jesus said (i.e., WWJD?) about not pointing out the speck in someone's eye when you have a plank in your own. That's how I'm feeling right now about this issue. But mostly I'm feeling grateful for the opportunity to participate in this conversassion.

[Carolyn]

Perhaps I'm the rogue in the blog, the bad apple in the barrel or the fox in the hen house, but I don't always feel or act 'Godly'. And I don't spend a whole lotta time feeling that I have the frown of Jesus for thinking that Madonna is cheap, (actually I don't think of Madonna at all, not my type). I have planks in my eye, I know that, too. Kudos to those of you who can calmly view every issue with a cool 360 degree view. Sometimes I just can't manage that, either, flawed as I am. I do have aspirations, though. Seems that my reach is consistently exceeding my grasp.

[Westsista]

Oh no! Who can calmly view everything with cool detachment? Not me, that's for sure. I hope I didn't make you feel more plank-ful. Let's be roguish foxy bad apples together! I could prove I'm more flawed than you, although that's a game that's no fun at all to win . . .