Save Our Kids from the Corporate Machine - Sign the Petition!

And yes, I understand this message is coming from me, and I've never claimed to be anything but the material girl I am and always have been and always will be.

But sometimes the corporate culture just goes to far. I'm talking about marketing junk food to really little kids, advertising violent movies to preschoolers, and putting soda machines in schools and McDonalds advertising on report cards. That's not good for anyone - and I'm not talking in a vague sort of way. I'm talking in a huge rise in childhood obesity and diabetes kind of way. More violence kind of way. Kids self-esteem being linked to what they own and don't own.

So please, take a minute and read the petition from the Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood. And if you agree, please sign it twice. One time to be submitted to the Democrats and one time to be submitted to the Republicans.

Upper West Side Relics

I cannot believe this. I went to Oppenheimer Prime Meat's and Seafood today. And there it was in the window. Yet another "LEASE AVAILABLE" sign staring me in the face.

I could not be more broken-hearted. This was the place I was going to miss most when I left the Upper West Side for the bleak suburbs beyond. This is the place that made my special occasions special. This is the place I got brisket for Hanukkah. Roast chicken for Rosh Hashanah. Short ribs for Pesach. Bologna for the kids. Burgers for Mike.

And worst of all, it will give away the fact that I am not a great cook - I just have (or should I say had) a fantastic butcher.

To those of you not fleeing the Upper West Side for lands afar, I think the time has come to take back your neighborhood. No more Oppenheimer. No more Jake's Fish Market. No more Little Extras. No more Liberty House. No more Ivy's Books, MurderInk, Embassy Florist, or Happy Burger.

The time for (real) change is now.