Opinion

Today (the day after Thanksgiving) is widely believed to be the biggest shopping day of the year in the United States. Actually, according to the invaluable and entertaining Wikipedia, the days before and after Christmas are days when more retail dollars change hands, but Black Friday, as it’s called, wins out in terms of bodies on the streets and in the malls, though some of them are just shopping, not buying. One folk explanation for the name is that retailers finally make it into the black on that day after almost a year of red ink. -more-

We drove to Sacramento on Sunday afternoon, through a dense tule fog which made seeing the road a dicey proposition. The fog lifted just as we came into town, and was still gone when we came back to the Bay Area. The trip seemed a bit like the current political perspective. -more-

Eisa Davis’ upcoming play by Shotgun Players is Bulrusher, not Bulrushers as was printed in the Nov. 17 issue of the Planet. One of the characters is a visitor from Birmingham, Ala., not Montgomery, as was printed. And, Davis first saw Aaron Davidman, now the artistic director of A Traveling Jewish Theatre, as Mack the Knife in a 1985 Berkeley High production of Threepenny Opera. -more-

CORRECTION -more-

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi isn’t checking her motherhood at the door. Addressing the House of Representatives, the microphones falter and she says, “Do I have to use my mother-of-five voice?” She has also begun numerous sentences with: “As a mother and grandmother and the leader of the House Democrats…” -more-

Art Goldberg’s complaints (“Myopia, Not Vision, in North Shattuck Plan,” Daily Planet, Oct. 20) about the proposed North Shattuck Plaza amount to a cry of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” -more-

Unlike Mr. Rivera, I do not deem myself a student of violence. Rather, I like to think of myself as a student of human nature, of which violence is one facet. I have, however, been in dozens (possibly hundreds) of physical altercations in a professional capacity, as a doorman at some of the biggest and busiest nightclubs in San Francisco. -more-

Berkeley’s Warm Pool is important and magical. It is important to everyone who goes there to partake of the healing waters. -more-

Annette Fleming never used to stop to pick up dinner in Old Pasadena. It used to take five or 10 minutes each way to walk between the restaurant and the parking lot, and she did not have that extra time on her way home from work. -more-

A few things need to be said regarding the issue of Pacific Steel Casting. While the following opinions could be controversial, and perhaps even disagreeable to some readers, I do believe that they need to be said. To begin with, I am a resident of West Berkeley, whose family has resided in the East Bay since about 1903. For most of my fifty plus years on this planet, I have been an environmentalist and a staunch advocate for a clean and healthy San Francisco Bay. During the most recent election, I voted Green. Nevertheless, I have certain reservations about the growing local movement against Pacific Steel Casting. While I most strongly agree that toxic pollution is a grave problem in our community, and must be rigorously contained and controlled, I do take issue with those who would want to find a solution by simply shutting down Pacific Steel’s foundry. -more-

TOWERING BUILDING -more-

In his Nov. 14 commentary, “Why Measure J Lost,” Alan Tobey left out the elephant in the room. The “City Attorney’s Impartial Analysis of Measure J” in the county’s voter pamphlet was written by Zach Cowan, the author of the revisions designed to gut our Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, which Measure J would have continued. Is it surprising that the ballot language turned out to be hopelessly confusing to voters? -more-

At Berkeley Food & Housing Project, giving is the most important part of Thanksgiving. -more-

Initiatives and referenda are often viewed as the purest forms of democracy, removing issues from the control of fallible legislators and placing them directly before the electorate. (An initiative is newly drafted legislation submitted directly to voters; a referendum is a popular vote to overturn legislation already passed.) -more-