Archive | January, 2011
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SCOOPS & SHOVELS or “HEY, EVERYBODY: IT SNOWED; Q: BUT WILL THE SUN RISE TOMORROW”?

BY DAN VALENTI The Planet loves feedback, especially from people who, for whatever reason, dislike what we do, an occupational hazard of truth telling. We enjoy responses along the lines of “your blog sucks,” since it reveals the limited intellectual capacity of those who assert such claims. “That sucks” is the equivalent of the old […]

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MORE SCOOPS ON THE WAY, plus, PLANET REVEALS SHOCKING CITY OVERSIGHT ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

BY DAN VALENTI More Scoops that Ben and Jerry’s We’ve got some interesting material in the hopper. The Planet has learned the identity of the new manager of the Pittsfield Colonials. The team will announce it Thursday. We got the scoop and will give it to you tomorrow. Moreover, we have seen the draft of […]

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!!PLANET EXCLUSIVE!! FATAL ACCIDENT IN MONTEREY… CAN-AM LEAGUE EXPANDS; COLONIALS GET MORE HOME GAMES

BY DAN VALENTI We will be in and out with you several times today, with items of interest and breaking some news. !!BULLETIN, JUST IN!! Fatal Car Accident The Planet just got word of a fatal crash in the town of Monterey. Details are sketchy. It appears that the accident happened on Sandisfield Road earlier […]

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A SALUTE TO VETS, plus HELLER ON WAMC, SNOW POLITICS, & CEDS SHENANIGANS

BY DAN VALENTI The Planet begins a new series today: TO VETS, WITH GRATITUDE. It will be periodic and ongoing. In it, we salute veterans. We will be soliciting JPEGS or hard copies of service commendations (plaques, certificates, honors, letter of merit, and the like) with the intention of  posting them on this site. War […]

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MORE ON THE NUCIFORO LETTERS, A STRACUZZI RUMOR, AND THIS ‘n’ THAT

BY DAN VALENTI Ah, so much to say, and so many stories breaking, but what’s a cyberspace for? Please, no comments about ending a sentence with a preposition. As a part of speech, the humble preposition wears camouflage, and it can move unnoticed to several parts of the sentence. Enough of grammar, and onto our […]

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THE EAGLE CRIES UNCLE TO THE PLANET, plus, THE CORRUPT CEDS, EXPOSED!! News and Commentary You Can’t Get Anywhere Else.

BY DAN VALENTI The Berkshire Eagle’s executive editor, Tim Farkas, hasn’t responded to our challenge to debate the role and responsibility of the media to the community. From that, you may draw your own conclusions. The Planet noted with satisfaction that in today’s page one news story by Clarence Fanto, the Eagle through our good […]

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“NIGGER”: IT’S ONLY A WORD, plus, MORE DOWNTOWN FOLLIES and THE PITTSFIELD COLONIALS STRIKE BACK

BY DAN VALENTI Nigger. Did that get your attention? That’s the word on publisher wants to remove in Mark Twain’s great novel, Huckleberry Finn. The PC Police and other misguided “moralists” somehow got a publisher of a new edition to replace the word “nigger” with “slave” as it pertains to the character of Jim. Not […]

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NUCIFORO’S RESPONSE TO DEM POO BAHS, plus, Farve, Probation, and Ambulances.

BY DAN VALENTI Some things are strong enough or conclusive enough to speak on their own. Such is the reply letter Berkshire County Registrar of Deeds Andy Nuciforo sent to the 23 local Democrat Poo Bahs who, led by Sherwood Guernsey and L. Lee Harris, told Andy he better not run for Congress if he […]

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PT. 3 OF AN EXCLUSIVE PLANET SERIES: THE SMOKING GUN BEHIND PITTSFIELD’S ECONOMIC FAILURE

BY DAN VALENTI and FRANCOIS ARNEAU THIS CONCLUDES OUR 3-PT. SERIES ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. The tremendous success rural North Carolina had in the last three years luring huge investment in data centers from Apple ($1 billion), Google, Microsoft, and others begs the question: How did they do it? Can Berkshire County learn from the NC […]

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FRANCOIS ARNEAU RESPONDS TO CRITICS, plus !!PLANET EXCLUSIVE!!: “THE HIT” LETTER LOCAL DEM BOSSES SENT TO ANDREA NUCIFORO

BY DAN VALENTI Francois Arneau is an investigator and researcher employed by The Planet, though not exclusively. He leads our data and statistics efforts. He sent this reply, c/o the editor, to a couple of critics, who questioned sources in Part 2 of our series on economic development: FROM: Francois Arneau TO: Mr. Turner and […]

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