SHORT-TERM THINKING, OVER-ESTIMATING DEMAND, UNDERESTIMATING COSTS PRODUCE ARTS GLUT … WILL IT SPELL DOOM FOR PITTSFIELD? … plus … UNEARTHING AN IMPORTANT CLUE TO THE CITY’S FUTURE

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SHORT-TERM THINKING, OVER-ESTIMATING DEMAND, UNDERESTIMATING COSTS PRODUCE ARTS GLUT … WILL IT SPELL DOOM FOR PITTSFIELD? … plus … UNEARTHING AN IMPORTANT CLUE TO THE CITY’S FUTURE

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2012) — Yesterday, as we have done on numerous occasions prior, THE PLANET discussed the folly of relying upon a recreation-and-resort economy as a city’s economic cost center. Most of the jobs of such an economy are service-type positions that pay […]

July 6, 2012 68 Comments

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PARADE AFTERMATH: TRASH OF THE CANDY-WRAPPER KIND AND THE HUMAN KIND … KNIFE FIGHT MARS PARADE CONCLUSION … COOL WORK BY PITTSFIELD COPS PREVENTS A TRAGEDY … THOSE ‘MEAN STREETS,’ THEY AREN’T MEANT FOR YOU, JOE AND MARY JANE KAPANSKI

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, JULY 5, 2012) — THE PLANET received several posts and letters on the Pittsfield Fourth of July parade. One came from someone who was attending, wrote that “it sux,” and said he was leaving. A couple others expressed disappointment as well, with the quality. […]

July 5, 2012 49 Comments

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WORDS MATTER, AS ONE WHO HAS PAID THE PRICE CAN TELL YOU … IT’S NOT ‘TORTURE,’ IT’s THE USE OF ‘ENHANCED INTERROGATION TECHNIQIUES … TRASH-O-RAMA TO HIT NORTH STREET TOMORROW, BUT PLANET’s ‘RICK’ HAS A BETTER IDEA … plus … SUNS SPLIT

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, JULY 3, 2012) — Words matter. Last night at the college, my ENG 102 advanced composition class spent time on this theme, which we call “The Politics of Language, after our textbook chapter and echoing George Orwell famous essay, “Politics and the English […]

July 3, 2012 37 Comments

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POETRY MONDAY TAKES US ALL THE WAY, WITHOUT DR. RUTH … QUICK HITS AND HOT LICKS LOOK AT ZONING, ADULT CENTER LEASE, A BIANCHI-MARCHETTI THAW, CHICKENS, & MORE … plus … SIR TIBERIUS PRESENTS HIS LATEST MASTERPIECE

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, JULY 2, 2012) — On poetry Tuesday, the day before the Fourth of July and the annual $85,000 exercise in excess known as the Pittsfield Ringer’s Parade, THE PLANET presents this verse, which we find perfect for the day’s heat and the evening’s recline: […]

July 2, 2012 36 Comments

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!EXCLUSIVE! WE HEAR FROM PETER MOORE VIA FAMILY SPOKESPERSON … PLANET RESPONDS TO BB EDITORIAL … LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ON ‘NILAN v. VALENTI’: THANKS TO ALL … FIRST AMENDMENT IS AMERICA ‘AS’ AMERICA, or A REFLECTION ON THE MOST IMPORTANT 45 WORDS IN THE BODY OF THE U.S.’s FOUNDING DOCUMENTS

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, FRIDAY JULY 13, 2012) — First, we share this exclusive on Peter Moore, the victim of Meredith Nilan’s negligent driving on Dec. 8, 2012. He’s the victim in the sad affair, remember? A spokesman for the Moore family noted that supreme irony of the […]

July 1, 2012 1 Comment

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