By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, JAN. 8, 2015) — It’s a cold day, but things heat up tonight on PLANET VALENTI TELEVISION as we present two councilors squaring off live and in real time, with no notes, no retakes, and totally on the fly in the wise company of a moderator who does not like nor does he typically accept the dodges and evasions that typically characterize so called “debates.” Fortunately, councilors Chris Connell and Barry Clairmont are known for speaking their minds, and THE PLANET eagerly anticipates their courageous appearance tonight on PV-TV.

Our production will be further aided in that our scope will be narrowly focused. We shall probe exactly what happened and why when the city council let the clock run out on its ability to weigh in on the mayor’s proposed realignment of the Department of Public Works. The question will not be whether or not it is a good idea but how and why did the council leadership let the clock expire so that, according to the provisions of the new charter, the mayor’s measure automatically went into effect without We The People getting one shred of say.

Was this another of those Pittsfield coincidences? In other words, was this a planned evasion or simply a benign accident owing to not one councilor knowing or understanding the provisions of the new city charter? Either possibility is disconcerting.

Spread the word about our broadcast in what will be the first of many encounters in this municipal election year. We are guaranteed of a large audience and in turn can guarantee a splendid time for all.

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Attack on Paris Magazine Reminds Us of Our Precious First Amendment

THE PLANET condemns in the strongest possible terms the cowardly attack the French satiric magazine Charlie Hebdo (Charlie Weekly), in which two gunmen shot and killed a dozen people in Paris yesterday.

A person nearby captured the two gunmen on film. One of them shouts “Allah” and then four shots ring out. Other video shows more shooting, and a third film depicts the two men shouting, “We have killed Charlie Hebdo. We have avenged the Prophet Mohammed.”

Police respond to terrorist attacks in Paris, France. Assault at a satirical magazine left 12 people dead. (Photo Agence France Presse)

Washington, France, Germany, and many other nations and heads of state condemned the attack. At this address, it makes THE PLANET give thanks that America still has a First Amendment, where the press is more or less allowed to write, publish, and broadcast as it sees fit. We don’t like the “more or less,” and we will strongly assert the right of any journalist, any citizen, to speak on without restraint on issues of concern. That includes the type of satire for which Charlie Hebdo was noted, particularly its savage lampooning of militant Islam, which, in the name of God, condones atrocity.

For this reason, Americans must be constantly wary of any attempts to bridle our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms at any level of government. No assault is too small and no defense of freedom is too much. THE PLANET fervently hopes that such attacks do not result in more knee-jerk over-reactions of the type we saw in this country after Nine-Eleven and the subsequent passage of horrendous “Homeland Security” legislation. That said, THE PLANET recognizes the vigilant caution and defensive reciprocation warranted by such terrorist acts. We simply advise to officials a most complicated balancing act: That in the name of “protecting” citizens, the government doesn’t use it as a rationale and license for enacting political erosions of our protected and cherished freedoms.

No one — not the government, not the threat of terrorism, and not anyone or anything — should ever restrict our rights or have the power over such restriction to speak up and out or just as bad frighten us into remaining silent.

‘Open, Wide, and Robust Debate’ is Necessary for Good Government, on Any Level

THE PLANET shares the wise words of Andrew Napolitano from a blog published July 16, 2014:

“The whole purpose of the First Amendment is to permit, encourage and even foment open, wide, robust debate about the policies and personnel of the government. That amendment presumes that individuals – not the government – will decide what language to read and hear. Because of that amendment, the marketplace of ideas – not the government – will determine which criticisms will sink in and sting and which will fall by the wayside and be forgotten.

“Surely, government officials can use words to defend themselves; in fact, one would hope they would. Yet, when the people fear exercising their expressive liberties because of how the governmental targets they criticize might use the power of the government to stifle them, we are no longer free.

“Expressing ideas, no matter how bold or brazen, is the personal exercise of a natural right that the government in a free society is powerless to touch, directly or indirectly. Yet, when the government succeeds in diminishing public discourse so that it only contains words and ideas of which the government approves, it will have succeeded in establishing tyranny. This tyranny – if it comes – will not come about overnight. It will begin in baby steps and triumph before we know it.

“Yet we do know that it already has begun.”

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These words remind THE PLANET of “the tyrranny” that exists Pittsfield — yes, that Pittsfield, little ol’ Podunk itself. You may not realize it, but fear constricts freedom of expression in local politics. It is a prime example of a government on its way to success in establishing tyranny over its citizens. Countless times, THE PLANET has run into sources who have things to say but remain silent, speak off-the-record, or only on the condition of anonymity because of the fear of political retribution. We have more than once met with sources in hidden, out-of-the-way places, and it’s not because we love the haunts of garages, alleys, and obscure landscapes.

 Dan Bianchi: A Record of Tyranny

We have covered a lot of mayors for a lot of years, and we can say that THE PLANET has never found fear of speaking out at such a high level than it is now after three-plus years with Dan Bianchi in the corner office. This, our good friends, is tyranny.

As a councilor in Ward 6 for 10 years, Bianchi came off as a Friend of The Little Guy. Was it a decade-long act? THE PLANET doesn’t know, but Bianchi’s actions as mayor raise the inquiry as a fair question. For more than three years now, Bianchi has by his policies, words, and actions put a damper on precious freedom, inducing in the electorate and the body politick an anxiety bordering on paranoia. Examples abound:

• His numerous dodges to requests for comments
• His criticisms of anyone who utters what the mayor thinks is a discouraging word about his Dystopian Home on the Range
• His administration’s penchant for secrecy
• His unilateral actions that fly in the face of the collegiality required by democracy (100gate, health insurance switch, departmental restructuring, etc.)

There are many more examples, but one does not need more than a spoonful to judge the quality of the stew.

In the end, when government goes the way repression, it affects the lives of actual, flesh-and-blood people. In this election year, the city will have what may be its final chance to right a gigantic wrong. It can only do so by electing to office citizens, not politicians … outsiders, not insiders.

The old blood is tired and cannot keep the body alive another four years. Only new blood can do that. Short of a transfusion, however, the city will in effect open its veins over a white carpet.

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 “Say it loud, and there’s music playing. Say it soft, and it’s almost like praying.” — Various artists, “Maria,” from the musical West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein composer.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.