A BIRTHDAY, A BOOK SIGNING, AND A REUNION FOR THE AGES
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE MONDAy NOV. 24, 2025) — On Saturday, THE PLANET enjoyed another local event in the ongoing sales and promotional slate for our most recent book, this on director Stanley Kubrick’s seminal film on the Vietnam War, Full Metal Jacket. The physical stops have been appearances in New England and New York State, while our media interviews and podcasts have been to far flung places throughout America and England.
Many authors dread the promotional phase. For THE PLANET, it’s the most enjoyable, for it allows a chance to interact and hear from our readers. That’s quite different for the massive mental and intellectual exercise involved in writing a book. All of that is done in solitary.
Our “Office” on Saturday.
On Saturday, we sat and signed books for a couple of hours at Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Pittsfield, and it turned into one of the most enjoyable stops in this ongoing endeavor. The highlight had to be a chance encounter that would make randomness seem like destiny. It involved two Pittsfield political legends and the opportunity to witness an enthralling reminiscence of these two men.
Evan Dobelle, former Pittsfield mayor and chief of protocol with the rank of ambassador for President Jimmy Carter, stopped by with his copy of the FMJ tome. We gladly signed then seeded the visit with a marvelous chat.
As Evan was leaving, who should arrive but one of THE PLANET‘s all-time favorites, none other than long-time public servant and local political savant Charlie Garivaltis, still the greatest pure hitter ever to emerge from the city’s baseball diamonds. Still the other local Greek God.
———- ooo ———-
THE MOMENT: Evan Dobelle, left, and Charlie Garivaltis in their serendipitous reunion. That’s Charlie’s wife, Carl, behind him.
Dobelle told the story how one night, while working after hours in the corner office, he heard knocking on the office window. It was Charlie, who had a message. The seemingly innocuous moment marked a turning point for the mayor that changed his entire political and personal future. It’s a tale for the ages we may someday share.
That these two gents should run into each at our signing is a remarkable illustration of one of life’s most mysterious phenomena, how life pivots on the hinge of tiny events that won’t reveal their true importance until decades later. Chuck’s tap on the window changed Dobelle’s life. Go figure.
These tiny-but-determining threads make possible the creation of our personal epochs. The pause at a red light becomes the very thing that launches a presidency. The loss of a job turns into the eventual gain of a fortune. If but for these concealed pivot points, our lives unfold in radically different ways. That’s how destiny hides. You can’t plan it.
THE PLANET won’t repeat the stories we witnessed as these two men dialogued; we consider them personally privileged. They were revealing, with a good amount of hilarity mixed into the invigorating chat. These two fellows hadn’t seen each other for decades, and as always happens, that kind of friendship instantly dissolves the distance of annuities. The years melt away, and for a magic instant, it’s yesterday once more.
We stood there hit by the revelation, not of something we didn’t know but of the realization pertaining to our own friendships of a lifetime. Same thing–we could tomorrow call a lost-lost mate tomorrow from five decades ago, and there we would be, swept back once more to youth in that abridgment of time.
———- ooo ———-
It just so happened that on Saturday, THE PLANET also celebrated a birthday, 74 years to the day since Virginia did the favors at old St. Luke’s Hospital on East Street.
With Evan at 80 and Chuck pushing 92, we represented 205+ years of living. These have been lives of honors and accomplishment, mostly, flavored (and favored) by the bitter setbacks only made possible by such success — what others call failure.
With age comes perspective.
It is an old story, one that’s humanity’s standing cliche. It’s a tale relived anew by every person blessed with reaching a certain age, as if they had invented it.
Thank you Charlie Garivaltis.
Thank you Evan Dobelle.
Thank you for a lesson in friendship and a once-in-a-lifetime experience one can neither manufacture nor replicate.
———————————————————–
“Friendship is life’s sweetest responsibility” — Sir Donald Turpentine, Knight of the Bath.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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Your Happy Holidays Story is why I still love Pittsfield politics!
Thanks, JON.
November 24, 2025
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
I listened to an online news story about Beacon Hill Boston state lawmakers doing little to nothing all year long in 2025, and now they are enjoying their 6-weeks long taxpayer-funded Holidays Season vacation that lasts through the first 6 days of the New Year 2026.
https://www.nepm.org/regional-news/2025-11-24/mass-lawmakers-on-recess-thanksgiving-leaves-session-leftovers-to-digest
Massachusetts is a one (Democratic) Party state.
I have followed Massachusetts politics for decades. The Big 3 – Governor Maura Healey, State Senate President Karen Spilka, and the Speaker of the State House of Representatives Ronny Mariano – hold all of the power in Boston’s corrupt and secretive Statehouse full of many more greedy registered lobbyists, such as Dan Bosley, than the 200 mostly powerless state lawmakers, who are nothing more than rubber stamps who are beholden to the Big 3 and greed-balls such as Dan Bosley and the like registered lobbyists.
Never in the over 400 year history of Massachusetts has the state government had more revenue sources, including the millionaire surtax, Opioid settlement funds, the multi-billion-dollar marijuana industry’s millions of dollars in taxes and fees, the billion-dollar gambling industry that is nothing more than (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes for greedy lobbyists such as Dan Bosley to exploit for billions of dollars in additional annual tax breaks for the Boston area’s big businesses that do not exist in mostly rural areas such as Western Massachusetts.
The Big 3 are starving local governments in Massachusetts of equitable state aid funds. Local governments in Massachusetts are at a financial crisis point heading into 2026 when they will develop their fiscal year 2027 local government budgets that begins on July 01, 2026.
Despite all of the record revenues flowing into Boston’s state coffers, local governments are not going to be able to fully function over the next 3 years because, in part, the Trump administration and the Republican Party majority in the Swamp have made large cuts to Medicaid, SNAP (food stamps), public education, social services for the homeless population, and so on.
It is called “A Perfect Storm” hitting local government hard in Massachusetts without any plan to stop the damage by Boston’s Big 3: the aforementioned Maura, Karen, and Ronny.
Did you know that most of the state lawmakers in Boston make 6-figure public pay plus perks for life?
Did you know that some greedy lobbyists make 7-figure earnings, while many make 6-figure earnings?
When a typical Boston state lawmaker retires, they never actually leave the Boston statehouse. Dan Bosley not only earns a lucrative lobbyist salary, but also, Dan Bosley was a North Adams State Representative who collects a public pension(s) plus perks for life.
I thought that when we elected state lawmakers, they were supposed to serve the people and taxpayers by delivering fully funded state aid to local governments to invest in people and the communities that we live in, but evidently, I thought wrongly.
Jon Melle
If democrats solved any problems, then they’d have nothing to campaign on fixing!” They’ve claimed for decades “we’re for the poor and minorities” yet the poor and minorities are in the same boat they were all those years ago! But what’s worse is that the democrats are always looking to create more problems – problems they’ll then campaign on “fixing”. They say, “just vote for us”and “give us campaign donations” because “we care”. And then they spend the money and congressional votes on themselves and what THEY want…..
The argument that “Democrats don’t fix anything so they have something to run on” would almost be cute if it weren’t coming from the same crowd whose entire political strategy depends on never fixing anything either.
Let’s be real:
Republicans have mastered the art of permanent problems.
They don’t solve — they campaign.
They don’t govern — they perform.
They scream about:
crime
immigration
taxes
cultural collapse
“the border”
“family values”
inflation
big government
small government
government at all
Yet somehow, when they’re in power, every single one of those issues… magically stays unresolved.
Because Republicans need outrage the way sharks need water.
You want to talk about “creating problems to campaign on”?
Republicans practically built the factory:
They block solutions, then run on the chaos they created.
Vote against healthcare, then complain people can’t afford medical bills.
Slash education funding, then panic about failing schools.
Deregulate everything, then cry when corporations price-gouge.
Attack social programs, then blame the poor for struggling.
Gut mental health funding, then point at rising crime and say “See??”
Oppose gun reform, then fundraise off gun violence.
And the kicker?
They run the same playbook every. single. election.
Fear → outrage → fundraising → no solutions → repeat.
Meanwhile they claim to be the party of:
“the working class”
“law and order”
“American values”
“protecting kids”
“fiscal responsibility”
But look at Republican-run states:
highest poverty
highest maternal mortality
lowest education outcomes
highest incarceration rates
worst access to healthcare
worst worker protections
It’s not an accident.
It’s a business model.
**So yes — Democrats absolutely fail to deliver on promises.
But Republicans?
They don’t even pretend to fix anything.**
They need chaos.
They thrive on division.
They profit off desperation.
And they shout “freedom!” while stripping rights, gutting safety nets, and handing public money to private donors.
Let’s stop acting like Republicans are innocent spectators here.
They are active architects of the perpetual crises they fundraise on.
And both parties — Democrats and Republicans — play the same damn game:
Don’t fix the system.
Weaponize it.
Exploit it.
Get reelected.
This –
https://www.jennyherzog.com/chaos-theory?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Happy “74” Planet! Wishing you well always.
Couldn’t make it to b and n Dan.Happy 74 also Dan. You’re an asset to our readership community. Please continue your spirit on here. Bought the last three of your books. That make six. Not a fan of Dobelle. But I love Chuck !! Never saw him play but have heard many times he was pretty damn good. He is also a gentleman. Hi Chuck . You look great. !!
Thank you, May
I tuned in the radio today and the host on the politically all in Sunshine show with Bill Sturging was saying he was an employee of the colonial theatre as a security guard? Is this why he has these artsy types and politicians on his show?
And pctv fronts the money for this show from a basement in his home? I remember an interview with a arts head,forget her name that was pulled over in a car that belonged to the colonial? Can you say scam?
I found it way odd that an arts person was a parade Marshall a few years ago? Then this Sturging guy? If anyone Charlie Garivaltas should be honored.
Excellent idea!!! Charles Garivaltis, Grand Marshall. The city couldn’t choose a better person.
I can Tell you the electrical waves in that small area that the t b r host is located is definite medical hazard. Headaches cancer,yes cancer, and tissue damage,breathing,headaches. That’s why you don’t see these fundtions in small areas. That show stinks anyway.Read the Planet for your news !
Appreciate it, OPIE!
Proclamations galore tonight. To Joe blow former wife cheater softball coach and two ton Blowvier for somethingbigsunificabt.
Pat Doylecfor Mayor. He gets it ,
Lumpys running out of people to proclimate so he’ll get them from the streets.
Slurpy!!! Cut your hair shorter and please get rid of that cheesie beard,
November 25, 2025
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
I attended the Harbor Care NH Thanksgiving community meal in Nashua this afternoon. After I ate my delicious meal, I approached my Member of U.S. Congress, Maggie Goodlander, to say hello, and Happy Thanksgiving.
I told the Congresswoman that I agreed with her about her statement with other Democratic Party Veterans who serve in the U.S. Congress that U.S. Armed Forces and U.S. Intelligence personnel alike are duty- and law-bound to disobey illegal orders from the U.S. President.
I told her that I agreed with her because it is basic military and intelligence service operating procedure. I said to her that if I obeyed illegal orders and something bad happened, then I would face a court martial and be sent to military prison. There is NO legal defense in the U.S.A. for “I was following orders”.
I disagree with President Trump saying that she and the others were “seditious”. I do not support the Pentagon’s possible court martial of U.S. Senator Mark Kelly. I told Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander today that she is brave, and that she will always have my vote.
Our government, from Pittsfield politics, to the Boston Statehouse, to the Swamp is failing the common people and taxpayers. I support FREE SPEECH. I support a government that works, but there is always next year, the next election, a new U.S. President in 2029.
Best wishes,
Jon Melle
And thank you, Dan, and Happy Birthday and Happy Thanksgiving to you.
Return the same good wishes to you and yours, TELL.
Happy 74th Birthday, Dan!! It looks like you had a good weekend and birthday, seeing old friends.
On your trip to B&N, did you enjoy the Bitchfield scenery?
Did it make you take pause and think of all the “diversity and inclusion,” the area has to offer? And the “inclusiveness” Bitchfield has to offer.
Illegal aliens and those suffering with mental illnesses such as Gender Dysphoria, are most welcome.
Markus, you can’t even say “happy birthday” without dragging out immigrants and trans people. That’s not politics — that’s your need to feel superior to someone, anyone. And your constant fixation on gender dysphoria is starting to look less like commentary and more like a personal concern. Pittsfield’s problems aren’t caused by diversity. They’re caused by people who mistake their prejudice for insight.