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GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT — BUT TOTERS FOR PITTSFIELD? TRASHY IDEA ALL THE WAY

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BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY DEC. 13, 2017) — Recently, THE PLANET watched a WWII propaganda film made in the early 40s in which Ward Bond (Maj. Seth Adams of Wagon Train) and Robert Young (Father Knows Best, Marcus Welby M.D.) play Nazis. They were as convincing as The Suits in the City of Pittsfield telling taxpayers that a toter garbage system will clean up blight and save taxpayers money. Actually, an objective analysis shows the opposite: Toter trash will increase both illegal dumping and cost to citizens (see THE PLANET’ previous articles in “Archives”).

Remember that Pittsfield has only recently told you the parking kiosks were a great idea (they are losing almost $3,000 a month), that the city will make a great haven for illegal immigrants (a stupid idea supported by an even stupider state rep, Tricia Foo-Boo), that It Knows Better Than You Do on electric bills (opting you in to a new supplier without asking your permission), that it needs a new high school (cost, $121 million), and that your property values shot up (so they can raise your taxes again with resort to the dreaded Prop. 2.5 override). This type of action strongly suggests if not proves that liberal Democrats of the kind in Massachusetts have their ideological roots in classic Mussolini-type Fascism.

In some ways, the move to a toter system for garbage removal stinks the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it). In addition to cost and illegal dumping, the system fails Pittsfield for many reasons:

  •  Inconvenience. How will senior citizens, the city’s most prevalent demographic, fare with 45- and 95-gallon freight cars? Where will the behemoths be stored when not at curbside? How will the automatic pickup work in winter, with snow banks and ice chunks to make curbside resemble the Rocky Mountains?
  • Enforcement. In addition to their toter responsibilities, Republic Services drivers will be expected to monitor adherence to the new rules, photograph offenders, place warning stickers on their totes, and turn them in. The city has hidden that part of the plan from taxpayers. Mayor Linda Tyer confirmed this in an e-mail to councilor Chris Connell, who is at least asking the right questions. Pittsfield refuses to enforce its current, less draconian garbage rules. What makes anyone believe it will do any better with toters?
  • Sneaky deals. Both Covanta on Hubbard Avenue and Republic have millions of dollars from the city. There’s no doubt these two private companies love having public money pay for their upgrades (a new boiler for Covanta, a new fleet for Republic), but wouldn’t it have been good to have minutes taken when Tyer, finance director Matt Kerwood, and the two companies ironed out the details? Should these contracts been put out to bid?
  • Logistics. Having to secure the lids with bungee cords? Seriously. That brilliant suggestion shows just how well this deal has been planned.
  • Financials. The numbers don’t work. How can this be anything but a money loser with the city starting out millions in the hole ($1.3 million alone for the 36,000 containers)?
  • What gives with “the recycling guru from Marlboro by way of Brookline, now a resident of Pittsfield, going to Kerwood’s office to complain about garbage in the streets” (comment on THE PLANET by Cosbies Ladies)? What was THAT discussion?
  • Endorsements. The Pittsfield Board of Health (Jay Green, chairman) and city health director Gina Armstrong think toters are a great idea. What more evidence do you need that the plan makes no sense for bedraggled citizens?
  • Trashed. With added cost for extra garbage, people will be illegally dumping refuse everywhere but in toters.

People across the city, citizens spanning all demographic, social, and financial strata, do not want this new system. PERIOD. The tragedy is that, once again, city “managers” — consumed as they are with their own self- and selfish interests — have no concern about what citizens want or don’t want. That’s how the Fasciste operate. Moreover, hear again, We The People can expect no help from the non-crusading local daily. The Boring Broadsheet can’t help but editorialize in the newshole. In an alleged news piece on Dec. 8, The BB had this headline: “Improved / trash plan / gains support.” What in a Horace Greeley hairlip is the word “Improved” doing in that head?

Looks like we have another TFII on our hands, folks: The Fix Is In

Nothing emanates more fouly or reeks with more redolence than garbage, trashed.

—————————————————————-

“I’d rather hear a choir singing scat” — Rex Harrison, “Why Can’t a Woman Be More Like a Man,” from My Fair Lady.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

The Usual Disclaimer.

 

 

 

 

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SisterGoldenHair
SisterGoldenHair
7 years ago

Hey at least the gangbangers and drug dealers (or as a liberal would say, non violent drug offeners) can hide behind them when robbing and shooting on garbage day. And the homeless can steal them and have a place to camp out if The Soldier on Sham is full.

acheshirecat
acheshirecat
Reply to  SisterGoldenHair
7 years ago

Yeah sis, they set them up at Hess Forest and call it Tyertown.

H
H
7 years ago

Excellent commentary Dan. It almost seems like this Administration wants to get Something Done, but not at taxpayer expense,look, the worst case scenerio will be pay as you throw, at this point, let the games begin.

SojournerTruth
SojournerTruth
7 years ago

What is the Marlboro-Pittsfield connection ? Without research; the attacking dogs at BCC were removed to Marlboro.Linda Tyer’s campaign PR manager and permanent chief’s wife is from Marlboro, and there are more.

Bill Q
Bill Q
Reply to  SojournerTruth
7 years ago

That was where some dude asked by Kerwood to come speak for the Toters, he was some kind of recycling phenom by way of, Marlboro,and somehow landed at Cufflinks office,and said even if he wasn’t invited he probably would have spoke anyway.

Arial Black
Arial Black
Reply to  SojournerTruth
7 years ago

Crocodile Bungee is big in Marlboro.

Bill Q
Bill Q
7 years ago

And I think he also said he was from Brookline, and is now a city resident. Maybe he’s globe trotting for the Haulers.

LoneGunMan
LoneGunMan
7 years ago

“It is offensive to me that we are laying off teachers when we are doing nothing to save money on garbage collection,” the mayor said.”

Did people seriously vote for her? You savages

12 Gauge
12 Gauge
Reply to  LoneGunMan
7 years ago

Layoff some of the Mercer building nitwits and the city will have plenty of money.

Henry LaMere'
Henry LaMere'
Reply to  LoneGunMan
7 years ago

Nobody really voted for her…they voted against Bianchi

Spagirl
Spagirl
Reply to  Henry LaMere'
7 years ago

Exactly Henry. Good comment.

The school committee
The school committee
Reply to  LoneGunMan
7 years ago

No teachers have been laid off,retirements covered layoffs,they laid off 40 classroom aids but They brought all of them back….KBehnke and her husband and her mom pulled 275 k out of the schools

Krol's Kronies
Krol's Kronies
Reply to  The school committee
7 years ago

Who’s her mother?

Henry LaMere'
Henry LaMere'
7 years ago

So let me get this straight. If I want to start a garbage collection company, all I have to do is go to the city, tell them I want them to pay for the repceptacles, then they shell out 1.4 million dollars and buy them for me, then I get to use them to charge the city for picking them up and dumping them once a week.

Sweet Deal !!!!!!

dusty
dusty
7 years ago

As any good business man knows, if you hire only your friends and their friends instead of the best qualified people you will not be in business for long.

This is why the city of Pittsfield is such a three legged stool.
Or maybe just a stool.

LoneGunMan
LoneGunMan
Reply to  dusty
7 years ago

You voted for a secretary because she loved the D and had a vagina. Liberals can deny it all they want. If she wants to fix blight, start with removing herself from the public domain

Two Cents
Two Cents
7 years ago

Every citizen should be outraged by the Mayor’s comments. Excuse me…It’s not the council or taxpayers that layoff teachers, it’s an administration that thinks spending money like its going out of style is the best solution for everything when each and every time it only makes the situation worse, puts the city deeper in debt and sends its best citizens packing. The walking dead zombies have more intelligence and common sense than those currently in city government. Imagine what future graduates of the city’s deplorable school system will do when they take over to protect the teachers union. Pittsfield is nightmare that we may never wake up from….Thanks Linda!!!

Kleptocrat
Kleptocrat
Reply to  Two Cents
7 years ago

Who approved all the unsustainable contracts?

Jonathan Melle
Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

When you consider the abominations that were the Doyle debacle, the Hathaway hack, the Ruberto regime, and the Bianchi bust, you would conclude that the lovely Linda Tyer inherited a mess!

I feel sorry for the lovely Linda Tyer! Even a miracle worker couldn’t improve the plight of Pittsfield politics!

Unwamted Carl
Unwamted Carl
Reply to  Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

She’s Mayor, she owns it,she cant do anything, why did she run,answer, because she could, who’s the Hack?

12 Gauge
12 Gauge
Reply to  Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

Problem is she does not want to fix problems. She just wants to mismanage the continued decline of Pittsfield.

LoneGunMan
LoneGunMan
Reply to  12 Gauge
7 years ago

She will get her fluff pension regardless of how bad of a job she does.

At least the council is standing up to this. Ironically, Caccamo has been silent (not that he ever spoke much). Since the GOB/SIGS places Earl and Helen successfully in there I’m sure the toters will be a shoe in.

Village Knight
Village Knight
Reply to  LoneGunMan
7 years ago

As soon they approve it–I am filing a Lawsuit against new Ordinance–may be even couple–in Berkshire Superior Court and Springfield Federal Court.
I completely agree with Planet’s opinion, but must add more—City can’t place city’s owned toters on my property without my permission. I am not going to wash, clean, repair city’s property–toters. I am not going even to touch it, since it is not my property. City can’t force me to do that, since I am not city’s employee to handle their owned toters.
I will ask preliminary injunction to this Ordinance.Moreover, to pay for additional bags is basically illegal taxation against people with children–discrimination. Not having bids is a corruption. She should be impeached–seriously!

Col. Angus
Col. Angus
Reply to  Village Knight
7 years ago

In Russia toter come to you Putin

The school committee
The school committee
Reply to  LoneGunMan
7 years ago

Ehite Cacamo Kroll want old people to use totes,BFI doesnt recycle this stuff anyway

Two Cents
Two Cents
Reply to  Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

Sorry Jonathan but Gerry Doyle Jr, was John F. Kennedy Jr. compared to the Tyer Administration. Being “lovely” doesn’t stabilize a tax base, keep city students in city schools and provide a quality of life and business environment that could actually someday see growth. Sometimes i wonder what head you’re actually thinking with.

AlaskanBushClowns
AlaskanBushClowns
Reply to  Two Cents
7 years ago

Exactly, nothing lovely here.

dusty
dusty
Reply to  AlaskanBushClowns
7 years ago

Same old self serving soup being served in Pittsfield. Taking care of number one and friends and family. She is not fooling anyone any more than Ruberto did or Bianchi did.

NIB
NIB
Reply to  Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

Mayor Tyer helped create this mess. She was an avid Ruberto supporter and rubber stamped every thing he did while she was a councilor. Same with Kerwood.
This administration is nothing more than Ruberto Part 2.

Colin O'Scopy
Colin O'Scopy
7 years ago

In a letter to the Eagle, Sherwood Guernsey says anyone who wants to enforce U.S. immigration law is a racist. He wants Pittsfield to be a sanctuary for illegals. But the funny thing is that he lives in Williamstown. Strange that he’s not pushing for Williamstown to be an illegal alien paradise.

CosbiesLadies
CosbiesLadies
Reply to  Colin O'Scopy
7 years ago

Excellent points Scopy, and the dudes who praised the Toter Program were from Marlboro by way of Brookline and the other a Trash Can appointee from Lenoxdale. As far as Ruberto Goes,he has ruined the City. And a real good friend of Angie and Carmen.

dusty
dusty
Reply to  CosbiesLadies
7 years ago

I think all candidates for mayor should have to release their tax documents before the election. And the ones who serve should have to release them the year AFTER they serve. It might be interesting to see just how lucrative their terms were.

Fritz
Fritz
Reply to  Colin O'Scopy
7 years ago

Scope, I was angry after reading sherwood’s letter. Typical Dem response to anyone who disagrees – just call them a racist. The issue is illegal immigration violates our country’s existing laws. Anyone here illegally should be turned over to ICE. Would love to hear chief wynn’s policy on this.

UAlbany
UAlbany
Reply to  Colin O'Scopy
7 years ago

SG is your finest limousine liberal – he makes a fortune off immigration law – 5k per person through his door then he uses his contact in Boston to push paperwork – never touches file – give me a break – he drumming up work from his fine home in Williamstown where there are NO immigrants on the street – except millionaire Williams College kids….

Jonathan Melle
Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

I am no fan of Jimmy Ruberto’s public record in Pittsfield politics! He was the King of the Good Old Boys, including alleged sexual deviants Angelo Stracuzzi and Carmen Massimiano. Moreover, Ruberto had Nuciforo swear him into his 3rd term as Mayor. That was the nadir of nadirs!

Why do the same inbred families continue to run Pittsfield politics? Why can’t new people change Pittsfield’s corrupted government? I never understood how Pittsfield politics works when it comes to political hacks like Jimmy Ruberto, et al?

– Jonathan Melle

Trisha Trasha
Trisha Trasha
Reply to  Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

Could you please give us the top ten In-bred families I’m the City? A couple from Sports also, thanx.

Jonathan Melle
Jonathan Melle
Reply to  Trisha Trasha
7 years ago

A post by “Eric”, on August 22, 2008:

“The problem with local politics isn’t partisanship. We have a mayor [Jimmy Ruberto] whose brother was DA [the late-Anthony Ruberto]. We have a DA [David Capeless] whose father was Mayor. How many votes did Jerry Doyle Sr. buy [Mayor] Jerry Doyle Jr. with driveway aprons and apartments in public housing? [William] Smitty Pignatelli’s father was County Commissioner. [Chris] Speranzo’s grandfather was a Democrat mover and shaker and union [boss]. Ben Downing’s father [Gerard Downing] was DA and his father enough of a political hack to have an industrial park named after him. [Andrea] Nuciforo’s [II] [late] father [Andrea Nuciforo I] was a [State] Senator [and then a Judge], Uncle [Tom Wojtkowski] was a State Rep and Aunt a Mayor [Anne E. Wojtkowski]. [Kevin] Sherman’s mother is a Del Gallo. The problem around here isn’t partisanship so much as nepotism and incest.”

NIB
NIB
7 years ago

When I get my next tax bill I’m going to make the check out to Coventa. That’ll save the city a little bit of work.

Trisha Trasha
Trisha Trasha
7 years ago

Could you please give us the top ten In-bred families In the City? A couple from Sports also, thanx.

Jonathan Melle
Jonathan Melle
Reply to  Trisha Trasha
7 years ago

Ask Dan Valenti about it, please. He has 1000-times more institutional knowledge of Pittsfield politics than me.

My favorite example of an inbred Pittsfield dark prince is Luciforo.

Nuciforo’s late-father was a Judge and also a State Senator.

Nuciforo’s uncle, Tom Wojtkowski, who is still kicking around, was a Pittsfield State Representative.

Nuciforo’s late-aunt, Anne Everest Wojtkowski was Pittsfield’s first woman Mayor and a career professor at Berkshire Community College.

There are many others who come from Pittsfield politics inbred families who run state and local politics. They are called the Good Old Boys!

amandaWell
amandaWell
Reply to  Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

Council Rades: Simonelli A
Krol A
White C-
Rivers D
Amuso C
Tully F
Morandi A
Caccamo A
Connell A
Mazzeo A
Marchetti D

Make Pittsfield Great Again
Make Pittsfield Great Again
Reply to  Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

Peter Marchetti got his job at the bank through his uncle Gino , who used to play for the Baltimore Colts.

Jonathan Melle
Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT!
Stay off of:
North st.
Tyler st.
Lincoln st.
First st.
Second st.
Linden st.
Dewey ave
Cherry st.
Burbank st.
Kent ave
Madison ave
And Seymour st.
And you might survive.

The school committee
The school committee
Reply to  Jonathan Melle
7 years ago

The only people in Pittsfield afraid of North Street are on this blog…I asked 10 women if they were afraid to be on North street and all 10 said they were not the least bit afraid

dusty
dusty
Reply to  The school committee
7 years ago

and they were working the streets so it was their job to be there

Gobsig
Gobsig
Reply to  The school committee
7 years ago

Knowing you they were probably all hookers.

Col. Angus
Col. Angus
Reply to  The school committee
7 years ago

Bungee not afraid to jog there

Trisha Trasha
Trisha Trasha
7 years ago

Cool J!

col.forbin
col.forbin
7 years ago

The argument that the totes are “too heavy” “to big” and “inconvenient” is laughable. What are you all, a bunch of softy snowflakes?

I lived in Pittsfield and moved to Western NY. We get DUMPED on with snow and have totes for our garbage. The totes flow easily through the snow, are not cumbersome and are easier because we have one garbage tote and one recycling tote. I don’t have to move more than two cans to the curb.

dusty
dusty
Reply to  col.forbin
7 years ago

Lotsa elderly residents in Pittsfield and many of them ;do not generate a lot of trash. May just have one 8 pound bag per week so they should not have to haul a toter back and forth.

Just a bad idea. Can’t the city just admit it and stop progressing in reverse?

LoneGunMan
LoneGunMan
Reply to  dusty
7 years ago

The city, if it were smart, would allow people to choose from a variety of sizes that meets their needs. Instead of the communistic “one size fits all” and the government unilaterally decides which size to give.

Shakes His Head
Shakes His Head
Reply to  LoneGunMan
7 years ago

If the City were smart they would make a small down payment on the toters then finance the rest of them through the garbage contract term. Paying for toters out of free cash would be silly. Or is this capital expense part of the City’s annual bonding program?

Dustin
Dustin
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

As usual your comment makes no sense and is not well thought out. Next!

The Dynamic Vibrator
The Dynamic Vibrator
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

Why can’t the trash company pay for the specialized expensive toters? Why do I see local company name on toters in other towns?

Mr. G
Mr. G
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

Actually…his comment makes quite a lot of sense. Financing that way is a much better option than robbing from the “free” cash fund” if they choose this ridiculous option to begin with.

Dustin
Dustin
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

No sense

Spagirl
Spagirl
Reply to  LoneGunMan
7 years ago

If the City were smart, and included the Taxpayers voice on big changes, they might learn they are not as smart as they think they are.

Wilson
Wilson
Reply to  col.forbin
7 years ago

flow easily through 5-ft tall snowbanks? I’ll take your word for it, but I’ll have to see this magic to believe it, and then plan to use a tote instead of a sled to set an Ididarod record

Paul
Paul
7 years ago

The Bears love the totes. They are too large for people to keep in their sheds or garage. Do whatever you want to the lids but it takes a bear about 2 min to rip them open. My neighborhood has about 3 resident bears that make their rounds. Let the fun begin.

col.forbin
col.forbin
Reply to  Paul
7 years ago

Bears love my garbage cans as well.

Also what type of garage do you have that can’t fit the tote? Do you drive a mini cooper and did you build the garage around it?

Paul
Paul
Reply to  col.forbin
7 years ago

Col.forbin, I don’t have a garage I have a shed that has a snow blower and lawn mower in it along with other outside items. Have you seen these totes? My son in CT has them and they are really big. I’m willing to bet lots of people won’t have room to keep them inside.

Bill Q
Bill Q
Reply to  Paul
7 years ago

So you wouldn’t recommend a bungee cord?

amandaWell
amandaWell
7 years ago

Grades:Mandy F-

Madame Du Barry
Madame Du Barry
7 years ago

Either Linden
or Columbus are the worst streets to safely travel.

Kleptocrat
Kleptocrat
7 years ago

Note to Earl Persip and Bob Heck. If you two clowns want to act like a couple of twelve year olds, you best sit where the cameras don’t pick up your antics. The council chambers are not elementary school.

LoneGunMan
LoneGunMan
Reply to  Kleptocrat
7 years ago

Earl is untouchable, he could rape a badger right there and get an award for it.

Already Tyred
Already Tyred
7 years ago

The City Council is out of control. This week it was Amuso’s turn to call a citizen speaking in the public session a jerk.

Rocky Creed
Rocky Creed
7 years ago

Barry Clarmont Tyer is running the City. Anyone who doesn’t realize this is clueless.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  Rocky Creed
7 years ago

True, Barry hasn’t been on this site in ages.

TrueThe school committee
TrueThe school committee
Reply to  Pat
7 years ago

True Barry runs the City,I honest to god thought she was going to be fiscally conservative and put together a plan to shrink the schools to a manageable size through consolidation of High school and grammar schools.

Madame Du Barry
Madame Du Barry
7 years ago

Check out the side streets, where’s the dry clear mixture they used last year, my street is a muddy mess with that shitty sand mixture.

dusty
dusty
Reply to  Madame Du Barry
7 years ago

Dalton ave going west already has a dozen pot holes. It will be a moonscape by ground hogs day.

Madame Du Barry
Madame Du Barry
7 years ago

Found it strange the overcost for the roads last year.

Col. Angus
Col. Angus
Reply to  Madame Du Barry
7 years ago

Did they ever explain it?

Spagirl
Spagirl
Reply to  Madame Du Barry
7 years ago

If the City were smart, and included the Taxpayers voice on big changes, they might learn they are not as smart as they think they are.

Spagirl
Spagirl
Reply to  Spagirl
7 years ago

This comment was for above.

Spagirl
Spagirl
Reply to  Madame Du Barry
7 years ago

It is definitely of question. Not believable at all.

Shakes His Head
Shakes His Head
7 years ago

Italian Fascism according to Wikipedia:

Italian Fascism (Italian: fascismo italiano), also known simply as Fascism (Italian: fascismo), is the original fascist ideology as developed in Italy. The ideology is associated with a series of three political parties led by Benito Mussolini: the Fascist Revolutionary Party (PFR) founded in 1915,[1] the succeeding National Fascist Party (PNF) which was renamed at the Third Fascist Congress on 7–10 November 1921 and ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943 and the Republican Fascist Party that ruled the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945. Italian Fascism is also associated with the post-war Italian Social Movement and subsequent Italian neo-fascist movements.

Italian Fascism was rooted in Italian nationalism, national syndicalism and the desire to restore and expand Italian territories, which Italian Fascists deemed necessary for a nation to assert its superiority and strength and to avoid succumbing to decay.[2] Italian Fascists also claimed that modern Italy is the heir to ancient Rome and its legacy and historically supported the creation of an Italian Empire to provide spazio vitale (“living space”) for colonization by Italian settlers and to establish control over the Mediterranean Sea.[3]

Italian Fascism promoted a corporatist economic system whereby employer and employee syndicates are linked together in associations to collectively represent the nation’s economic producers and work alongside the state to set national economic policy.[4] This economic system intended to resolve class conflict through collaboration between the classes.[5]

Italian Fascism opposed liberalism, especially classical liberalism that Mussolini and Fascist leaders denounced as “the debacle of individualism”,[6] but rather than seeking a reactionary restoration of the pre-French Revolutionary world, which it considered to have been flawed, it had a forward-looking direction.[7] It was opposed to Marxist socialism because of its typical opposition to nationalism,[8] but was also opposed to the reactionary conservatism developed by Joseph de Maistre.[9] It believed the success of Italian nationalism required respect for tradition and a clear sense of a shared past among the Italian people, alongside a commitment to a modernised Italy.[10]

The parallel, based on this short description, doesn’t seem to fit..

Dustin
Dustin
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

And we care why? We dont.

Shakes His Head
Shakes His Head
Reply to  Dustin
7 years ago

YOU don’t care because you lack critical thinking skills and will parrot anything you hear or read regardless of whether it is true.

Dustin
Dustin
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

All you do is copy from wikipedia. You have nothing to add. Kind of sad.

12 Gauge
12 Gauge
Reply to  danvalenti
7 years ago

Fascism is worship of the state. Exactly what modern day “liberals” do.

12 Gauge
12 Gauge
Reply to  12 Gauge
7 years ago

(i) Fundamental Ideas

1. Like every sound political conception, Fascism is both practice and thought; action in which a doctrine is immanent, and a doctrine which, arising out of a given system of historical forces, remains embedded in them and works there from within. . . . There is no concept of the State which is not fundamentally a concept of life; philosophy or intuition, a system of ideas which develops logically or is gathered up into a vision or into a faith, but which is always, at least virtually, an organic conception of the world.

2. Thus Fascism could not be understood in many of its practical manifestations as a party organization, as a system of education, as a discipline, if it were not always looked at in the light of its whole way of conceiving life, a spiritualized way. The world see through Fascism is not this material world which appears on the surface, in which man is an individual separated from all others and standing by himself. . . . The man of Fascism is an individual who is nation and fatherland, which is a moral law, binding together individuals and the generations into a tradition and a mission, suppressing the instinct for a life enclosed within the brief round of pleasure in order to restore within duty a higher life free from the limits of time and space; a life in which the individual, through the denial of himself, through the sacrifice of his own private interests, through death itself, realizes that completely spiritual existence in which his value as a man lies.

3. Therefore it is a spiritualized conception, itself the result of the general reaction of modern times against the flabby materialistic positivism of the nineteenth century. . . . Fascism desires an active man, one engaged in activity with all his energies: it desires a man conscious of the difficulties that exist in action and ready to face them. It conceives of life as a struggle, considering that it behooves man to conquer for himself that life truly worthy of him, creating first of all in himself the instrument (physical, moral, intellectual) in order to construct it. Thus for the single individual, thus for the nation, thus for humanity. . . .

4. This positive conception of life is clearly an ethical conception. It covers the whole of reality, not merely the human activity which controls it. No action can be divorced from moral judgment; there is nothing in the world which can be deprived of the value which belongs to everything in its relation to moral ends. Life, therefore, as conceived by the Fascist, is serious, austere, religious: the whole of it is poised in a world supported by the moral and responsible forces of the spirit. The Fascist disdains the “comfortable” life.

5. Fascism is a religious conception in which man is seen in his immanent relationship with a superior law and with an objective Will that transcends the particular individual and raises him to conscious membership in a spiritual society. Whoever has seen in the religious politics of the Fascist regime nothing but mere opportunism has not understood that Fascism besides being a system of government is also, and above all, a system of thought.

6. Fascism is a historical conception, in which man is what he is only in so far as he works with the spiritual process in which he finds himself, in the family or social group, in the nation and in the history in which all nations collaborate. From this follows the great value of tradition, in memories, in language, in customs, in the standards of social life. Outside history man is nothing. Consequently Fascism is opposed to all the individualistic abstractions of a materialistic nature like those of the eighteenth century; and it is opposed to all Jacobin utopias and innovations. It does not consider that “happiness” is possible upon earth, as it appeared to be in the desire of the economic literature of the eighteenth century, and hence it rejects all theological theories according to which mankind would reach a definitive stabilized condition at a certain period in history. . . .

7. Against individualism, the Fascist conception is for the State; and it is for the individual in so far as he coincides with the State, which is the conscience and universal will of man in his historical existence. It is opposed to classical Liberalism, which arose form the necessity of reacting against absolutism, and which brought its historical purpose to an end when the State was transformed into the conscience and will of the people. Liberalism denied the State in the interests of the particular individual; Fascism reaffirms the State as the true reality of the individual. And if liberty is to be the attribute of the real man, and not of that abstract puppet envisaged by individualistic Liberalism, Fascism is for liberty. And for the only liberty which can be a real thing, the liberty of the State and of the individual within the State. Therefore, for the Fascist, everything is in the State, and nothing human or spiritual exists, much less has value, outside the State. In this sense Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State, the synthesis and unity of all values, interprets, develops and gives strength to the whole life of the people.

8. Outside the State there can be neither individuals nor groups (political parties, associations, syndicates, classes). Therefore Fascism is opposed to Socialism, which confines the movement of history within the class struggle and ignores the unity of classes established in one economic and moral reality in the State; and analogously it is opposed to class syndicalism. . . .

9. Individuals form classes according to the similarity of their interests, they form syndicates according to differentiated economic activities within these interests; but they form first, and above all, the State, which is not to be thought of numerically as the sum-total of individuals forming the majority of the nation. And consequently Fascism is opposed to Democracy, which equates the nation to the majority, lowering it to the level of that majority. . . .

10. It is not the nation that generates the State, as according to the old naturalistic concept which served as the basis of the political theories of the national States of the nineteenth century. Rather the nation is created by the State, which gives to the people, conscious of its own moral unity, a will and therefore an effective existence. . . .

11. The nation as the State is an ethical reality which exists and lives in so far as it develops. To arrest its development is to kill it. Therefore the State is not only the authority which governs and gives the form of laws and the value of spiritual life to the wills of individuals, but it is also a power that makes its will felt abroad, making it known and respected, in other words, demonstrating the fact of its universality in all the necessary directions of its development. It is consequently organization and expansion, at least virtually. Thus it can be likened to the human will which knows no limits to its development and realizes itself in testing its own limitlessness.

12. The Fascist State, the highest and most powerful form of personality, is a force, but a spiritual force, which takes over all the forms of the moral and intellectual life of man. . . . It is the form, the inner standard and the discipline of the whole person; it saturates the will as well as the intelligence. Its principle, the central inspiration of the human personality living in the civil community, pierces into the depths and makes its home in the heart of the man of action as well as of the thinker, of the artist as well as of the scientist: it is the soul of the soul.

13. Fascism, in short, is not only the giver of laws and the founder of institutions, but the educator and promoter of spiritual life. It wants to remake, not the forms of human life, but its content, man, character, faith. And to this end it requires discipline and authority that can enter into the spirits of men and there govern unopposed. Its sign, therefore, is the Lictors’ rods, the symbol of unity, of strength and justice.

Dustin
Dustin
Reply to  12 Gauge
7 years ago

Thanks 12, agreed

The school committee
The school committee
Reply to  12 Gauge
7 years ago

Worship of Trump ststr

The school committee
The school committee
Reply to  danvalenti
7 years ago

Planet, we a a extremely conservative country ,always hsve been always will be.Thanks to liberals we have dragged a nation maybe 1 inch of a football field forward.Your corporations are still in charge and the wealthy are still quite wealthy and your belief that Trump will take you back to when America was great like in the 50s.

12 Gauge
12 Gauge
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

I sincerely doubt that SHH understands the words she just posted.

Shakes His Head
Shakes His Head
Reply to  12 Gauge
7 years ago

I appreciate the informative discussion and always take the time to read up.

The personal attacks and insults need to stop.

Dustin
Dustin
Reply to  Shakes His Head
7 years ago

You add nothing to the conversation and always state fake news. Go away

dusty
dusty
7 years ago

Time was when after a snowstorm and roads were dicy they would sand orice the hills. Just came from the steep hill on Alcove and spun like crazy trying to get up…this is what happens when you lose your good experienced people and replace them with family or friends

LoneGunMan
LoneGunMan
Reply to  dusty
7 years ago

Yesterday Elm Street and Williams Street were horrible during my morning commute around 6-6:30. Ironically enough the small hilltowns and villages I traveled through did phenomenal jobs plowing, sanding and salting.

Pittsfield is a joke, the democrat administration is a joke and because of political correctness they will never accept accountability.

You want a decent mayor? Get rid of the pension. Any fool could suck it up for 4 years and then move away and live like a king/queen

or sleep your way up the ladder until you move out past BCC

Two Cents
Two Cents
Reply to  LoneGunMan
7 years ago

LGM- A final statement more accurate than most people realize!

Dean Youngblood
Dean Youngblood
7 years ago

Isn’t there a pension employee sum,ary in o e of the Boston Newspaper sites? The teachers der big bucks, my neighbors is upwards 55 g and B C C is up there also.

Thomas More
Thomas More
Reply to  Dean Youngblood
7 years ago

There is a web site that lists the pay and pension of state employees. However, the city and county employees is nowhere to be found on the web that I know of. The pension amount that we begrudge to every retired public school teacher and BCC staff member is simply a click away. If you want to know the salaries as well as the pension of every state worker, again is a click away.

UAlbany
UAlbany
7 years ago

We recycle at 10% – LT think that totes will increase that number – it will not – we will jus stuff more into the totes, increase illegal dumping and burn more trash in our backyards – because WE DON’T CARE about recycling in the NE – it just is…spend the money on streetlights and street rep[air – that is what we care about – CC grades 0 only A++++ was Krol – bravo bravo

dusty
dusty
Reply to  UAlbany
7 years ago

Interesting point. If i am older and failing maybe I just toss everything into one tote so I don’t have to drag the second recycling tote out and back.

NIB
NIB
Reply to  UAlbany
7 years ago

That 10% number was pulled out of LT’s and MK’s asses.

TrueThe school committee
TrueThe school committee
7 years ago

Can we put sand down at the old harrys parking lot on elm or at the back end of Kirvin park,or gardner park on pomeroy

Ed Check
Ed Check
Reply to  TrueThe school committee
7 years ago

No sand piles must be a new Pittsfield cost saving measure. Maybe you can trade your existing trash can for some sand/salt mixture. Otherwise, buy your own sand.

dusty
dusty
Reply to  Ed Check
7 years ago

Every time they raise our taxes they say it is because the people want their services. Then little by little as they keep raises taxes they cut services on the back side.
But
Stanley got his tax break right Linda?

12 Gauge
12 Gauge
7 years ago

Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and FDR governed as Fascists.

DeanYoungblood
DeanYoungblood
7 years ago

If Covanta or the Hauler can’t make a profit, plus,they will leave, bank on It. There always has to a perk, right Beacon Owner?

Fritz
Fritz
7 years ago

Call or email Trisha F- B & tell her you don’t support Mass. becoming a sanctuary state. She’s pushing the bill for it.

Cosbies
Cosbies
7 years ago

Trump tax plan includes the Super Rich, the Clinton’s, Wolf Bliztkrieg, Chris Cuomo,Elliot Spitzer,NBA NHL all the Football Knees,Tom Brady, Rev.. Al Sharpton,Rachel Maddow. My point,, Clinton didn’t campaign in some States that would have resulted in her Victory, Why? Way to much baggage. The election was a conspiracy to pad the pockets of wealth campaign donors. Trumps plan to bring jobs back to the U S during the campaign was to tax the imports going in and out, not give them trillion plus dollars. Rex Tillerson will make 187 million dollars through the plan if voted yes. Trump has played this perfectly.

NIB
NIB
Reply to  Cosbies
7 years ago

The Republican platform has always been for the wealthy so none of this is a surprise.
The Reagan and Bush tax cuts and economic plans both led to terrible economic recessions that were only outdone by the Great Depression. History will repeat itself with this tax plan.

Shelly Liver
Shelly Liver
7 years ago

Never heard that one before. Until after Clintons trist with the Cigar Lady, the Clinton’s and especially their Foundation was a quagmire to say the least. Trump and the Clintons were always close, they attended weddings and galas together. A story on Obama, a friend of mine once told me a famous Anti War activist, who he graduated with, married into a family of great wealth,had Obama over to dinner amount a few very wealthy friends and gave the future President a two million dollar campaign donation, my point, they’re all in on it.Anyhow,thesevtax cuts are an outrage. To say the least. Obamas get the cuts also,a state like Massachusetts will be a silo of poverty in a couple of years. Locally people Like Barry will make out quite well also with the tax plan…..or planned.

Shelly Liver
Shelly Liver
7 years ago

And wherever the great Barry is, he’d tell us so himself.

Cosbies
Cosbies
7 years ago

Did everyone catch Earl and Wee scribbling on their. Ote pads during last tirade. Probably a note for the reason to vote for toters Yeah,seen the fruity guys antics in the audience, grow up mr. hack.

Already Tyred
Already Tyred
Reply to  Cosbies
7 years ago

A pair of Krol Kronies for sure.

Col. Angus
Col. Angus
7 years ago

Earl be like what was I thinking