FINALLY: CATHOLIC RIGHT-WING FUNDAMENTALISTS GETTING A TASTE OF REASON, COMMON SENSE, AND TRUE ECUMENISM … POPE FRANCIS STARTLES TRADITIONALISTS AND DELIGHTS EVERYONE ELSE … HISTORICAL COMMISSION SEEKS DEMOLITION DELAY ON CRANE WAREHOUSE; COUNCIL FEELS BETRAYED BY SCALISE

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FINALLY: CATHOLIC RIGHT-WING FUNDAMENTALISTS GETTING A TASTE OF REASON, COMMON SENSE, AND TRUE ECUMENISM … POPE FRANCIS STARTLES TRADITIONALISTS AND DELIGHTS EVERYONE ELSE … HISTORICAL COMMISSION SEEKS DEMOLITION DELAY ON CRANE WAREHOUSE; COUNCIL FEELS BETRAYED BY SCALISE

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013) — Finally, a Holy Father who gets it. After 50 years of fundamentalist initiatives coming out of Rome, especially during the increasingly regressive papacies of Karol Wojtyla and Josef Ratzinger, the Catholic Church seems to have a chief prelate determined […]

April 3, 2013 23 Comments

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NEW INFORMATION EMERGES IN FEDERAL PROBE OF LEE POLICE DEPARTMENT TOY FUND … REVELATIONS POINT OUT THE FAILURE OF MAINSTREAM MEDIA, PARTICULARLY THE BB AND LOCAL RADIO, TO DIG INTO A STORY … IT ALSO SHOWS THE VALUE OF ALTERNATIVE MEDIA

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013) — New information has emerged about the slow-moving federal investigation into the Lee Police Department‘s administration of a toy fund. Long-time Lee cop and current police chief Joe Buffis is the fund’s manager. Buffis remains the central figure in the […]

April 2, 2013 35 Comments

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MEASURABLE CRIME RATE GOING DOWN NATIONALLY, BUT STATISTICS ARE NOTORIOUSLY SLIPPERY … plus … A STATISTICAL LOOK AT CRIME IN THE CITY OF PITTSFIELD (NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE SQUEAMISH)

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013) — We will pass on the obvious temptation offered by April Fool’s Day. In one way or another, we are all fools and in our own way wise men. We are, as Kris Kristofferson once wrote in a lyric, “walking […]

April 1, 2013 22 Comments

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HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND TO ALL … GOOD FRIDAY OBSERVED TODAY … plus … A COUPLE OF QUICK HITS OF INTEREST, INCLUDING THE SCOOP ON THE SUCCESSOR TO TAILGATE-GATE and NEW PITTSFIELD SUPT. of SCHOOLS TO RECEIVE $200,000+ PER YEAR!!

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013) —First, to everyone out there, THE PLANET wishes a blessed Easter Weekend on this holy and solemn day of the Christian calendar. Second, in honor of the day, we shall keep today’s PLANET brief and to the point, sharing […]

March 29, 2013 26 Comments

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QUICK HITS & HOT LIX — FRANCIS TELLS IT LIKE IT IS … SCHOOL BUILDING AMUSO TELLS IT LIKE IT AIN’T … NEW CITY WEBSITE AN IMPROVEMENT BUT STILL NOT ‘THERE’ … VALENTI AS JESUS or AS MAYOR? … BERKSHIRE ENTERPRISES: NEW DIGS FOR AN EXCELLENT PROGRAM … BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS AT MAD JACK’S BBQ … plus … EXTREMISM, ala 1956

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013) — Quick Hits and Hot Licks, served today with a nice St. Esteph medoc 1960, will, we trust, go down rather well with today’s hot-plate items. Francis: Telling It Like It Is — Prior to his election as Pope Francis, […]

March 28, 2013 34 Comments

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‘ATTORNEY WARS’ ENDS AS THE PLANET PREDICTED IN JANUARY: CITY DROPS LAWSUIT AGAINST DOHONEY … DEGNAN’S OFFICE ADMITS IT COULDN’T WIN … ACTION SHOWS THE TRUE PURPOSE OF FAUX LITIGATION — REVENGE FOR ‘NO-CONFIDENCEGATE’ … MOVE COMES AS ANOTHER EMBARRASSMENT FOR CITY SOLICITOR … YET AGAIN, A ‘FOUL BALL’ for BOSSIDY BUCKS … plus … SPRINGSIDE CLEANUP SET FOR APRIL 20

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013) — “Attorney Wars,” which THE PLANET exposed in all the glory of its initial pettiness more than two months ago, came to the predicted conclusion. As we prognosticated, accurately as it turns out, the city of Pittsfield has dropped its lawsuit […]

March 26, 2013 33 Comments

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‘COMMUNITY CENTERS’ AT PUBLIC HOUSING UNITS: ARE THEY INTENDED TO SERVE POLITICAL PURPOSES? DO THEY INDICATE CRIME OUT OF CONTROL? OR BOTH? … CENTERS WILL HAVE DEDICATED POLICE PRESENCE BUT DOWNTOWN WILL STILL BE WITHOUT FOOT PATROLS … MERCHANTS UPSET, MAYOR NOT BEING TRANSPARENT

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013) — It sounds good, doesn’t it, the “collaboration” among Mayor Dan Bianchi, the Pittsfield Housing Authority, the Pittsfield police department, and the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Department to embed “community centers” at Dower Square, Francis Plaza, and Wilson Park? In the […]

March 26, 2013 39 Comments

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NEW-TO-BE PITTSFIELD SCHOOL SUPT. PULLS A ‘RAZZ-MA-TAZZ’ IN LEE; SCHOOL BOARD, ADMINISTRATORS, AND TEACHERS LOVE IT, BUT TAXPAYERS ARE GETTING SICK … plus … POLITICAL CBDG PROGRAM WELL PAST THE ‘DO NOT USE’ DATE

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013) — The incoming superintendent of the Pittsfield Public Schools, Jason McCandless, recently appeared before the Lee school committee with his budget review for FY13, much as Pittsfield did recently in the “Dueling Banjos” performance featuring our Right Honorable Good Friends […]

March 25, 2013 36 Comments

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NEW POPE’s SIMPLER, LESS PRETENTIOUS, MORE HUMBLE STYLE CONNECTS WITH A WORLD JADED BY AND WORN OUT FROM CONSUMERISM … FRANCIS REACHES OUT TO NON-BELIEVERS, OTHER RELIGIONS … HOW MUCH OF THIS WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE, ULTIMATELY, FOR THE CHURCH? … plus … GET THEM BOUNCING, JIGGLING BALL GIRLS DA HECK OFF THE FIELD

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2013) — He paid his own hotel tab and carried his own luggage to the bus that he rode along with his other colleagues, even though they had a Mercedes limo waiting expressly for his private service. He told those who […]

March 22, 2013 41 Comments

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THE IRONY OF MONEY: AS TRUST IN U.S. DOLLAR ERODES, THE WORLD IS BEGINNING TO ENVISION THE END OF THE U.S. AS A VIABLE SUPERPOWER … plus … FROM THE WSJ — IT COULD BE WORSE: YOU COULD BE UNDER 40

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013) — THE PLANET been paid handsomely for NOT writing two times in our career, the first being in our lone Hollywood experience in the late 80s. We had been warned of the mantis-like nature of the town by our dear […]

March 21, 2013 38 Comments

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SPRING, IN HOURS AND MINUTES, ONCE AGAIN USHERS IN NEW LIFE … WE EMBRACE AND REFUSE NOT THE INVITATION TO DIE TO NOTHING TO BE REBORN TO ALL … THE EARTH THAWS. DIG IT. LOVE THE ‘all’ of ALL

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013) — With spring due any minute now, we begin with one of our favorite poems on the topic, long a staple for writers and poets looking for the perfect metaphor for mankind’s eternal, embedded hope: “new life out of old.” […]

March 20, 2013 76 Comments

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IS THERE MORE TO THE MATTOON RESIGNATION THAN MEETS THE EYE? COULD BE, COULD BE, BUT THEN AGAIN … plus … EGAD! ANOTHER SNOW STORM VISITS AS CITY HALL, SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ACT MATURELY (or “BRING OUT THE NAPOLEON HATS”)

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2013) — Happy St. Joseph’s feast day to you! We thought we emptied the notebook yesterday, but there were a few other items left over from Quick Hits and Hot Licks. Please be so kind as to allow THE PLANET to share […]

March 19, 2013 54 Comments

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QUICK HITS AND HOT LICKS: THE GIMME GRAB … REMO RESIGNS … MATTOON CALLS IT QUITS, TOO … LEGALIZE IT; IT’S JUST A PLANT … SPRINGSIDE INITIATIVE … HOMEOWNERS WARNED OF SCAMS … SCHOOL BUILDING NEEDS COMMISSION A FARCE … 15 FOR VO-TECH

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013) — No we did not drink any green beer yesterday, although we actually did see a Toyota Prius without an Elizabeth Warren bumper sticker — another sign that Armageddon is nigh. Shock and panic could neigh have ensued, but we […]

March 18, 2013 27 Comments

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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT “CHOO-CHOOS” AROUND COUNCIL FINACE SUBCOMMITTEE $$ QUESTIONS … TAXPAYERS GET HOSED WITH BEHNKE CONTROLLING THE SPIGOT … TECHNOLOGICAL DIVIDE POINTS OUT ACCOUNTABILITY GAP … AUTO BODY, METAL FAB PROGRAMS KEPT … BENSON LEAVING PHS … plus … “HUMAN SERVICES,” BUT AT WHAT COST?

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, FRIDAY, IDES OF MARCH, 2013) — The Wednesday night Chowder Roast and Clam Fest of the Pittsfield School Department (PSD) Bund — attended by the Pittsfield school committee and, by special invitation of interim McSuper Dr. Gordon Noseworthy after having declined one of theirs, […]

March 15, 2013 50 Comments

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WHERE THERE’s SMOKE, THERE’s A FIRE OF CONTROVERSY, BUT IN FACT, THE VAST MAJORITY SUPPORTS SMOKE-FREE PUBLIC SPACE … SMOKE-FREE CAMPUSES ON A HUGE UPTICK … BCC’s ANTI-SMOKING POLICY THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT CALL

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013) — Our praise of the anti-smoking initiative at BCC met with much scrutiny, judging by the numbers and the comments. On campus today, we found unanimous support for the ban, and although our “walking survey” can by no means be […]

March 13, 2013 40 Comments

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ONE MILLION BUCKS ON THE TABLE AS COUNCIL FINANCE SUBCOMMITTEE, SCHOOL COMMITTEE, AND PPS ADMINISTRATION PLAY HIGH-STAKES GAMES OF TEXAS FOLD-‘EM … CAN’T MISS MEETING 6 P.M. WEDNESDAY AT PHS … BCC GOING SMOKELESS ON AUG. 1, THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT CALL … NEW McSUPERINTENDENT TO PULL DOWN ‘VICINITY’ OF $150K+ … NOT A BAD VICINITY

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013) — If it’s a choice between the anti-bullying propaganda hour sponsored by the PPS and Berkshire County DA David Capeless‘ office and the school committee meeting, both coming up this Wednesday, the latter must win out. Beginning at 6 p.m. […]

March 12, 2013 33 Comments

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