Berlin has one sort-of Las Vegas style casino, named "Speilbank Berlin." It is on the Marlene-Deitrich Platz across the street from the newish Grand Hyatt Hotel. Both these enterprisesand the surrounding buildings and shops were developed by Daimler-Benz and Sony Corporation out of the rubble of the "no man’s land" that existed between East and West Berlin during the Wall period. People trying to escape Communism used to get shot at and chased by tommy-gun armed East German "Vopos" and their German Shepherds in this area. And now, since the early 1990s development boom,amongst other new development still buzzing in the area, and in old east Berlin, there is Der Speilbank.A monument to freedom. Acasino.

Purely for investigative purposes I visited Der Speilbank late last night after a plateof schnitzel and white asparagras (in season here and a local delicacy) at my hotel. The contrasts to Vegas,or one of our Indian casinos,were most interesting.

First, unlike Vegas, you need to pay 2 Euros (a little less than $4) just to enter this casino. Not a lot of money, but it seems the Germans… Read More

As California and its citizens worry about the bad economy and massive budget deficit facing the state, the University of California continues to run an island paradise for a few students and professors, subsidized with taxes and student tuition.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, (April 14, 2008, “Amid state budget crunch, UC runs island paradise”), “The University of California has created a little-known South Pacific station it calls research “paradise” on what some travelers consider the most beautiful island in the world.” It must be nice, “[s]urrounded by clear waters lapping white-sand beaches, and covered by forests topped by jagged peaks, it’s ‘UC Berkeley’s best-kept secret,’ declares the Berkeley Science Review. Real estate agents call it ‘Fantasy Island.’”… Read More

It seems like this morning on the main FR page, we did a "disservice" of sorts to our friend Malcolm Maclachlan, an ace reporter over at the Capitol Weekly. This morning’s Cap Weekly featured an interview that Malcolm conducted with "well traveled" pornographic film star Nina Hartley (see the cover of one of Hartley’s "publications" to the right).

However, we incorrectly attributed the interview to Shane Goldmacher, who used to work for CapWeekly and is now over with the Sacramento Bee.

Sorry for the mixup. Shane, to be sure, when you have a chance to interview a porn star, we’ll endeavor to get it right. In the meantime, it’s Malcolm whom FR Capitol readers can pester for the parts of the interview that didn’t make it past CW’s Editor, John Howard.… Read More

It would appear that San Diego Major Jerry Sanders has reached his boiling point when it comes to dealing with challenger Steve Francis. At a recent gathering, Francis apparently reached out to shake the Mayor’s hand, and instead Sanders dropped the "F" Bomb on his opponent. I guess when you buy as much television time as Francis has done, it has gotten "under the skin" of Sanders. Check out the San Diego U-T’s blog post on this here.

I can’t figure out Steve Francis, by the way. I was pretty excited by his candidacy early on. But he keeps campaigning like an Arnold, Jr. For Earth Day, he sent out an e-mail in which he embraced the whole global warming alarmist agenda, leading one to wonder what new types of regulatory burdens he would place on the people of San Diego.

To be honest, I was pretty displeased with the way that the San Diego County GOP endorsed the incumbent, Sanders, with no notice and opportunity for Francis to make his… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail:

The Pope of California

… Read More

Late last month, a federal judge ordered the state’s largest public employee union, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, to repay as many as 28,000 non-union state workers, who were not given a change to challenge the union’s 2005 dues increase to fight the Governor’s slate of reform measures (the unions were not excited by the measures which, if they had passed, would have averted the fiscal crisis we find ourselves in today).

It’s a bit convoluted, the process by which non-union members can get stiffed with a union fee, but the real issue here is that this decision by Judge Morrisson England, is so after-the-fact so as to be almost laughable if it wasn’t tragic. Yeah, it’s morally right that the SEIU thug-bosses have to go back (under the Judge’s orders) and ask these state employees if they object to the assessment, and if so, refund them each around $135 plus interest.

But the point is that the damage is done.

We caught up with Lew Uhler, President of the National Tax Limitation Committee. We sought… Read More

Late last month, a federal judge ordered the state’s largest public employee union, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, to repay as many as 28,000 non-union state workers, who were not given a change to challenge the union’s 2005 dues increase to fight the Governor’s slate of reform measures (the unions were not excited by the measures which, if they had passed, would have averted the fiscal crisis we find ourselves in today).

It’s a bit convoluted, the process by which non-union members can get stiffed with a union fee, but the real issue here is that this decision by Judge Morrisson England, is so after-the-fact so as to be almost laughable if it wasn’t tragic. Yeah, it’s morally right that the SEIU thug-bosses have to go back (under the Judge’s orders) and ask these state employees if they object to the assessment, and if so, refund them each around $135 plus interest.

But the point is that the damage is done.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

I am just arrived in Berlin todayfor a round of meetings to advance Mike Reagan’s trip here in early July. Mike will bebroadcasting his daily radio talk show from here. I am also on a secret mission,working on a project for Mike,which, if successful, will also be announced by him on his trip here.

The history of Berlin, particularly the more contemporary history, is both fascinating and heart-breaking. And Berliners really care about it. On a short walk this morning from Potsdamer Platz to Pariser Platz, the enormity of the confrontation between East and West that resulted in the creation in 1961 and destruction in 1989, of the Berlin Wall, is literally pushed into your face.Good for Berlin!

The street I walked along connecting the two traffic circles was itself literally ground zero of the Berlin Wall. At Potsdamer Bahnhof, where I started my walk, amidst a beautiful open-air shopping area, I encountered about 20 yards of the real wall, reconstructed as a monument to that grim time, for all to see. The Berlin Senate includes discriptive signs along with the pieces of the wall, and stories and pictures of its… Read More