Senators want to give Don Barden the boot

Wow, a lot happened while I was at the beach.

For starters, this very site made the big time, showing up in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's online Casino Journal. I particularly like how they had to take "shitting" and paraphrase it to "taking a big dookie" to conform to family-newspaper standards. Anyway, thanks for the attention, Post-Gazette. And thus the journalistic circle jerk of me linking to them, then them linking to me, then me linking back to them is now complete.

Elsewhere, it seems two state senators now have the same idea everyone with half a brain had last week -- just take the damn slots license away from Don Barden and give it to somebody else. Sens. Jane Orie and Jim Ferlo want to open the application process again and give the license to a new group willing to resume construction on the North Shore casino. I like the idea, the Post-Gazette likes the idea, but I'm guessing a revocation of Barden's license would result in a hell of a lawsuit the state would probably rather avoid. (Even if ownership is restructured, Barden will still have a stake in the casino. He won't go quietly with that much money on the line.) By the way, can you imagine what the outcry over this Barden mess would be like if the Pens would have never secured an arena deal and were now setting up shop in Kansas City? I shudder to think ...

Lastly, it turns out one of those real-estate-fund operators who may end up owning the Majestic Star (or whatever the hell it will be called) isn't quite so nameless and faceless. He's Neil Bluhm. He's from Chicago. He can afford to sit at the $25-$50 NL table.