SQUID FRY 10.03.13 - Sad Farr…

SAD FARR… It’s never easy for Squid to be cheerful, but Squid’s bitterness has spiked recently over local traffic (a half-freaking-hour from Alvarado to north Monterey?!) and Seaside’s bone-headed handling of Measures K/M.

So imagine how blissful – and foreign – it felt at Randy and Yati Sahae’s hacienda in the Carmel Valley sun, eating gourmet Cali-Mexican food and sipping local wines while listening to local Dems toast sustainable superstar Cindy Walter.

But even that got depressing – and Squid’s not talking about the sad state of Squid’s ocean home, a prominent theme of the soiree, which makes local traffic and M/K look like a bubble bath.

California Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird was the first to broach the bummer in explaining why event sponsor Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, wasn’t there: because of the impending government shutdown orchestrated by a divided Republican party. “Sam is busy in Washington,” Laird said, “being held captive by terrorists.”

Later Farr’s wife Shary chimed in: “I can’t tell you how much Sam wishes he was here. He sounds discouraged and exhausted. He’s feeling so positive about what’s happening internationally with Iran, yet can’t believe we can’t get it together nationally.”

Well, great. Farr – an eternal optimist – is the polar opposite of Squid as far as perspective goes. If he’s depressed, Squid’s going to go find a cold, dark marine trench to match Squid’s heart temperature.

KNOW NOTHINGS… Squid was all set to go oozing up Half Dome in Yosemite this week, until the government shutdown. At least Naval Postgraduate School’s Monterey Pines golf course stayed open – all those furloughed swabbies need something to do.

And at least House Republicans knew what they were working with. Unlike the Monterey County Board of Supervisors in making a major health care decision on Oct. 1 , with zero information. Natividad Medical Center and Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital squared off in seeking the county’s designation as a trauma center, which means they’d treat the most critically injured patients. The supes went for Natividad – based only on the mysterious recommendation of a panel comprising five unnamed experts.

“Can you give us an idea of what the team was looking at?” Supervisor Jane Parker asked. (Denied.) This was not the kind of vote that builds confidence in county government, even if it’s still open. As Supervisor Lou Calcagno put it, “None of us on this dais have the ability to analyze this.” Meaning a secret team of secret experts gets to tell the county supes how to vote, based on purportedly extensive analysis no one is allowed to see. That sounds almost as good as the leadership the Tea Party delivers.