DOUBLE SPEAK AND STANDARDS… Oh, that TONY LOMBARDO. With his dashing smile and shock of white hair, he’s so good at playing the unstoppable developer’s attorney. If Squid ever decides to build, say, a 400-high-end-home project, with a golf course, without sufficient water or sewers or roads (Environmental impacts? What environmental impacts?), Squid’s definitely hiring Lombardo to push the proposal to a yes from the MONTEREY COUNTY SUPERVISORS. Yes, SEPTEMBER RANCH developer JIM MORGENS sure did find a gem.

Last week, at a county planning commission meeting to review Morgens’ contentious 109-home subdivision in Carmel Valley, Lombardo told commissioners that lawsuit-happy residents who oppose the project—for silly reasons like traffic congestion and lack of water—are hurting the debate.

“It is unfortunate that the dialogue on this project is no longer the merits of the project but that some people are engaging in a game of ‘gotcha’ to get into court,” Lombardo said at the July 26 meeting.

But wait, thinks Squid, isn’t this what Lombardo has been doing to stop the proposed CARMEL VALLEY INCORPORATION? He’s been against public hearings or a vote on whether the Valley should become a town since the get go. Most recently, he sent a letter to the Local Agency Formation Commission saying that he feared a vote on incorporation would violate state law. Hmm…sounds like a lawsuit threat to Squid, as opposed to dialogue (aka a public hearing or vote) on the merits of the project.

FOX NEWS AND ITS  FRIENDS…With all the celebrities, politicians and celebrity politicians visiting Pebble Beach  as guests of RUPERT MURDOCH, Squid had to crash the party.

As a chopper circled (Secret Service? Paparazzi?), Squid and Squidette, disguised as tourists, waltzed in the back door of Spanish Bay’s bar on Sunday.

None of the celebs were within eyeshot. Nor were any of Murdoch’s more famous employees—no  BILL O’REILLY, no SEAN HANNITY.

The hundreds of visitors in various stages of arrival were all casually dressed—some fashionably so—and looked like…journalists! Squid recognized the type from similar (but less fancy) gatherings.

Squid wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that in their off hours, all of the people affiliated with Fox News et al display the horns growing out of their heads, but these people looked like ordinary media types. Some even looked cool—one guy had two earrings! (“Photographer,” Squidette quipped.)

Maybe this explains the left-wing slant to the line-up (Clinton, Gore and Bono; no Coulter, Gingrich or Delay). Squid relies on over-simplification to make it through this complex world. So what the heck is going on in Pebble Beach this week?