PARTY GUY… Despite the endless entertainment value of stories about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love child and Anthony Weiner’s weiner, Squid thinks even politicians have a right to some privacy. But even Squid couldn’t hold Squid’s jaw up when the latest rumor about Salinas City Councilman Steve McShane was confirmed – by press release, no less.


Sure, there were clues: his cowboy-businessman fashion sense, his boundless enthusiasm for posses like Monterey County Young Professionals and Central Coast Young Farmers and Ranchers, his penchant for wild parties following his split from contractor Don Chapin’s daughter.


McShane’s Facebook page essentially denies the rumors. “Religious views: Christian,” it states. “Political views: Moderate.” “Interested in: Women.” So you can imagine Squid’s surprise when McShane himself sent a press release all but admitting it: 


He’s a Tea Partier.


McShane is the organizer of a June 18 support-our-troops rally and fundraiser at his nursery in Salinas – sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots of Monterey County. 


“Moderate,” Squid’s fin.


Salinas Council positions are non-partisan, and McShane has a right to associate with whatever nutbag political ideologies he wants to. But Squid wishes Squid had known this piece of info during the election. Really, Steve. Ick.


POKING LEON… Speaking of Facebook, Squid admits to having wasted a few hours cultivating crops on Farmville and taking stupid polls. But Squid wouldn’t have guessed that Leon Panetta has some of those same predilections.


At least, someone pretending to be Panetta did. A Facebook account bearing the CIA chief’s name and official portrait started making the rounds last week. Among the nearly 700 people who friended Leon: Mann Packing’s Gina Nucci, TMDcreative’s Nick Pasculli and Greenfield Police Chief Joe Grebmeier. 


Leon’s friends got right to the business of buttering him up, extolling his virtues as a patriot and a source of Monterey County pride. Then something weird happened: Leon started issuing orders on his Facebook wall. “I need that information ASAP!” read a note to one purported staffer. “Working on it, chief,” came the response. 


Within a couple of days, Leon’s Facebook page disappeared as fast as an Al-Qaeda terrorist in Pakistan. There’s no word on whether the CIA stormed the Facebook headquarters in search of Faux Leon’s account information, or simply asked for the account to be removed.


Extreme rendition can be painful, especially for pasty-faced Internet pranksters.