OM AMEN… Every night before beddiebye, Squid folds all 10 appendages and gives thanks to Poseidon. Thanks for the many fish in the sea, thanks for election-season entertainment, and thanks for that handy little thing called “separation of church and state” – which should quell Squid’s fears of getting a Sharia-style stoning for Squid’s promiscuous ways.


So why, Squid wonders, are Seaside and Sand City clinging to the tradition of opening their city council meetings with prayers instead of just pledging allegiance, as most other local jurisdictions do? Squid has no problem bowing Squid’s head in the sea-temple, but it doesn’t feel right in council chambers. And Squid’s noted those prayers are predominantly Christian. 


Squid says namaste, then, to Rajan Zed. The Universal Society of Hinduism president offered verses from Hindu scripture at the Seaside City Council meeting on Aug. 16, and at the Sand City meeting Aug. 21. “Many cities don’t have prayers, and many who do never have Hindu prayers,” he tells Squid. “It’s a way to create a dialogue.”


Squid doesn’t think religion belongs in public meetings at all, but at least Zed’s adding denominational diversity to the mix.


PANTS OFF DANCE OFF… Speaking of election-season entertainment (Clint Eastwood showing Mitt Romney 1-percent-on-1-percent lovin’; Pebble Beach resident and extreme renditioner Condoleezza Rice becoming a symbol of women’s equality as the Augusta National Golf Club decides to admit her into their previously-no-vaginas-allowed bastion), Squid fears some entertaining political news related to our own redneck of the woods might be overlooked. Seems a bunch of GOP party boys, led by Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder, took a late-night swim last summer. No big deal – except Yoder was drunk and nakey, the body of water was the Sea of Galilee and the congressmen were in Israel as the American Israel Education Foundation’s guests.


And, oh yeah, Monterey County’s very own Republican bad-boy Jeff Denham was there too, and took a little swim himself. But he swears: The pants stayed on.


In a statement issued Monday, Denham says he and his wife plunged “in a completely appropriate manner, something we had planned ahead of time.”


Denham faces former migrant-worker-turned-NASA-astronaut Jose Hernandez in November. A GOP-linked law firm sued to try to keep him from using “astronaut” in his bio. Squid isn’t sure what else to call someone who orbited the Earth on a space-shuttle mission, but Squid believes the proper term for Republicans who can’t keep their pants on and stay sober in Israel might be dumbasses.