BULLIES AND A BUDGET… There are people Squid doesn’t muck with under any circumstances. Like God. Also, the guy in charge of karma. Squid doesn’t muck with him, either. And people who hold keys to cells of, say, serial murderers.

It’s not a huevos thing. It’s a matter of self-preservation really.

But the Governator doesn’t share Squid’s instinct. That’s probably why he told California’s prison guards to pound sand recently when they started a recall effort against him because they haven’t had a new contract in two years, and were left off the short list of state employees like firefighters and cops who are exempt from the pay cut Schwarzenegger imposed but nobody will enforce.

Schwarzey slammed his fists into his chest and told reporters the guards can’t intimidate him. In turn, the guards called the governor a “failure” who “stands for nothing.”

No word yet on whether the phrases “nanny nanny nanny goat” or “I know you are but what am I?” have been used. Meanwhile, the longest stalemate in the history of the state’s budget continues.

WET AND WILD… Last week, Squid wrote about the Regional Plenary Oversight Group (REPOG), a group of local agencies, activists, etc., who developed the Monterey Regional Water Project (including recycled water, Salinas Basin groundwater, water from the Salinas River diversion program, a regional desalination facility, ongoing water conservation) as an alternative to Cal Am’s planned Moss Landing desal project. And then Squid attacked (with a supersoaker) local agencies’ failure to sign onto a contract to finance the REPOG process, which prompted Howard Gustafson, president of the Marina Coast Water District Board of Directors, to call Squid.

“Marina Coast Water District is the only one who supports the REPOG at this time,” he said. “We have put up the money for that share of the regional project. I don’t know why you did not report that.”

It’s simple, Mr. President: Squid refuses to let the facts get in the way of a good story. (In fact, REPOG has a financial commitment from Marina Coast Water District, Cal Am and Castroville Community Services District, according to Steve Kasower, one of the brains behind the REPOG brawn.)

“What’s important to you, actually, in the Weekly,” Gustafson continued, “your pontifications or the facts?”

Hmmm. That’s a toughie. But Squid’s gonna go with pontification. It’s more fun than facts.

“Start looking into it,” Gustafson said. “And quit being such a rag.”