Earlier today, I posted a link to the Brendan & Becky engagement page to Fark.com. My suggested headline: “Farker proposes to girlfriend with airplane flying overhead. She says yes. Unmarried guys everywhere say, ‘Thanks for raising the bar, asshat.’”

The link didn’t make the Fark main page, but it did create a lively discussion on the subscription-only Totalfark, where all submissions are visible. “From the pics it appears these two are in Junior High. Don’t know if I appove of this marriage,” wrote CruiseMan, presumably noting the photo of Becky and me in front of John Adams Middle School. Missmez asked, “Is there any way I can convince you to combine your last names when you get married? To Loyzak? Cause that would be cool.” He/she later added, “Becky: Total. Doll. I have spoken.” Last but not least, in response to my recollection of Becky’s willingness to come with me to Trilogy Tuesday (”If that’s not love, I don’t know what is”), Bride of Oscar Goldman wrote, “She’s NEVER going to sit through 13 hours of LOTR after driving from Phoenix again. That diamond was the carrot on the stick.” Heh.

Incidentally, the Totalfark link has resulted in 124 recorded hits so far. One of those 124 was a friend of my mom’s, J. B. Connoley, who e-mailed my mom with his congratulations after following the link. Small world!

Incidentally, on the topic of that middle school, the reason we were on its front lawn was because Santa Monica College’s Corsair Field, where the “Celebrate America” festival was being held, was pretty damn full by the time we arrived. So we decided to sit on the school’s lawn, which was still pretty empty, instead, figuring that location would afford us a good view of the fireworks. We were right — and now John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica, CA will always hold a special place in our hearts. I e-mailed the principal and the webmaster yesterday, with photos. :)

P.S. A Google News search reveals that John Adams school recently won a grant from the California Fertilizer Foundation. That might sound utterly irrelevant, but actually, Becky and I have often joked about the romantic significance of fertilizer in our relationship, owing to the presence of its pervasive odor on USC’s campus during the week when we first started dating. So, you see, it’s fate! :) I’m not going to carry this analogy too far, however… :)

Andrew Sullivan on The Republican Lie:

Finally, a conservative objects to the fact that social liberals are all going to be given the prime speaking spots at the Republican convention. Kate O’Beirne wants to know where the real leaders of today’s GOP are: Rick Santorum, Tom DeLay, Bill Frist. She’s right. If it’s a sign of weakness that Kerry picked Edwards, why is it not a sign of panic that Republicans are showcasing people who have opposed much of Bush’s domestic agenda at their convention?

But it’s not a sign of panic; it’s a sign of calculated deception. More specifically, it’s a sign that the Republicans believe the public is too stupid to see through their charade. And the sad thing is, they’re probably right — even though it’s the same exact charade they pulled in 2000, and the public should know better after four years of decidedly right-wing policymaking. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, four more years.

In the linked article, O’Beirne writes:

The decision to showcase rogue elephants as representatives of the modern Republican party is not the mark of a self-confident party establishment. If the lineup is intended to make an overwhelmingly conservative party attractive to swing voters, it does so by pretending to be something it’s not.

Indeed.

John Kerry & John Edwards: a little too close? We report, you deride. Er, decide. :)

Well, at least the Post can laugh at itself:

Yesterday:

Today:

Of course, the Daily News can laugh at it, too:

Heh. Here’s the Daily News story on the Post’s blunder.

UPDATE: The Associated Press reports:

The Post’s main competitor, the Daily News, gloated over its rival’s blunder, sending bottles of sparkling wine to Post headquarters along with a note reading, “Congratulations on your ‘exclusive’!!! Have a nice day.”

Heh.

This would suck:

Phoenix faces the threat of rolling blackouts on Wednesday after a fire at a major power substation reduced the amount of electricity that could be moved into the city, a utility spokesman said.

“So far, we have managed to avoid any involuntary curtailments but we are in a very tight situation and tomorrow (Wednesday) will be even tighter,” Alan Bunnell, a spokesman for utility Arizona Public Service, said on Tuesday.

Bunnell said the utility was “having an aggressive conservation push” in a bid to avert rolling blackouts with temperatures in Phoenix seen climbing to around 109 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday.

Here’s a press release from the energy company, asking people to voluntarily conserve energy.

Meanwhile, the Willow wildfire is still raging, and though nearby towns are said to be safe, the $200 million Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham could be in the line of fire, literally. Here’s a live webcam view of the threatened observatory.

This is pure genius:

Here’s my ideal plan for the Kerry campaign. At an upcoming rally, an anti-Kerry protestor starts to burn an American flag. Kerry leaps down from the podium and starts strangling the protestor with his bare hands, then hurls him to the ground and rescues the flag. In the course of putting out the fire, he suffers minor burns that, the campaign announces, will force him to be hospitalized and inaccessible to the media and the public until mid-October. In the meantime, Edwards is dispatched to present the Democratic message for the next three and half months.

Heh.

(Hat tip: The Belgravia Dispatch.)

I knew it would be tough for Kerry to keep up with Bush’s torrid fundraising pace, but really, I didn’t expect him to sink this low…

Selling balloons along Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade? C’mon, John, you’re better than that! :)

But, hey, at least he’s not this guy:

More Third Street photos (taken yesterday afternoon) here. More photos of our L.A. trip here, here, here, and here.

As already noted below, John Kerry has chosen John Edwards as his runningmate. Hooray! Ladies and gentlemen, the Senators John!

Here is the New York Times article about Kerry’s pick. Here’s the AP story. And here’s an excellent collection of links from InstaPundit. Then there’s Wonkette: “Obvious Choices Rock!” Heh.

Meanwhile, the New York Post had a bit of a “Dewey Defeats Truman” moment this morning:

Hehehe. Naturally, The Smoking Gun is there. So is the AP.

Drudge reports that we’ll know Kerry’s runningmate within six hours:

Kerry intends to begin calling the major candidates in contention around 7 a.m. Tuesday to give them the news of his choice…

Kerry’s aides reported placards had been printed with three versions of the Democratic ticket: Kerry-Edwards, Kerry-Gephardt and Kerry-Vilsack, though they acknowledged that Kerry could still surprise even them with a different selection…

Kerry will appear at a big morning rally in Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh and announce choice at 9 a.m. Tuesday, before flying to Indianapolis.

The running mate’s political director would be Linda Moore, who was President Bill Clinton’s deputy political director and then Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh’s deputy chief of staff…

Hmm… flying to Indianapolis… Evan Bayh’s deputy chief of staff… “could still surprise…with a different selection”… could it be Bayh?

Stay tuned!

Here is CNN’s article.

UPDATE, 1:22 AM: Wonkette thinks the surprise choice, if any, might be Bob Graham. But then she adds, “We’re not saying we heard it will be Graham. Just that he’s a strong fourth to the Big Three. At this late hour, the drums across the Potomac are beating out ‘Edwards.’ But that could be the bourbon talking.”

UPDATE, 2:08 AM: ABC’s Noted Now reports:

VEEPSTAKES FRENZY!

PRESS CORPS SALIVATING, RUMINATING…

KERRY IN INTERVIEW WITH WTAE: “I’ve made no decision at this point and time.”

LAST MINUTE ATTENTION FOCUSES ON SEN. JOHN EDWARDS… Some Democrats have been doing a last-minute review of his records over the holiday weekend…

Meanwhile, here is the New York Times article from which Drudge apparently got his information (above). Headline: “Kerry Aides Make Plans for No. 2, Whoever It Is.” Heh. Excerpt:

John Kerry’s advisers said Monday that he was planning to announce his running mate on Tuesday morning and that he was orchestrating an elaborate rollout of the Democratic ticket first on the Internet, then at a rally here and finally in a multistate tour beginning in Ohio and ending later this week in the vice-presidential candidate’s hometown.

Mr. Kerry’s most senior aides said he had not divulged his decision to them as of Monday evening, in keeping with what one adviser described as Mr. Kerry’s “obsession” with ensuring that the rejected candidates hear it from him personally rather than from the news media, as Mr. Kerry did when Al Gore passed him over four years ago. Some aides said Mr. Kerry could still change the plan that had been put together but described that as unlikely. …

Speculation increasingly centered on Mr. Edwards, Mr. Kerry’s longest lasting serious rival in the Democratic primaries, because of a meeting held Thursday night between him and Mr. Kerry at the Georgetown home of Madeleine K. Albright, the former secretary of state, Democratic officials said. Mr. Edwards interrupted a family vacation in Florida for the session. Mr. Edwards’s advocates said they were increasingly hopeful on Monday. But aides to Mr. Kerry cautioned that too much should not be read into the late-night meeting, noting that the Democratic presidential contender had held similar unannounced sessions with Mr. Vilsack, Mr. Gephardt and other Democrats he has been considering over the last three months. …

Mr. Kerry, said one associate familiar with the plan, intended to begin calling the major candidates in contention around 7 a.m. Tuesday to give them the news of his choice

The first public word of Mr. Kerry’s selection is to be conveyed after the phone calls in an e-mail message to supporters who signed up on the Web site johnkerry.com, aides said. More than 150,000 people have enrolled on the site since Friday, when Mr. Kerry first promised to release his decision this way, his spokesman, David Wade, said.

If all goes according to plan, Mr. Kerry will appear at a big morning rally in Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh and announce his choice at about 9 a.m. Tuesday, aides said, before flying to Indianapolis to address a convention of the A.M.E. Church. He will then return to his wife’s farmhouse in Fox Chapel, Pa., in the critical electoral turf of Allegheny County, to await the arrival of his new No. 2 for an overnight visit.

At some point Tuesday afternoon Mr. Kerry and his running mate are to appear for a wave to the cameras, which would provide, in time for the evening news, the first post-selection images of the two men together.

A few aides cautioned that given Mr. Kerry’s penchant for secrecy, he could still delay the announcement in reaction to news accounts of his deliberations. …

As Mr. Kerry kept his own counsel, his entire campaign was on high alert over the holiday weekend, preparing a precision operation that was being secretly planned down to the last press release and camera angle. Teams of aides were waiting to swoop into action to proclaim, promote, defend, prepare, inform, support, transport, care for and feed whomever Mr. Kerry selects - all on a moment’s notice.

One aide said that signs designed for the losing candidates “are going to be worth a lot on eBay one day.”

Heh. I had thought of that, too.

As for the Internet announcement plan, Wonkette reports that “Joe Trippi told Chris Matthews that to deliver the 1 million emails announcing the pick to supporters by 9AM, the Kerry campaign would have to start emailing at 1AM.” I don’t see why that would be, but who knows? Anyway, it’s just after 5:00 AM Eastern time now, so if all goes according to plan, I should be getting an e-mail from the Kerry campaigning annoucing his veep sometimes between 2 and 4 hours from now…

@messaging.sprintpcs.comWe’re home! :)

“A Democratic official who has talked with Kerry told CNN that the candidate has indeed made a decision, and would announce it shortly,” CNN reports.