Unnecessary Schooling: The Wall Street Journal is sending some of its foreign correspondents to school in Europe to learn how to avoid Danny Pearl's dreadful fate. It would be cheaper, perhaps, to give them a little card to carry says: 1. Don't go to meetings with bad guys by yourself. 2. Don't get in cars with drivers you never met. 3. In certain parts of the world, give up any notion that underneath, everyone is basically sweet and wishes you well.

Internal Advice: John McCaslin in the Washington Times reports an on-air remark by Paul Begala that is fairly breathtaking in its mindless immorality. It does make one wish Bubba would put the moves on Mrs. Begala just to see if her husband is able to be consistent.

Girls Night Out: We particularly liked the reason a lady manatee ran herself aground on a Florida beach. Authorities tell the AP she was being chased by amorous males and wanted to hide her private parts and get some rest. Ldotters have provided enough clever remarks to negate our having to out-do them.

You Asked........about the origin of the enormous flag picture we published on Saturday's front page. It was made of flowers! It covers six acres and can be seen by driving down V Street south of Ocean Avenue in Lompoc, California and sticking your head out the window.

Who Is Killing The Great Princes of Saudi? Three Saudi princes have perished in the last few days (there are thousands so this is hardly a dent). The most suspicious death was that of a 25 year old prince with a name too long to type who "died of thirst in the desert." Yeah.

Cheap Is As Cheap Does: Perhaps the most galling presumption in Hillary's defense of asking for Whitewater expenses to be reimbursed is her citation of "presidential precedence." There were a few other precedents she and her husband might have observed, i.e., no sex in the Oval Office, no selling of national secrets to foreigners, no pardons for known criminals and no backing up the truck for the White House objets d'art. We could go on.

Note To Ldotters: We have a search function icon at the top of our front page. When posting, particularly later in the day , (our night time posters grab news with the speed of striking snakes) please type the by line (the name of the writer) of the article you want to post into the search space. That way you won't duplicate others' efforts, cause the staff to take the time and effort to delete your work and keep us from getting cranky in the 105 degree heat.

-Your Not-Quite-Cranky-Yet-LComStaff