Not long ago, I had dinner with a former military officer who participated in information warfare "what-if" exercises that the Pentagon and the White House ran in the late 1990s.

"If Saddam ever attacks the U.S. through the Internet and takes out a telecommunications firm, we'll be in a state of war," my dinner companion told me. "All bets are off. The Fourth Amendment is on hold. If EarthLink is attacked, the Army could show up and seize control of their servers."
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Interesting article, but the links are even more interesting.

Perspective: The first 'e-war'

] Tim W. Wood of Cycles News & Views sees what market
] timers call "a re-test of the October lows." In plainer
] English, that means investors are nervously eyeing the
] stock market's major indexes. The S&P 500's recent low of
] 782.96 was reached Oct. 7.
] "If those lows are indeed violated, the bear should be
] back in full force," says Wood in his monthly report. The
] S&P 500 (SPX: news, chart, profile), which represents
] America's largest companies, was trading at 860 on Monday
] morning.

Market timers foresee imminent crash for stocks

Secretary of State Colin Powell will likely show fabricated evidence when he presents the U.S. case against Saddam Hussein to the U.N. Security Council this week, a senior Iraq official said Sunday.

?I think they will be fabricated, space photos, aerial photos, to some details to some thing that could be interpreted in different ways just to create suspicions,? Amin said of Powell's testimony. ?They will not be real evidences because we have no weapons of mass destruction, no proscribed activities.?

Iraqi official: U.S. will lie about arms

The weather-prognosticating groundhog known as Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow during the annual Groundhog Day (news - web sites) ceremony on Sunday, signaling six more weeks of winter in North America.

Punxsutawney Phil Forecasts More Winter

WASHINGTON -- Government officials said Saturday there was no indication that terrorism was a factor in the loss of the space shuttle Columbia.

"There is no information at this time that this was a terrorist incident," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the Homeland Security Department. "Obviously the investigation is just beginning, but that is the information we have now."

---

What information??

Officials say no indication of terrorism in Columbia breakup

NBC is aggressively pushing "Kingpin," its new drug-cartel drama getting a tryout during the key February ratings sweeps.

It's a centerpiece of the network's schedule, with two episodes airing weekly from Sunday, February 2, through Tuesday, February 18. The series has been heavily promoted. And NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker even deemed "Kingpin" to be Shakespearean in its depth.

"I don't think it'll be all that," David Mills, the series' executive producer, said with a modest laugh.

But he's unfazed by comparisons, Mills says -- including to HBO's "The Sopranos" and the Oscar-winning film "Traffic," which have already broken ground on "Kingpin" themes of drugs, families and the criminal ties that bind and destroy.

'Kingpin': Pushing network TV limits

Former cop Brian O'Conner (Walker) teams up with his ex-con pal Roman Pearce (Gibson) to transport a shipment of "dirty" money for shady Miami-based import-export dealer Carter Verone (Hauser), while actually working with undercover agent Monica Clemente (Mendes) to bring Verone down.

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

An author of how-to books on growing marijuana and avoiding the law was convicted Friday of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy charges.

The federal jury concluded that Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "Guru of Ganja," was growing more than 100 plants, conspiring to cultivate marijuana and maintaining a warehouse for a growing operation. Rosenthal, 58, faces a maximum of 85 years in prison when sentenced June 4.

'Guru of Ganja' convicted of cultivation

Computer security experts say the recent "SQL Slammer" worm, the worst in more than a year, is evidence that Microsoft's year-old security push is not working.

"Trustworthy Computing is failing," Russ Cooper of TruSecure Corp. said of the Microsoft initiative. "I gave it a 'D-minus' at the beginning of the year, and now I'd give it an 'F."'

Experts: Microsoft security gets an 'F'

] The next round of globalization is sending upscale jobs
] offshore. They include basic research, chip design,
] engineering--even financial analysis. Can America lose
] these jobs and still prosper? Who wins? Who loses?

This seems so Office Space

The New Global Job Shift