July 3, 2002

Water laced with nicotine is billed as a "refreshing break to the smoking habit," but the Food and Drug Administration ruled Tuesday that it's also illegal – ending a California company's bid to begin selling bottles later this month. [ Washington Post ] And yet caffeine water (coffee) is legal.  What is up with that? 3:07:21 PM

Leader Views WorldCom as Security Issue for the Nation. John W. Sidgmore, the C.E.O. of WorldCom, said the company's survival was a national security issue and that his management team was not responsible for the company's accounting problems. By Simon Romero. [New York Times: Technology] "Mr. Sidgmore, who came to WorldCom in 1996 and held top operating positions at the company until late 1998, made $77 million from selling WorldCom stock in the last six years." 12:21:19 PM

How One Spam Leads to Another. Once your e-mail gets on a spam list, you're basically doomed. Now there's a 'map' that illustrates that doomsday path. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News] 12:12:31 PM

Omar Karsou is a Palestinian businessman who recently launched the Palestinian Democracy Movement.  He  is credited with influencing George Bush's speech on democracy in the Arab world. He wrote an opinion in the Telegraph where he argues against the current regime. "Palestinians have been manipulated for too long now. Our cause has been used by numerous Arab leaders to rally their own people, distract attention from the suffering in their own societies, postpone democratic reform and to avoid being accountable for their actions. As a result, Israelis have claimed for years that Palestinians were an "Arab responsibility" and that Arabs were not ready to make peace. When the peace process finally came, we thought we had a chance to shape our future and claim independence. The return of the Palestinian leadership from exile was a symbol of that." "Unfortunately, we were mistaken. The returning leaders brought with them an alien system of governance. They had lived most of their lives as refugees or freedom fighters in other Arab countries and they felt that Palestinians should remain the cannon fodder in the battle between pan-Arabism and Zionism."   11:37:13 AM