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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: russwinter who wrote (63350)	6/12/2006 9:25:42 AM
From: Mike Johnston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

Another side effect of the housing and credit bubble: China pollution reaching the US west coast. HANJING, China — One of China's lesser-known exports is a dangerous brew of soot, toxic chemicals and climate-changing gases from the smokestacks of coal-burning power plants. In early April, a dense cloud of pollutants over Northern China sailed to nearby Seoul, sweeping along dust and desert sand before wafting across the Pacific. An American satellite spotted the cloud as it crossed the West Coast. Researchers in California, Oregon and Washington noticed specks of sulfur compounds, carbon and other byproducts of coal combustion coating the silvery surfaces of their mountaintop detectors. These microscopic particles can work their way deep into the lungs, contributing to respiratory damage, heart disease and cancer. Filters near Lake Tahoe in the mountains of eastern California "are the darkest that we've seen" outside smoggy urban areas, said Steven S. Cliff, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California at Davis. Unless China finds a way to clean up its coal plants and the thousands of factories that burn coal, pollution will soar both at home and abroad. The increase in global-warming gases from China's coal use will probably exceed that for all industrialized countries combined over the next 25 years, surpassing by five times the reduction in such emissions that the Kyoto Protocol seeks. The sulfur dioxide produced in coal combustion poses an immediate threat to the health of China's citizens, contributing to about 400,000 premature deaths a year. It also causes acid rain that poisons lakes, rivers, forests and crops. The sulfur pollution is so pervasive as to have an extraordinary side effect that is helping the rest of the world, but only temporarily: It actually slows global warming. The tiny, airborne particles deflect the sun's hot rays back into space. But the cooling effect from sulfur is short-lived. By contrast, the carbon dioxide emanating from Chinese coal plants will last for decades, with a cumulative warming effect that will eventually overwhelm the cooling from sulfur and deliver another large kick to global warming, climate scientists say. A warmer climate could lead to rising sea levels, the spread of tropical diseases in previously temperate climes, crop failures in some regions and the extinction of many plant and animal species, especially those in polar or alpine areas. nytimes.com

To: russwinter who wrote (63350)	6/13/2006 9:14:41 AM
From: shades	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

Bitsbergers Women? (holy inflation batman - 11K for a piece of tail?? and that was 20 years ago - her modern equivalent is probably 50K an hour eh?) nydailynews.com Can't buy her love … or did they? Heather Mills McCartney Heather Mills McCartney is counterpunching at British reports that she was once a high-priced call girl who took part in orgies with rich Arabs. Continuing the newspapers' scourging of Sir Paul's estranged wife, London's News of the World reported on Sunday that, when the future Lady McCartney was in her 20s, arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi paid her more than $11,000 to have sex — and that a Saudi prince shelled out $9,000-plus to join in a three-way with another woman. Denise Hewitt, identified as a former prostitute, claimed she performed a lesbian sex act with Heather. Petrina Montrose, said to be a former escort, alleged Heather and the prince had it on at London's Dorchester Hotel. Lawyers for Heather, now 38, said she "strongly denies the allegations," calling the paper's sources "unreliable persons who have been paid for these stories" and noting that she had refuted the stories when they surfaced four years ago. But Abdul Khoury, identified as Khashoggi's former private secretary, contended in the News of the World that "she has repeatedly lied. She was a hooker. I know. I paid her." The current prostitution claim comes just days after British papers carried saucy pictures of Heather from a German book, "Die Freuden Der Liebe," or "The Joys of Love." Heather's defenders have insisted the book was an educational marital guide. Britain's upmarket Independent detected "a deliberately orchestrated attempt to discredit the former model, who has always had a difficult relationship with the press." Friends of Sir Paul vouch he has had nothing to do with the smear campaign. "Paul told everyone in his camp he wanted the divorce handled with integrity," a pal tells us. "He doesn't want their [2-year-old] daughter, Beatrice, reading anything like this when she grows up." The British press were often hard on Paul's late wife, Linda, who seems saintly by comparison. "There's a tremendous affection for Paul," says one media-watcher. "It's brutal being married to a Beatle. Heather had a bull's-eye on her from day one. But I've never seen anything like this. The British press may have known a lot of this all along but held back out of respect for Paul." As for reports that Heather would defend herself in an interview, a friend of the couple says, "That's erroneous. Would you do an interview if you were her?"