Today's story about garbage threatening the Three Gorges Dam could be seen as a metaphor of all things going on in China. China is huge. It's got a gigantic, expanding economy, which also yields huge amounts of trash, toxic waste, and social pressures.

China is hyped by the mainstream press and many investment gurus, including hedge-fund ace Jim Rogers. Sometimes it reads as if China is the golden growth story. But a lot of this hype is overdone, and ignores many serious problems within both the Chinese economy and political-social landscape.

This doesn't mean I don't like China. It's an incredibly complex country. It has immense cultural and political history, and an a deep culture -- not to mention good wonton soup. But, China's got issues.

Apparently the Wall Street Journal discovered over the weekend that companies can gather lots of data about you on the Internet.

I suppose this is their play for a Pulitzer Prize -- a groundbreaking story that exposes the evil of Internet data collection. Only one problem: The Internet -- and financial industry -- has been mining your data for over a decade. And unless you hide in a cave with Ted Kaczynski, you're not going to escape it.

In fact, everybody mines your data. Think of the credit-card companies or your bank. Or Google. They know everything. I like to tell my wife that, "Google knows more about me than you do."

At the Rayno Report, we are always looking at hot new growth trends. Why not rehab? Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan are doing it.

Now, I haven't done much research on it but I don't think there are too many publicly-listed rehab plays. Maybe there is a private-equity rollup in there somewhere.

What we really need is rehab for Washington D.C. and Wall Street. Now, that's a great idea! Can you see all the Federal Reserve officials, Senators, and Goldman Sachs bankers doing Yoga in California with Lindsay Lohan? Hey, it worked for Michael Milken.

Okay, onto more news:

• Pfizer beats the street and its stock-price hiccups (Reuters). Gets my award as the most boring blue-chip of the last ten years. Maybe it's time to buy that 5% divvy?
• Meanwhile, when's the last time you heard about Pfizer and Proctor & Gamble both listed in the WSJ as "Hot Stocks" (WSJ)?
• For those who think China's now a preeminent global leader: China's Three Gorges dam is imperiled by islands of garbage (Reuters).
• Blackberry threatened by a Gulf states ban (BBC).
• Federal government declares Gulf Spill the "worst ever" (CNN). No report on what they think about Charlie Sheen's shenanigans.
• Pending home sales decrease 2.6% (Bloomberg). Hmm. People are buying houses. Shocking, isn't it?
• Blackberry is introducing it's new touch-screen phone today (Bloomberg). No word on whether you can use it to call Saudi Arabian intelligence officials.
• Remember when the U.S. Dollar was a piece of trash? Well, that's back again... (WSJ). I will trade you dollars for rubles.
• Is Bing outmaneuvering Google? (CNN).
• Corning is trying to bring back "Gorilla glass," a product from the 1960s (AP). Can you call something 50 years old innovation?