It's a Beautiful Day

This story just made my day...

Whoever made this decision is my kind of person.



LEAD: U.S. warship passed Taiwan Strait after stopover refusal in Hong Kong+

Nov 29 01:44 PM US/Eastern
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Kong+ (AP) - TOKYO, Nov. 30 (Kyodo)—(EDS: ADDING DETAILS)
A U.S. warship passed the Taiwan Strait on its way back to its home port of Yokosuka last week after China initially denied it permission to dock in Hong Kong, U.S. military sources told Kyodo News on Thursday.
The U.S. act is seen as warning to China as the United States has refrained from sailing through the strait since 1996, when Taiwan's first presidential election generated a crisis which led the United States to deploy two aircraft carriers to the area.
The sources said that after China's refusal on Nov. 21, the Kitty Hawk and five other vessels moved northward in the South China Sea, passing the Taiwan Strait from Friday to Saturday.
As the fleet passed the strait, warplanes were deployed from the flattop to guard the surrounding area, they said.
In the past two to three years, the Kitty Hawk making port calls in Hong Kong during the Thanksgiving holiday passed waters near Bashi Channel south of Taiwan to reach the Pacific on its way back to Yokosuka.
This year, the Kitty Hawk planned a four-day port call at Hong Kong from Nov. 21 for its crew of about 8,000. As it approached Hong Kong, it was refused entry for unspecified reasons. China later reversed the decision on "humanitarian grounds."
The flattop canceled the plan and returned to Yokosuka on Tuesday, four day earlier than it had originally planned.
China's refusal can be interpreted as retaliation against the recent U.S. decision to sell missiles to Taiwan as well as the warm U.S. hospitality extended to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, observers say.
Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, criticized the Chinese act, saying it was unlike a responsible nation. Responding to the Pentagon's criticism, the Chinese government has said the measure was based on a misunderstanding.
U.S. warships have for decades docked in Hong Kong during tours of duty, but since the territory's return to China in 1997 they need Chinese permission.

God Bless America

The Chinese know how to piss Americans off. Really. Prior to yesterday, most of the people who were really angry at the Chinese were parents of dead children because of some bogus Chinese toy. Hopefully, the Chinese have now angered 8,000 sailors and their families.


Earlier this year, the Kittyhawk strike group was doing joint exercises in the Pacific. Somewhere in that period, a Chinese submarine popped up in the middle of our ships and was supposedly within firing range of the Kittyhawk. If that wasn't bad enough...


The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the Chinese Ministry for ------- Americans) has now denied the Kittyhawk and several of her ships access to Hong Kong for a long-awaited Thanksgiving port call.

Thank you, China, for angering several thousand more Americans. Some day, you may regret it.

George Washinton strikes back from the grave...

China voices alarm at dollar weakness
By Mure Dickie in
Beijing, Krishna Guha in Washington and Peter Garnham and Michael Mackenzie in London Published: November 19 2007 19:14 Last updated: November 19 2007
19:14

China on Monday expressed concern at the decline in the dollar, joining a growing chorus of global policymakers alarmed by the weakness in the world’s
main reserve currency.
Premier Wen Jiabao told a business audience in
Singapore it was becoming difficult to manage China’s $1,430bn foreign exchange
reserves, saying that their value was under unprecedented pressure.

You know what this means...


MORE PEOPLE WILL BUY OUR STUFF!

Standing on the Promises...

The other day something poked my brain and said, "God never breaks His promises."



Well...that's obvious.





Don't stop there, though! Think upon that statement for a moment...





Well, He's God. If He broke any of His promises...He can't break His promises, it's against His nature to do so, right?



Right. Why do humans break promises? The answer is obvious. We are fallen. Humans keep their promises sometimes, though. Also, we waffle when it comes time to keep a promise. Other times, it is physically impossible for us to keep a promise. I can tell my English teacher that I will turn in my paper online before the midnight deadline. Let's say that my computer crashes and I can't turn it in. Technically, I broke the promise. Did I choose to break it? No.

Stop there for a moment.

God cannot break His promises. Do you think He can be indecisive with them and even think about breaking them? Do you think a technical issue can keep Him from fulfilling a promise?

No. That's why we can stand on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,

When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,

By the living Word of God I shall prevail,

Standing on the promises of God.