Are You Kidding Me?

A viewer just e-mailed to tell me that the city council in Olympia, WA has voted to tell the USS Olympia (and the men and women serving onboard) that they are not welcome to dock in that town... because it's a nuclear-powered ship.

Have any of you heard about this? I almost can't believe it's true... especially as we are heading into Memorial Day weekend.

I can't imagine public officials slapping servicemen and women in the face like that.

Linda

Wednesday, May 26: Battles in California and Ohio Over Kids

Amid the terror alert (search) info we're pursuing for Thursday's “DaySide,” we're also working on two different stories.

One is about what happens when parents divorce and one decides to pick up and move the kids to Lord-knows-where. I've seen this happen -- the other parent who doesn't have custody often gets hosed. The other parent takes off with the kids and the one left behind doesn't get to be part of the kids' lives.

There's an effort in the state of California to give the non-custodial parent more of a say in these situations. I'd like to know what you all think about that.

Meanwhile, there's a very different story in Ohio. A baby girl lies comatose in a hospital in Akron, with shaken baby syndrome. The accused culprits: Her parents. This couple reportedly is fighting to keep her on life support. Observers are wondering, how come this couple suddenly cares so much about this baby's life? If they care so much about her now, why did they (allegedly) shake her within an inch of her life?

Drop me an e-mail with your thoughts: dayside@foxnews.com

Linda

Tuesday, May 25: Iraqis Whose Hands Were Cut Off by Saddam

Tuesday the president met several Iraqi men, all who had been jailed by Saddam. They were accused of dealing in American currency -- and their punishment was to get their right hands sawed off. Plus a humiliating tattoo on their foreheads just to rub it in.

Wednesday on “DaySide,” you will meet two Americans who changed the lives of these Iraqi men. One is a documentary producer who found out about these men and then arranged to bring them to the U.S. for treatment. The other is the doctor who cared for them and got them state-of-the-art prosthetic hands. All for free.

It is a story of extraordinary generosity and kindness, American style. Who else but Americans would do that? In what other nation on earth?

I'd like to know if ANY Arab newspaper will print this story. Will Al Jazeera broadcast it? Let's see.

America may not be perfect, but we as a nation have a huge and giving heart.

I sure hope that these Iraqi men, now fitted with fancy prostheses and having been welcomed into the White House, will volunteer to go on every Arab TV network to tell the story of how Americans knocked themselves out to help.

Linda

Monday, May 24: Miscellaneous Odds and Ends

Hi all,

The blog is back in action and I have a few tidbits to share. First, regarding the attack on the so-called 'wedding party' in Iraq: Like you, when I saw the AP video of a wedding I thought, "Oh no -- this is not good." But I just heard from a well-placed military friend in Iraq who says it really, truly was NOT a wedding that we attacked. He said the military's pics of the scene came from immediately after the strike and that they clearly show it was something other than a party for some Iraqis tying the knot. My source says Yes, Virginia, it really was a meeting of bad guys. Stay tuned.

Now to Irshad Manji. Man, is she gutsy for taking on Islam and revealing that it DOES advocate violence. Gutsier still for pointing out an exact line of the Koran that tells the tale. She's dead on when she says one of the big problems with this religion is that it does not allow Muslims to think for themselves. It says "All the answers are in the Koran. Don't question. Just follow it." Isn't that what cults do?

Linda