Off To The Beach

No, I'm not heading to the sandy shores of the Mediterranean or the Persian Gulf to investigate some nefarious jihadist activity. I'm bound for a far more ominous and foreboding place: the Jersey Shore. Just kidding, Jerseyites. Seriously, although I'm based in D.C. these days, I'm a Philly boy through and through. And we Philly guys head "downashore" for our summer vacations. Case closed. No fancy island resorts for us!

I'll be back in the office on July 21st.. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this heartwarming bit of news from a few days back via the Daily Mail:

A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman's hat advertising a Scottish police force's new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims.  

Tayside Police's new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community.

The choice of image on the Tayside Police cards - a black dog sitting in a police officer's hat - has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.

The advert has upset Muslims because dogs are considered ritually unclean and has sparked such anger that some shopkeepers in Dundee have refused to display the advert.

Dundee councillor Mohammed Asif said: 'My concern was that it's not welcomed by all communities, with the dog on the cards.

'It was probably a waste of resources going to these communities.

'They (the police) should have understood. Since then, the police have explained that it was an oversight on their part, and that if they'd seen it was going to cause upset they wouldn't have done it.' 

Read it all. That vacation is coming not a moment too soon.