(no subject)

Everybody's favourite arsehole, Simon Cowell, has gone on record to state that he has been snubbed by the Queen during a reception. Moreover he also claims that His Royal Rudeness, Prince Phillip called him a "sponger" (insert your own joke here).
The Palace issued an official reply to this, which read:
"The Duke of Edinburgh categorically did not call Mr Cowell a sponger. He has no reason to. He has said he does no know enough about Mr Cowell to make any sort of comment about him. Mr Cowell may have misheard the Duke, he has a very soft voice."

http://uk.imdb.com/news/ni0723290/

Now, is it just me or does that official statement sound like a really stylish and cool way to say "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. I am the grandmaster of insultin people and you should be happy I deemed you worth being insulted by me."? I mean, I am no major fan of the Royal Family, but this just struck me as quite cool.

You know, if you use phosphorous against civilians, people are right to question your methods

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/03/26/controversial.cartoon/index.html

(CNN) -- Two leading Jewish watchdog groups are denouncing a prominent cartoonist's illustration about Israel's offensive in Gaza, saying it uses anti-Semitic imagery.
The cartoon was published Wednesday in newspapers and on the Internet.

The Anti-Defamation League, which has been fighting anti-Semitism since it was founded in 1913, called the syndicated cartoon by Pulitzer Prize-winning Pat Oliphant "hideously anti-Semitic."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which, among other things, fights anti-Semitism and educates people about the Holocaust, said "the cartoon mimics the venomous anti-Semitic propaganda of the Nazi and Soviet eras."

Published Wednesday in newspapers and on the Internet, the cartoon shows the small figure of a woman, labeled Gaza, carrying a child. She is being pursued by a headless, jackbooted figure wielding a sword, marching in an apparent goose-step and pushing a fanged Jewish star on a wheel.

The Anti-Defamation League said the cartoon used "Nazi-like imagery" and a "hateful evocation of the Star of David."

Abraham H. Foxman, the ADL's national director, said the cartoon's "outlandish and offensive use of the Star of David in combination with Nazi-like imagery is hideously anti-Semitic." [...]

magery and rhetoric comparing Israel to Nazis have been deployed by Israel's persistent critics, who decry the Jewish state's treatment of Palestinians as oppressive and brutal. Israel and its supporters defend the state as humane and say it has properly defended itself against attacks.

There has been sharp criticism of Israel's offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza who launched rockets into southern Israeli towns.

Human Rights Watch said Wednesday the Israeli military's firing of white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas during the offensive "was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes," a claim denied by Israel.