“Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill that officially classifies beer as alcoholic. Until now anything containing less than 10% alcohol in Russia has been considered a foodstuff.” [BBC, via Daring Fireball]

Rebekah Brooks may be gone but her glory days as editor of The Sun, Britain’s biggest selling ‘newspaper’ won’t soon be forgotten.

Whether it was swilling pints in the pub with the lads, printing the names of accused sex offenders, brokering deals between her boss and prime ministers, or arranging back-door access, Rebekah’s networking skills were legendary.

And lest we think that the stupefying awfulness of Britain’s tabloids has been somehow exaggerated take a look at Rebekah’s handiwork. (There will be a prize for anyone locating the source of a recent post here at Stingue)

Alright, alright (UK spelling, thanks very much), so she’s not the only one responsible but as I think we’ve already proved (not ‘proven’ for god’s sake because it has been proved), rule #1 is — Blame the Woman.

Students of history will no doubt recall that in or about 1776, those of us who lived on the Freedomy side of the Atlantic decided that we didn’t much like paying socialistic taxes on stuff like tea and Playboy and three cornered hats and those funny shoes with belt buckles for laces, while having no say in how those monies would actually be spent. So we sent an RSVP to good King George explaining, with much regret, that as much as we’d like to come to his birthday party, we would have to decline his invitation this year as were otherwise engaged in declaring our independence and booting his red-coated troops from our lands.

Flash forward some 235 years and the British are apparently still sore over this slight, as evidenced by their contempt (dare I say jealousy) over the startling thing of beauty into which the English language has evolved under Yankee care and tutelage, while back on the British isles it remains stunted, ossified, abandoned and lifeless, having acheived very little in the past 300 years beyond the dropping of thees and thous. As evidence I present to you, dear Stinquers, the following story from the BBC, entitled Americanisms: 50 of your most noted examples, in which readers were invited to send in their most hated expressions from this side of the pond,thereby displaying their ignorance and sad lack appreciation for the myriad poetic possibilities of the mother tongue, which have been laregly realized only on these shores. Some examples after the break (with scattered commentary throughout):

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Our exclusive series of Inadvertent Metaphors Illustrating the Congressional Drive to Default America continues today with this forty-foot sinkhole that suddenly appeared under the bed of a nice 65-year-old grandmother.

That sinking feeling: Woman finds giant sinkhole under her bed [Yahoo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhkcBlV2qpw

CBN’s David Brody interviewed Sarah Palin “in the last few months”, and picked up this gem in passing:

I want the mainstream media — and I’ve said this for a couple years now — I want to help them.

I have a journalism degree. That is what I studied. I understand that this cornerstone of our democracy is a free press, is sound journalism. I want to help them build back their reputation.

Small world — we also have a degree in journalism! And our old-school professor would dock us a grade for every fact error, which suggests that Talibunny would have had a difficult time graduating.

Meanwhile, Stinquer RevZafod was checking out his local programming last night, and discovered that the Sarah Palin movie was already being dumped on the Interwebs.

Hold on. That’s a 1969 John Wayne oater. Never mind.

Palin: Journalists can learn from me [The Hill, via ThinkProgress]

Tim Pawlenty, still looking for a buyer to acquire his heavily discounted soul, decides to pick on a girl to show his manhood:

While repeating his previous comments that he’d defer to doctors on Bachmann’s particular health situation, Pawlenty said broadly that presidential hopefuls have to be up for the rigors of the job.

“All of the candidates I think are going to have to be able to demonstrate they can do all of the job all of the time,” he told reporters after an event in Indianola.

He added: “There’s no real time off in that job.”

Of course FDR fought World War II from a wheelchair, but that’s nothing compared to a headache.

Pawlenty says WH hopefuls must be able do the job [Politico]