If we were to sum up 2011 in a word, and since “malaise” is legendarily, if not factually, taken, we would choose miasma, which our StinquePad dictionary calls “an oppressive or unpleasant atmosphere that surrounds or emanates from something”. It’s not any one thing that sucked. Everything sucked.

Which makes our task today — sorting varieties of Suck into categories — uncommonly difficult. We have to carve the maggot-covered chicken somewhere, but it’s awfully hard to see the chicken through the maggots. Of the many fine categories proposed last week, they had a common theme: People were even more stupid than usual this year. But rather than pull a Time and cheat our own rules for arbitrary year-end publishing gimmicks, we’re diving in.

So welcome to the second installment of the Fourth Annual Stinque Awards for Achievement in Infamy, sponsored by Anosognosia Bitters. (“Anosognosia: For when you’re mad as hell, and we just can’t take you any more.”) Voting is now open in the following categories:

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Southern California Tea Party activist and failed politician Jules Manson, apparently no relation to the swastika-bedecked Charles, today decided to share with his Facebook followers his thoughts on President Obama and his daughters:

Assassinate the fucken nigger and his monkey children.

And then he went on to explain that using the word “nigger” was not racist.

One would hope that he’ll have some explaining to do to the FBI and Secret Service tomorrow.

[SF Examiner]

Hitch would no doubt be amused by the ‘religious’ reaction to a hashtag for the title of one of his books.

25 Ridiculous Reactions to #GodIsNotGreat [Buzzfeed]

God Is Not Great [Amazon]

Title: “Head Figure Head: The Search for the Hidden Life of Rick Perry”

Author: Glen Maxey

Rank: “#1,364 Paid in Kindle Store”

Blurb: “On June 23, 2011 a national reporter called Glen Maxey, the first and only openly gay state legislator in the history of Texas. Rick Perry was making noises about running for president, and the reporter asked about rumors that Perry possibly may have had homosexual sex. Glen had heard the rumors before but never investigated them. Now curious, Glen sent out messages to his wide network of gay and political contacts. Within hours, he received astonishing information from multiple sources. For the next five months, Glen’s life was consumed with investigating the rumors and stories about Perry. Did Rick Perry have sex with men? Read this remarkable book and decide for yourself.”

Review: “Maxey clearly has a vast network of connections in the gay community that no ordinary journalist could hope to match. The direct evidence he recites is strong (though, as he says, it’s still hearsay) — the stories of the gay hustler and the Craigslist guy are amazing.”

Footnote: Hiring Herman Cain!’s lawyer is not an admission of guilt.

Head Figure Head [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon Kickback Link]

In case you’d forgotten:

[via Know Your Meme]

“Perry makes a $150,000 annual gross salary as Texas govenor. Now, thanks to his early retirement, Perry, 61, gets a monthly retirement annuity of $7,698 before taxes, or $6,588 net. That raises his gross annual salary to more than $240,000.” No, he’s not quitting. Just “retiring”. [Texas Tribune, via Political Wire]