Today we shall examine two quotes, side by side. The first, from our esteemed former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and current GOP frontrunner.

Like Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and FDR, I would be prepared to take on the judiciary if, in fact, it did not restrict what it was doing.

-Newt Gingrich, announcing his intention to abolish the 9th Federal Circuit court for issuing decisions with which social conservatives (such as himself, presumably.. don’t laugh) disagree.

The second quote is a little less recent:

John Marshall has made his decision; let him enforce it now if he can.

–President Andrew Jackson –whose disdain for Federal Courts Gingrich admires– reacting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Worcester v. Georgia (1832), that denied the Federal Government the right to evict the Cherokee people from their lands. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act after gold deposits were discovered on the Cherokee peoples tribal lands. Though the Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional, Jackson ignored the ruling and the eviction proceeded apace. The removal, which ocurred at the height of winter, led to the deaths of well over 4000 Cherokee men, women and children, who were forced to undertake a death march of over 1000 miles to their new reservations in Oklahoma. The march has since come to be known as the Trail of Tears.

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]