The Maese Insurrection

Political Priorities

S. Steven Maese — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:40:22 +0000

With the Republican primaries in the news, I must reevaluate my political beliefs.

I was a regisitered Republican for nearly 15 years, until Obama ran in 2008. I’m still conservative (although probably more Libertarian) but I voted for Obama because I believed that whole change thing.

Well, nothing has changed. And this election cycle, I don’t believe Mitt is the answer to my political prayers.

So I ask myself: Who aligns most with my political beliefs?

I tend to rank things. Therefore my political priorities, in order, are:

Freedom
Pragmatism
Charity
Security

Freedom is foremost because with it new ideas dies. Freedom is not the same as democracy, not even a democratic republic, but that’s another discussion.

Pragmatism is next because a society should do what is in its best interest from a practical standpoint; above almost everything else, except freedom of course.

Charity is next because society should care for the least among us. Determining who actually is the lease among us is for another post.

And security is last because while necessary, it is the enemy of freedom. For example we could get rid of all automobile deaths, including DUIs, easily. Ban alcohol and aggressively enforce a 30 mph speed limit; even on freeways. But who in their right mind would agree to that?

Grammar Humor

S. Steven Maese — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:57:07 +0000

A man is on his first visit to Boston, and he wants to try some of that delicious New England seafood that he’d long heard about. So he gets into a cab, and asks the driver, “Can you take me to where I can get scrod?” The driver replies, “I’ve heard that question a thousand times, but never in the pluperfect subjunctive.”

A new take on words.

S. Steven Maese — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:33:56 +0000

I love the English language. The other day, I bought Garner’s Modern American Usage. A great book for understanding how to use words.

But that’s so old school.

I just found a website called Wordnik. It’s new and not entirely sophisticated but it’s probably the future of how we learn language.

My Oral Arguments

S. Steven Maese — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:51:30 +0000

An audio recording of my oral arguments before the Utah Court of Appeals can be heard on the Utah Courts website here. You can download a copy here.

It’s always difficult to judge your own performance, so if you listen to the whole thing let me know what you think. Thanks.

Why we need a constitution.

S. Steven Maese — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:00:53 +0000

“It’s easy to respect the rights of the pretty people, the popular ones, the charming folk, the nice guys. No one’s going to run roughshod over Mr. Rogers’ rights. We probably don’t need a Constitution to protect the Prom Queen. It’s the assholes we need to write the rules for. It’s harder to treat them well, to be fair to them, to refrain from punching them. So 200-some years ago, we wrote a contract with ourselves to make sure we would always respect the rights of the worst among us.

It’s easy to treat the good people well. But the true measure of our character is how we treat the bad ones. We choose to treat them fairly and with respect. And I think it’s awesome.”

– From Preaching to the Choir

Israelify Airports

S. Steven Maese — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:14:48 +0000

"Israelis, unlike Canadians and Americans, don’t take shit from anybody. When the security agency in Israel (the ISA) started to tighten security and we had to wait in line for — not for hours — but 30 or 40 minutes, all hell broke loose here. We said, ‘We’re not going to do this. You’re going to find a way that will take care of security without touching the efficiency of the airport."

- Rafi Sela, President, AR Challenges – a global transportation security consultancy.

Read the whole article here.

A little quote I remembered

S. Steven Maese — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:02:30 +0000

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.

- Winston Churchill

Remember, remember the 5th of November: Happy Guy Fawkes Day!‎

S. Steven Maese — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:57:19 +0000

Best sentence in a legal opinion…

S. Steven Maese — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:32:15 +0000

“Bridgeport claims that ‘D.O.G. in Me’ infringed its copyright on Clinton’s ‘Atomic Dog’ based on the use of the phrase ‘Bow wow wow, yippie yo, yippie yea’ (the ‘Bow Wow refrain’)…”

- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Bridgeport v UMG

Interesting paragraphs I’ve read.

S. Steven Maese — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:48:33 +0000

Relatively few successful warriors are sensitive men or congenial fireside companions. Most possess an elemental commitment of an intensity happily unusual in civilised societies. They must daily give orders which bring death upon their own people, as well as the enemy. It is understandable that generations reared in peace, in the privileged circumstances of our twenty-first-century lives, should feel a revulsion towards the personal characters of [Sir Arthur] Harris and [Curtis] LeMay. Yet such men are useful, indeed indispensable, in a war of national survival.

– Max Hastings in Retribution:The Battle for Japan, 1944-45