Archive for September, 2011

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  Mason Police Department Appoints New LGBTQ Liaison

  News1 September 19, 2011 at 5:45 pm Comments are Disabled

    Michael Guston is the new police liaison to the LGBTQ community at George Mason University. The position was just recently created and Guston is the first person to hold the position. The LGBTQ liaison is the contact person between the LGBTQ community at Mason and the police. “The police chief and the assistant chief saw a need, but there was never anyone that they thought that fit the position until I came along,” Guston said. “They saw a good fit.” With the LGBTQ community increasing in visibility and number on campus, the chief and assistant chief decided that it was a good idea to extend a resource to the community. The position entails being involved in cases that involve any LGBTQ biases such as hate crimes. However, Guston is not only present in cases of hate crimes. Should an incident occur on campus that involves a LGBTQ student, or if a LGBTQ student feels uneasy speaking with a police officer, they can simply call Guston. “If the officer isn’t aware that it’s an LGBT student, they can always ask for me,” Guston said, “or they can always ask for my phone number and they can contact me immediately if […]

   
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  Lot Exclusive Permits to Assauge Crowding Concerns

  News1 September 19, 2011 at 5:43 pm Comments are Disabled

  Finding parking at George Mason University is becoming increasingly difficult for students

   
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  For Heritage Month, Students Experience Hispanic Culture First Hand

  News1 September 19, 2011 at 5:40 pm Comments are Disabled

  George Mason University celebrated the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month on Thursday. As part of the kickoff for Hispanic Heritage Month, North Plaza was converted into a party featuring a salsa dance competition.

   

• Fantasy Football Weekly

  Sports September 12, 2011 at 2:30 pm Comments are Disabled

  Cheers Cam Newton The No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft stunned fantasy owners with a 422-yard, 2 TD pass performance in Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals. Newton, who became the first NFL player to throw for 400 yards in a debut, will face a stout Green Bay Packers defense next week on the road. How Newton performs will be laid heavily on the backs of his offensive line against Clay Matthews and the defending champion Packers. Jeers Chris Johnson The Pro Bowl running back had one of his worst rushing performances of his career, rushing for a measily 24 yards on nine carries and caught six passes for 25 yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Johnson will have his hands full against Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens run-stuffing defense next Sunday in the Titans home-opener. If you were to choose a week to sit Johnson, this would be the one.

   

• Kickoff to football season a great and Patriotic success

  Sports September 12, 2011 at 2:30 pm Comments are Disabled

  Football is a huge part of American culture. A vast majority of people, men and women, across the United States use football as a means of social gathering. They get set in a routine during the fall, allotting a good chunk of their day to sit in front of a TV, whether at home or elsewhere, to catch a full day of touchdowns and hard hits from their favorite players and teams. Thus, the opening kickoff for any football season is special. It is a just cause for anticipatory countdowns, similar to Christmas or New Year’s Day. But the 2011 football season may have been the most special football kickoff that the National Football League has ever hosted. Conveniently falling on Sept. 11, the ten year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 2001, this year’s opening kickoff was about the gathering of American people remembering American heroes while enjoying America’s favorite game. And it was 100 percent successful. With former Secretary of State Colin Powell standing by as an honorary captain, the families of fallen heroes, police, firefighters and players joined together to hold a massive flag that spanned the entire length of the field. It was simply incredible. In […]

   

• Where are the Eisenhower Republicans?

  Editorials September 12, 2011 at 2:28 pm Comments are Disabled

  There are constantly earthquakes in Washington. The one last month, however, has been the only to crack the Washington Monument. Though not caused by tectonic plates, political tremors are constant and the concerns of many Americans stem from the fact that the aftershocks are often nothing more than a clash of liberal and conservative values, and rarely about what’s in America’s best interest. Some of these crazed debates make many moderates wonder where civil discourse has gone and leave them wondering where Eisenhower Republicans have gone into hiding. Granted, we aren’t beating each other with canes over our disagreements, but we are beating at each other’s lifestyles with our own personal values. For example, it is concerning to me that the platforms of many candidates in the GOP this year are based largely on social issues, which all too often win swing votes. Fortunately, we’ve come a long way from calling President Obama a Kenyan and incorrectly identifying him with the Muslim faith, yet we still have some people who just refuse to grasp the facts. While on vacation in Charleston — the week Rick Perry traveled to the city to announce his candidacy — I, against my better judgment, […]

   

• Obama’s failure in Libya

  Editorials September 12, 2011 at 2:27 pm 2 comments

  Muammar Gadhafi and his totalitarian regime are deposed. In the coming weeks he will either be killed, captured or in permanent exile. His followers will continue to ravage the country for some time but they will never take back control of the country. The former was the easy part. The real challenge will be to forge a government that will be in the best interests of not just the Libyans but the American people as well. If we do not plant the seeds of democracy now, we may pay for it in a big way later. Let’s face it; We dropped the ball in 1989 after we helped repel the Soviets in Afghanistan. We had the chance to build a democracy and an ally in the most tumultuous area in the world and we blew it. Radical Islamists led by the Taliban filled the power vacuum resulting in a new terrorist breeding ground. We paid for that mistake on Sept. 11, 2001. We now face a similar crossroads in Libya. If we pack up and ship out, leaving Libya to its own devices, then we risk the power vacuum being filled by one of our mortal enemies; Iran. This is […]

   

• ‘Never Forget’ Shouldn’t Apply To A Single Day

  Editorials September 12, 2011 at 2:27 pm Comments are Disabled

  Sitting in my tenth grade English class, I remember not really understanding the severity of the news that I had just heard. I was a 15-year-old kid, and my friends and I had just been joking around, flicking staples at each other with our pens. How are you supposed to react when you’ve just been told a plane flew into one of the World Trade Center towers? As the day went on I learned that some of my friends had televisions brought into their classrooms and had been watching live news coverage of the event. When a second plane crashed into the South Tower, everyone knew that the situation was even more serious than had been previously thought. When I got home that day the full weight of the situation finally pressed down on me. I hadn’t yet heard about the Pentagon or the fate of the passengers of United 93, but once I walked inside my house and my mother finally stopped hugging me, various news organizations painted the picture that I had been unable to see. What’s really funny to me, in retrospect, is one of the ways I internally rated just how bad things were. My parents […]

   

• Obama’s Charisma Won’t Win Voters Over In 2012

  Editorials September 12, 2011 at 2:26 pm Comments are Disabled

  President Obama recently gave an address proposing his new plan to increase employment known as the American Jobs Act. The proposal was thought to be a fail-safe, being composed of fiscal and social action that previously received bipartisan support. However, the American Jobs Act is under intense scrutiny since similar attempts in the past have failed spectacularly. The act is reminiscent of the tumultuous stimulus of ’09, and anyone familiar with that debacle knows how unsuccessful it was. Obama repeatedly begged Congress to sign the $450 billion package for small business tax cuts, payroll tax cuts, unemployment benefits and Social Security tax cuts. He also suggested the construction of an “infrastructure bank” that he promised would pay for itself in a year. The aforementioned bank would be created to help alleviate private sector issues. The president then began asking Congress to quit being a “political circus.” I had to agree on this one. Regardless of how I feel about the proposed act, “political circus” is a sadly accurate description regarding the recent behavior of our legislative and executive branches. The president was referring to the supremely magnificent immaturity both parties have exhibited since the GOP captured the lower house. Two […]

   

• A Monthly Letter From SG To Keep You Informed On WhatTo Expect For The Student Body

  Editorials September 12, 2011 at 2:26 pm Comments are Disabled

  The George Mason University Student Government would like to welcome both the new and returning students for the start of another great school year. Over the summer, SG has been working diligently planning and creating goals and events on behalf of the student body. One of the most notable initiatives that SG has been working on for several years now is the quest for Mason to become a polling location. Just this past July, with persistence and dedication, various Mason student representatives stood before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to make this dream become a reality. Mason will now be home to the former portion of Braddock district’s Woodson precinct. To ensure that students are well aware of this extraordinarily great opportunity, SG has teamed up with Mason Votes, GMU College Democrats and GMU College Republicans to advertise voter registration and the upcoming elections from now until Election Day on Nov. 8.. The aforementioned organizations will be at kiosks in the Johnson Center from now until Oct. 17 to help students on campus with the voter registration process. Be ready to rock the vote! But it doesn’t stop there. With the 2011 school year in full swing, SG has […]