Editorials

• Secularism is the devil: A poison that destroys America from the inside out

  Editorials September 13, 2010 at 3:26 pm Comments are Disabled

  On any college campus in the U.S. you will find many clubs and organizations that can be classified from diverse to outright bizarre.

  At George Mason University, you can join a club that celebrates belly dancing or another that practices medieval sword fighting.
  There truly is something for everyone but there is one club that takes the spirit of these activities to a disappointing new level: the Secular Student Alliance.

   

• Mason theft is unacceptable: ‘George Mason University reminds me of the Oklahoma bus station’

  Editorials September 13, 2010 at 3:22 pm Comments are Disabled

  A number of years ago, I took a bus trip from Los Angeles to Kansas City. I thought it would be a fun way to see the country. My parents reminded me that my grandmother once took a bus from Pittsburgh to Dayton to visit us and then insisted that they buy her a plane ticket home. “Oh, she was just over-reacting,” I thought. “It can’t be that bad.” My friends, it can be that bad. Each bus stop was filthier and more crime-ridden than the last. Also, one peculiarity of bus travel I was not previously aware of was that passengers spend a lot of time in bus stations. A good rule of thumb is to expect to spend as much time sitting in a bus station as sitting on a bus. Phoenix was worse than LA. Albuquerque was worse than Phoenix. Amarillo was worse than Albuquerque. But it wasn’t until we were pulling into Oklahoma City that the bus driver made the announcement, “This bus station is in a bad neighborhood.” Evidently it would not be enough to keep your bags next to you; it was strongly recommended that we have our bags in hand the entire time. […]

   

• Why does anyone honestly care? We need to stop giving the spotlight to attention-starved lunatics

  Editorials September 13, 2010 at 3:18 pm Comments are Disabled

  There are a lot of crazy people in America. I don’t think that anyone would deny that. If left alone, they are generally harmless, but when the media starts giving them attention, things can get out of hand. A great example of this is the “Burn a Quran day” that was planned by Pastor Terry Jones. In order to send a message to terrorists, Jones and his congregation wanted to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of 9/11. When I first heard about what Jones wanted to do, I was outraged. I couldn’t believe that he wanted to do such a stupid thing. Then, after I calmed down and read more about it, I wasn’t mad, just disappointed in myself for allowing Jones to get me so riled up. Jones thinks that burning books sends a message to Islam. It doesn’t, all it does is piss people off. See, that’s just what Jones wants: to evoke controversy and get his name in the spotlight. However, as college students, we have an obligation to dig deep and find the truth. The truth is that there isn’t anything important happening, just a crazy pastor and his 50 followers. Sometimes, we […]

   

• Sodexo denies foul play: An employee retaliates against the accusations that the corporation faces

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 5:03 pm Comments are Disabled

  Has everyone gone stupid? The accusations against Sodexo are ridiculous.

   

• Environmental Action Group educates community

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 4:59 pm Comments are Disabled

  From everyone here in the GMU Environmental Action Group (EAG), we welcome you to campus. The EAG is honored to continue writing our weekly column, the Mason Ecosphere in Broadside this semester. In addition to having more of our usual hikes, movie nights and famous dance parties, the EAG is running three big campaigns this fall: ending mountaintop removal coal mining, advocating for more sustainable foods on campus and passing the Patriot Green Fund. The EAG has worked on ending mountaintop removal for the past two years and will continue to work on the issue until this social and environmental devastation stops. Mountaintop removal is a form of surface mining where coal companies clearcut forests on mountains, blow up the mountaintops with explosives and dump the waste containing heavy metals in valleys and streams. This practice is destroying mountains, watersheds and communities throughout Appalachia. The EAG is organizing a screening of the documentary film Coal Country and a panel of experts on mountaintop removal. Then the EAG will be taking action with thousands of other concerned citizens involved in the struggle by participating in Appalachia Rising, a mass mobilization in the District of Colombia on Sept. 25. Sustainable foods is […]

   

• Letter to the editor

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 4:57 pm Comments are Disabled

  Regarding advice dispensed to freshmen by Michatalie One encountered a column with advice for the newly inducted women to
George Mason in last week’s issue of Broadside. It advocated partying and gave advice regarding the
same. It was akin to the ten commandments: a list of dos and don’ts.
However it was filled with advice that makes a five thousand+ year old
religion look good. The advice was dispensed by those who portray
themselves as people who like to party and have fun. The following is
a mere echo of the light that was this article. And if their advice
given is a light then perhaps an intense light can burn?

 Partying or even living life ought not to end up
destroying you or your loved ones or the society you dwell in. Instead
people who love ought to ensure that they have the resources and the
wealth to recuperate after making love. This is because the act of
love making and/or partying is a selfless act involving giving up
your bodily fluids and energy (at the minimum).

 One will now attempt to provide alternatives to the advice they have
dispensed in this column by first quoting their advice and then
attempting to forward a possible alternative.

 They advised: “Be sure to dance and […]

   

• Southside hits a sweet note with patrons

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 4:56 pm Comments are Disabled

  Almost everyone who lives on campus has been to Southside, the restaurant that offers a buffet to students in return for one meal plan ($8.75 for breakfast and lunch, $9.50 for dinner), and I can guarantee that anyone who went to Southside last year can also remember the music. The food at Southside has always been great, but last year, all I can remember is the awful music that they played. Acoustic songs and acoustic covers, all the time, nonstop. True, there were a few exceptions. For instance, once Southside had live music, which they should definitely try to do again. However, the majority of the time I would be greeted with an acoustic cover of a random Bob Marley song, or something similar. I honestly can’t understand what the reasoning behind the music was. I understand that they were going for a calming effect, but I simply found it to be too dull. Not to disrespect acoustic musicians or people who like acoustic music, the music is just fine. I really don’t mind hearing one or two acoustic songs, but imagine being bombarded by draggy, dreary music for as long as you eat your food. It’s auditory torture. I […]

   

• The anguish of the everyday drive: The downsides of commuting to Mason

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 4:54 pm Comments are Disabled

  Over three-fourths of the students attending George Mason University are commuters. Unfortunately, living off campus and driving to class is not as simple as it sounds. When you factor in the traffic, the drive around Patriot Circle dodging pedestrians, and of course, that tortuous hunt for a parking spot, suddenly the daily routine of a commuter begins to reveal its true, ugly self. Granted, there are certain conditions of commuting that cannot be changed. There are, however, some issues of commuting that could easily be solved. For purposes of this article, today, you are a commuter. You are driving down the road and you seem to be making good time until a minivan on Braddock pulls in front of you in the left lane and goes no faster than the speed limit. You would go around them but the car in the right lane is going the speed limit as well. We have reached Commuter Issue Number One: People who do not use the passing lane correctly. For those of you who find yourselves frequently being tailgated in the left lane, it is not because Virginia is full of aggressive drivers who are out to get you. It is most […]

   

• Don’t build mosque on ground zero

  Editorials September 7, 2010 at 4:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  On Sept. 11, 2001, just a few miles away from George Mason University, the pentagon was attacked by radical Islamists. In New York City, the World Trade Center fell after planes hijacked by the same al Qaeda terrorists struck the twin towers. Anyone who attended Mason, or lived in and around Washington, D.C. and New York City at the time was especially affected by this tragic event. Now, a debate is raging on whether to allow a mosque to be built near ground zero. The liberals argue this project is about religious freedom. However, the debate is not about freedom of religion, but about the sensitivities to those who died in the attacks. Let’s examine this issue by first taking a closer look at the ground zero mosque developers. The Park51 project, formerly known as the Cordoba House, is being organized by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a man described in the New York Post by his tenants as a “slumlord.” Rauf, a self-described “moderate,” once claimed that “the United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened” on Sept. 11. He also refuses to denounce Sharia law, which condones the stoning of women and other equally disturbing practices. […]

   

• The corruption of the SEIU: Beatings, embezzlment and intimidation

  Editorials May 3, 2010 at 2:10 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Alan Moore, Staff Writer As the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) continues to invade our campus, I thought it prudent to discuss some of the past transgressions of this evil organization. To the Sodexo workers attempting to unionize with them: you should first get to know your would-be master. It will make all the promises in the world but you’ll end up a patsy to its greed. Its laundry list of offenses includes embezzlement, beatings and intimidation. The USC University Hospital employs 600 SEIU members. Recently, those workers were upset with the union’s treatment and filed decertification petitions so they could break away and affiliate with another union. But the SEIU filed charges to block their vote and is using money from worker dues to launch a public relations campaign to ban all unions from the hospital. If it can’t have the workers, no one can. SEIU seems to live by the code of the mafia — once you’re in, you’re in for life. The SEIU is also connected to the Rod Blagojevich scandal. The disgraced former governor of Illinois attempted to trade a job with the SEIU-affiliated organization Change to Win for the appointment to President Obama’s former […]