Recent Posts

• 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. […]

   

• sodexo story

  News1 September 3, 2010 at 11:19 am Comments are Disabled

  New student group to Merten: Fire Sodexo By Matt Snyder A new student group who says they back the campus dining services workers employed by dining contractor Sodexo hand-delivered a message Thursday to university Pres. Alan Merten asking for the administration to fire Sodexo. They call on Merten to hire a new company who will provide a living wage and better conditions. The GMU Students for Workers Rights joined some workers in accusations that employees work in unsafe conditions and alleged cuts, burns, and back injuries as a result. Merten was not in and the students’ letter was received instead by presidential operations manager Sharon Cullen. She had no comment. Sporting signs and stickers like “No justice/ No pizza,” “Our Workers Deserve Fair Wages,” and “Shame on Sodexo,” about 15 student protestors and five workers walked the letter to Mason Hall and then another petition to Sodexo management at Southside. The petition from workers included pictures of alleged work-related injuries, including a deep cut to one finger and a worker wearing a back brace. The petition and photos were received by Sodexo Resident District Manager Denise Ammaccapane, who promised to forward it to corporate management. Most of the student protestors […]

   

• 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 […]

   

• History Through a Paper: Over 40 years of journalism that helped shape a university

  Editorials May 3, 2010 at 2:08 pm Comments are Disabled

  By William Curtis, Opinion Editor It was with a comical obituary notice and a cover letter that read more like a call to arms in the October 06, 1969 issue that The Gunston Ledger became the paper we all read now, Broadside. Mason was nothing more than another college in Virginia; university status was only a dream at the time, but even some back in 1969 knew where the college was destined. In an article entitled “GMC’s Growth to Mushroom,” James Clarke, the director of Planning at Mason at the time said: “GMC would eventually become a cluster of colleges within a college. Each individual college would have its own student union building and administrative offices.” He went on to also say, “Eventually, George Mason would become one of the largest, if not the largest, colleges in the Washington area.” Little did anyone know that this assumption made by Clark in 1969 would be a reality 40 years later. And for all of this — the burning of draft cards, the changing of names, the construction of new and innovative measures for the campus — Broadside was there, doing what it has done and will continue to do even after […]

   

• To believe or not to believe: The role of religion in politics

  Editorials May 3, 2010 at 2:06 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Justin Lalputan, Staff Writer One of the principles that America is founded on is freedom of religion. People are free to believe in whatever they want. In addition, we also have a separation of church and state, but in reality, I think that’s a joke. We have raging debates about things like gay rights, abortion and stem cell research because of religious preferences; if we had a true separation of church and state, topics like these wouldn’t be a debate at all. I was reading the news online when I noticed an article by CNN philosopher Sam Harris entitled “Why we should ditch religion.” I feel that he is dead-on with his article. Harris essentially feels the same way that I do. He says that it’s ridiculous for people to do things (in political office) because of what God wants or doesn’t want, which is completely true. I feel that religion shouldn’t play a part in any decisions that a person makes while in political office. Instead, morality should play a larger role. Then, however, the debate arises whether or not morality is possible without religion. In a religion class that I took in the fall, we had a […]

   

• Spring Sports Overview

  Sports May 3, 2010 at 2:03 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor Baseball Not expected to follow last season’s explosion on offense, the George Mason University baseball team has found ways to remain competitive despite being picked to finish sixth in the Colonial Athletic Association in the preseason poll. The Patriots have belted a total of 30 home runs thus far, well short of their 82 home runs from last season, but the team has been a threat on the base paths, posting a .419 on-base percentage, leading to 336 total runs scored. Senior Ryan Soares leads the conference with 23 doubles and is among the top three in batting average and RBIs. Soares is one of the team leaders with six home runs in his solid final season. The team’s pitching leads the conference with a 4.79 ERA. Senior Kevin Crum is the ace of the staff with a 5-1 record and a 3.81 ERA. Redshirt freshman Chris O’Grady has filled in nicely in the rotation, leading the team with a 3.57 ERA. O’Grady, who garnered the CAA Rookie of the Week award recently, has a 3-0 record in his first season. Softball The softball team has overcome its shaky 1-5 start to the season […]

   

• Powell's Playbook: Movin' On

  Sports May 3, 2010 at 1:58 pm Comments are Disabled

  By John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor I’ve been hard on some teams this year and I’ve been easy on others. And I’ve let readers know a little too much about my NASCAR obsession. In the world of George Mason University sports though, we are wrapping up the spring season, the tail end of this year’s sports. So let’s take a look at what happened this year and what to look forward to in the future. The first thing that comes to mind is the women’s soccer team and the women’s tennis team, who both enjoyed turnaround years. On the women’s soccer side, the team graduated nine seniors and won nine more games than the previous year. The women’s tennis team improved from last year’s mark of 9-12. While the team seemed to have problems facing Drexel in the conference championship, it will be looking to beat them next year, especially if they meet in the tournament again. I’ve been singing the praises of the track and field team. The women’s team finished second in the conference championship, and the men’s team won the championship. How can a team possibly improve on that? By winning it again, and continuing its dominance […]

   

• Who says you can’t go home: Corner infielders have been a huge impact on the young team

  Sports May 3, 2010 at 1:57 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor Freshman Megan Blank is not the only country music fanatic on the diamond as she walks up to the plate to her favorite artist Miranda Lambert’s song “Gunpowder & Lead.” Sophomore Katie Rynex, a self-described “country girl” herself, has been another key addition to the George Mason University softball team’s corner infield pair. Rynex, who entered the weekend with a .247 batting average, leads the Patriots with seven doubles and 22 RBIs. Primarily as the cleanup hitter, Rynex plays a number of roles on offense, but her main role is to execute the task. “I’m just worried about getting the job done,” said Rynex. “When I’m leading off, my job is to get on base; if there are runners on, my job is to get a base hit. In addition to producing runs with the bat, Rynex also helps create runs with her speed. Rynex is one of the team’s top base stealers with five stolen bases out of six attempts. “I love the fact that [Head Coach Joe Verbanic] has a lot of confidence in me [to steal bases],” said Rynex. “It’s all about using our eyes and knowing what to do.” Graduating […]

   

• Sports in a minute

  Sports May 3, 2010 at 1:55 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor Mason trounces the Terrapins The George Mason University baseball team walked over the Maryland Terrapins in College Park, Md. in their 20-6 dominating win on Tuesday. Mason improved to 27-12 overall while the Terrapins fell to 15-29. The four-hour marathon has been the longest game for Mason thus far, but the team did not leave without winning its fourth consecutive game and 10 of its last 11. Senior shortstop Ryan Soares went deep twice, knocking in a total of six RBIs in the game. Soares started the scoring with a two-run blast in the first inning and smashed another home run in the Patriots’ seven-run inning. The Patriots totaled 19 hits and eight walks to produce 20 runs. Mason reached the 20-run plateau for the fourth time this season. Leading 7-1 after five innings, Mason started to pull away in the next two frames with four runs in the sixth inning and seven runs in the seventh inning. In the sixth, redshirt junior first baseman Dan Palumbo, who went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, doubled in two runs. Sophomore right fielder Dan Schafferman followed with a two-run single. In the seventh, the Patriots got the […]

   

• Battle of the aces: Vote Lincecum and vote Halladay

  Sports May 3, 2010 at 1:53 pm Comments are Disabled

  By Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor; Chris DeMarco, Staff Writer From 2001 through 2005, the American League Cy Young award was all about getting wins as five different 20-win pitchers took home the hardware. But this is not necessarily the case when searching for the top pitcher in baseball. Last year, San Francisco Giants ace pitcher Tim Lincecum picked up 15 wins, recording a lower win total than Scott Feldman of the Texas Rangers, as well as Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders of the Los Angeles Angels; Lincecum was by and large a much better pitcher than any of them or any pitcher in the National League. Beating the St. Louis Cardinals’ duo for the NL Cy Young, Lincecum established himself as the NL’s top pitcher for the second straight year. The competition is much stiffer this year with Roy Halladay filling in for the Philadelphia Phillies, Dan Haren continuing his solid pitching with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies’ flamethrower Ubaldo Jimenez, who already tossed a no-hitter in the first month of the season, working his way into the mix of NL elites. In the past three years, Lincecum was valued at 17.2 WAR, the highest in all of […]