Broadside
Perfection: 15 up, 15 down: Anderson mows down the Bears with perfect game as Mason completes Saturday sweep
|To follow a solid two-hit shutout from sophomore Miranda Cranford in the earlier game, senior starting pitcher Becky Anderson capped Saturday’s doubleheader with a perfect game, retiring all 15 batters in the George Mason University’s softball team’s 8-0 win against the Morgan State Bears.
Technology gods: One man’s personal battle
|The technology gods hate me. Somewhere, I offended their sensibilities, and ever since the deities of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have cursed me to a Luddite hell, where every piece of electronic equipment malfunctions straight out of the box. Customer support is provided by the departed souls of cavemen who insist the only way to cure my Blue Screen of Death is to bury alive a kinsman in peat.
Supreme Court approves corporate funding of presidents: Will the corporations of America now have control over who is elected?
|The Supreme Court of the United States has recently approved unlimited corporate funding of presidential campaigns by way of a case called Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This has come as quite a shock to many citizens who feel that this will give corporations too much power over presidential elections. I also feel that there are simply too many downsides to this ruling for it to properly work in our democratic system, however there are some that disagree with me.
Hail to the Redskins: Why our local football team should never change it’s mascot
|As a long-suffering Washington Redskins fan, I know there are many things to be offended by from the team, but their mascot most certainly is not one of them. A select few have made the argument that the term “Redskins” is racist against Native Americans. Some have even called for all sports teams’ names that refer to Native Americans to be changed. Last month, a new court battle ensued to strip legal protection for the trademarked name of the Washington Redskins.
Student protests Obama’s health bill: Fears mount as the House passes health care legislation
|As someone who had cancer four years ago and will lose my health insurance in two months because I’m graduating, there’s a lot I fear when it comes to health insurance. President Obama’s speech on Friday only made that fear worse. He told the audience that he wants to add more choice and competition to the insurance market, but those are the very two things that will be taken away if his version of the bill gets passed.
Let’s focus on the big picture: Like the fact that global warming does exist
|If these words sound like words from a concerned adult when you were growing up, they are. We repeat them here because it seems that we need such reminders throughout our adult life. It is easy to slip into pettiness and squabbles, and thereby lose sight of the forest through the trees. Let us show you the forest in the context of global climate change.
Letter from student government
|Student Government would like to welcome everyone back from what was hopefully a relaxing and fun-filled Spring Break. We hope you all are ready to finish out the semester as strong as we are.
The inevitable Student Government elections are going to be held March 30 – 31. Remember, this is an opportunity for your voices to be heard and we encourage everyone to take a few moments and vote through e-mail. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.
Letters to the editor
|Don’t give space to Alan Moore
I am extremely disappointed by the recent opinion piece in Broadside by Alan Moore, “Rebuttal to Climategate Response.”
Quite frankly, the back-and-forth between Alan Moore and Colin Bennett is getting tiresome. Alan Moore writes some ridiculous piece with no basis in fact and Colin Bennett responds, thoroughly refuting Moore’s claims by correctly citing verifiable information.
Tomato pricing woes hit campus: As tomato prices rise nationally, students now have to request the red fruit
|Always forgetting to ask for your sandwich without that tomato? Well, now you don’t have to. Tomatoes at dining facilities across campus will now be available only upon request.
During the prolonged January cold snap, Florida farmers, the main source for fresh winter tomatoes for almost the entire country, lost about 70 percent of their crop.
Former student pleads ‘not-guilty’ to terrorism charges
|A one-time George Mason University student studying accounting, Umar Farooq Chaudhry was one of the five Northern Virginian men charged by Pakistani authorities on accounts of terrorism-related crimes last Wednesday. The five men were arrested in Pakistan in December according to the Associated Press.
Chaudhry, born in 1985 in Sargodha, Pakistan, was reported by the university to not have been taking classes at Mason at the time of his arrest.