Tag Archives: george bush

VLB Launches 24/7 Virtual Assistant To Aid Texas Veterans

Maverick uses AI capabilities from IBM Watson to help provide quick answers to veterans about a wide array of benefits topics

AUSTIN —Today Texas Land Commissioner and Chairman of the Veterans Land Board, George P. Bush, announced the official launch of the VLB virtual assistant, fondly named, Maverick.  (more…)

Read More

Überzeugt vom Krieg

Zum Irak-Krieg gibt es zwei große Verschwörungstheorien: Rohstoffe waren ausschlaggebend für die Entscheidung, der Krieg von langer Hand geplant. Beides entspricht nachweislich nicht den Fakten, wie der Politikwissenschaftler Franz Eder in seiner Habilitationsschrift nun zeigt: Die Bush-Regierung war überzeugt, dass vom Irak reale Gefahr ausgeht. (more…)

Read More

Yale prepares for atom smasher’s farewell, sets stage for new physics era

Yale University has begun a multi-phase renovation of the former Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory that will reinvent the landmark nuclear physics lab for a new era in physics research.

Expected to take at least three years, the project will transform the bunker-like home of what once was the world’s most powerful atom smasher of its kind into a site for teaching, research, and development related to two of the hottest topics in 21st-century physics — the study of neutrinos and the hunt for dark matter. (more…)

Read More

The Fed and Interest Rates: Biased Toward the GOP?

ANN ARBOR — With the elections less than a week away, it’s worth considering that the party of the president influences the policy behavior of the Federal Reserve Bank, according to a new University of Michigan study.

The Federal Reserve Bank increases interest rates before the presidential elections when Democrats are in office, but lowers the rates when Republicans control the White House. The independent bank finds it easier to accomplish its policy goals when Republicans control the White House than when Democrats do, the researchers say. (more…)

Read More

For Presidential Candidates, Image May Trump Debate Issues

The wide swings in debate performances by this year’s presidential candidates reflect the fact that in modern campaigns, a candidate’s image is the message, according to linguistic anthropologists who have studied presidential campaigns.

Candidates send important messages to voters through even their smallest gestures, the researchers say. For example, in this year’s first debate, President Barack Obama often looked down at the podium and was criticized for appearing disengaged. In subsequent debates Obama directly addressed his Republican opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and increased the use of a hammering hand gesture sometimes called the “power grip.” (more…)

Read More

Questions for Geoff Pullum: The ‘Grammar Gotcha’ and Political Speech

A long campaign season with genuine gaffes and alleged misstatements began its culmination with the first presidential debate. Like many citizens, linguist Geoff Pullum, a visiting professor at Brown, was watching.

Grammarian Geoff Pullum is the Gerard Visiting Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences at Brown University and professor of general linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. He is also a frequent blogger on language and politics on Language Log and Lingua Franca.

In a conversation with David Orenstein, he cited several specious analyses of word choice and syntax that have been used unfairly against candidates. The often ill-informed critiques stand in stark contrast to the way people are typically inclined to overcome the misstatements of others as they extract understanding from clumsy speech. Pullum will be listening closely to the presidential and vice presidential debates. (more…)

Read More

National Deficit Outlook Unchanged Under Obama: UMD Policy Analysis

Public Policy’s Philip Joyce Offers Election Policy Fact Check

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – From a public policy point of view, the national debt accumulation since President Obama took office is largely a result of policies put in place prior to his inauguration, says a new analysis by University of Maryland expert Philip Joyce. He adds that Obama’s policies will make little impact in the debt over the next decade.

“The best that can be said about presidential fiscal policies thus far is that they would slow the bleeding, but they neither would stop it nor would they do much to heal the patient,” Joyce says.

The size of the debt has been one of the biggest issues of the presidential campaign, with Republicans arguing that the President has allowed the debt to rise out of control and Obama saying that he inherited the policies that led to an increase in debt and deficits. (more…)

Read More