Finding The Right Injury Lawyer | Reference and Education - Typepad

Whether you have recently been hurt in a car or truck accident, burned or injured by chemical exposure, hurt on a construction site, or simply frustrated by an insurance company that has refused to pay benefits that are owed to you, a personal injury lawyer can help! The aim of this article is to help you understand how to select the best one.

The personal injury lawyer you choose should be more than just ?competent.? Your legal team should be ?remarkable?. Your personal injury lawyer should provide you with resources to deal with all aspects of your case, answer questions, prepare intensely for trial, try your case (if need be) and always be prepared to fight on your behalf.

A truly remarkable firm will work hard to exceed your expectations. They will pull out all stops to get you compensation to cover damages you have suffered, which may include but are not limited to, medical and surgical costs, lost work time and wages, anxiety, pain and suffering, car mileage and many out of pocket costs that you may face. A respected firm will follow up with clients promptly. Look for a lawyer who has a reputation for being tough but fair, smart and compassionate. A great law firm will make sure the client feels comfortable, and at the same time, they need to send a message, loud and clear, to insurance companies and liable parties that they mean business. The right firm will not be scared to throw their credentials around for the benefit of the client.

Accident and injury victims often find themselves in a state of a shock after a traumatic event and do not act swiftly enough. When a terrible event disrupts everything in your world, it?s only human nature to ?wait a bit? to get your head together before moving forward, but this approach may not be the best idea. Here?s why: Evidence from the accident or injury may get lost or even be deliberately destroyed in the hours and days after the accident. Witness recollections may grow foggier and more inaccurate as time passes after the incident. Even your own recollection of the event will give way to hazier, less accurate memories. And if you wait too long after the accident or injury, you may lose your ability to make a claim altogether, even if you have compelling evidence on your side, due to the ?statute of limitations?.

Each personal injury case is unique and needs to be looked at by an experienced injury lawyer. Choose a car accident lawyer that will give you the time and attention you deserve and need to win your case. Be sure they listen astutely to what you want and need and help you feel calm, comfortable, and taken care of throughout your case. Most injury law firms takes cases on a contingency basis. This means that until they win a trial verdict or reach a settlement, you do not owe anything.

Source: http://thebesteducationreference.blogspot.com/2012/11/finding-right-injury-lawyer_26.html

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Parents key to preventing alcohol, marijuana use by kids

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

New research from North Carolina State University, Brigham Young University and the Pennsylvania State University finds that parental involvement is more important than the school environment when it comes to preventing or limiting alcohol and marijuana use by children.

"Parents play an important role in shaping the decisions their children make when it comes to alcohol and marijuana," says Dr. Toby Parcel, a professor of sociology at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work. "To be clear, school programs that address alcohol and marijuana use are definitely valuable, but the bonds parents form with their children are more important. Ideally, we can have both."

The researchers evaluated data from a nationally representative study that collected information from more than 10,000 students, as well as their parents, teachers and school administrators.

Specifically, the researchers looked at how "family social capital" and "school social capital" affected the likelihood and/or frequency of marijuana use and alcohol use by children. Family social capital can essentially be described as the bonds between parents and children, such as trust, open lines of communication and active engagement in a child's life. School social capital captures a school's ability to serve as a positive environment for learning, including measures such as student involvement in extracurricular activities, teacher morale and the ability of teachers to address the needs of individual students.

The researchers evaluated marijuana use and alcohol use separately. In both cases, researchers found that students with high levels of family social capital and low levels of school social capital were less likely to have used marijuana or alcohol ? or to have used those substances less frequently ? than students with high levels of school social capital but low family social capital.

###

The paper, "Does Capital at Home Matter More than Capital at School? The Case of Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Use," is published online in the Journal of Drug Issues. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Mikaela Dufur of BYU and Benjamin McKune, a Ph.D. student at Penn State.

North Carolina State University: http://www.ncsu.edu

Thanks to North Carolina State University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125710/Parents_key_to_preventing_alcohol__marijuana_use_by_kids

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London's clue to stubborn ozone

6 December 2012 Last updated at 10:57 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, San Francisco

Scientists think they have identified one key reason why ground-level ozone remains stubbornly high in Europe.

They say it is the unfortunate but unintended consequence of what have otherwise been very successful efforts to improve air quality.

It turns out the filters put on vehicle exhausts to remove fine particulate material have also unbalanced the chemistry behind ozone formation.

Chemical reactions that would normally remove ozone have been subdued.

The insight comes from a study looking at London's air quality records.

"Peak ozone levels have come down since the 1990s, but we haven't had the gains we expected on ozone," said Dr Erika von Schneidemesser from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany.

"The data we've got from monitoring sites in London, and also the modelling work we have done, has helped us understand why ozone has behaved the way it has - at least in London," she told BBC News.

Dr von Schneidemesser was speaking here at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, the world's largest annual gathering of Earth scientists.

Disturbed cycle

Ozone in the lower atmosphere (troposphere) is regarded as a serious pollutant that can cause respiratory problems, and even damage masonry and agricultural crops.

The principal originating source is the emissions from road vehicles. These include the exhaust gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), and carbon monoxide (CO).

Ozone is the product of these gases' participation in a complex series of chemical reactions where sunlight and heat act as catalysts. Summer months are generally worse for O3.

Dr von Schneidemesser and colleagues used the data from London's dense network of air quality monitoring sites to try to assess the performance of the ozone-producing reactions over the past 15 years.

They found that although the ozone precursors have been falling, the ratio of two NOx gases in the atmosphere has changed.

In constant conditions, there is a neat cycle in which nitrogen dioxide (NO2) helps to form ozone and nitric oxide helps to break it apart. This cycle appears to have been perturbed by control measures that were actually intended to remove the fine particles and black carbon (soot) in vehicle exhausts.

The measures achieved the desired outcome but also altered the relative emissions of the different NOx gases.

"There's this balance between the NO and nitrogen dioxide NO2, and the diesel filters that we've been retrofitting on to things like buses mean that we now have a larger amount of primary NO2 and so you get a reduction in NO that is much greater than the reduction in NO2. This means basically you are taking away some of the ozone suppression," said Dr von Schneidemesser, who is also affiliated to the University of Leicester, UK.

Whereas NO in the atmosphere has been reducing by 5-20% per year, NO2 has been falling by just 1-5% per year.

"As these levels continue to go down, we should then eventually see a reduction in ozone. It's just that the initial steps have had the opposite effect."

Further work is required, but the researchers' suspicion is that London's experience is not unique.

The big traffic-choked cities of Europe will all suffer from similar emissions inventories. The one rider here is that southern European cities will have more sunlight and heat to drive ozone producing reactions.

But the London observations are unlikely to be the whole story. Scientists say it's also that European ozone levels are being influenced by what is happening in other regions of the world.

"There is an import of ozone and precursors from outside, and this influences what we call background ozone; and that's going up as global pollutants, particularly in Asia, go up. And that's affecting European ozone levels," explained co-worker Prof Paul Monks at the University of Leicester.

"So, for something like ozone, we've probably got to move to a more global treaty-like situation. We've got to look at control measures in other countries as well as our own.

"Peak ozone has gone down since the 1990s, but it has bottomed out now; and it's remaining fairly flat despite emissions reductions."

Ozone's NOx cycle

(1) The Sun's ultraviolet light breaks oxygen atoms off nitrogen dioxide molecules

(2) Oxygen atoms then react with oxygen molecules in the air to produce the ozone

(3) But ozone is destroyed by nitric oxide, reforming molecular oxygen and nitrogen dioxide

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20563591#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Northeast U.S. sees second driest November in more than a century

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2012) ? Even though Hurricane Sandy helped create wet start to the month for several states, November 2012 went into the record books as the second-driest November since 1895 in the Northeast. With an average of 1.04 inches or precipitation, the region received only 27 percent of its normal level.

The record driest November was 1917 when the Northeast received only 0.88 inches of precipitation.

All states were drier than average. Departures ranged from 16 percent of normal in Connecticut, their second-driest November, to 37 percent of normal in New Jersey, their 11th driest. Of the remaining states, New Hampshire, Vermont and West Virginia had their second-driest November; Delaware, Maine, Maryland and New York had their third driest. Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Massachusetts also ranked in the top 10 driest Novembers.

Overall for autumn, the Northeast was slightly drier than average with 11.36 inches of precipitation (98 percent of normal). The region was split down the middle with half of the states drier and half the states wetter than normal. Connecticut took the title of driest state with only 78 percent of normal, while Delaware led the wet states with 120 percent of normal.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor, issued Nov. 27, indicated abnormal dryness continued in upstate New York while a new area of abnormal dryness popped up near the Vermont-New Hampshire border and in central-southern West Virginia.

In addition to being dry, the Northeast was cooler than normal for November -- in spite of a brief mind-month warmup. With an average temperature of 37.2 degrees, it was 2.5 degrees cooler than normal and was the coolest November since 1997. All states reported below average temperatures for the first time since October 2009. West Virginia and Maine were the coolest at 4.1 degrees below average. Departures for the rest of the states ranged from 4 degrees below normal in New Jersey to 0.9 degrees below normal in Vermont.

Autumn's overall average temperature of 50 degrees was average for November in the Northeast. West Virginia was the coolest at 1.6 degrees below average for the season. Of the warm states, Vermont was the warmest at 1.1 degrees above average.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/Ynp5_QmrnJs/121205142325.htm

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Tesco reviewing slow-growing US operation

LONDON (AP) ? Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, said Wednesday it is reviewing options for its slow-growing U.S. venture Fresh & Easy.

Tesco launched the venture in 2007, and now has 200 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. But the business has not done as well as hoped. The company said it had recently received several approaches from potential buyers or partners in Fresh & Easy, whose chief executive, Tim Mason, will be leaving.

"This hardly represents Tesco's finest hour, but it is more about what it says about likely changes in management's thinking," analysts at Panmure Gordon said, welcoming the announcement as a sign that "management is prepared to take difficult decisions."

Tesco shares rose 4 percent to 339.75 pence as trading opened in London.

Like-for-like sales at Fresh & Easy, which exclude new stores and space, grew less than 2 percent in the third quarter.

Tesco Chief Executive Philip Clarke has been concentrating on the company's U.K. base, where its dominant market share has recently slipped a bit. Like-for-like sales in the home market, excluding petrol, were down 0.7 percent in the quarter.

In its annual report released in April, Tesco said it was "building real momentum in Fresh & Easy" with 12 percent like-for-like growth. As one sign of progress, Tesco said it had reduced its losses in the United States for the first time in 2012 ? the year when it had once aimed to turn a profit.

"It is now clear that Fresh & Easy will not deliver acceptable shareholder returns on an appropriate timeframe in its current form," Clarke said. "Whilst the business has many positives, its journey to scale and acceptable returns will take too long relative to other opportunities."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-05-Britain-Tesco/id-176ffb259d2a4ab98eb0729a9f03e130

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Forrest Griffin latest UFC 155er to fall to injury

The hits just keep on comin'. UFC president Dana White tweeted today that Forrest Griffin injured his knee.

Forrest Has MCL tear and ACL strain. 20 cc's of blood removed from his knee and the saga continues at the UFC!!

? Dana White (@danawhite) December 5, 2012

Griffin was scheduled to fight Phil Davis at UFC 155 at the end of the month. Originally, he was supposed to fight Chael Sonnen, but Sonnen was then matched up with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones for a bout after their stints coaching on "The Ultimate Fighter." Davis stepped in, but now Griffin is apparently out.

UFC 155 is headlined by heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos' rematch with former champ Cain Velasquez. The card took a hit recently when Chris Weidman was forced out of his bout with Tim Boetsch because of injury. But strong cards being decimated by injuries for has been par for the course for the UFC in 2012.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/forrest-griffin-latest-ufc-155er-fall-injury-195759043--mma.html

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BBM Money to launch in Indonesia, allows peer-to-peer fund transfers

RIM might be struggling for market share here in the US, but the BlackBerry name still enjoys quite a bit of popularity elsewhere in the world. Take Indonesia for example, where the company will launch BBM Money, a transactional service that'll allow money transfers between BlackBerry owners. Apparently BBM is already a popular way to set up peer-to-peer transactions in the Southeast Asian country, so the service essentially closes the loop. With Android usage on the rise over there -- around 52 percent market share according to a recent IDC report -- RIM is likely trying anything it can to retain its stronghold. We're not sure when exactly BBM Money will go live, though RIM has said it's to come "shortly," perhaps along with the launch of BlackBerry 10 in 2013.

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Video: "Fiscal cliff" negotiations continue (cbsnews)

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UK to overhaul infrastructure contracts, seek savings

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor George Osborne will overhaul the way the government handles infrastructure procurement on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, and announce large savings on existing contracts.

Osborne, under pressure to boost Britain's flagging economy when he updates his economic forecasts on Wednesday, will demand that the taxpayer has a board seat and a share in the profits of companies taking on public-private infrastructure contracts.

He will also consider introducing competitions where investors can bid for stakes in projects already underway.

Under pressure to find savings to get the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government's austerity plan back on track, Osborne will say he has found 1.5 billion pounds in savings from about 100 existing contracts in the last 18 months.

A further 1 billion pounds in efficiencies have been identified, the source said, but gave no details of the time frame for the savings.

Osborne could face higher government borrowing this year, a major embarrassment for the Conservatives, who have put cutting a record budget deficit at the heart of their economic policy.

A sluggish economy has played havoc with the government's austerity targets since 2010 meaning Osborne may have to announce further spending cuts or a longer period of fiscal consolidation.

(Reporting by Matt Falloon)

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Nobel laureate urges U.S. to join landmine treaty

GENEVA (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Laureate and anti-landmine campaigner Jody Williams called on the United States on Monday to join a worldwide pact banning the weapons and leave Russia and China among the few world powers who still reject it.

Williams, who in 1991 launched the grassroots drive which brought the Mine Ban Treaty into existence six years later, was speaking at a news conference before a week-long meeting of the 160 signatory countries to discuss how to improve the accord.

"Since (Barack) Obama has been re-elected as president, we are hoping that the United States will now put in writing what it is doing in practice," said Williams, noting that no U.S. landmines had been produced or deployed since the early 1990s.

"If it is doing it already, why not ratify the treaty?" asked Williams, a U.S. citizen who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work as head of the Geneva-based International Campaign to Band Landmines (ICBL).

This week's gathering at the United Nations European headquarters is formally a 15-year review of the pact which bans the production, deployment and export of landmines and provides for helping victims.

It obliges signatory states to destroy stock piles and clear mines on their territory, even if deployed by other countries during conflicts, and offers them financial support for this costly and often dangerous effort.

Since 122 states joined the accord when it was opened for signatures in 1997 in Ottawa, nearly 40 more have come in, including three over the past 12 years, taking the total to 160, or more than four fifths of U.N. members.

Poland is due to announce its ratification during the week-long meeting, a development that brings all members of the 27-nation European Union as well as the entire NATO alliance, apart from the United States, under the treaty umbrella.

When explaining past decisions to stay outside the pact, Washington has said it could not meet its national defense needs or security commitments to allies if it signed.

The Obama administration has indicated that it is reviewing its position and has sent an observer delegation to this week's meeting. U.S. officials say their country has already taken a strong lead in addressing humanitarian issues linked to mines.

They say the United States is the largest single contributor to funds for helping victims of the weapon, a fact confirmed by the ICBL, and has contributed over $2 billion in aid across 90 countries for the destruction of conventional weapons.

But there has been no sign from Russia or China that they may be reconsidering their stance. Both say they need the weapon to protect long land borders.

The ICBL says only India, Myanmar, Pakistan and South Korea -- all with sensitive frontiers -- are known to be actively producing mines, which were killing or injuring 12 people a day worldwide on average during 2011.

Last week the ICBL's annual Landmine Monitor said that this year only Syria had deployed the weapons, laying them along its borders with Lebanon and Turkey as it battles insurgents seeking the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.

(Reporting by Robert Evans; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nobel-laureate-urges-u-join-landmine-treaty-135954740.html

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Celebrities and their Exotic Pets

Long gone are the days when human being was content with the dog, cat or horse that he owned as pets. These days, the ever-growing trend is to own the rarest, enviable and the most exotic pets. But the question is, what kind of pets actually comes in the category of being exotic? And the answer comes from the celebrities who notably stand as inspiration for all things ?exclusive?. Starting from Michael Jackson and Mike Tyson who once owned a Bengal Tiger, to the celebs like George Clooney who owned a pig, Kristen Stewart has a Wolf dog as pet, Nicolas Cage has an Octopus, Elvis Presley had a Kangaroo, Kim Kardashian?s family onwed a Chimp, and Usher's newly owned puppy which is an Adorable $12,000 Goldendoodle.

Celebrities and their Exotic Pets

San Francisco area to get third storm bashing

Storms keep hammering the West Coast and another storm headed for California could result in disaster. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

By Terry Collins, The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO --?Northern California is bracing for more stormy weather this weekend after heavy rain and strong winds knocked out power to thousands, delayed flights, tied up traffic and flooded some roadways.

After the second in a series of storms slammed the region Friday, scattered showers are expected Saturday before a third storm strikes Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

A flash flood watch will remain in effect for most of the San Francisco Bay Area and the Santa Cruz Mountains throughout the weekend. The storms could cause rock and mud slides in areas already saturated and affected by wildfires this summer, said NWS forecaster Diana Henderson in Monterey.

"It's not a super storm by any measure, but this is pretty significant," Henderson said. "We should see periods of moderate to heavy rains."

---

Friday's stormy weather may be behind the death of a Pacific Gas & Electric worker in West Sacramento who was killed after his truck crashed into a traffic signal pole during the stormy weather.

Friday's storm delayed flights at San Francisco International Airport and knocked down a large tree that smashed a car and blocked a busy street for hours in the city's affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood.

The North Bay was seemingly hit the hardest, as parts of Sonoma County received more than 7 inches of rain and areas in Napa County received nearly 6 inches, Henderson said.

With rain expected all weekend long, Tony Negro, a contractor from Penngrove, Calif., in Sonoma County, said he is worried about water flooding his workshop.

"I'm on my way to get some sand bags," he said.

Thousands of people were without power in that area after an outage that also affected the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The suspension span of the bridge was briefly in the dark as traffic was backed up longer than usual because of rain and strong wind gusts.

Also, a mudslide shut down a stretch of Highway 84 east of Fremont, the California Highway Patrol reported. There was no estimate on when it would reopen.

In Sacramento, an empty big-rig jackknifed in the southbound lanes and struck the median divider on Interstate 5 south of downtown Friday morning, the CHP said.

"I would definitely say it's weather-related. The reports came in that he hit a water puddle and hydroplaned and couldn't correct," CHP Officer Mike Bradley said. "A lot of high-profile vehicles, especially the lighter ones, are getting windblown and having some problems maintaining their lane."

No one was injured in the crash on I-5, California's main north-south highway. But a second vehicle also was damaged and had to be towed, while workers cleaned up diesel fuel spilled from the tractor-trailer.

In West Sacramento, police say wet conditions may have been a factor when a PG&E worker died after he lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a traffic pole. PG&E workers at the scene told KCRA-TV that the driver had been working overtime and was returning from Clarksburg in Yolo County.

In Los Angeles, conditions were wet and gloomy as downtown skyscrapers disappeared in low-hanging clouds.

Elsewhere in the West, a state of emergency was declared in Reno, Sparks and Washoe County in Nevada due to expected flooding as a storm packing heavy rain and strong winds swept through the area. Reno city spokeswoman Michele Anderson said public servants would be working overtime through the weekend to control what's expected to be the worst flooding there since 2005. The National Weather Service issued a flood warning along the Truckee River.

The weather also prompted cancellations of Christmas parades and tree lightings in Sparks and Truckee, just across the border from California.

Also, a storm rushed through southern Oregon this week, lingering inland over the Rogue Valley and dropping record rainfall. It largely spared coastal Curry County and its southernmost city, Brookings, which were still recovering from a storm this month.

"We are still vigilant for landslides and road closures and trees down, but so far ? knock on wood ? we are still good to go," Curry County Sheriff John Bishop said.

Forecasters said the region should expect more storms over the next few days.?

Storms may be hitting the West Coast but temperatures are in the 60s in the South, marking a warm start to winter. The Weather Channel's Kim Cunningham has more.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/01/15597789-san-francisco-area-gets-set-for-third-storm-system-and-flight-delays-traffic-mess?lite

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A multi-wavelength view of radio galaxy Hercules A

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Spectacular jets powered by the gravitational energy of a super massive black hole in the core of the elliptical galaxy Hercules A illustrate the combined imaging power of two of astronomy's cutting-edge tools, the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, and the recently upgraded Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico.

Some two billion light-years away, the yellowish elliptical galaxy in the center of the image appears quite ordinary as seen by Hubble in visible wavelengths of light. The galaxy is roughly 1,000 times more massive than the Milky Way and harbors a 2.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole that is 1,000 times more massive than the black hole in the Milky Way. But the innocuous-looking galaxy, also known as 3C 348, has long been known as the brightest radio-emitting object in the constellation Hercules. Emitting nearly a billion times more power in radio wavelengths than our Sun, the galaxy is one of the brightest extragalactic radio sources in the entire sky.

The VLA radio data reveal enormous, optically invisible jets that, at one-and-a-half million light-years wide, dwarf the visible galaxy from which they emerge. The jets are very-high-energy plasma beams, subatomic particles and magnetic fields shot at nearly the speed of light from the vicinity of the black hole. The outer portions of both jets show unusual ring-like structures suggesting a history of multiple outbursts from the super massive black hole at the center of the galaxy.

The innermost parts of the jets are not visible because of the extreme velocity of the material, which causes relativistic effects that beam the light away from us. Far from the galaxy, the jets become unstable and break up into the rings and wisps.

The entire radio source is surrounded by a very hot, X-ray-emitting cloud of gas, not seen in this optical-radio composite.

Hubble's view of the field also shows a companion elliptical galaxy very close to the center of the optical-radio source, which may be merging with the central galaxy. Several other elliptical and spiral galaxies that are visible in the Hubble data may be members of a cluster of galaxies.Hercules A is by far the brightest and most massive galaxy in the cluster.

###

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center: http://www.nasa.gov/goddard

Thanks to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125619/A_multi_wavelength_view_of_radio_galaxy_Hercules_A

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Buffet Spreads in Chennai Restaurants - Chennai This Week

Buffet ? By Tom on December 1, 2012 at 2:59 am

Multi Cuisine Weekend Buffet at Munveedu

Munveedu is celebrating its first anniversary and they have organized special buffets during weekends. Dinner buffet on Saturdays is priced at Rs.499 and lunch buffet on Sundays will cost Rs.399. At 34/72A, 4th Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Ph: 4260 7475, 72999 09494.

Sunday Brunch at Burgundy?s for Rs.1100 nett

The Sunday brunch buffet is priced at Rs.1100 and it will feature Indian and Continental dishes ? 3 non-veg dishes each in Indian and Continental cuisines and similarly, 10 veg dishes each in both cuisines. There will be also a live counter. Tawa grills will also be available. At Somerset, 94, Sathyadev Avenue, MRC Nagar, Ph: 4900 1000.

Italian Combo Lunch at Veneto

Veneto, the Caf? Restaurant has a combo lunch with Italian dishes? every day. The price of the lunch is Rs.249. 1st Floor, Alsa Mall, Egmore, Phone No:044-42145534.? OLD No 59,New No #32, Burkit Road,T.Nagar, Ph: 42126680, 1550, 18th Main Road, Anna Nagar West, Ph: 4223 0600. Delivery Numbers:8939990001/2/3.

Aroma of South ? at Olives, Deccan Plaza

Special dishes from Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu will be arranged in the form of a buffet at Olives. It will have a welcome drink, 3 starters, 10 main courses, 2 dals, 3 flavoured rice, breads, salads and desserts. The buffet priced at Rs.400 + tax will be available for both lunch and dinner on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and only for dinner on other days. For more information, call 6677 3333.

Lunch Buffet at 3 Kingdoms for Rs.399 + Taxes.

A lunch buffet? with? 21 dishes, with a mix of Chinese, Malay and Thai cuisines will be available on all days of the week at 3 Kingdoms. When you go as 5 you only need to pay for 4.
The buiffet is priced at Rs. 399 + taxes at 17, 3rd Floor, Khader Nawaz Khan Road, during weekdays, Monday to Friday.

Strategic Buffet for Corporate Executives at Rs.475

The Residency?s Spice Jar is offering the Strategic Buffet for corporate executives. The buffet is available from Monday to Friday for lunch and dinner, and consists of starters, soups, salads, a main course featuring 6 non-vegetarian and 14 vegetarian dishes, along with a choice of 12 desserts. The buffet costs Rs 475 on weekdays and Rs 525 on weekends. If you go as a group of 8, 16 or 24, you pay only for 7, 14 and 21 respectively. At The Residency, 49, GN Chetty Road, T Nagar Ph: 2825-3434

Global Hawkers Food Festival at Garden Caf?

Taste popular global dishes such as Indonesian Satays, Murtabak, English Fish and Chips etc for lunch. The buffet is priced at Rs 950 for adults and Rs 500 for children.

Radisson Blu also has an exclusive Weekend Dinner Buffet at Garden Cafe, which promises to take you on a culinary tour around the world.?The buffet is priced Child: Rs.500 + taxes?& Adult: Rs. 950 + taxes

At Radisson Blu Hotel, 531 Saint Thomas Mount GST Road, Anna Salai. Ph: 2231-0101, The buffet is available till Dec 1.

Weekend Lunch at The Great Kabab Factory

The Weekend Lunch at The Great Kabab Factory comprises of veg and non veg soups, salads, main course and desserts.?The prices are: Veg: Rs. Rs.995 + taxes,?Non veg: Rs. 1200 + taxes?& Combo: Rs. 1395 + taxes.

Source: http://chennai.servicesquare.in/dining-out/buffet/buffet-spreads-in-chennai-restaurants-9

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RSVP for the #MerryGreen party! - The Eco-Friendly Family

by Amanda on November 30, 2012

Join The Eco Chic and myself as we celebrate the holiday?s this year by sharing some of our favorite eco-friendly gift ideas with you. Along the way we may share some of our favorite holiday recipes, traditions, and ideas for going green this year. A few lucky participants will even get to take home some eco-friendly prizes from our sponsors!

When:?Tuesday, December 11th (12/11/12)
Time: 9-10pm ET
Hashtag: #MerryGreen
Your Hosts: @EFFblog &?@TheEcoChic
Sponsors: @AllegoryPens, @VZWraps?& More to be announced soon!

New to Twitter parties? Try out these great guides on how to join the fun using TweetGrid or TweetChat!

Note: Twitter has tightened the rules on Tweeting from third party programs, if you run into issues simply go to Twitter.com and search for the chat by typing in the party hashtag (or clicking here > #greengifts).

Prizes: We are highlighting great green gifting ideas from a variety of company to fill all of your gifting needs. Check out the Rafflecopter RSVP form below to see them all!

To RSVP: Complete the Rafflecopter steps below (not visible on all mobile devices or feeds) to enter. ?Liking? and following our sponsors will earn you additional entries into the door prizes for the evening. Be sure to check back before the party to get new entries from new sponsors!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Please thank our sponsors by visiting them online at:

Allegory Pens

VZWraps

Promotions from our sponsors:

Coming Soon?

Interested in being a sponsor? More information about this and upcoming parties is available here, or email theecochic@gmail.com for additional information.

Note about winners, prize distribution and all that legal stuff: In order to be eligible for the door prizes you must complete the mandatory Rafflecopter steps listed above and tweet with us using the #greengifts hashtag at least one time during the party. Party hosts will confirm your participation before announcing you as a winner. Winners must confirm with the party hosts by Direct Message (DM) or email in order for us to obtain all the necessary contact information. Prizes will be distributed directly from the sponsors of the party. Distribution can take 2-4 weeks. Should your prize not arrive after 2-4 weeks we will contact the sponsor once to follow up. After that any correspondence should be directed to the sponsor. This is a sponsored party and compensation has been received for their participation. All opinions of the party hosts are our own and are not influenced by the sponsors. ?Liking? a sponsors page is optional but will earn you extra entries into the door prizes. For any additional questions please contact theecochic@gmail.com.

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Tagged as: #MerryGreen

Source: http://theecofriendlyfamily.com/2012/11/rsvp-for-the-merrygreen-party/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rsvp-for-the-merrygreen-party

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Family defends brothers charged in Fla. plot

OAKLAND PARK, Fla. (AP) ? Two Florida brothers charged with plotting to support terrorists are caring family men who enjoyed living in the U.S. and would never hurt anyone, their family said Saturday.

Authorities swarmed a quiet, lakefront condominium near Fort Lauderdale earlier this week and arrested Sheheryar Alam Qazi, 30, and 20-year-old Raees Alam Qazi, charging them with plotting to provide material support to terrorists and to use a weapon of mass destruction. Prosecutors said the two are naturalized U.S. citizens originally from Pakistan. They remained jailed Saturday without bond.

Two people who identified themselves as the men's mother and brother told The Associated Press outside their condominium that one of the jailed men is married. They repeatedly refused to disclose their full names to an AP reporter.

"It's just a whole misunderstanding. A family like this with a baby like this would never do anything like this," the brother said. He was reluctant to talk, worrying "a lot of people don't know what's true" and stressing that his family has strong values.

"Always love people, always try to help people, if your car breaks down I will help you," he said.

Both referred to a 1-year-old boy who lived in the condo with them and missed the brothers who were arrested. However, it was not clear how the child was related to the two jailed men.

The mother said her sons' arrest has been hard on the family, saying "the wife is crying" all the time. But she said she was hopeful and repeated that her sons liked living in America.

"This is good America, good state, good job," she said. She spoke little English and said she and her husband did not have jobs.

Federal authorities said the investigation was still very active. But they offered few details about the plot, and information was scant in the three-page grand jury indictment released Friday. Authorities said the case was not an FBI sting operation but declined further comment.

The indictment alleges that the two provided money, property, lodging, communications equipment and other support for a conspiracy to obtain a weapon of mass destruction between July 2011 and this week.

It wasn't clear whether the conspirators actually did obtain explosives or what their potential targets might have been.

The brothers' arrest shocked residents in the community, where about a dozen two-story apartment complexes surround a pool and fitness center. Several residents walked their dogs along the tree-lined street Saturday, and a handful of children played outside.

Neighbors said residents of the apartment complex had to submit to a detailed background check before moving in. The entrance has a security gate with a guard house and video surveillance around the pool clubhouse.

Neighbor Martica Albu, who has lived in the complex for about seven years, said the brothers seemed nice and always greeted her warmly, but said she didn't know them well.

"It's terrifying. It's right here, right where you're living in your condo complex," 41-year-old Lano Tice said as he was taking out the trash.

The Qazi brothers had initial court appearances Friday, but court-appointed attorneys for the two did not respond to emails seeking comment. An arraignment and bail hearing is scheduled for Dec. 7.

They could face up to 15 years in prison on the conspiracy charge and up to life in prison on the weapon of mass destruction charge.

South Florida has seen several high-profile terrorism cases, including the conviction of al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla. Five men accused of plotting to join forces with al-Qaida to destroy a landmark Chicago skyscraper and bomb FBI offices in several cities also were convicted in Florida.

More recently, a Miami Muslim cleric and one of his sons are facing trial on charges they provided thousands of dollars to the Pakistani Taliban terrorism group.

__

Associated Press reporter Curt Anderson contributed to this story from Miami.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-01-Florida%20Terror%20Charges/id-25b3ca1ae11b455ca8e268478ec0fdf6

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99% Finding Nemo 3D

All Critics (224) | Top Critics (45) | Fresh (234) | Rotten (2) | DVD (48)

A genuinely funny and touching film that, in less than a decade, has established itself as a timeless classic.

It makes even more compelling what is still my all-time favorite Pixar film.

Think of this re-release as an encore, a handy touchstone for you and your kids. "Finding Nemo" was and remains the gold standard against which all other modern animated films are measured, a classic from the day it premiered.

In this seamless blending of technical brilliance and storytelling verve, the Pixar team has made something as marvelously soulful and innately, fluidly American as jazz.

Nemo, with its ravishing underwater fantasia, manages to trump the design glamour of earlier Pixar films.

Detail is what holds your attention from frame to frame: the panorama of soft and hard corals, the different textured sea bottoms, the undulating seaweed, and the schooling sardines that look flashy and real as can be.

I don't exactly worship Pixar, but "Finding Nemo" is truly a great film.

Gill is Platoon's Sgt. Elias if he'd survived Sgt. Barnes' treachery and returned to civilian life weary and hard-bitten from his experiences. And also a fish.

Finding Nemo 3D is a quality post-conversion experience that successfully enhances the 2003 film's original standout visuals.

The 3D gives the images a little more depth but they already had heft and weight. The 3D is a money-making gimmick, nothing more.

A great blend of storytelling and technology.

It's downright curmudgeonly to remain focused on the negatives when the rest of the picture is saturated with invention and wit.

It's bright, it's beautiful and it hasn't aged a day. So why, then, do we need to see it in 3-D?

A rare example of a movie that not only survives its 3-D conversion but benefits from it

It was as funny as I remember and brilliant because it is subtle. It just knocks it out of the park. I love everything about this movie, one of my favorite Pixar movies of all time, 5/5 Schmoes. The new sound/3D adds to the greatness that is Nemo.

If you're fishing for fun in an ocean of movie mediocrity, grab the kids or the grandkids, fork out a few extra bucks and see this one in three-dimensions.

It's a great movie, so much fun, an acheivement that should be enjoyed by children of all ages and worth seeing it in 3D.

Sea-worthy w/enhanced visual lure and rich, humorous characters set in a double narrative; this 3D revisit allows us to fall overboard all over again.

If ever there was a film that wasn't broke, this is it. So naturally they converted it into 3D for a special re-release this weekend. (Stupid irony.)

I believe my sensitivity to certain creative choices of the picture has dulled some, while age has opened my eyes to its complex relationships and tireless sense of exploration.

When the blunt head of Bruce the shark slams into the screen like a hammer, everyone -- adults included -- gasps

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/finding_nemo_3d/

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Range Rover-Exposed at the LA Auto Show

The all-new Range Rover has lost nearly a half ton in weight compared to the outgoing model. But to prove that its underpinnings are no less stout, they stripped one naked to showcase the hard parts. The blue tube above the front tire is part of the engine's air intake system-designed for extreme water fording.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/range-rover-exposed-at-the-la-auto-show-14797693?src=rss

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'East Coast Rapist' Aaron Thomas Pleads Guilty To Virginia Attack And Abduction

LEESBURG, Va. -- A Connecticut man who police believe is responsible for a series of sexual assaults along the East Coast pleaded guilty Thursday to a 2001 rape and abduction in Virginia, marking the first conviction in the attacks spanning more than a decade.

Aaron Thomas of New Haven faces two potential life sentences after he entered the guilty pleas in Loudoun County Circuit Court to one count of rape and one of abduction with intent to defile.

Thomas had been scheduled to enter a guilty plea earlier this month in Prince William County for raping two teenage trick-or-treaters on Halloween 2009, but the deal fell through after Thomas told a judge he didn't know what he was doing.

Thursday's hearing faced road bumps of its own, when a teary, shackled Thomas cried out "I don't know what's going on here and I don't know what I'm doing" in response to a judge's question about the plea. But he ultimately accepted responsibility, pleading guilty in a barely audible voice. A third, lesser count was dropped as part of the plea deal.

Thomas underwent a mental health evaluation after being transferred to Virginia to face charges. A court-appointed evaluator concluded he was faking symptoms of insanity.

Part of the evidence against Thomas included a letter of apology he wrote shortly after his arrest last year to the woman he raped in Leesburg, threatening her with a screwdriver.

In the letter, written after he was interviewed by detectives, Thomas wrote "I did not want to hurt you I just have a bad emotional sex problem that I could not control (sic)." He concluded, "Sorry 4 hurting you emtionaley (sic) because I have problems with my self."

Thursday's guilty plea was the first conviction in any of the cases linked to the man police dubbed the East Coast Rapist. He is scheduled for a second plea hearing Friday in Prince William County.

Loudoun County Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Plowman said he was glad that the guilty plea would spare the victim from having to testify at a trial. She will be able to testify at Thomas' sentencing about the effect the crime has had on her life.

Plowman declined to say Thursday whether he will seek a life sentence.

Thomas was arrested in Connecticut in March 2011 after a multi-state law enforcement effort to catch a man believed responsible for rapes and other attacks on 17 women since 1997 in Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The cases were linked by DNA and other evidence.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/29/east-coast-rapist-guilty-plea_n_2214671.html

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UN vote recognizes state of Palestine; US objects

Palestinians celebrate as they wave posters of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, left, and President Mahmoud Abbas, right, as they watch the U.N. General Assembly votes on a resolution to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority to a nonmember observer state, in the west bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. The U.N. General Assembly has voted by a more than two-thirds majority to recognize the state of Palestine. The resolution upgrading the Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations was approved by the 193-member world body late Thursday by a vote of 138-9 with 41 abstentions. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinians celebrate as they wave posters of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, left, and President Mahmoud Abbas, right, as they watch the U.N. General Assembly votes on a resolution to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority to a nonmember observer state, in the west bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. The U.N. General Assembly has voted by a more than two-thirds majority to recognize the state of Palestine. The resolution upgrading the Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations was approved by the 193-member world body late Thursday by a vote of 138-9 with 41 abstentions. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

The results of a draft resolution on Palestinian status are posted during a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly after a vote on a resolution on the issue of upgrading the Palestinian Authority's status to non-member observer state in the United Nations headquarters, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Members of the Palestinian delegation and others join Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by applauding during a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly after a vote on a resolution on the issue of upgrading the Palestinian Authority's status to non-member observer state passed in the United Nations in New York, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the Palestinians but an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Palestinians wave palestinian flags as they watch the U.N. General Assembly votes on a resolution to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority to a nonmember observer state, In the west bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. The U.N. General Assembly has voted by a more than two-thirds majority to recognize the state of Palestine. The resolution upgrading the Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations was approved by the 193-member world body late Thursday by a vote of 138-9 with 41 abstentions. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinians gather next to a section of Israeli separation barrier at the entrance to the west bank city of Bethlehem to watch a large screen showing the U.N. General Assembly votes on a resolution to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority to a nonmember observer state, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. The U.N. General Assembly has voted by a more than two-thirds majority to recognize the state of Palestine. The resolution upgrading the Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations was approved by the 193-member world body late Thursday by a vote of 138-9 with 41 abstentions. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the Palestinians and an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States.

The resolution upgrading the Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state at the U.N. was approved by a vote of 138-9, with 41 abstentions, in the 193-member world body.

A Palestinian flag was quickly unfurled on the floor of the General Assembly, behind the Palestinian delegation. In the West Bank city of Ramallah, hundreds crowded into the main square waved Palestinian flags and chanted "God is great." Others who had watched the vote on outdoor screens and television sets hugged, honked and set off fireworks before dancing in the streets.

Real independence, however, remains an elusive dream until the Palestinians negotiate a peace deal with the Israelis, who warned that the General Assembly action will only delay a lasting solution. Israel still controls the West Bank, east Jerusalem and access to Gaza, and it accused the Palestinians of bypassing negotiations with the campaign to upgrade their U.N. status.

The Palestinians still face enormous limitations. They don't control their borders, airspace or trade, they have separate and competing governments in Gaza and the West Bank and they have no unified army or police.

The United States immediately criticized the historic vote. "Today's unfortunate and counterproductive resolution places further obstacles in the path peace," U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the vote "unfortunate" and "counterproductive."

The United States and Israel voted against recognition, joined by Canada, the Czech Republic, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Panama.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the speech by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the General Assembly shortly before the vote "defamatory and venomous," saying it was "full of mendacious propaganda" against Israel. Netanyahu called the vote meaningless.

Abbas had told the General Assembly that it was "being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine." Abbas said the vote is the last chance to save the two-state solution.

After the vote, Netanyahu said the U.N. move violated past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians and that Israel would act accordingly, without elaborating what steps it might take.

Thursday's vote came on the same day, Nov. 29, that the U.N. General Assembly in 1947 voted to recognize a partitioned state in Palestine, with the jubilant revelers then Jews. The Palestinians rejected that partition plan, and decades of tension and violence followed.

Just before Thursday's vote, Israel's U.N. ambassador, Ron Prosor, warned the General Assembly that "the Palestinians are turning their backs on peace" and that the U.N. can't break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.

The vote had been certain to succeed, with most member states sympathetic to the Palestinians. Several key countries, including France, this week announced they would support the move to elevate the Palestinians from the status of U.N. observer to nonmember observer state.

Unlike the more powerful U.N. Security Council, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly, and the resolution to raise the Palestinian status only required a majority vote for approval.

The vote grants Abbas an overwhelming international endorsement for his key position: establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. With Netanyahu opposed to a pullback to the 1967 lines, this should strengthen Abbas' hand if peace talks resume.

The overwhelming vote also could help Abbas restore some of his standing, which has been eroded by years of standstill in peace efforts. His rival, Hamas, deeply entrenched in Gaza, has seen its popularity rise after an Israeli offensive on targets linked to the Islamic militant group there earlier this month.

Israel has stepped back from initial threats of harsh retaliation for the Palestinians seeking U.N. recognition, but government officials warned that Israel would respond to any Palestinian attempts to use the upgraded status to confront Israel in international bodies.

The Palestinians now can gain access to U.N. agencies and international bodies, most significantly the International Criminal Court, which could become a springboard for going after Israel for alleged war crimes or its ongoing settlement building on war-won land.

However, in the run-up to the U.N. vote, Abbas signaled that he wants recognition to give him leverage in future talks with Israel, and not as a tool for confronting or delegitimizing Israel, as Israeli leaders have alleged.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Burns and Bradley Klapper in Washington, Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem and Mohammed Daraghmeh and Karin Laub in Ramallah contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-29-UN-Palestinians-Status/id-36b69c15002a49a1b77920b53d24e0f5

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Comelec opens party list to 13 families

by Reynaldo Santos Jr.
Posted on 11/29/2012 5:13 PM ?|?Updated 11/29/2012 9:33 PM

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MANILA, Philippines ? Thirteen organizations whose nominees come from the same families have been accredited for next year?s party-list polls, according to the complete list released by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday, November 29.

They include Ang Mata'y Alagaan (AMA), whose first 3 nominees upon application are members of Supreme Court Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr?s family. Also on the list is Ako Ang Batang Sora Movement, Inc. (ABSI), which counts 3 relatives of Quezon City congresswoman Mary Ann Susano among the 5 nominees each group is allowed to have.

For the 2013, the party list has become a sort of family affair for 36 of the 289 groups that applied for inclusion (165 new applicants, 124 accredited in 2010). Each of these 38 have 2-3 nominees who are related to each other.

Organizations applying for accreditation for the party list have to nominate 5 persons each to represent them. For every corresponding percentage of votes that the group garners, it can send to the House of Representatives the nominees who are first on the list.

AMA?s Nominees 1-3 were Justice Velasco?s wife Lorna and children Tricia Nicole and Vincent Michael. The poll body said earlier the group had replaced the Velascos as nominees, although it wasn?t clear when the substitution was made and who replaced them.

ABSI has Congresswoman Susano?s nieces Vanessa Rose and Maricel Francisco as first and fourth nominees, and her nephew Michael Ryan Francisco as fifth nominee.

Eleven other groups, each with two related nominees, have been accredited by the Comelec for the 2013 party list. They are:

• Agrarian Development Association (ADA) ? Former Ilocos Sur Rep. Eric D. Singson and his son, incumbent Ilocos Sur Rep. Eric G. Singson Jr.
• Agbiag! Timpuyog Ilocano Inc. (AGBIAG) ? Patricio T. Antonio and Jose Antonieto M. Antonio.
• Agila ng Katutubong Pilipino, Inc. (AGILA) ? Gil A. Valera and Elorde B. Valera.
• Ang Laban ng Indiginong Filipino (ALIF) ? Current ALIF Rep. Acmad Tomawis?s sons Abdul (his political liaison officer) and Agakhan.
• Angkla: Ang Partido ng mga Pilipinong Marino, Inc. (ANGKLA) ? Jesulito A. Manalo and Jose Miguel S. Manalo.
• Bagong Henerasyon (BH) ? Incumbent BH Rep. Bernadette Cruz-Herrera Dy and her husband Edgar Allan D. Dy.
• Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP) ? Incumbent TUCP Rep. Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza and his brother Michael Democrito. They are sons of TUCP president Democrito Mendoza.
• 1 Alliance Advocating Autonomy Party (1 AAA Party) ? Former Department of Transportation and Communications secretary and Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon D. Alvarez and Alfonso A. Alvarez.
• Aasenso Sa Barangay - LAKAS Inc. (ASBI-LAKAN) ? Hermin E. Arceo and Ariel S. Arceo.
• OFW Family Club, Inc. (OFW FAMILY) ? Former ambassador and National Labor Relations Comission chair Roy V. Se?eres Sr. and his son Roy M. Se?eres Jr.
• Padayon Pilipino (PADAYON PILIPINO) - Vladimir R. Elazequi and Natasha E. Elazequi.

Twenty-three other groups with 2-3 related nominees were already disqualified by Comelec.

They include the Alliance of Organizations, Networks, and Associations of the Philippines (ALONA), whose nominees are House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez?s children Danilo Jr. and Joanna, and in-law Alexis.

Also disqualified was the National Crusaders for Peace and Democracy Inc. (NCPD), whose nominees include retired police general Romeo Maganto and his children Faith and Rommel.

Comelec Resolution 9366, or the rules and regulations governing the 2013 partylist elections, does not specifically state that having relatives as nominees of a single party is a basis for disqualification.

Having a single family as source for a number of nominees, however, tends to go against the main criteria that a group has to represent and to have nominees belonging to marginalized sectors.

The Comelec on Thursday released a list of 79 accredited groups for the 2013 party-list race. ? Rappler.com

Source: http://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections-2013/16996-comelec-opens-party-list-to-13-families

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