Bong’s lawyer: Senate violated Napoles’ right

By Christina Mendez, The Philippine Star, ABS-CBN
MANILA, Philippines – The camp of Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. yesterday expressed concern that the Senate may have committed a “brazen violation” of Janet Lim-Napoles’ constitutional right to presumption of innocence when some senators insinuated that she could be guilty in the alleged pork barrel scam.

Joel Bodegon, legal counsel of Revilla who is one of three senators facing plunder in connection with the scam, also decried the trial by publicity generated by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee’s probe on the pork barrel issue last Thursday.

“The sad thing is that the investigation was a brazen violation of Janet Napoles’ constitutional right to presumption of innocence as most of the senators already condemned her guilty without the benefit of trial,” Bodegon said.

How can women break the insidious cycle of relationship failure

Nothing is more traumatic than seeing a relationship falling apart. It breeds suspicion, distrust and distance. A couple who could not live without each other at one point of time start finding reasons to stay away. The relationship failure is painful for both the partners. Both try to hurt each other; and the more they hurt each other the more they destroy what was once a very loving relationship.

Signs of relationship failure

It needs no special skills to understand when a relationship starts turning sour. Some of the indicators are:

1. The partners start finding fault with each other.
2. They stop listening to each other
3. They start spending more time outside the house
4. They find less and less time, and even less reason, to touch each other or reassure each other that everything is right.
5. The trust breaks down.
6. No satisfactory explanations are offered for coming late.
7. Phone calls are not returned 
8. There is an attempt to hurt and wound each at the slightest possibility.
9. The mutual respect that existed for each other starts shrinking.
10. There are high expectations but no give and take.

How can women save the relationship
The onus to save a relationship rests on both the partners. One partner alone cannot save a relationship if the other is adamant of walking away. However, if the relationship is in trouble on account of misunderstandings then surely the woman in the house can save it.

The first step is to start listening to her mate. She need not flare up or show her disapproval if she does not agree to what he has to say. Instead, she must accept at face value his statements. This is not an easy task but the first critical step to assuage his male ego. No man wants to be treated lightly. He will start feeling more wanted if he finds that the woman he loves is not always on the warpath. The small conversations that ended up in bitterness and conflict will gradually start getting longer. 

The next step is to show that you want your man to come closer to you. This can start by putting a little more passion in the peck that you give him when he leaves for work or the hug when he returns. He may surely be surprised, and even a little restrained to return you new found love, but there is no better way to close the gap than through touch. It can bridge the widest of distances that may divide a relationship. 

You should simultaneously start finding fault with him. Don’t ask him to give an explanation for coming late or staying away on weekends. Take it in your stride. Wait for him to open up.

Give the man some space
Also, give him space to unwind when he returns from work. You don’t have to rush to him, and start a conversation. Every man likes some private time and space to himself. Let him avail it; let him cool down and become emotionally more ready for your light chat and banter. Avoid subjects that he thinks are frivolous; focus on issues that may interest him. Of course, don’t try to fool him by trying to over reach yourself. Even silences are great for companionship. You can just pat his hair or hold his hand while he watches TV or hover close around him to make him feel wanted.

Soft music and good food can make him more relaxed. Try to play music that he likes, and cook food that he loves. You should allow him to set the pace if he wants to take you to bed. Don’t push yourself on him. But let him believe that you have come to him because you wanted it. This anyway is true. 

Don’t try to change your man
It is important that you stop trying to change your mate. This is one mistake that most spouses make. They think that their men will change if they keep after them. Nothing can be more counterproductive. Constant nagging only leads to revolt and rebellion. Also, stop blaming your mate for anything and everything that has gone wrong in the relationship. It will only make him fight back.

You must not sound or look dishonest when you are trying to salvage the relationship. It is essential that you have full belief in what you are doing. You should gradually make him talk of why he had starting moving away from you. Once again, you don’t have to push him into talking about his misgivings. You should create a situation where he wants to confess, where he wants to release the pent up feelings. This can have magical affect on your relationship. Suddenly, the ghosts that had bedeviled your relationship will be exorcised.

There will be trust again, and mutual faith. Try not to loose it again.

Author Bio
Discover how you can easily bring back the Love of Your Life! 
www.retrievealover.com 

The Good News Is It Works For Both Men & Women! 
More underground relationship and love tips, FREE special reports available Here.

Source: Article Geek

Sexy Musical Instruments Drive Women Wild

Tired of trying to attract the woman of your dreams into your life? Fed up with getting nowhere fast? Does even your pet spaniel reject your caresses?

Well, it might come as little surprise, but what turns many women on is music and those who play it. The sheer romance of standing beneath the boudoir window of your beloved and reciting your melancholy airs, whether clad in tunic and tights or not, has been known to turn even the coldest heart into the most ardent groupie ready to give you her all!

But, I hear you say, isn’t that just a bit old fashioned and really corny, even laughable in these modern times? A valid point, so what I’ve come up with is a list of several innovative ways to attract your heart’s desire, through the power of music — cutting edge, original techniques, to really get you noticed and become the new Modern Romeo.

So let’s go! Here are the first 4 musical instruments, mastery of any of which is bound to win over the heart of your beloved: 

Aeolian Wind Harp

The Aeolian harp originated in ancient Greece and was very popular throughout the Renaissance. In its traditional form, the instrument was designed to be played by the wind alone, without human action. The harp essentially comprises a wooden box with strings stretched between two bridges. If placed in a slightly open window where the wind can blow across the strings, it will produce random sounds, depending on the strength of the wind, ranging from a barely audible deep hum to a loud soprano scream.

Interestingly, the effect can sometimes be both heard and seen in overhead utility lines. It also makes an often dramatic appearance in non-telescopic automobile antennae. You might also recall that in Nabokov’s Lolita, the narrator’s father married an English girl whose grandmother was an aficionado of the Aeolian harp.

Beer Bottle Organ

The perfect foil to a hard night out on the town, the concept of a bottle organ dates back to the early 19th century. The organ sound is actually produced by blowing air over the tops of beer bottles housed in a wooden cabinet. The instrument, as developed by Peterson Tuners, includes an air pump and a self-playing device. It can also be made coin-operated. The beer bottles are filled or “tuned” using mineral oil, so it will not evaporate or change tuning due to climatic changes.

Double Violin

The violin is one of the most traditional romantic instruments: from Paganini to Nigel Kennedy, hearts have been won across the globe as romantic airs waft through starlit skies. But why stop at a single instrument? Be sure to kill off all competition with a double violin!

Jon Rose developed his 10-string double violin as part of an ongoing project lasting over 25 years, creating a total art-form around the violin. Central to the project is innovation in violin design, with over 20 deconstructed instruments in the series of Relative Violins. The double violin is essentially two violins that share the same fingerboard. Jon Rose performs his group projects and solo music in over 50 concerts every year around the world.

Glass Armonica

An instrument with a playing technique to should strike an immediate chord with the romantically inclined. And if you’re not romantically inclined, then why on earth are you reading this?

The glass armonica was invented in 1761 by Benjamin Franklin. It is played in the same way as rubbing a wet finger around the rim of a wineglass, producing a musical note. The glass bowls are individually tuned, so that they do not need to be filled with water. The bowls are tuned by size, mounted one inside the other with cork on a metal spindle. The glasses are made to spin with a flywheel attached to a foot pedal. Ben Franklin himself declared “Of all my inventions, the glass armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction”.

Whilst initially very popular (Mozart himself composing works for it), its popularity did not last far beyond the 18th century. This might even have been due to strange rumours that using the instrument caused both musicians and listeners to go insane. A German musicologist, one Friedrich Rochlitz, even went so far as to declare “the armonica excessively stimulates the nerves, plunges the player into a nagging depression and hence into a dark and melancholy mood that is apt method for slow self-annihilation. If you are suffering from any nervous disorder, you should not play it; if you are not yet ill you should not play it; if you are feeling melancholy you should not play it.”

I hope you have enjoyed learning about these novel methods of winning your heart’s desire and that you will soon become that romantic hero to which you aspire. Thank you for reading. Please watch this space for more unusual romantic ideas of how to seduce women and gain their hearts through music and the arts.

Author Bio

Antonio Bonito is a classical musician and owner of the Imsizzling.com adult dating web site.

Source: Article Geek

Adult Dating Tips: Seductive Techniques Using Music to Attract Women

Online dating for teenagers and young adults seems a relatively simple pursuit requiring little more than an exchange of photographs and a passing reference to some common interests. And that’s it, the match is made, although it might not last more than a few days! But for the older and more experienced adult, dating is usually a more complex issue, in which both the man and the woman will expect more from their potential partner.

So why not give yourself a head start and make your profile that much more interesting. Being able to play a musical instrument, particularly an unusual musical instrument, will not only make your profile stand out from the herd but will also arouse much interest and curiosity. At the very least it will get you a few dates quite quickly, but in many cases you will soon find that you have become a veritable magnet to the opposite sex.

Let’s take a look at the next four unusual musical instruments you might consider adding to your online dating armory. They range from the most ancient to the most modern, so there is sure to be one to appeal to every musical taste.

LightHarp. The LightHarp uses lasers, spotlights and light sensors to trace virtual strings through space for performers to play. I believe something similar was used by Mr Spok to charm the heart of many an interstellar traveler. The instrument does not produce sound itself, rather it controls computers and synthesizers.

The current version of the LightHarp has been designed in leather by the famous leather artist, Garry Greenwood. The LightHarp is also the World’s first Indian computer music instrument and resembles a veena in shape and design. It has a total of 32 light-sensor virtual strings, each of which play either individual notes, music samples or act as frets on a string. But although designed for playing Indian music, the LightHarp is also capable of performing dense polyphonic textures with micro-tonal tunings.

Nano Guitar. Now here’s an instrument guaranteed to please the technology-minded lady, and it comes in one convenient pocket-sized package. Keep one by you at all times. You never know when it might come in handy!

The smallest guitar in the world, the Nano Guitar is only 10 micro-meters in length — about the size of a single cell — with six strings each about 50 nanometers, or 100 atoms, wide. The original Nano Guitar was made to resemble a Fender Stratocaster. The new, “playable” version, actually about five times the size of the original, is modeled on the Gibson Flying V.

The strings are actually silicon bars, 150 by 200 nanometers in cross-section and ranging from 6 to 12 micrometers in length (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter, the length of three silicon atoms in a row. For comparison, the diameter of a human hair is about 200 micrometers, or 200,000 nanometers). They vibrate at frequencies 17 octaves higher than those of a real guitar, so special listening skills will be required!

Serpent. An instrument with overt sexual overtones and in the right hands a lethal weapon in your armory to seduce your beloved. Just don’t overdo it, the effects can be earth-shattering!

The Serpent is an ancient musical wind instrument, related to the modern tuba, invented by Canon Edmé Guillaume in 1590 in France, and was first used to reinforce the sound of church choirs. It was made from wood and blown with a cup shaped mouthpiece. Played softly, it has a firm mellow tone. At medium volume, it produces a robust sound — something of a cross between the tuba, bassoon and French horn. But when played loudly, the serpent can produce seriously unpleasant noises reminiscent of large animals mating or in distress.

Theremin. The Theremin is perhaps my preferred instrument, and one of the most versatile. But as with all musical instruments worthy of the name, please consider the neighbors and try to perfect your technique before rushing out to try this. Police cells and hospitals have been known to become overcrowded with failed Theremin players.

The Theremin is one of the earliest electronic instruments, the forerunner of the electronic synthesizer. However it is unique in that it is played without ever physically touching it. Invented by the Russian inventor Leon Theremin in the 1920s, the instrument is outfitted with two antennae and when the hands of the player enter the electrostatic field around each antenna, changes in pitch and volume occur.

For years the Theremin enjoyed cult status in sci-fi movies (such as Bernard Herman’s score for the 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still) and it is still used today in movies and by a number of contemporary musicians including bands such as Led Zeppelin, Radiohead and Portishead. In fact the Theremin is enjoying a veritable musical renaissance!

I hope you have enjoyed learning about these intriguing musical instruments, mention of any one of which on your adult dating site profile is bound to generate a lot of interest. But it’s for you to take it from there!

Author Bio

Antonio Bonito is a classical musician and owner of the Imsizzling.com adult dating online personals web site.

Source: Article Geek

Dating After Loss of a Spouse

When a relationship ends due to one partner dying, what is the correct time period to begin dating again? Grief is such a funny, unpredictable animal. Many people in years’ past think a year is a suitable time to wait before incorporating life changes, and yet for many of us, a year into our loss – we’re barely getting started on our grief journey. My experience has been that people and perhaps society as a whole, do not allow enough time or thought to the actual grief process. There is no quick fix or “getting over it” and moving on. We all move through grief in our own ways and means. There is nothing by formula that we can follow or hope to happen. Talking with others who have experienced a similar loss is definitely a plus.

Some days the road is more difficult than others days. At times, you feel enveloped in a mist of uncertainty. Even small decisions can sometimes stretch past your point of coping.

Personal decisions are just that, personal. What is suitable for anyone must be decided individually. Sometimes you have to let go of preconceived notions of the correct way to act and grieve. 

I began dating too early, about a year after my husband passed away. I was incredibly lonely and in a real oxymoron, I was determined to be happy again, at any cost to myself. So, I started dating through online sites and I kept attracting the wrong type of man. Takers, emotionally unavailable, surface daters, serial daters, men who mirrored my own uncertainty about my readiness to date again.

None of these connections turned out to be anything substantial. In a fog of grief, I yearned to find someone to love, and yet I knew these men were wrong for me. They were just a short ride on a ferry to nowhere special. It was brought home to me gradually, through my dating experiences, that I had to value myself more than what I was doing. I couldn’t settle with a partner just to have someone in my life. I deserved more. My dates deserved more than someone still traveling through grief. 

In those early days, I was as unavailable as the men I dated. If I had realized this, perhaps I would have run fast in the opposite direction, but in two instances I hung on to a flagging relationship, hoping things would change. Of course they did not.

Gradually, I came to realize that I had to stop setting myself up for disappointment in relationships. How could I attract the right partner, unless I was equally ready for a commitment?

I made the decision to bring my standards up to a new level and part of this process involved not dating for over a year. Only then did I start meeting the quality of man that my higher consciousness demanded. I was no longer wasting my time, or theirs, in surface dating, where both of us knows after one date there is no chemistry or real interest.

We all deserve better for ourselves than settling in a relationship just to alleviate the loneliness. It is difficult being alone when you are used to so much more, but I have chosen to remain so until the right partner comes along. It’s a personal decision, and for me, there is no other choice.

Author Bio

Elaine Williams is a widow and author of A Journey Well Taken: Life After Loss will be available June 2008, www.ajourneywelltaken.com

Source: Article Geek

SC halts Garcia plea deal

THE Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday granted a petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) asking the tribunal to enjoin the Sandiganbayan from continuing with the promulgation of judgment in the plea bargaining agreement between retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia and the Office of the Ombudsman.

In a resolution, the SC’s Third Division issued the TRO preventing any promulgation of judgment by the Sandiganbayan Special 2nd Division based on the 2011 plea bargain deal.

The TRO also prevents the graft court from allowing Gracia from posting bail, now that he pleaded to lesser offenses of direct bribery and facilitating money laundering.

Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza and OSG lawyers in the review petition stressed that unless Sandiganbayan is restrained, “there is a clear possibility that it will render judgment and thereby render the present petition moot and academic to the grave damage and prejudice of the Republic and the Filipino people.”

In May 2011, the OSG moved to intervene in Garcia’s case, but the Sandiganbayan ruled against them. The OSG appealed to nullify the plea bargaining but they lost, and its motion for reconsideration was also dismissed.

In December 2010, Garcia was granted bail in the lesser offenses and in September 2011, he was ordered arrested after the Judge Advocate General’s Office convicted him of violations of Articles of War 96 and 97.

These cases involve his alleged untruthful declarations in his 2002 and 2003 statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.

According to the OSG, the former military comptroller must remain in the detention cell because of the presence of the strong evidence of guilt against him after he pleaded guilty to the lesser offenses.

Court junks lawyer’s plea for VFA re-negotiation

The Supreme Court (SC) denied the plea filed by lawyer Harry Roque seeking to renegotiate the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement between the USA and the Philippines.

The SC’s Public Information Office said that the motion was junked for lack of merit. The plea came after the grounding of the US ship at the protected Tubbataha Reef.

“The SC, in an unsigned resolution denied the Motion for Execution filed by Atty. Harry Roque in Nicolas v. ROMULO GR 175888 for lack of merit. The SC stated the petitioner should file the motion with the court of origin,” the SC-PIO said in a text message.

Roque in his motion argued that the minesweeper “had no business and was asked not to enter the national park.”

He theorized that the US Navy personnel on board “may have wanted to engage in scuba diving in the park.”

“That makes their grounding there a “non-service related” event,” the petition read.

The VFA a bilateral agreement between the United States and the Philippines that became effective in 1999 after its ratification in the Philippine Senate.

Because it allows the US government to retain jurisdiction of their personnel as long as the crimes they committed in the Philippines are of no
“significant” value to the country, some critics deemed it unconstitutional.

The treaty also exempts the US military from visa and passport regulations in the country.

But critics also believed that the VFA is a pretense to allow the deployment of US troops who will supposedly provide training exercises, also called Balikatan, for Filipino soldiers.

Some US Special Forces troops have been deployed to the Philippines to assist in the fight against the decades-old Muslim insurgency in Mindanao (south of Manila) since its signing.

The motion said that the captain and the men of the minesweeper should have been criminally prosecuted before the Philippine local courts.

The Tubbataha incident makes it very clearly why the VFA is not beneficial to the Philippines, they said.

The plea further stated that the VFA “[g]ives the Americans a pretense to ignore our national sovereignty and destroy our national patrimony before, the Americans rapped our women, now, like victorious conquering forces, they are raping our national wealth as well.”

In reaction to the ruling, Roque said he will file a motion for clarification because they have no other cases in relation to VFA pending in any lower court.

Roque explained that the petition assailing the constitutionality of VFA has been filed directly to the Supreme Court by a civil society group led by former Senate President Jovito Salonga.

Hence, Roque explained that the court of origin in the said case is also the high court.

ALAM PARTYLIST BOOSTS CAMPAIGN VS CYBERCRIME ACT

Alab ng Mamamahayag (ALAM) Partylist group yesterday expressed support to the group of lawyers who recently appeared before the Supreme Court to stand against the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
ALAM said the controversial law is against the Constitution and the rights of the public.
In the first hearing at the Supreme Court, Senator Teofisto ‘TG’ Guingona III called it “cyberdracula with jaws giving fear to the hearts of the people.”
University of the Philippines law professor Atty. Harry Roque Jr. also a critic of the said law said, it is ‘overbreadth’ and ‘overbroad’.
Roque said “the law does not indicate who’s responsible when you hit the like button.”
Roque added that it not determined in the Cybercrime Prevention “if the blog owner is responsible for the posted libelous comment.”
ALAM national chairman Jerry Yap, one of the petitioners, said all Filipinos should show support and solidarity to question the legality of RA 10175.
“We must stop this because the law is dangerous,” said Yap. “Even if it is created to protect the citizens who abuse the Internet, it also kills the rights of people.”
Yap also said it trampled the “right to privacy” of citizens because it will allow the monitoring of traffic data in the Internet without a warrant.
He added that taking over the websites without court order is also allowed in RA 10175 because they made cybercrime law a crime.
ALAM officials also pointed out that RA 10175 did not clear who is referred to as “aiding and abetting” of cybercrime.

Sex education for teens delivered online and in texts

In the midst of shrinking budgets, competing interests and political concerns, sex education has gone viral, The New York Times reports.

Sex education is a hot topic in most school systems, with only 13 states specifying that medical components must be accurate.

In reaction, some health organizations and school districts have begun using text messaging, web sites and social media platforms to educate teens.

For example, ICYC (In Case You’re Curious), a text chat program run by Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, answers questions and sends info blasts via text.

In Chicago, teens can subscribe to Sex-Ed Loop, a program that sends automated texts about contraception, relationships and disease prevention.

In California, teens can use Hookup, a system that sends the locations for local health clinics.

Some argue these systems don’t teach teens about abstinence or alternatives to sex, but advocates say these programs work. (poz/nytimes)

Gay rights activists defends Corona over Wikipedia slur

GAY rights activists are seething in anger over homophobic cyberattacks that defaced the Wikipedia page of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona in order to discredit the chief magistrate of the Supreme Court.

This was after the vandalized page which was hacked briefly on January 3, branded Corona the “Thief Justice” and portrayed him as having gay sex with court administrator Midas Marquez. The page has been restored four hours after the attack.

It was even stated in a passage from the posted attack which reads: “Rumors are circulating that the Supreme Court Administrator — “Midas Marquez” is having intimate relationship with the Chief Justice.”

In a statement of the Progressive Organization of Gays in the Philippines (ProGay), the slur is below the belt since the attacks was not only limited to Corona and Marquez, but also to the members of the third sex.

“We totally deplore this heinous way of using gay slurs for launching political attacks between the opposing sides in the impeachment trial,” declared Goya Candelario, spokesperson Pro Gay.

The ProGay leader said that the defacement proves that homophobia and discrimination are real social problems of Philippine society that make life for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) very dangerous.

A day before this incident, a heterosexual male youth was stabbed and mauled to death by an armed gang of hoodlums after the youth defended two gay passengers in a minibus from the gang’s taunts.

“We mourn the death of Fernando Mendoza who died defending gay rights and because of unchecked homophobia that is being stoked by religious zealots and machismo. All levels of our society should really address and correct homophobia, because both ordinary men who are not gay like Mendoza and powerful government officials such as Corona and Marquez are not safe from these stupid hate crimes,” Candelario said.

With this,  ProGay called on Congress to immediately pass the Antidiscrimination Bill with protections for sexual orientation and gender identity even as the impeachment trial of Justice Corona in the Senate weeks is set to dominate the attention and time of both House of Representatives and the Senate. (Mla. Times)