India Inc queues up to meet Montek Singh Ahluwalia

NEW DELHI: When the moneybags of Mumbai make a beeline for a nondescript New Delhi building that still goes by the name of Yojana Bhavan, chatter about what could be the grand plan afoot is inevitable.

This building on the Capital's Parliament Street, frequented normally by government types and sundry economists, may seem a relic of a bygone era, and these high-profile visitors are both witnesses and creators of a resurrection of one of its occupants.

That person is none other than Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, who in a span of just a few weeks has gone from being hauled over the coals for approving a spend of Rs 35 lakh to refurbish his office toilet less than a month ago to being one of the most sought-after appointment in Delhi these days.

On Monday, India's richest man, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, came calling and spent an hour with Ahluwalia. On Wednesday, it was the turn of his brother Anil. Between these two high-profile visits, Ahluwalia's office has hosted the likes of Vodafone India Chairman Analjit Singh, liquor baron and Kingfisher Airlines boss Vijay Mallya, Goenka Group Chairman JP Goenka and many others - a drastic change in the visitor profile to an office that usually hosts state chief ministers and government officials.

"The roster of industry doyens seeking meetings with Montek has got much longer," says one Delhi-based lobbyist for a Mumbai-based industrial group, asking not to be identified. "My bosses want to spend more time with Ahluwalia to discuss their concerns in the hope they would be conveyed to the PM."

Former bureaucrat colleague and now a Rajya Sabha MP, NK Singh, says it is not surprising Ahluwalia has so many visitors. "Not everyone can meet the PM as he's busy with so many things," he says.

A return to influence

"If you don't have a full-time finance minister, then you would share your views and grievances with people whose advice the PM would rely on," says Singh, a former revenue secretary and Planning Commission member, who has worked with and known Ahluwalia for nearly five decades.

For someone who has been variously labeled as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's sidekick (by the Economist magazine) to being formally anointed as his 'Sherpa' (at G20 meetings), the rise in Ahluwalia's stock now has a lot to do with the recent changes in the stewardship of the economy.

The prime minister has taken charge of the finance ministry following the resignation of Pranab Mukherjee, and most adroit watchers of Delhi's power scene have assumed that Ahluwalia's playing a big role in economic policy now is a slam-dunk.

It could mark a return to influence for a man at whom Cabinet ministers openly took potshots and civil society activists lambasted as 'heartless' after the Planning Commission set what they felt was an unrealistic poverty line.

On both occasions, looking exposed with no higher power to shield him, Ahluwalia, 68, seemed down and somewhat out in the past three years, but today he is clearly up and about.

Officials working with Ahluwalia play down recent events as anything significant, but the recent spike in visits by industry honchos is being interpreted by many as a comeback story. The flurry of India Inc's meetings with Ahluwalia started barely two days after the PM assumed charge of the finance portfolio.

"We have greater faith now that putting our point across to Montek is going to help us because there is a feeling he is in a better position to act now," said the senior director of a Mumbai-based large conglomerate, asking not to be identified.

The sense of importance is familiar territory for someone who is remembered as one of the posterboys of economic reforms of 1991. Together with boss and mentor Manmohan Singh, then the country's finance minister, Ahluwalia and a team of bureaucrats plotted and executed the dismantling of the licence permit raj and the liberalisation of the Indian economy.

Immortalised by their trademark light blue turbans, the senior Singh dreamt up the big changes while Ahluwalia and the other officials worked out the policy nuts and bolts and explained them to the world.

The 1990s were the zenith of his influence and power, a period that saw him occupy key government positions such as the commerce secretary, the head of the finance ministry's department of economic affairs and finally finance secretary, positions rarely if ever occupied by someone who is not a member of the Indian Administrative Service.

The Congress party's loss of power saw Ahluwalia, a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University who went on to become one of the youngest division heads at the World Bank in the late 1970s, drift away into seemingly less powerful roles in the government, before he left to join the International Monetary Fund in Washington in 2001.

The return of the Congress-led UPA to power in 2004, this time with his mentor Manmohan Singh as prime minister, saw Ahluwalia return to Delhi and take charge as the head of the Planning Commission.

During the UPA's first innings, Ahluwalia was in the reckoning for the finance minister's post, talk of which has routinely resurfaced every few years. The man himself has always brushed off all such talk as mere speculation, sometimes even bristling at the suggestion.

While the UPA's first innings saw him helping the prime minister on economic and strategic priorities of the government, the second innings of the UPA has been less than pleasant. Senior Cabinet minister Kamal Nath called him an 'armchair advisor', he and the commission were roundly criticised for being out of sync with the country's poverty levels and most recently, a stink was raised about him spending millions of rupees on what some said were ultra-luxurious, access-controlled toilets.

The commission's influence on policy decisions was also perceived to have declined in the three years of UPA-II. The past few years saw the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council gaining clout and the finance ministry sidelining the commission on several matters.

"The NAC becoming more active definitely dimmed the influence of the Planning Commission. The commission has primarily dealt with the social sector, but now it was divided between two government organisations that essentially serve as think tanks," said a retired commission official. "Maybe nobody says it out aloud, but it was a known fact that the NAC had more say in social sector policymaking than the commission," he added.

But with Mukherjee's exit and the prime minister beginning to assert control again on economic matters, perhaps for the first time since the Indo-US nuclear deal's conclusion, Ahluwalia's star is once again on the ascendant.

The setting is not very dissimilar from 1991 - the economy's key indicators are weak, the currency is under pressure and investor sentiment towards India has taken a hit because of contentious policy proposals such as retrospective taxes and the GAAR.

With a full-time finance minister unlikely to be appointed immediately, Ahluwalia's influence and workload are expected to increase in the weeks ahead. Ahluwalia is already more visible and more vocal on policy matters. Ahluwalia's former colleague NK Singh says the Planning Commission chief faces bigger challenges.

"Talking up sentiment and good optics is not enough. The real challenge is to indicate corrective measures to undo the damage and break the paralysis in decision-making that has hit all sectors," said Singh.

Source: http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/fy/8at2EuK0bUcB22gw/story01.htm

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Chat at 11 A.M. EDT on Higgs Boson News from CERN

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Join us for a live online chat with physicist Michael Tuts of Columbia University. Tuts will help us understand what this morning?s announcement about the Higgs means for physics


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Join us below at 11 A.M. Eastern time on Wednesday, July 4 for a live 30-minute online chat with physicist Michael Tuts of Columbia University, who will discuss an early-morning announcement from CERN, a Switzerland-based lab for particle physics, about the long-running search for the Higgs boson. We invite you to submit questions in advance in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

The Higgs particle, first hypothesized in the 1960s by physicist Peter Higgs and others, would help explain why elementary particles, such as quarks, have mass. Finding the Higgs?or ruling out its existence?was the prime motivation for building the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), where researchers collide protons traveling at nearly light-speed to create new particles.

[Click here to watch a Webcast of the announcement starting at 3 A.M. EDT Wednesday. The chat will take place later in chat box below.]

Michael Tuts, the U.S. operations program manager for the ATLAS detector at the LHC, will answer your questions during the chat about the Higgs, the LHC and what comes next in particle physics if indeed the Higgs has been found. We will turn on the capacity to log in to the chat box below around 10:50 A.M. EDT.

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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f3d1a1f3ae390a276b6f73bb6bf8aa64

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UK growth too weak for sustainable recovery: BCC

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-growth-too-weak-sustainable-recovery-bcc-023059506--business.html

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Former Ferrari car designer Pininfarina dies

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-ferrari-car-designer-pininfarina-dies-120103502--sector.html

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William Lynch Trial: Alleged Church Abuse Victim Describes 'Fear' During Priest Assault

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- William Lynch testified Friday that he punched the priest he accuses of molesting him after memories of the alleged sexual abuse came flooding back across the decades and were so vivid that he felt threatened.

Lynch is on trial in San Jose after pleading not guilty to one count of assault and one count of elder abuse.

While he is the defendant in Santa Clara County court, his lawyers are attempting to put the retired priest on trial in the court of public opinion. The attorneys are using the alleged abuse in 1975 as a defense for the pummeling of Jerold Lindner on May 10, 2010. Lynch testified Friday that memories of the alleged abuse triggered a violent reaction when he confronted the retired priest on that afternoon.

Lynch says he initially drove from his San Francisco home to the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, where the priest lives. The center is a home for retired priests, but also a residence for clergy accused of sexual improprieties.

Lynch testified that he didn't intend to strike Lindner that day. Instead, he said he wanted to confront Lindner with a written confession of the alleged molestation that he wanted the priest to sign. The Catholic Church has paid out millions to settle lawsuits alleging Lindner sexually abused children, including Lynch when he was 7-years-old, but the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution expired before the allegations were made.

On Friday, Lynch said the priest "leered" at him "with the same look in his eyes" the priest had during the alleged molestation.

"I felt at that point he was a threat to me," Lynch said during sometimes emotional testimony. Lynch said that on "one level" he knew that the smaller, much older priest wasn't a physical threat to him. But he said another part of him reverted to when the priest allegedly assaulted him, and fear took over.

"As a rational adult, I'm not afraid," Lynch said. "But part of me is stuck where I was as a child."

Lynch said after he punched Lindner twice, the retired priest grabbed him by the throat just like he grabbed the 7-year-old Lynch during the alleged molestation in 1975. After scuffling for a few more moments, the incident ended when the receptionist entered the room.

Lindner was treated and released from the hospital after receiving stitches above his eye.

Lindner has steadfastly denied he molested anyone, a denial that even prosecutors in Lynch's assault trial don't believe. Santa Clara deputy district attorney Vicki Gemetti told jurors during her opening statement on June 20 that "the evidence will show" that Lindner molested Lynch and that she expected the retired priest to lie about it and deny the accusation. Nonetheless, she implored jurors to convict Lynch, arguing he took the law into his own hands.

As promised, Lindner did repeat his denial on the witness stand on June 20 after briefly testifying Lynch beat him without provocation. But before he could be cross-examined by Lynch's lawyers the next day, the retired priest invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to testify any further. The judge also ordered the June 20 testimony stricken from the trial record and ordered the jury to ignore it when deliberating.

The judge on Friday shot down the defense's attempt to force Lindner to court Monday to resume testifying. Lynch's attorneys sent the priest a subpoena Thursday night compelling his testimony Monday. Lindner's attorney Joe Wall marched into court Friday afternoon and persuaded the judge to toss out the subpoena.

"It's harassing," Wall said. "I think it's being done for the sole purpose of causing a spectacle."

Defense attorneys are trying to convince the jury that Lynch's punching of the priest was unplanned and brought on by fear of a man he says molested him, while prosecutors are attempting to portray Lynch as planning the assault for years.

"This was a selfish act to make himself feel better," the prosecutor Gemetti told the judge after he dismissed the jury for lunch.

Earlier, during Gemetti's cross-examination, Lynch told the jury he put on gloves in the parking lot of the center before meeting with Lindner. She also had Lynch explain why he called the center using an alias the day before the incident, telling administrators he needed to deliver a message to Lindner about a death in the family.

Lynch said he used an alias and trumped-up story to "gain access" to Lindner. He testified that if he had used his real name, he would have been denied access to the center and Lindner because of his lawsuit and allegations he made.

Lynch also said during cross-examination that he had harbored fantasies of killing Lindner, but that he didn't intend to physically hurt him on May 10, 2010.

"If I wanted Father Jerry dead, he would be dead," Lynch testified. "It is something I thought about, but it is not something I would do."

Lynch faces four years in prison if convicted. He earlier turned down an offer of a year in jail in exchange for a guilty plea.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/01/william-lynch-trial_n_1641314.html

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NYT: Movement bubbles up against NYC soda ban

Lobbyists from Coca-Cola and other big soda companies have met with mayoral candidates and City Council members. Canvassers hired by the beverage industry are stopping New Yorkers on the street and urging them to sign petitions. Facebook and Twitter pages tell readers to ?say no to a #sodaban.?

Confronting a high-profile attack on its fizzy products, the American soft-drink industry is beginning an aggressive campaign to fight New York City?s proposed restrictions on large sugary drinks.

Hoping for a debate about freedom, not fatness, the industry has created a grassroots-style coalition called New Yorkers for Beverage Choices to coordinate its public relations efforts in the city. On Thursday, the group introduced its first radio spot, a one-minute advertisement featuring ?Noo Yawk?-accented actors proclaiming, ?This is about protecting our freedom of choice.?

?This is New York City; no one tells us what neighborhood to live in or what team to root for,? says the narrator, as Yankees and Mets fans shout in the background. ?So are we going to let our mayor tell us what size beverage to buy?? Adds one Brooklyn-tinged voice: ?It?s unbelievable!?

The charge is being led by the industry?s leading trade group, the Washington-based American Beverage Association, which has retained several powerhouse political consultants for the cause, including the strategists responsible for the ?Harry and Louise? television advertisements that helped defeat President Bill Clinton?s health care plan in the 1990s.

The beverage association would not disclose its budget for the New York campaign, though a spokesman said the group was ?prepared to utilize whatever resources are necessary.?

The city has also waged a campaign to influence public opinion. Since 2009 it has run five waves of advertising, in subways, in print, on the Internet and on television, linking soda consumption to obesity. The campaign has cost $2.8 million, 87 percent of which was paid by the federal government.

The battle is a consequential one for the soda industry, which is on the defensive as public health officials increasingly cite sweetened beverages as a major contributor to America?s runaway obesity rate. The industry has already committed tens of millions of dollars to help defeat proposed taxes and regulations on their products across the country ? in Albany, the industry spent $13 million in 2010 to successfully lobby the Legislature to reject a proposed 1-cent-an-ounce state tax on sodas.

But the industry has been facing even more challenges since May 30 when Mr. Bloomberg proposed banning the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces in regulated food establishments, including in movie theaters and sports arenas. The mayor of Cambridge, Mass., Henrietta Davis, has proposed that her city take a similar step, and Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat, proposed a federal study of the link between sugary beverages and obesity.

The industry faces an particularly tough fight in New York City, because the proposed restrictions require approval only by the Board of Health, whose members were appointed by Mr. Bloomberg. The board plans to hold a public hearing on the proposal on July 24, and the industry, as a first step, hopes to encourage opponents to show up in droves.

The Bloomberg administration said it was unsurprised by the industry?s efforts to stymie the plan.

  1. More on Food trends

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      Look for more?exciting eats and foodie trends on the Bites blog

?There?s an impartial group of health experts who are going to make the decision,? said Howard Wolfson, a deputy mayor who is shepherding the proposed ban. ?I think they will be influenced by science, and not any P.R. campaign.?

Soda executives are vague about their long-term strategy, saying they are focused for now on recruiting local businesses, unions and lawmakers to join their cause. But the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, seemingly closing the door on city or state legislative action, have said that they do not wish to get involved. The industry said it was also considering a court challenge, but only after the regulatory process was completed.

In recent weeks, lobbyists from Coca-Cola met with three likely mayoral candidates: Bill de Blasio, the public advocate, and Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, who support the proposed restrictions; and William C. Thompson, a former city comptroller, who does not. The company also reached out to Ms. Quinn, another likely candidate for mayor, but has not met with her.

?This is the stuff that you would expect any industry to do,? said Christopher Gindlesperger, a spokesman for the American Beverage Association. ?It?s important, regardless of the endgame here, to make sure people understand the impact of this thing, to let them know how it will impact their daily lives.?

On June 20, representatives of soda companies, local restaurants and movie theaters ? all of whom oppose the mayor?s plan ? met for an hour with four members of the City Council?s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus.

?There was a discussion about joining forces with the industry, and we are considering that,? said Councilwoman Letitia James, who invited the industry to meet with her colleagues. She said members of her caucus mostly opposed Mr. Bloomberg?s plan, saying the portion restrictions could put a disproportionate financial burden on lower-income families and small businesses. Ms. James said that she and other Council members would consider filing a brief in support of any lawsuit brought by the industry.

Was soda served at the meeting? ?No refreshments at all,? Ms. James said, ?other than the water cooler.?

The beverage industry ? like the tobacco industry before it ? has cultivated relationships with minority lawmakers, arguing that minority communities are disproportionately affected by sales regulations.

?There?s one thing that all of these bans and attacks and other discriminatory proposals have in common, and that is that they?re regressive,? Mr. Gindlesperger said. ?They?re discriminatory in that they target our products; they are regressive in that they target low- and middle-income families.?

Critics of the soda industry say its New York campaign follows a familiar playbook. ?The talking points are ?Nanny State,? that it won?t work, because people will just buy as much as they ever would, and that this disproportionately hurts the poor,? said Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.

In New York, though, some strategists questioned why the industry would spend time speaking with City Council members, since the Council is effectively powerless to overrule the mayor.

The beverage association also learned an early lesson about Mr. Bloomberg?s overwhelming influence around the city. Last year, the group retained SKD Knickerbocker, an influential consulting firm that produced advertisements for Mr. Bloomberg?s mayoral campaigns, to advise its political strategy in New York.

When a Knickerbocker spokesman, speaking for the beverage industry, denounced the mayor?s plan last month, Mr. Bloomberg?s camp was taken aback, according to several people with direct knowledge of the situation.

Allies of Mr. Bloomberg conveyed their anger to the firm. The company still represents the beverage association, but is no longer working on the soda-ban issue.

This story, "Soda Makers Begin Their Push Against New York Ban," originally appeared in The New York Times.

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48033495/ns/business-us_business/

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Use Caution When Exercising in Hot Weather

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/caution-exercising-hot-weather-130415112.html

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A Happier and More Efficient Residence with Skylights or Roof ...

Surviving in the current technological world, it's no real shock that a significant portion of your monthly expenses is allocated for settling your power expenses. Energy Star, a government-based agency designed to determine whether or not a particular item is energy-efficient lately documented by means of one study that over $2000 is being spent by a household yearly to fork out for power alone. The majority of these expenses are accounted for by your home's heating and cooling systems.

Throughout the summer season, Orlando's morning temperature can surge to around 32 to 37 degrees Celsius. An increase in wetness can often pump the heat index to over 43 degrees. Because most Orlando property owners battle this heat with air conditioning, they generally experience an upturn in utility bills in the summertime. If you live in Orlando, you'll see your electricity bill rising proportionately with the increase in temperature. A smart way to combat the warmth this summer months, save on monthly charges, and provide your residence a brilliant fresh look is by installing skylights.

Countless people think that skylights are simply for high-class property or are very expensive to assist for your pocket. Nonetheless, contrary to this belief, modern skylights are cost-effective fittings for your home as they are intended for better insulation, increased ventilation, and natural lighting in the daytime. Setting up these vents into your roof covering, will allow you to decrease power costs and attain a better mood in your home. They come in different shapes and sorts including domed, flat, vented, or fixed. As their name shows, fixed skylights can't be opened, while vented skylights can-usually by using an electric motor.

The majority of skylight installations you need to have are often offered by Orlando roofing and window contractors. These firms have workers who are capable of properly installing skylights into the roof covering of your residence. Roofing companies are generally ideal because of the framing and drywalling mixed up in work. They can do a detailed task and perhaps enable you to opt for a suitable skylight for your residence.

When Orlando roof repair and home builders are asked about which window supplier delivers the ideal skylights, they'd probably tell you to look into the Energy Star rating tag. Energy Star certified roof windows can lessen your power charges by 7-15 percent. These Energy Star assessed items likewise lessen your greenhouse emissions, as they reduce the necessity for energy from power factories.

The costs of skylights offered by Orlando roofers or window contractors cover anything from $300-$1,000 each, depending on the sort utilized. Taking into consideration their long-term effects to your budget and the environment, skylights are worth every penny. Find out more on these home improvers at homerenovations.about.com.

If you have questions, please visit us at www.sunsationalroofing.com for complete details and answers.

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