Monthly Archives: June 2009

Risks of plastic water containers

from a reader – and response – which suggests that we should refrain from using plastics as water containers – and at least in the context of pet water bowls – stick to glass.

via Wikimedia Commons

via Wikimedia Commons

Dr. Fox does not address stainless steel, or fabric-based bowls; we’ll attempt to follow up with him.

Two-Bit Dog – Dr. Fox’s website. The Washington Post – an excellent paper with a generally excellent website – doesn’t provide a link to Dr. Fox’s columns.

See also “Microwave Safe – Not!” from the the always-excellent PumpHandle, cross-posted by revere at Effect Measure.

Politicians help family of man kidnapped in Mexico – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com/Senator Nelson points out similarity to Levinson case

Politicians help family of man kidnapped in Mexico

Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen met with the family of Felix Batista — a Miami local who was kidnapped six months ago in Mexico — to discuss how the government can help bring Batista back home.

BY PERRY STEIN

pstein@MiamiHerald.com

The family of an American kidnapped in Mexico has teamed up with U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Sen. Bill Nelson with the hopes of bringing their relative back home safely to Miami.

Felix Batista, 53, went missing from a restaurant in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila about six months ago. Ironically, Batista specializes in resolving kidnapping cases and was in Mexico to speak to businessmen about avoiding abductions.

No ransom demand has been made and there has been no word of his whereabouts since his disappearance last December.

On Friday morning, Nelson and Ros-Lehtinen met with Batista’s family in Coral Gables to discuss the government’s efforts to solve the mysterious disappearance.

Nelson further stressed the importance of the government working to resolve this disappearance, and drew comparisons between this incident and the case of Robert Levinson — a retired FBI agent from Coral Springs who went missing in 2007 while researching a cigarette-smuggling case in Iran.

Batista is a constituent in Ros-Lehtinen’s 18th congressional district.

”This is such a sad case and that is why I have asked other members of the Florida congressional delegation to get involved,” Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement.

“We need to seek answers for the family and I am pleased that my colleague, Sen. Nelson, has joined this endeavor.”

Nelson said that he spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about Batista and that the Obama administration is making it a priority.

”I personally spoke to Secretary of State Clinton about two weeks ago. I know she is using all the resources of the State Department, and next week I will be meeting with the attorney general to ask him to continue to have the FBI, and the other resources at his control, working the case,” Nelson told The Miami Herald.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, Ros-Lehtinen urged Obama to seriously consider this matter because “Mr. Batista’s case tragically demonstrates the irrefutable threat that Mexico’s escalating narco-violence poses to the security of our own nation and citizens.”

ANOTHER CASE

Nelson further stressed the importance of the government working to resolve this disappearance, and drew comparisons between this incident and the case of Robert Levinson — a retired FBI agent from Coral Springs who went missing in 2007 while researching a cigarette-smuggling case in Iran.

via Politicians help family of man kidnapped in Mexico – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

Lawrence, Kansas Journal-World coverage of Tiller Assassination

The Lawrence Journal-World has been providing exceptionally detailed coverage of the George Tiller assassination; links follow to some of their outstanding work:

after apprehension;

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Domestic Terrorism: physician assassinated in church

Our most immediate association of an assassination committed in a church is that of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Dr. George Tiller, 67, a physician, was killed standing in the foyer of his church; he was serving as an usher, greeting parishioners and visitors. From George Tiller Suspect May Be Charged Monday,

by Joe Rodriguez, Tim Potter and Stan Finger of the Wichita Eagle:

Monday, a 51-year-old Johnson County man could be charged with murder and aggravated assault in the shooting of Tiller, who had been shot before by an anti-abortion foe.
The crime has drawn condemnation and outrage from the president and stirred strong emotions across the nation.
Tiller, 67, was shot once just after 10 a.m. Sunday as he stood in the lobby of Reformation Lutheran Church, 7601 E. 13th St., where he was serving as an usher. The gunman threatened to shoot two men who tried to apprehend him.

According to The New York Times,

moments after services had begun at Reformation Lutheran Church, Dr. Tiller, who was acting as an usher, was shot once with a handgun, the authorities said. The gunman pointed the weapon at two people who tried to stop him, the police said, then drove off in a powder-blue Taurus. Dr. Tiller’s wife, Jeanne, a member of the church choir, was inside the sanctuary at the time of the shooting.
The police in Wichita described the man who was detained as a 51-year-old from Merriam, a Kansas City suburb, but declined to give his name until he was charged. The Associated Press reported that a sheriff’s official from Johnson County, Kan., where the man was taken into custody, identified him as Scott Roeder.