Author: Patrick

Short Bio: I started blogging about politics in 2006, as a populist, skeptical left of center type, with a blog called simply, "The Populist."I suspect, but cannot prove; that my blog might have been hacked by some evil neoconservatives. I cannot prove that at all and also too, around the same time. Hackers from China where attacking wordpress blogs. I believe either the Neocons or the Chinese got my site. I don't know honestly know which.Either way, by 2007, I began to see that I really did not fit within the Democrat Party and liberal circles and after my blog was hacked; I created a blog called "Political Byline" and I kept writing; first as a Centrist and then as a Conservative PopulistFor my long bio, see the "About Me" section on this blog.

Breaking News: Major Tanker Accident, Explosion, Overpass collapse

There has been a horrific crash and explosion in Hazel Park, Michigan…

tankerfire

Video Via WXYZ, Shot earlier:

Better Via via Fox 2 Detroit:

The Story WXYZ-TV:

HAZEL PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) – A tanker truck–and possibly two or three semi trucks–has exploded in the vacinity of northbound I-75/I-696/Nine Mile Road in Hazel Park, causing a massive fire and explosion. Eyewitnesses say the tanker tried to make it under the Nine Mile overpass but the top of the tanker hit the bridge, causing the explosion. It is not known what the tanker was carrying. A Michigan State Police officer told Action News reporter Cheryl Chodun that there were “two or three” trucks involved in the explosion.

Preliminary reports indicate one person has been injured, but it is still not known how many vehicles are involved in the accident/explosion.

Michigan State Police say Eastbound I-696 ramps to northbound and southbound I-75 are now closed, and I-75 has been shut down in both directions at Nine Mile from the center of the fire. Response teams from Hazel Park, Madison Heights and Ferndale are at the scene, along with the Michigan State Police.

Multiple sources have told Action News that the Nine Mile Road overpass has collapsed at the center of the fire. The explosion, according to witnesses, occurred around 8:15 p.m.

According to what I’ve just heard from on WXYZ, the tanker driver is alive and a friend of theirs, which relayed it to the local news station that someone “T-Boned” or stuck his truck. Which caused the accident.

Consider this a live Blog, I will be posting more information; once I receive. If you are on twitter; if you have information or saw the accident or have a picture. Please, reply to my tweet and/or e-mail me via the Blog and I will post it here.

Update @ 1:24 A.M: Via WXYZ:

HAZEL PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) – Investigators at the scene of a massive tanker truck fire on I-75 say the fire is under control but crews are letting it burn itself out.

Officials say the tanker truck and two other vehicles were involved in the crash and explosion in the vacinity of northbound I-75/I-696/Nine Mile Road in Hazel Park Wednesday evening.

Officers say the tanker truck was hit by another vehicle and slammed into one of the concrete supports under the Nine Mile Road overpass. Multiple sources have told Action News that the overpass collapsed at the center of the fire. This overpass was rebuilt just one year ago; now it will have to be rebuilt again.

The accident and explosion, according to witnesses, occurred around 8:15 p.m. Police say three persons were hurt. They were taken to Beaumont Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

A Michigan State Police officer told Action News reporter Cheryl Chodun that the tanker truck was carrying 13,000 gallons of fuel and 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

I’m sure this will be a mess for a while. Oy. 🙄

Update July 16, 2009: The Clean up Begins!

Breaking News: Firefox 3.5 vulnerable to JavaScript exploit

This is not good. 😯

A zero-day exploit affecting Firefox 3.5 is on the loose and Mozilla doesn’t have a fix. To make matters worse, the exploit is leveraging a JavaScript vulnerability. Simon Berry-Byrne of Secunia explains:

The vulnerability is caused due to an error when processing JavaScript code handling e.g. “font” HTML tags and can be exploited to cause a memory corruption.

Successful exploitation allows execution of arbitrary code.

The vulnerability is confirmed in version 3.5. Other versions may also be affected.

Experts recommend

In situations like this, security experts recommend that JavaScript be disabled until Mozilla comes up with a patch. That works, but then almost every Web site visited will be broken as most of Web sites use JavaScript.

My fix

I’d like to suggest a different approach, it’s a simple lightweight application that allows you to decide whether you want JavaScript to run or not. The application is called NoScript. I explain NoScript and other security add-ons in the article Firefox: Some security tips.

Final thoughts

It appears (unconfirmed) that the exploit is a variant of Milw0rm and could be serious. Be especially careful when you visit unfamiliar Web sites.

via Firefox 3.5 vulnerable to JavaScript exploit – Examiner.

I will be running Google chrome until it is fixed. Hopefully something comes up soon.

The President talks Baseball

Here’s the President talking baseball. A few observations:

  1. The President has a horrible memory; of which I can relate. As I have the same problem. Uh, What was I saying?  😉 :laugh: 😀
  2. He makes a cringe inducing crack about the CIA tapping into a sport network.   😯 It was a joke, but I bet his staff went “Ugh!” when he made it. :hypnotized:

One of the reasons why I do not use WorldNetDaily as a news source

WorldNetDaily, I have always felt; is the National Enquirer of Conservative News. Well, they have given me another reason to feel that way. They are reporting on an American Solider, who is refusing to reporting for duty, because he does not believe that President Obama is an American citizen.

Quote:

His attorney, Orly Taitz, confirmed to WND the military has rescinded his impending deployment orders.

“We won! We won before we even arrived,” she said with excitement. “It means that the military has nothing to show for Obama. It means that the military has directly responded by saying Obama is illegitimate – and they cannot fight it. Therefore, they are revoking the order!”

She continued, “They just said, ‘Order revoked.’ No explanation. No reasons – just revoked.”

Confederate Yankee is baffled:

I have no ready explanation for why the military would rescind his deployment orders, unless they plan to keep him stateside to begin a disciplinary investigation against him. Frankly, for the sake of our nation, I hope this is the case.

Because if the Pentagon allows soldiers to simply declare Obama an an illegitimate Command in Chief—as the article would have you believe—it would seem to set a precedent that would lead to chaos in the military, allowing service members to question all orders for the executive branch. It would be anarchy.

WorldNet Daily simply must have this wrong. The larger ramifications of the case being dismissed for the reasons alleged by the attorney are too terrible to consider.

John Cole, A blogger on the left, that I happen to respect; is a bit more direct:

This guy is going to get court-martial-ed so quickly, brutally, and publicly that it isn’t even funny, and his lunatic lawyer thinks they have won something. It hasn’t even occurred to them that the order to deploy was rescinded because they are about to hammer him with disciplinary action.

I think I tend to agree with John here. That this ol’ boy is about get put through the meat grinder with the Military. 😯 :hypnotized: 😮