I woke up this morning to news of a huge fire at Universal Studios which six hours after it started is still burning. The size of the fire is pretty scary considering they have 300+ firefighters fighting it in the middle of a giant backlot. Luckily, injuries appear to be minimal except for one firefighter who has been taken to a nearby hospital.

After reading about the fire online, I came across the local LA Fox affiliate who was streaming live coverage online from their helicopter. I loaded up the site and was watching the video when I glanced at a Universal Studios ad to the side of the video and realized the page was covered in them! A slightly awkward placement if you ask me .

Rudy Giuliani is an idiot. Such an idiot that he just might get elected president (here’s hoping he won’t). Anyway, I didn’t watch the second Republican debate on May 15th, but I caught some excepts from it, most of which made my blood boil. However, none of the highlights were as shocking as Rudy Giuliani’s position on why the United States was attacked on 9-11. Ron Paul, the only Republican who seems to actually have any sort of a grasp on why Islamic fundamentalist organizations like Al Qaeda hate the United States made a remark where he actually tried to provide a rational explanation. Of course, Giuliani who walks around acting like he’s the world’s expert on terrorism because he happened to be mayor of New York City during the largest terrorist attack on American soil in history, attacked him. Here’s the exchange from the New York Times transcript:

REP. PAUL: No. Non-intervention was a major contributing factor. Have you ever read the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we’ve been over there; we’ve been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We’ve been in the Middle East — I think Reagan was right.

We don’t understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. So right now we’re building an embassy in Iraq that’s bigger than the Vatican. We’re building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting. We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us. (Applause.)

MR. GOLER: Are you suggesting we invited the 9/11 attack, sir?

REP. PAUL: I’m suggesting that we listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it, and they are delighted that we’re over there because Osama bin Laden has said, “I am glad you’re over on our sand because we can target you so much easier.” They have already now since that time — (bell rings) — have killed 3,400 of our men, and I don’t think it was necessary.

MR. GIULIANI: Wendell, may I comment on that? That’s really an extraordinary statement. That’s an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don’t think I’ve heard that before, and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th. (Applause, cheers.)

And I would ask the congressman to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn’t really mean that. (Applause.)

Giuliani’s response is the typical Republican reaction to Islamic terrorists: “They hate us because they hate freedom.” Indirectly, that’s true. They believe that democracies allow individuals to behave how the individual wants which is often in a manner that contradicts strict interpretations of the Qur’an. To Islamic fundamentalists, the rule of law must be based on the Qu’ran and no other form of government. That said, Osama bin Laden didn’t target the United States just because we’re a democracy. As the 9-11 Commission Executive Summary states:

Bin Ladin also stresses grievances against the United States widely shared in the Muslim world. He inveighed against the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, which is the home of Islam’s holiest sites, and against other U.S. policies in the Middle East.

Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden therefore did attack the United States, at least in part, because of our foreign policies (including military presence in the Middle East and diplomatic policies with countries in the Middle East). Rudy Giuliani, a self proclaimed expert on terrorism and 9-11 because he “lived through the attack of September 11,” doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. To just run around claiming there’s zero reason for the attack is ignorance. You may not agree that our policies justify such a horrific attack on innocents (I certainly believe that’s the case) but to attack someone for stating what real experts, including the 9-11 Commission, believes is plain stupid.