Possibly as a result of living in the beltway, I feel like some stories are glossed over when storms hit regions as hard as this week. And this particular story is happening in Texas, where Dallas is getting nearly two inches of snow per hour as I write this.

Ten churches in East Texas, so far, have been burned in the last month or so, all believed to be arson.

In one case, firefighters responded to a fire, then just 15 minutes later, were called to another church fire only three miles away.

According to news reports, authorities do not believe the arsonists are targeting a certain denomination or ethnic group. Still, the idea that someone is going around burning down churches brings back memories of several points in history, where ethnic groups and certain denominations were exactly the targets.

The only piece of information from the ATF I can seem to find is that they believe the culprits are a group of people, not an individual.

- Speaking of fires, I'm watching live right now as they show sixth avenue in New York City, where there's been an explosion at a commercial building midday.


The other big news of the day is out of the Middle East, where Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad triumphantly declared that Iran is a nuclear state.

What I am not going to do, yet, is even pretend to understand all of the fallout from this. I can say that it seems as if (surprise, surprise) Iran is merely ignoring the international community's pleas to stop advancing its nuclear technology. Ahmadinejad has been ignoring a lot recently, including the pleas of a large portion of his own country to change course.

Watch this story. It has been announced today with little fanfare. It will command the news cycle, especially the national security part, soon.

Couple of links:

• Paul Krugman quite possibly has become Obama's biggest critic.
• The Senate is in session today, and it has resulted in the introduction of jobs bill. Problem? Thy name is Max Baucus, of Montana, who is sure to screw this up in the Finance Committee, same as he did with healthcare.
• And this is old, but Maureen Dowd weighs in on the DADT stuff. You'll notice she cites Saxby Chambliss near the end. Chambliss is the same Senator that once created a campaign ad that flashed pictures of his opponent and a terrorists. You get the idea. He made the slippery slope argument. But, correct me if I'm wrong, soldiers drink and have sex plenty. Also, are there not tattoos in the military? Or fraternization? This guy is from Georgia?