When Hitler rained bombs on London for more than 50 consecutive nights in the fall of 1940, Londoners responded by tacking up "Business As Usual" signs on the city's streets. Life went on, and the Blitz be damned.

Contrast that to this morning, when a light dusting of snow—less than one-eighth of an inch—fell on Washington. It was apparently too much for our federal government to handle. Business couldn't continue. On the floor of the U.S. Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid struggled to explain why the chamber was helpless in the face of a dusting of snow. Taking a vote on a homeland security measure would have to wait. Washington, he explained, is "different from a lot of other places." Here, at the epicenter of the free world, he continued, "an inch or two" of snow probably shouldn't cause the federal government to grind to a halt, "but it does." "Those are the facts of life in the bitter winter of an inch of snow" in the most powerful city in the world, Reid concluded.

Let's hope the terrorists don't get their hands on any cloud seeding technology, in which silver iodide is sprayed into clouds by airplanes or artillery shells in an effort to encourage precipitation. Come to think of it, a pre-emptive strike against China may be necessary, as they've been making use of cloud seeding for years.