I've thought of a couple of completely foolproof ways to pull off an attack with no suspicious equipment whatsoever, and if I can, so could anyone else.

Standing in line at airports, I often think of that MacGyver TV show, and how he could always Rube Goldberg some sort of weapon or demolition device out of common household articles. I try not to think about the Bic lighter and disposable razor in my carry-on bags, and what I could improvise out of just those two everyday things.

But I'm also willing to entertain the thought that maybe the premise that we are infested with terror cells imported over the past decade might be overblown.

But not quite willing to go all the way and name the overblowers, of course...It'd be interesting if somebody with good Net research skills and a little free time (hint) were to chart the rise and fall of the terror alert color bars, and even better, the frequency of dire warnings of a fifth-column among us ("Beware that swarthy neighbor!"). My impression of it is that the curve would peak late this summer, and drop off precipitously after the election. That'd be a pretty good vindication of your hunch that the threat is overblown--a real threat would be relatively independent of domestic political winds.