Follow-up: N.Y.C. Transit Bomb Plot Thwarted

All talk...

Despite the FBI's announcement that it disrupted a terror plot against New York City-area commuter trains Friday, CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart has learned that the plans were mere "jihadist bravado," according to one senior official.
However, the senior official tells Jim Stewart that the men arrested are "far less threatening and dangerous than the Canadian cell," and unlike the Torrance, Calif. cell, which had begun conducting holdups to further their terrorist plans, these individuals had done nothing but talk over the Internet.

So how come this is still the big news - the scenarios still being played out on TV? That's right - ratchet up the fear quotient just in time for the elections and some new rounds of spying on citizens.

"Don't question our spying programs, we're doing it to protect you. Look we uncovered another plot by foreign terrorists. We have to listen to everyone's conversations, including yours with Aunt Edna, to find these dastardly villains. Don't worry about civil liberties - that is a concept no longer needed in this endless war. Be a patriot and stop whining. Let us lie to you. Let us make up stories. Let us spy on you. It's new truth, new justice and the New American Way."