On the subject of terror futures, a colleague astutely remarks: "The advocates of this program cite the uncanny accuracy of campaign 'futures' in predicting election outcomes. There seems to be an inability on their part to appreciate the distinction between an election, where one futures market participant can do no more than cast one among many millions of votes (at least unless he/she is a Supreme Court justice or the Florida Secretary of State) and a terrorist event, where one futures market participant can with a cast of a grenade determine single-handedly the value of his futures contract."

Good point.