While you are fully entitled to your opinion and I'm not trying to persuade you in any direction... the sheer stupidity of not allow cupcakes in jars but allowing just cupcakes and just empty jars to pass though a security checkpoint struck a chord in me.

Bob (God bless his soul) claims that cupcakes packed in a jar are dangerous; then

• Why are cupcakes allowed in the first place? Ban all edible goods with some sort of "gel" in them.
• Why discard the potentially dangerous jar in a bin at the checkpoint. I'd say call the bomb squad to dispose it.

As said before in numerous places, the TSA is one huge firm with a lot of ill-trained low-paid actors performing silly roles. The clerk that objected to the cupcake-in-a-jar at LAS airport, IMHO, was on a power trip. If cupcakes in jars can be forbidden on the whims (or "professional judgement") of a lowly clerk in the agency, what happens when I try to carry on an aged steak? For all practical purposes, it has enough collagen that has formed jelly that is should be considered a "gel." Will the clerk at LAS insist that I not take my scrumptious 12 oz steak?

Instead of assuaging the negative opinions received, Bob posts a blog rationalizing the behavior. In my naive mind, the cupcakegate incident was right out of the scripts of a Monty Python skit (apologies to all Monty Python fans - I don't believe the TSA to be capable of orchestrating something even close to Graham Chapman & crew); but Bob's response as a public employee is alarming. My simple proposal is to show the non-effectiveness of the arbitrary nature in which the agency and its minions (oops... employees) are implementing civil aviation security.