Shaved:
Thanks for the report. I think you might want to be careful about any comments about carrying that lighter through all those checkpoints, though. Anyone at TSA HQ who reads this (and I'll bet there is some wonk who has the job of distilling information from these threads) will likely be embarrassed that you were able to carry that prohibited item. And arguably, since you clearly know that is supposed to be prohibited, somebody might want to try and make an example of you.
Eyecue:
Just a couple observations on your comments. My experience at DEN (and what many others have reported) is that we're generally not dealing with "uncalibrated eyeballs" when it comes to shoe sole thickness -- that I can understand. What many of us have experienced (and not only at DEN) is the blanket "off with your shoes" approach, which is never accompanied by so much as a glance at the shoes in question. My experience shows that this might be getting somewhat better, but it is certainly not system-wide.
As for the "rules change" comment by the screener / supervisor. This is a variant of the usual reply when a pax challenges the TSA screener. When it comes to shoes, I've heard, "we're not just looking for metal". When it comes to my complaint that ORD doesn't make me take the shoes off, "well, they're doing it wrong". When I complain that the rules are inconsistently applied from airport to airport, "well, that's to keep the bad guys off balance". So the screener was just using an excuse (that you shouldn't be able to validate because of secrecy around the rules) to get you to stop complaining.