... stuffing my backpack full of pocket change, wallet, ipod, belt, blueberry etc. before being examined and walking through the metal detector.

This is a habit I have done since I have been travelling. I have always emptied my pockets, belt and such before going through the metal detector well before 9/11, even before TSA ruled our airports. I'll admit it, I don't like being examined by people or being patted down. I don't have anything to hide. I just feel like nobody should be feeling me up or touching me (wife excluded). So I do whatever is neccesary in order to avoid that.

To my surprise when I repeated this such exercise after clearing DTW transfers and somebody "caught" me in the act. He goes, "Sir, you're not allowed to do that." I asked him not allowed to do what. He says, "Well you just can't put everything in your bag like that." I said, "Okay, I'll keep that in mind next time." I mean 7 years through (and many years before that) and this was the first instance I'm NOT ALLOWED to do that? Come on.

I don't give TSA any unneeded crap. I pull out my notebook. I take off my shoes. I take off my baseball cap. Goes into the tray like everything. I'd like to think I'm very cooperative, all except being patted down or felt up by anybody else. Am I out of line for complaining about this?

This is ridiculous.
Put everything in one place to be electronically examined so you don't hold up your fellow passengers behind you going through the metal detectors and some asshat tells you that you can't?

I've done this myself for years. It just makes sense to put everything together for a mass electronic scanning and let the human tissue and textile fabric breeze through the MD.

Next flight just wear a speedo. I would but that would have passengers as well as TSA dying of laughter and maybe a real T would slip through

Self-protection. There is no logic in this situation. You are an innocent person...treated as if you were a potential plane bomber and baby killer.
Your lipstick is viewed as a deadly weapon.
Your shoes could hide bombs.
Your scarf could be hiding something (why else be asked to remove it).
Your bag could have a bomb in it. So they yell at you, 'move on', 'remove your shoes', and 'put your bags in the bin', 'step back' or 'step forward'.
Your jewelry could be a bomb so they paw through your personal belongings, bare hands, through your toiletries and toothbrush.
Everyone deals with this in their own way. One friend 'goes catatonic' until through 'security'. Another well-traveled friend says she 'goes on auto pilot' and another, who travels often, wears ear-plugs and goes through the motion, like a robot, she says. 'You can't be thinking about it'...said another chum.
Travel...is still worth it. Security is grubby.
The destination is the thing. I love to fly. Even so...

I should have clarified this in my original post: I am not in line while jamming my stuff in my backpack and thereby holding up passengers. I usually do this before I even approach that station.

Yes. Your actions make it difficult for the TSA employees to collect their tips.

Remember you are suppose to go through as such http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3grHjibNdA

People can't remember when 9/11 happenned: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv8yLT6jM04&NR=1, they're not gonna remember about some plastic bags, no matter how large.
Of course this is from an Aussie show; Australia being the land that allowed Bin Laden's motorcade to get to Bush's hotel during the APEC summit.

I do it all the time. I thought that is the proper procedure. I go into to courthouse more often and they ask everyone to remove everything. I do it in advance stuff it my briefcase as I walk into the courthouse and never hold anyone up.

I do it too, I have even seen checkpoints where they have signs suggesting this. Just to clarify though, I don't dump all my change loose into my bag, I put it in a ziplock, which I then put in my bag. It makes it a lot easier to gather it back up afterward.

I'd love to know where this was, out of curiosity.

I don't get it? How did the screener even know you had done it? My laptop bag contains a lot of change.

Why do you folks fly with loose change? I can't remember the last time I got to security with coins in my pocket. Besides the security hassle, it's extra weight.

I never leave home for the airport with anything but bills. On my return, if I have accumulated any change during my trip, it gets added to the tip the hotel housekeeper gets.

Many Toll Booths require correct change after midnight as the staffed booth has been closed. I travel with ~$10 in change in a ziplock bag. I can go from EWR to NY State on the Garden State Parkway with my change baggie.

Inconsistency is a trade mark of TSA.

I have the same practice of putting everything in my laptop bag and usually leave home with my watch and other metal in my laptop bag except for my cell phone which I stuff in there at the last minute as I walk up to security. I carry some change for toll booths but it is im my bag when I leave home. This makes for an expedited trip through xray and MD. Shoes off, laptop in its own tray, jacket in another tray. Why is this a problem now?

At my home airport I don't have to take the liquids out of my carry-on which I found out by accident last year when I forgot to one time. Since then I never do and have never been questioned (countless trips through security since then). At all other airports I always take my liquids out.

At STT I was scolded for using a zip lock that was too large and for mixing my liquids (all two of them) with my toothbrush and razor. "These items are not liquids and these items are liquids. Your liquids must in this size bag and not this size bag" in a very loud voice in an obvious attempt to embarass me.
I had traveled that way for years and never had a problem.

It is pretty sad when you have to keep a mental checklist of the differences in TSA policies at various airports. We'll have to see if "bag stuffing" is added to the official list of TSA no-no's.

What, no EZ-PASS?