This is getting way beyond the point of ridiculous...
Think Progress » TSA Confiscates Congressman’s Last Meal During Food Stamp Challenge

How did we let Bush turn us into such cowards?

Ok, I remembered something from a similar discussion awhile back on another site...So I'm doing a web search right now, to come up with more specifics as to WHY this happened...

Anyways, in the previous discussion from researching then, I discovered alot about how simple it was to make bombs...How the simpliest ingredients could be used to make a rushed bomb, as well as bomb components that could easily be mistaken for the simplist everyday items/useages...

Peanutbutter was one of those. And the machines at the airports will zero in on peanutbutter, as well as maple syrup as bomb components...

So far, this is what I've found about the why:
What an Airport Bomb-Squad Chief Worries About | TIME

The machine has a tendency to go off when it encounters items like peanut butter and maple syrup, which mimic the characteristics of some explosives.

One of the searches I'm doing is for the list of over 3,000 useages of the peanut, including peanut butter done by Washington Carver. They just had a special on him on the history channel, of his research in uses for the peanut besides just eating...And some of those useages included fuels, vehicle parts, and plastics for bomb components as well...His research into the many uses still being studied and utilized today.

Ok but here's my point, why have we allowed this administration to turn us into such cowards that we are afraid of a delicious PB&J? Wouldn't you be willing to except the risk of an Exploding PB&J in order to restore som sanity and sense of reason?

Bwahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaha
Ali I need some of those ROFL smilieys here stat!

No. I'd rather not risk my life and the lives of others by allowing a possible danger to them board the plane. I'm sorry...But that's my feelings on the matter. My sense and reason tells me that to ensure the safty of others, then we just need to realize that we have to make some sacrifices in what we will be allowed to bring onto a plane. Because there is a very real threat of terrorists using those instances to blow hundreds of people out of the skies.

I can sympathize with the senator/congressman, as he wasn't intending harm to anyone. BUT, if the security makes an exception for him to allow it on the plane, then they also have to make exceptions for everyone else who states they want to bring their PB&J on that plane too...

And IF one of those were a terrorist, and their suppossedly PB&J really wasn't a PB&J...Hundreds of deaths would result because of those 'exceptions' being allowed.

I just found out through this search, that one of the bomb components made from peanutbutter was nitroglycerine...So that oily looking stuff on that supposed innocent looking peanutbutter sandwhich could have possibly not really been just peanut oil.

That's one of the things Washington Carver and developers were working on when he passed away...A simpler way to produce nitroglycerine from the humble peanut. And they had succeeded.

I got mine from smileycentral.com

Good point.

Besides that, this was a U.S. Congressman!

Are we electing terrorists to Congress now?

I know! Surely he had some sort of an entourage with him... Some sort of special ID...

First of all, when going through security, you're asked to show your DRIVER'S license. Not your pass to get in/out of Cogress.

Secondly, even if he had his entourage with him, it isn't like they wear tags saying 'I'm with so-and-so'.

Thirdly, most people don't know who their own state senators/represenatives/congressman are. So why assume that the guards working would know someone else's state rep?

Fourth, from the sounds of it he was traveling commercial. If so, then nobody in security would have been assigned to him to rush him through the security parts...Non-Commercial flights, such as the VIP treatment sorts, would have ushered him from his car to a private waiting area, then onto the plane. Which usually bi-passes any and all security checks. So that alone shows he wasn't accessing perferential means of transportation. He opted to go through as 'John Doe'...

Fifth point here...Credentials and IDs can be faked. If someone is wishing harm to the plane's passengers, why should you be assuming that they're entering the plane legitamitly? It would be easy for them to create ID pretending to be someone else, even a congressman, with the odds stacked for them, that the security guards wouldn't know if that individual was really a congressman or not.

Sure, the idea of forbidding a PB&J sandwhich sounds silly on the surface. But for those responsible for the security of the passengers, those setting up the federal guidelines of what could be used to pose a serious threat to passengers, they're more aware of what is used, can be used, then the majority of us here.

It's kind of like questioning moderating on the site...The average Joe/Jane isn't privey of how to make bombs. How to hide bombs. Or even what materials could be used to turn into lethal weapons. But those assigned to that task, who have put a great deal of study into those threats, do know the basics and possibilities. Plus they keep themselves updated on changes and what's going on.

I'd rather put my trust in them, then try to second guess their actions. Because of my own ignorance in making weapons, my second guessing them has a better chance of killing innocents then those who's jobs are specifically to halt such attempts.

I would rather take my chances... The Cold war didn't make American cowardly, but apparently bush and fear of "Terrorist" makes us cry for mommy... What a shame.