The last time I travelled I watched as an elderly woman had several bottles of jam removed from her bag and tossed in the garbage unceremoniously. The jam was wrapped with laced linen and a ribbon and looked like it would make a very non-hazardous gift. The officer suggested that she return to the endless lines of the ticket counter and then be screened again if she wanted to check the jam in her luggage, though he could not explain how she or the airline could retrieve her luggage that had already been checked. It seemed unlikely that she could check the purse which contained the jam bottles. What a scene! This silliness left me saddened but not safer, like the time an agitated, incredulous middle aged man with a thick accent (Scandinavian or perhaps Baltic) who stared quizzically as his lighter was grabbed from him. (He did not understand what was happening. From his reaction it looked as though he thought the officer was arbitrarily relieving him of his lighter.) The TSA made a mockery of airline safety when it imposed rules on grannies carrying jam and allowed matches to board, but not lighters. In this announcement of a change in policy also was included a removal of the ban on breast milk for nursing mothers. (You will be forgiven if you are shocked when you realize such a ban existed in the first place.) They will no longer be limited to 3 oz. Any nursing mother, regardless of whether they are with a child or alone will be allowed to carry on board any quantity of breast milk. Still no jam, though. Don't even think about bottled water.