Traveling out of Burbank airport yesterday, the day after Christmas, my 5 year-old daughter's new Ariel doll was confiscated by TSA officials as a possible forbidden explosive device. As her tiny backpack emerged from the scanner, the TSA guy asked, in his gruff official tone, "Whose bag is this?"

"It's mine," my 5 year-old responded.

"The scanner shows that you packed toothpaste in here."

"No, I didn't," she said.

"No, she didn't," I added.

As he searched her tiny 8"x8" backback, the TSA guy found this Ariel doll, with its gel bendable tail piece, and declared that the tail section violated the ridiculous "no-liquid-more-than-3-ounces" rule. He took it.

"It's not a liquid; it looks more like a gel," I argued. But arguing didn't help.

"You can put it in your checked backage," he offered.

"But you know that by the time we reach you, we've already checked our luggage," I replied.

"That's all I can offer you," he said. "If you don't check it, it has to remain with us."

Try explaining to a 5-year old why the Ariel doll she received as a present has been confiscated by a government official.

I went over to a local Burbank police officer and asked if he could do something to help. He politely deferred to TSA, saying that airport security was "All TSA's authority.....And they're nuts." Amen.