Still steaming over teapot museum

This is not, repeat not, a political blog. I have my own reasons for disliking the Tea Party, but that aside the loosely defined group is a hitch in my kettle mainly because its existence has made searching for tea news and information increasingly difficult, especially online.

But one Tea Party beef is actually related to tea.

Recent stories about Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum kept mentioning that one of his cardinal sins, according to competing candidates, is that he once cast a vote in favor of Congressional funds supporting the Sparta Teapot Museum in North Carolina.

"Why can't there be a teapot hall of fame?" asked Sonny Kamm, who launched the museum with his wife, Gloria, and philanthropist Philip Hanes (as in Hanes underwear). "And we said, 'why not!'"

Amazingly, they managed to secure $400,000 in state funds for the project, as well as another $500,000 from Congress. A furor erupted over the expenditure, however, and it was canceled.

Despite all that scratch, the museum closed in 2010. Too bad, sounds as if they put on some great exhibits.