30 JAN 06: DAYS OF WINE AND MOSES?

The news left me shocked - simply SHOCKED! Former President Jimmy Carter is making wine in Sumter County?! The people who were questioning whether he's really a Southern Baptist MUST be ready to kick him out now....

Jimmy Carter disclosed his wine-making hobby on "CBS News Sunday Morning," as a reporter visited the former President's home in Plains. Please do not confuse this with Mr. Carter's famous speech about a "national malaise" - which was whine-making.

Former President Carter is into oil as well as wine. He started doing oil paintings, for a cover for one of his books - and now they sell for as much as $250,000. Which means, of course, it's very unlikely any resident of Plains owns one....

CBS News even went into Jimmy Carter's wood workshop. He still has the workshop his Cabinet bought for him as a Presidential "going-away gift." If he used it to make voodoo dolls of Republicans, they apparently haven't worked.

An armoire made by the former President will go up for auction next month, with the proceeds benefitting the Carter Center in Atlanta. Can you see a Republican buying this, filling it with dirty laundry, and taking it on campaign tours?

Former President Carter also is promoting his 20^th book, a bestseller called "Our Endangered Values." He makes a good point with that title - because I read over the weekend the dollar's value is dropping, while gold prices jump.

Jimmy Carter says Vice President Cheney has been "somewhat careless with the truth" when it comes to events in Iraq. But he told CBS he's been careful NOT to criticize President Bush. Mr. Carter may be saving that for a church dinner, one of these years....

The former President spent part of this past week in the Palestinian Authority, monitoring the historic election there. He declared the vote "completely honest, completely fair, without violence" - then hopefully left before the angry Fatah fighters started shooting up buildings.

Jimmy Carter has a son considering a political career. He said he has NOT talked with Jack Carter about running for the U.S. Senate in Nevada. The name recognition certainly wouldn't hurt - since Jack Carter used to be a headline stand-up comic in Las Vegas casinos.

Can you believe this month marks 25 years since Jimmy Carter left the Presidency? After all these years, he says he has "total confidence in this nation and its people." Please notice he did NOT say he has total confidence in the Republican administration....

E-MAIL UPDATE: We were ready to move on from this issue, but a message in Sunday's InBox indicated we should not:

Richard,

Whatever happened to the request for being able to post comments on your blog [13 Jan]. Did I miss the follow up blog?

Regards,

Hippity Hop

No you didn't, Hippity. Why, you didn't Hop over it at all....

It turns out no one has asked us to add comments to this blog, beyond the e-mailer who asked about it. We've had five e-mails in that time (we're holding one until next weekend) - including Mr./Ms. Hop's. But maybe if we add more Hops, things will be tastier here.

Now for other short hops from Sunday, the 145^th anniversary of the founding of the state of Kansas:

+ Callaway Gardens completed a "Chocolate Lovers Weekend." But people who attended may have gone home disappointed - because the mayor of New Orleans didn't show up to demonstrate how chocolate is made.

+ A report on highway patrol pay revealed 15-year veterans of the Georgia State Patrol earn an average $13,000 less than officers in North Carolina. This comparison seems misleading to me. For one thing, North Carolina troopers have a lot more wanna-be stock car racers to chase.

+ Former Auburn basketball coach Cliff Ellis appeared as an analyst on an Atlantic Coast Conference telecast. Ellis called actions in the Miami-Florida State game "dumb" several times. Who knows what he has to say about Auburn Interim President Ed Richardson....

(WLTZ showed two Atlantic Coast Conference basketball games, instead of the opening weekend of arena football on NBC. Apparently the new Chattahoochee Valley Vipers aren't advertising on this station.)

+ One Way Deliverance church on Martin Luther King Boulevard held its annual "family, friends, neighbors and loved ones day." It's nice to see the enemies have a Sunday all to themselves....

(Did you see the videotape of the One Way Deliverance service? A woman was singing in the center aisle, and quickly spun around twice as she did. If you didn't know better, you might have guessed a Muscogee County Sheriff's Deputy showed up with an arrest warrant.)

+ Instant Message to Cornerstone Baptist Church in Ellerslie: I watched part of your televised service Sunday - and if you can only afford choir robes for the women, perhaps you should start an on-air fund-raising drive.

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