In August I wrote about the Alt family who own the Eight is Enough poultry farm located in the Eastern Panhandle in Hardy County. In November of 2011 the EPA issued an Administrative Compliance Order charging them with violations of the Clean Water Act. It demanded that they apply for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit or face fines of up to $37,500 per day. Rather than blindly follow orders, Lois Alt researched the law and with the support of the Farm Bureau took the EPA to court.

The great nineteenth century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen is considered by many historians to be “the father of modern drama”. His plays, many of which are considered masterpieces include A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, The Wild Duck and An Enemy of the People. According to Wikipedia, Ibsen is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare.

The so called “Tea Party” must be doing something right. The rhetoric from Democrats is intensifying and it is starting to get downright ugly. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) sent out a fund raising email letter with a heading that described it as “no more popular than the Klan”. The email included a graphic that depicted the “T” in tea party as a burning cross. Quoted in the Huffington Post, Jennifer Burke, National Outreach Director of TheTeaParty.net, said “as a black Tea Party activist, I could say that there’s nothing more offensive than equating the Tea Party with the Ku Klux Klan. The hate speech uttered by sitting congressman Alan Grayson is deplorable.”

As I stated in my previous column, I had no doubt that the debt ceiling would be raised and that an agreement would be reached to fund the federal government, at least on an interim basis. The debt ceiling drama is currently in intermission. The curtain has temporarily been brought down on this political theater.

As of this writing the partial shut down of the government continues. The house has tried its best to cave in to the president, offering a “compromise” short term continuing resolution that was rejected. Continuing resolutions used to be considered an emergency measure to be used as a last resort to keep the government operating until a budget could be approved. However, the last budget passed by congress was April 29, 2009, over four years ago.

As of this writing, the shutdown of the government has entered its second week and the rhetoric has intensified. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid blames the impasse on what he calls the “Tea Party anarchists”. Right on cue, there were stories in the press about the recent Gallup poll showing that “tea party support is near an all time low”. However, a closer look at the numbers reveals some interesting nuances missed by most reporters. According to that poll, the category called “tea party supporters” is indeed hovering at 22 percent, one percentage point higher than the low recorded in 2011. However, it also shows that opposition to the tea party is also on the decline, coming in at 27 percent, five points lower than its peak in 2010. Further, in another recent Gallup poll, only 19 percent of Americans identify themselves as liberals, down a point from last year. In other words, there are more “tea party supporters” than there are liberals. Conservatives comprised the largest group at 41 percent with moderates at 37 percent.