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It's Monday, and that means it's time for your comments and , jailed greenpeace activists
and tomato potato plants. But first up, the first day of the week for most of us means
working 9-5, what a way to make a living. You have no idea how expensive it is looking
this cheap. That's Dolly Parton.
But it seems to apply to much of the US Government and it's 2.1 million employees, who could
be temporarily forced out of work unless republicans in the house of representatives agree to a
financial package to pay for the vast Government work force.
Obama and the senate have voted on a package to keep the country running until at least
November 15th, but the republican dominated representatives are refusing to support the
measure unless cash is stripped out of Obamacare. Seriously. They want to close down the US
government -- unless. it scraps. Obamacare.
If they can't reach an agreement by October 1st, that's tomorrow, a third of the government
workforce won't be turning up to work, with only essential services such as air traffic
control continuing.
To give you some idea of what it would mean, state parks and many museums would be closed,
pensions and veterans benefits cheques wouldn't be paid, and passport and visa applications
would be locked down. Much of the country would simply stop working until the mess gets
sorted out.
Oh, and after that they've got to vote on that whole debt ceiling thing again, which
could see America potentially defaulting on its loans. Obama's pissed, which seems reasonable,
but he's refusing to back down on Obamacare saying it just isn't going to happen.
Now I'm obviously just an outsider looking in, but you've got to ask, THIS is how the
most powerful nation on Earth is behaving? They're schoolkids! Get a grip children.
And now it's time for your comments.
On Phil's piece on our crowded planet and where we're all going to live, Abdul Gemayyel
wrote, TruthLoader; I think you are doing great journalism that no mainstream media
would dare to do!! Keep it coming!
you should ask for donations!!!!
Yes! Yes we should. We take Bitcoin. And beer tokens.
And in our piece on Pakistan's new island caused by last week's devastating earthquake,
Randomstuffs261 wrote "there'll be a McDonalds there soon. That got a whopping 93 upvotes.
No, sorry, that's burger king... Anyway, great comment, we're loving it. Sorry.
Now to some of the other stories we spotted this week and thought were worth a mention.
And first up, 22 Greenpeace activists have been jailed for two months without charge
on suspicion of piracy. The group were detained by Russian law enforcement who boarded their
ship, the Arctic Sunrise, after two activists boarded an Barents Sea oil-rig owned by state
fuel company gazprom. Greenpeace were protesting arctic drilling
and said they were not attacking the station but simply protesting against it, and that
jailing them without charge was just a Russian scare tactic. Vladimir Putin has hinted that
the group probably won't be charged with full piracy, which could see them jailed for 15
years, but may face lesser charges.
And finally check this out, it's a TomTato and for the first time, you can buy them.
In the UK at least. Previous plants had been created before but apparently neither the
tomato or the potato tasted very nice. Which surprised nobody, ever. But now, apparently,
you can get two great tasting vegy-fruitables in your limited space garden. What's better,
a single plant can give you 500 tomatoes a year, and it's totally natural, created by
careful grafting of roots rather than genetic modification.
And just before we go, a bit of a Monday WTF, courtesy of Reddit user SecretButton15. Yyyyup.