YOSEMITE: As government shuts down, Google marks anniversary of national park you suddenly cannot se
TODAY, Google celebrates a national splendor that as of today, ironically, you cannot go see.
The California tech titans Tuesday home page features a Doodle honoring one of that states true natural treasures: Yosemite National Park, a stunning swath of granite faces and waterfalls and giant sequoias that was established on this day in 1890 thanks in part to a Lincoln land grant several decades earlier and a project for which the U.S. government showed sustained vision.
In a cruel and coincidental twist, however, Tuesday also marks the first time in 17 years that would-be tourists cannot visit Yosemite because of a shutdown of the U.S. government. Congress couldnt hit a midnight Monday deadline to keep the government running, so in addition to hundreds of thousands of federal workers being furloughed, the stalemate means that the national parks like many museums and monuments will be shut and shuttered beginning Tuesday.
Tourists will find every one of Americas national parks and monuments, from Yosemite to the Smithsonian to the Statue of Liberty, immediately closed, President Obama said Monday night in a White House statement about the ramifications of the federal shutdown. And of course the communities and small business that rely on these national treasures for their livelihoods will be out of customers and out of luck.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/yosemite-as-government-shuts-down-google-marks-anniversary-of-national-park-you-suddenly-cannot-see/2013/10/01/c5c419ec-2a8d-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_blog.html