Facebook Users Cancel Protest to Dump Trash at Boehner's Residence

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A group of Facebook users in Washington, D.C. have cancelled a protest planned for Saturday to dump their trash outside of House Speaker John Boehner's residence after Congress struck a budget deal averting a government shutdown.

Democratic activists Jonah Goodman and Nolan Treadway, who were angry that a shutdown would have halted trash collection in Washington, had organized the protest.

"We want to thank the 8,700

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Democratic Activists Plan Protest to Dump Trash at Boehner's Home Saturday

Trash overflows from dumpsters behind an apartment building. (AP)

Confronted with the possibility of a shutdown in basic services, a group of Facebook users in Washington, D.C., wants to take its aggression out on House Speaker John Boehner -- playing a dirty trick to make the point. 

Democratic activists, angry that Washington residents pay taxes but have no voting representation in Congress, have set up a Facebook page to urge protesters to dump their trash outside Boehner's home if the government shuts down Friday night. 

"Speaker John Boehner is ready to shut down the government, including DC city services like trash collection. Well, if he won't allow us to use OUR TAX DOLLARS to pick it up, maybe we should just BRING IT TO HIM," the Facebook page says.

Because much of the nation's capital is run on federal money, trash collection in the city would be halted if the government shuts down.

Democrats Jonah Goodman and Nolan Treadway organized the trash-dumping day. Goodman identifies himself as the lead designer for the Democratic National Committee's website until December and Treadway says he is the political and logistics director for the liberal group Netroots Nation.

So far, more than 5,600 people have committed to protesting at Boehner's house Saturday morning. But reaction from Facebook users has been mixed, judging by the comments on the page.

Amanda Sasser Klaus said she's taking her trash to the White House. 

User Galactic Stone, who lives in Florida, said he likes the idea and wants to know whether he can mail some trash to Washington for the effort.

"How fitting that a piece of garbage will receive garbage. LOL," Stone wrote.

Adel Thalos, however, objected to the proposal. "This is one of the most offensive actions I have come across. If you thugs actually go through with these disgusting actions, you should absolutely be arrested, fined and jailed. You are encouraging and condoning unlawful hate-filled actions. "

The organizers say that their protest isn't over a budget not getting passed in Congress but rather the lack of control that DC's local government has over its own affairs, which would be made painfully clear during a work stoppage.

"Fortunately, our mayor can exempt our police, firefighters and teachers but most of the rest of our local government will shut down because members of Congress won't give us autonomy to budget and spend our own money," they write. "We are protesting at Speaker Boehner's house because he has the power to put bills on the floor of the House he controls to fix this."

They are asking Boehner to support three bills pending in the House that would lift give DC more control over its budget.

When in Washington, Boehner resides on Capitol Hill, but his spokesman Michael Steel responded that protesters may have to travel farther.

"The speaker's house is in Ohio," he told FoxNews.com.

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Shutdown could mean trash dumped at Boehner's house

A Facebook page has been launched aimed at getting people to dump their garbage at the Ohio Republican's pad in Washington, D.C. Trash pickup is among the services that would be halted in the District of Columbia, whose funding is tied to congressional approval.

"If he won't allow us to use OUR TAX DOLLARS to pick it up, maybe we should just BRING IT TO HIM," the page says.

More than 5,000 people have checked out the Facebook page and 546 people -- presumably those who live in the District of Columbia or nearby -- are listed as a "maybe" to actually "attend" the dumping of trash.

The federal government will shut down at midnight tonight if Congress and the White House cannot reach a deal on funding the government for the remainder of the fiscal year.

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Hawaii may get Japan tsunami trash

Researchers: Hawaii may get hit with trash from Japan's tsunami By Brian Walker, CNN STORY HIGHLIGHTSResearchers create a simulation of how the trash will move in the Pacific OceanTrash should begin washing up on beaches in Hawaii within a year, the simulation showsIt will then hit parts of Canada, Oregon, Washington and California in 2014, the simulation showsRELATED TOPICSJapanHawaiiGreat Pacific Garbage Patch (CNN) -- The Hawaiian islands may get a new and unwelcome addition in coming months -- a giant new island of debris floating in from Japan.

Researchers in Hawaii have created a simulation showing exactly how the houses, tires, chemicals and trees washed to sea by the March 11 tsunami will float across the Pacific and eventually hit the U.S. coast.

The team, led by Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner at the International Pacific Research Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa have spent years preparing computer models by following real world observations of floating buoys, according to a statement.

The first wave should begin washing up on beaches in Hawaii within a year, the simulation shows.

After it passes Hawaii it should begin hitting beaches stretching from Vancouver down through Oregon, Washington and to the tip of Baja California in 2014, before bouncing back toward Hawaii for a second impact.

That second impact five years from now could be even more concentrated and harmful to Hawaii's beaches and reefs, the researchers found.

The flotsam and trash eventually makes its way into what's called the North Pacific Garbage Patch, a sort of circulating whirlpool of garbage hundreds of miles in diameter.

There it eventually decomposes and breaks up in collisions over many years.

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