Checks the U.S. Government's Official Web Portal for the "Government Shutdown" message: "Due to a lapse in funding, the U.S. federal government has shut down"

isgovtdown.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
#
# file: isgovtdown.py
#
# description: checks usa.gov for the "Government has shut down" message
#
# usage: ./isgovtdown.py
#
#  or in a crontab:
#  */5 * * * * /path/to/isgovtdown.py && mailx -s 5s [email protected]
#
 
import re, sys
from urllib.request import urlopen
page = urlopen("http://usa.gov").read()
if(re.search(b'Due to a lapse in funding, the U.S. federal government has shut down',page)):
    print("Government still down")
    sys.exit(1)
else:
    print ("Government back up")
    sys.exit(0)

Finally got around to the hardware twist. My LCD was burned out so I just use a couple of LEDs for status instead. See my fork for details. Also modified to run on Python 2.7 as Dillie-O did.