Marty Essen's Blog, page 281
July 3, 2018
Tiny tundra plants
Marty’s photo of the day #2587: This is an extreme close-up of tiny tundra plants in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Alaska).
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July 2, 2018
Castillo de Albuquerque
Marty’s photo of the day #2586: I’m pulling a paragraph from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, to give you information on this Spanish castle:
Twenty minutes into our drive, we rounded a corner and came upon a classic crusader-era castle. Perched alone on a hill, it had a circular tower at each corner and appeared to be in pristine shape. I didn’t see any signs identifying the castle, but later, when I purchased John Gibson’s book Anatomy of the Castle, I opened right up to a full-page photo of it. Called the Castillo de Albuquerque, it was built between 1461 and 1476 by the first Duke of Albuquerque, and it is still owned by his descendants.
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July 1, 2018
Hooded Merganser
Marty’s photo of the day #2586: This is a hooded merganser, photographed in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.
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June 30, 2018
Democrats and Republicans are not the same!
Anyone who thinks there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans is simply not paying attention. It was that kind of thinking that got both Donald Trump and George W. Bush elected—the two worst presidents in American history. If it wasn’t for Ralph Nader siphoning off votes, Bush would have lost to Al Gore. If it wasn’t for Jill Stein and Bernie or Bust people siphoning off votes, Trump would have lost to Hillary Clinton. For all those on the left that just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Hillary, here are just a few of the things taking a stand for purity has cost us:
The United States has pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement, the Iran Nuclear Deal, and the UN Human Rights Council.
We have a president who thinks global warming is a hoax.
The President of the United States has offended all of our closest allies while buddying up with brutal dictators.
Children and parents seeking asylum in the United States have been separated and children have been put in cages.
We will now have two additional arch-conservative Supreme Court justices, doing the GOP’s bidding for decades to come.
Roe v. Wade will now likely be overturned, making abortion illegal in at least 20 states. Republicans are sending women’s rights back 40 years!
The same goes for LGBTQ rights. With the new Supreme Court, you can count on their rights going backward.
Unions were hit hard by the Supreme Court with the help of Trump’s first justice appointment, Neil Gorsuch, just this week.
We have a president who embarrasses our country daily and encourages incivility and distrust in established, vetted media, like the Associated Press. Dictators declare that the media is the enemy of the people, not presidents in democracies!
I could go on, but I’ve made my point. None of the above would have happened under Democratic leadership. No party or candidate is perfect. I never agree with the candidate I vote for on every issue. On the same token, I don’t agree with my wife on every issue either—yet we have a long, successful marriage.
Saying “Democrats and Republicans are the same” is a common, but naïve talking point. And in the coming elections if you don’t vote, or decide to vote for a fringe unelectable candidate out of a sense of moral superiority, know that you are voting for a continuation of Trump policies.
I hate it as much as anyone that we don’t have a system of government like Australia has, where alternative parties can make a difference. In America, at least for now, we have two viable parties. Choose a side.
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Caribou
Marty’s photo of the day #2585: Caribou in the
Marty’s photo of the day #2585: Caribou in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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June 29, 2018
Republican Jesus and the blame game
Hi! Republican Jesus here. I just want to tell all you liberals out there to stop the Capital Gazette shooting blame game. Just because Saint Donny has proclaimed mainstream media the “enemy of the American People” and rails about them on Twitter and at his MAGA ego-enhancement rallies, it does not mean that he is in any way responsible if someone hears his words, and it becomes that little extra tap that makes a gun-toting American think going commando is his calling.
The same goes for Milo Yiannopoulos. So what if he proclaimed on Tuesday that “I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.” Besides, Milo may be a Republican, but he’s merely our token homosexual—kinda like Ben Carson is our token black. We just put up with those people because they say nice things about us, and they allow us to pretend we are inclusive.
As for the shooter, the fact that he tweeted to the Capital Gazette, “Referring to @realDonaldTrump as ‘unqualified,’ @capgaznews could end badly (again),” means nothing. That tweet happened way back in 2015, just three months after Saint Donny announced his run for president. Everyone knows that if the shooter reads newspapers, he must be a liberal!
Remember the wisdom of America’s most sacred institution, the NRA: the real reason our country has so many mass shootings is because Americans are not properly armed. Sure, every time there is a mass shooting in America gun sales rise, but come on! How many mass shootings must the NRA pave the way for in the name of freedom? You must do your duty as Americans (I know, that’s stretching it for you liberals) and make every day gun buying day!
To summarize: Saint Donny, Token Milo, and the Holy NRA cannot be held responsible for pushing an unstable person over the edge. In the end, there is only one person to blame, and we all know who he is—Obama!
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The giant car-eating grasshopper
Marty’s photo of the day #2584: I’m not sure what to say about this shot. It’s a grasshopper. He’s big. He probably eats cars at night, Cadillacs, Lincolns too, Mercurys and Subarus, and he don’t stop. . . . Oh, never mind. I’m just stuck on an old Blondie song.
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June 28, 2018
Snake education
Marty’s photo of the day #2583: I was flipping through my photo files this morning, trying to decide what to post, when I came across this shot. Several years ago, I helped with an after school program at the Stevensville, Montana library. The kids are holding Eve, my seven-foot-long rainbow boa. Most were touching a snake for the very first time and were surprised that Eve wasn’t scary or slimy. Instead, she was friendly, warm, and dry. Eve and I need to get out and do events like this more often.
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June 27, 2018
Great blue heron
Marty’s photo of the day #2582: Great blue heron. I love the challenge capturing birds in flight!
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June 26, 2018
This isn’t what it seems to be
Marty’s photo of the day #2581: I love optical illusion shots. This photo, which I took at Bear Creek Falls on Sunday, isn’t digitally manipulated. My son, Sean, is not casually taking a picture while standing in rushing water. It just looks that way.
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