Over the course of the next four weeks we watched as the robins tended the nest and four babies hatched. Around June 11, four babies hatched and over the next two weeks we observed as they were fed and grew rapidly. June 23, 2004, exactly one month after we first noticed the nest, we watched as the four fledglings climbed out of the now very crowded space they had shared since birth and may their way into the sky.

I wonder how many of those or there offspring are still among the many robins that hang around our yard every year.

Reshared post from +Talking Points Memo

Romney says his business record, taxes should be off the table:

Reshared post from +Kevin Tofel

I typically don't talk politics publicly, but I'm making an exception in this case. And let me preface this by saying, I do not want (nor will I) debate policy or party with anyone. Make your own informed decisions and I'll do the same.

Having said that (and this is the TRUE point of why I'm sharing this), it sickens me that politicians and political action groups treat the American public as if they were stupid. 

This ad is the latest and I saw it on TV yesterday. It's from Americans For Prosperity, who, according to them, "is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process."

If that's really true, why compare the deficit with the debt in a misrepresentation? Deficit is one of three states of a budget: deficit, surplus or balance. Budget states and national debt are completely different and the AFP knows this. Shame on them.

Again – I'm not advocating for or against a party, a candidate or a policy here, so please let's not debate that. Thanks.

Reshared post from +Mike Elgan

How the Olympic Committee Violates the Fundamental Human Rights of Athletes

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), drunk with greed and power, is forcing athletes to cover tattoos, remove headphones, take of wristwatches and generally stop showing any corporate logo of any company that isn't an Olympic sponsor.

For example, the committee is currently investigating whether it will allow Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake (pictured) to continue to wear his own wristwatch during the games, as the watch maker is not a sponsor.

The IOC required Team USA's track star Nick Symmonds to cover a temporary tattoo on his arm, because it showed the Twitter name of one of his sponsors.

Dr. Dre sent free Beats headphones to some athletes. When a few people on the Great Britain team mentioned it, the IOC "sanctioned" them, and ordered them to wear the headphones provided by official sponsors.

They also sanctioned Australian swimmer Libby Trickett for exercising her right to free speech in a Twitter post, in which she promoted a company sponsoring her.

The IOC justifies this crackdown by citing Rule 40 of the IOC charter.

You like rules and charters? I've got one for you, IOC. It's called Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which specifies that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

Yes, I know athletes agree to your shameless rules, which are designed to extract the maximum amount of money from mostly unpaid athletes. But they suck, and your enforcement of them is ridiculous and extreme.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/olympics-2012-yohan-blake-359931