Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.

Eckhart Tolle

You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.

~ Henry David Thoreau

In 2011, the average level of CEO pay in the S&P 500 Index increased 13.9 percent—to $12.94 million!

2012 Social Security Trustees Report": "The Social Security Trustees Report shows that our Social Security system works just as intended, even in difficult economic times. Unlike the banks, which nearly brought the economy to ruin, Social Security didn’t need a bailout. The most important fact revealed in the 2012 Trustees Report is that our Social Security system has a large and growing surplus."

Words, once they are printed, have a life of their own. - Carol Burnett

The Outer Banks Growth vs Development! Happy Earth Day?

 

Let’s look at some hindsight and look at 100 years ago or even 50 years ago.  Heck I remember the 1970's Outer Banks and looking back well the growth has been enormous.  Have you tried getting over that bridge on a Friday?  And hurricanes keep wiping highway 12 out maybe that should give everyone pause to think about where we live.   At some point we have to self regulate and understand we need the environment more than it needs us.  And that we need the real outer banks the natural outer banks to grow, thrive and flourish.

Long line fishing, herbicide and oil run off we pollute and deplete the very thing that sustains us but you can't eat money.  If you are going to buy into the market system and not be a subsistence farmer/fisherman then you have to adapt to the boom and bust cycle of the market place and mom and pops go in and out of business. 

Better regulation would smooth the transition for the mom and pops affected by environmental foresight.  But real bullies controlling Capitol Hill don't value helping anybody but themselves.  Face it we are all sort of like that.  But if you care about the mom and pops that go out of business as we recalibrate our awareness as to the necessity of sustainability and a healthy environment then vote democrat across the board no matter where you live.  That way the mom and pops can get the assistance they need to transition to a new plan, further education or skill training.  The powers that be helped transition Goldman Sachs and AIG but they don't have dime one to spare for the bait shop owner.  Those are your bullies.  

Do you know how many career changes the average person goes through in current economic system?  Ten!  That a mom and pop has hung on for decades perhaps over expanding, perhaps never changing their business model, perhaps not even having a plan other than hanging a shingle out while the outer banks explodes with development isn't much of a sob story admittedly especially in the face of the greater global good.  But I am sorry for them and that their world has been encroached upon - really I am - who wouldn't want to have a little bait shop that earned you 100K clear?  Maybe the mom and pops should try kayak tours, real estate, insurance or get a medical degree? 

Environmentalists think long term and big picture they aren't bullies or zealots they are people who care and have the foresight to worry about long term sustainability over development.  The environment that feeds us and keeps us healthy is an intricate design each part of it working in harmony to grow but in walks man clear cutting it all to pieces as fast as he can for short term profit and cheap thrills. 

Without governance seeing the big picture and managing the markets we would all be the victims of self immolation except there wouldn't be any point to it other than sheer stupidity, shortsightedness, and greed. 

If I was on City Council down in the Outer Banks I would be in favor of preserving the environment and long term sustainability - would request federal funds since that stance is in everyone's best interest, and help those 20 odd businesses currently affected by new environmental regulations transition to a new line of work, and or relocation. 

In order to sustain the growth in human population 7 billion and counting we need to sustain and enable the growth in the natural world that actually feeds us and drives or economic machine.

Being able to four wheel around now off line beach areas burning fossil fuel for kicks or being able to carry everything in your garage to the beach would not and should not be a governmental concern. 

That all may be fun and convenient and direct a few dollars in a certain way but we can no longer ignore or be lackadaisical about our hugely negative impact on our environment, health and well being.  Natural resources are the building blocks of - everything - in the market place.  We need to grow, preserve and protect our natural resources through time tested natural processes at a much greater rate then we are depleting them.

HAPPY EARTH DAY! 

Love is the energy of life.

Robert Browning

Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?

Sai Baba

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.

Buddha

What do we live for; if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?

~ George Eliot

Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.

Spanish Proverb

Warren Buffett, a billionaire, pays a lower tax rate than his secretary, Debbie Bosanek.

He pays 17.4%, she pays 35.8%. Think that's unfair? So do Bosanek and Buffett.

Between 2004 and 2010, Wildlife Services spent nearly $1 billion to kill nearly 23 million animals, purportedly to protect agriculture and other private interests.

You can judge a man's true character by the way he treats his fellow animals.

~ Paul McCartney

"If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it." -- Norman Braksick, president of Asgrow Seed Co., a subsidiary of Monsanto, quoted in the Kansas City Star, March 7, 1994

"Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job." -- Phil Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications, quoted in the New York Times, October 25, 1998

A stunning new report came out just this week: Citizens for Tax Justice found that 26 giant corporations -- with total revenue well over $200,000,000,000 -- haven't paid a cent in taxes over the last four years.

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.

Seneca

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.

~ Robert A. Heinlein

Every moment is made glorious by the light of love.

Rumi

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.

Anais Nin

For the women opposed to forced ultrasounds, Pennsylvania's Governor Tom Corbett's answer is to just "close your eyes" and deal with it. This is the "conservative leadership" that Mitt Romney praises.

"Who seriously believes that locking 25 students in a small room with one adult for several hours each day is the best way for them to be educated?" Prakash Nair (Don't Just Rebuild Schools-Reinvent Them)

Reflection and the habit of silence nurtures spiritual well being

"Walk Cheerfully Over The World Answering That of God in Everyone" George Fox 1656

"We have a call to do good as often as we have the power and the occasion" - William Penn 1644 - 1718

Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, DOW, and DuPont chemical killers, pesticide poisoning and market manipulating monopolist. Imaging having to test your seeds before planting. www.panna.org/action

Think on This...
For, the experience or sojourn in the earth is not by chance, but the natural spiritual and soul evolution of the entity; that it may be aware of its relationships to God--through its relationships to its fellow men; recognizing in each soul, as well as in self, those possibilities, those opportunities, those duties, those obligations that are a portion of each soul-entity's manifesting in a material plane.

Edgar Cayce Reading 2271-1

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”

- Harriet Tubman

Internationally, during the last quarter of 2011, world oil supply exceeded demand by nearly 2-1, while crude oil prices increased by over 12%.

The supply of oil and gasoline is higher today than it was three years ago, when the national average price for a gallon of gasoline was just $1.94.

We have got to make sure that the price of oil and gas is based on the fundamentals of supply and demand -- not Wall Street greed

Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the CFTC has stated publically that oil speculators now control over 80 percent of the energy futures market

The CEO of Exxon Mobil testified at a Senate hearing that excessive speculation contributed as much as 40% to a barrel of oil.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace

Jimi Hendrix

In the arts, as in life, everything is possible provided it is based on love.

Marc Chagall

If it weren't for the last minute, a lot of things wouldn't get done.

Michael S. Taylor

There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception. James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961)

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day. A. A. Milne Author (1882-1956)

There is more to life than increasing its speed. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

To cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. Samuel Johnson, Lexicographer (1709-1784)