Wednesday, November 25, 2015

CANCER
What an impact all the money and energy spent worldwide on the ISIS retaliation for its Paris mayhem, would have had on cancer, if it had been spent on destroying this plague. Worldwide, in the time since the Paris attack, how many tens of thousands of cancer victims have died ? The public reacts swiftly and in dramatic fashion, when in the scale of hundreds, a single incident of carnage is perpetrated by terrorists. But, death from cancer occurs in every hamlet, town, and city daily in numbers of staggering amounts. Nine million persons worldwide will die of cancer this year and over fourteen million are projected to die in the year 2030 from cancer. Wouldn't you think the World would get so exercised from these deaths and mobilize their individual countries to stifle this plague with the same intensity they gave to terrorists.
Ronald C. Downie

Friday, November 20, 2015

She Holds the Torch

Sequestered deep underground in hardened walled silos are numerous "MMDM's, Mutual Mass Destruction Missiles", which carry Nuclear Bombs aimed at every conceivable target generals thought of. Their thinking was based on : who in their right mind does not fear death; therefor, no sane person ( president, dictator, leader ) would launch missiles knowing reciprocal incoming missiles would obliterate themselves, all loved ones, and so many more, including civilization as we know it.

Today's thinking has changed the equation, it has thrown out old thinking. Whoever thought at the inception of silos the fears of men would change radically. Once mass destruction was abhorrent to everyone, but today, a few persons with bombs strapped to their torsos covered with clothing send deeper chills up the spines of the World's population. Just not knowing who has bombs strapped to themselves has the World in a turmoil, the fear of neighbors, of immigrants, of nationalities, and the fear of color becomes insidious.

The siloed bombs will continue to be stored below ground in a readied manor while the walking bomber, unknown to all but a few in his or her cell, is also ready to be blown up. The USA with an overwhelming superiority in nuclear armament resembles a eunuch, impressively big and strong but because of loosing his manhood can't function in a normal sexual way, and is powerless to unleash its arsenal. In contrast, the suicide bomber can choose a time and place to detonate or not detonate his hidden explosives. No longer does the adage of "might makes right" prevail ; nor that of " it's not only the biggest or strongest that wins, but it's the fellow who thinks he can".

Realizing the suicide bomber is under an allusion of some ulterior motive and does not subscribe to societal norms makes him or her an enigma. Somehow, someway civilization must forget the foundations of old thought and quickly develop new thinking, something that dissuades young minds from thinking it's admirable to inflict death on one's self and indiscriminately on people unknown.

Do we as Americans set a example for foreign young people to emulate, are we made of a substance they want themselves to live by ? Do we as citizens through our elected representatives create the type of country everyone in this World would long to live in ? Are we a society of laws, a land of ideas, a land lit by the light of shining cities set on each hill ? Do we act in accordance with the inscription on the Statue of Liberty ? "... Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door !"( Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus )

Ronald C. Downie


Thursday, November 19, 2015

She Hold the Torch

Sequestered deep underground in hardened walled silos are numerous "MMDM's, Mutual Mass Destruction Missiles", which carry Nuclear Bombs aimed at every conceivable target generals thought of. Their thinking was based on : who in their right mind does not fear death; therefor, no sane person ( president, dictator, leader ) would launch missiles knowing reciprocal incoming missiles would obliterate themselves, all loved ones, and so many more, including civilization as we know it.

Today's thinking has changed the equation, it has thrown out old thinking. Whoever thought at the inception of silos the fears of men would change radically. Once mass destruction was abhorrent to everyone, but today, a few persons with bombs strapped to their torsos covered with clothing send deeper chills up the spines of the World's population. Just not knowing who has bombs strapped to themselves has the World in a turmoil, the fear of neighbors, of immigrants, of nationalities, and the fear of color becomes insidious.

The soloed bombs will continue to be stored below ground in a readied manor while the walking bomber, unknown to all but a few in his or her cell, is also ready to be blown up. The USA with an overwhelming superiority in nuclear armament resembles a eunuch, impressively big and strong but because of loosing his manhood can't function in a normal sexual way, and is powerless to unleash its arsenal. In contrast, the suicide bomber can choose a time and place to detonate or not detonate his hidden explosives. No longer does the adage of "might makes right" prevail ; nor that of " it's not only the biggest or strongest that wins, but it's the fellow who thinks he can".

Realizing the suicide bomber is under an allusion of some ulterior motive and does not subscribe to societal norms makes him or her an enigma. Somehow, someway civilization must forget the foundations of old thought and quickly develop new thinking, something that dissuades young minds from thinking it's admirable to inflict death on one's self and indiscriminately on people unknown.

Do we as Americans set a example for foreign young people to emulate, are we made of a substance they want themselves to live by ? Do we as citizens through our elected representatives create the type of country everyone in this World would long to live in ? Are we a society of laws, a land of ideas, a land lit by the light of shining cities set on each hill ? Do we act in accordance with the inscription on the Statue of Liberty ? "... Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door !"( Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus )

Ronald C. Downie


Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Liberal
One of the truths imprinted on me as I've aged, well past retirement, is my insistence on believing in the human values found in a more liberal society. I have tasted the value of social security, the forced system of saving so repayment can be made to us at an age we're non-income producing. Also, Medicare has made my physically in firmed age more tolerable, less stressful, addressing each of my advancing maladies.

What good is a government that has neither a true policy to enhance the full life of a newborn or, at the twilight of life, which insures all a meaningful compassionate ending ? A liberal government that I am drawn to is not one which rattles its sabers for purely posturing purposes but, rather, stands tall in the worthy defense of the country's existence. Dialog, in these advancing centuries, must, in my mind, be the weapon of choice rather than nuclear confrontation, in other words, the end of the World as we have known it could become a reality.

Since its inception, our's is the greatest country ever conceived by humans. The United States of America is a country based on laws stated by a Constitution and administered as written by three bodies : the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. It is beyond my total comprehension, that in a country miles and miles more advanced than every third world country, voters could send to congress people confessed to undo our tested system of governance. Bent on obstruction are these forty or so House members who are subtly cheered on by some closeted Senators.

Yes, our country is strong enough to withstand this assault but, in doing so, we lose many chances to make ourselves better. Also in doing so, we develop a deep public cynicism which undergirds a "can do" attitude based on accomplishments. As a cancer invades a person this, attitude of a cynic, permeates a society, and erodes the publics' health. I will not ever side with this fringe element, they are as a plague in a civilized society.
Ronald C. Downie

Steve Toroney, President, Pottstown Borough Council

Dear Steve,

Congratulations !

Congratulations seems too easy to say, too easily said in expressing the enormous gratitude for the many years of service you've given to Pottstown. Those of us who served with you understand the demanding pressure put on you during your tenure of service with the borough. Good leaders, always the target of small minded know it alls, are best served by their own quiet demeanor, their big picture view, and their dogged determination to arrive at a just answer.

In thinking about you and these words, I thought back to my own grandfather, Andrew Grey Downie, who I revered as my mentor when I was young. GrandPa was a sage who talked to me while performing carpenter skills on small furniture items he designed. He made inlayed tops for tables which took a lot of time with fitting and cutting and then attaching the pieces to form some geometric pattern. To me, he was a teacher who also was a carpenter. Seems to me this sounds like you.

Maybe, the similarity to my GrandPa is why I've been drawn to you ever since I met you. In all reality, wasn't there a young man who traveled the Middle Eastern Lands some 2000 years ago who was also a teacher and most likely knew carpentry since his father was a carpenter and it is his story that has effected the World ever since. No, I'm not saying what you're thinking, except, that there must be some synergy between building and then teaching others how to build. Maybe it is the measuring twice before having only to cut once that makes a person more decisive, more self assured, like you.

In keeping with our country's founders, legislators were always expected to serve in their elective position for some period of time then return home to their land or job. I believed in these traditions and I believe you do too. As time moves on, so must others move into positions of responsibility. You've set a strong base for others to build upon and Pottstown applauds you. As GrandPa used to say, "a good job is its own reward"; and "a job worth doing, is a job worth doing well".

Again, Congratulations !

Respectfully, Ronald C. Downie

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Creating Worlds

Borrowed from the future is time unspent
Even though knowing it, it's sequestered
Within your temples, escape's possible.
Dreams that fester, itching for disclosure,
Invade even the common of us all ;
Beyond reality, dreams you dream, real.

I was on that island too, shipwrecked,
With the rest of my family, book words,
"Swiss Family Robinson", was titled.
Sure as I'm here, in youth I lived that dream.
Vivid as today's sun rise, nature deep,
Dreams are smelt, felt, and captivate your mind.

Over and over again in each book
I lived every word as if it were true.
I became one with the author, his mind.
Broad, as the World, you become by reading.
By writing, though, you develop new Worlds,
Worlds you've created come alive in print.

Ronald C.Downie











Happy Birthday Lia

North of the Mason and Dixon Line
Colorful leaves fall at low, low tide;
While deep in the belly of sunshine,
You, lovingly in flower pedals, swim.

Whether the weather is suitable south
Depends upon highs and lows colliding.
South, storms swirl while lightning and
Thunder awakens the Devil from his den.

Twisted and turmoiled when unchained, he
Twirls incessantly faster, evermore faster, till
The Earth embroiled in water, wind lashed,
Submits to the Devil's own wish - Hurricane.

But the Lord, looking over his wishful flock,
Protects them in many ways. The Devil's
Put back in his den, horrid actions dismissed,
Peace again to the land, South rises at dawn.

Who else but you, Lia Alexandra Downie, who
Chose sunshine so bright, rain so hard, and
Winds that swirl, loves each and every day
That you've lived on the gulf coast of Florida.

Organization, we'll all say, was Lia's main forte.
"A place for everything, everything in its place"
Order to you is a mainstay of your very being,
To some, kind of a non-religious underpinning.

Happy Birthday, Lia, and may the rest of 100
Be as memorable as this and those gone before.
You deserve all the honors which goes with birth,
The honor of doing for others is a calling of your's.

Love, every day but especially on you Birthday !
Nanny&PopPop/Mom&Dad












Monday, November 9, 2015

Letter to the Editor, Philadelphia Inquirer

Today, at over eighty years of living in Pennsylvania, eighty years in the greater Pottstown area, forty one years in the same house in Pottstown, I feel what I think and willing to write about should have a chance to be read.

From my reading about the over heating of our planet, I understand the most affected of the population will be the young, especially the very young, and the aged, especially those moving closer to the Century mark. I fall into one group, my great grandchildren into the other. Shortly Congress will be having hearings on the final draft of the Clean Power Plan and Pennsylvania will play a very important roll in the finished draft.

Our state, the forth largest producer of coal, is also a leader in natural gas production. But, sadly, our energy producing plants spew out more impurities than the final draft is intending. Their desire is a one third reduction by year 2030 from base year 2012 of smoke stack impurities somehow thought to help stabilize our climate into the future.

At eighty years, I've come to put worth into accumulated knowledge. The pursuit of science is essentially that, a grand body of seekers who through trial and error arrive at a consensus of settled truth to which the majority agrees. Those opposed have a grand economic stake in preserving the status quo or, more importantly, rolling back the gains already made.

You, the vocal public, have really an important voice in molding the ultimate outcome of these hearings. It is with upmost reverence that I believe in the power of the people to guide legislators to do the right thing. A choir has magnificence to fully voice fill quite large opera halls but it takes a director to assemble each individual into a singularity of purpose. Our's must be an effort to verify the scientific community's findings and pit it against corporate greed. Please speak up, shout out, write to your legislator. Future generations deserve a livable Earth !

Ronald C. Downie

778 N. Evans St.
Pottstown, Pa. 19464

610 326 0614

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Solar Panels
Deciduous trees drop their leaves before winter after they stop producing chlorophyll that covers up with green other colorful pigments remaining in the leaf. Just prior to leaves falling colorful displays catch the eye as the color green dissipates while other pigments remain visible. During their six to eight month life, leaves must work like hell to do their job. Leaves are the original solar panels turning sunlight into chlorophyll, tree energy. Trees have a broad range around our planet, from tiny( bonsai) to extremely huge( redwoods, sequoias) and they range as much in age as they range in habitat, some to living many 1000's of years.

Leaf dropping triggers a very dynamic stage in a tree's growth cycle : that is, the development of next year's flowers are wrapped up in a bud prior to the all important development of seeds after the flowers become pollinated. Through seed germination the tree species survives almost endlessly but with a couple million seeds dropped to the ground maybe only one or two will germinate and mature into a full growth tree.

The multitude of trees is so vast that almost every house built is built by using lumber from matured trees. In fact, lumbering tends to be a multigenerational business because once a forest is lumbered it will take over a generation or two for trees to reach an acceptable age for cutting them down. Remember the old tails of an era of sailing when sailors crossed this World looking for tall, straight, strong and somewhat flexible trees to turn them into the main masts of new sailing ships. The tree is so adaptable because it can be formed into doing multiple tasks and is easily worked by hand.

Leaves, the energy producers for trees, have another use when they dry up and fall. One of the most energy rich materials found and now understood by man is when chopped up leaves are piled up and left to compost through heating and bacterial action. The result is often termed "Black Gold" because in nature even without chopping leaves they decompose and provide much of the nutrients needed by maturing trees. Man always seems to need to accelerate a process that nature does in its own due time. If you rake leaves and don't compost them you defy the natural process, a process which has lasted billions( yes, billions ) of years. "Black Gold" can work for you, too.
Ronald C. Downie

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Of, By, and For

"They got to be kidding", "say it isn't so", "adding insult to injury" our Federal House of Representatives in Washington, DC. just released their 2016 work calander. Out of 365 days in the year, they scheduled only 110 days to be in session. Regular Joes work 50 weeks a year with 2 weeks off for vacation plus additional days off for holidays , so Joe works 48 or 49 weeks at 5 days a week or about 240+ days a year. Remember, congress has a very liberal policy on extra time off and, the sweet plumbs that come with the position, so many, I can't enumerate them all. Next year's session follows this year's "do nothing congress" so maybe it's better they're away from drinking the Potomac Tea served in DC.

I'm no fan of Rand Paul but he does promote "Term Limits" for legislators. Then , when my neighbor, Barry and Reverent Jake, both talked about term limits, I knew the time was right to champion term limits seeing such diverse members of the society were starting to question no limit's worth. Six, 2 year terms for the house, 12 years in all; two, 6 year terms for the senate, 12 years in all; and two, 4 year terms for president, 8 years in all are the logical terms suggested.

Please remember, the authors of the constitution never meant our country to be governed by professional politicians but by ordinary people who could leave their land for a few years, serve, then return to their communities to their land. It is time to rid Congress of "hold me ons", those who have fed at the trough of plenty for most of their lives. Nor should they be allowed freedom to lobby Congress when the finish serving the people. Return government to : "of the people, by the people, and for the people ".

Ronald C. Downie

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Liberal
One of the truths imprinted on me as I've aged, well past retirement, is my insistence on believing in the human values found in a more liberal society. I have tasted the value of social security, the forced system of saving so repayment can be made to us at an age we're non-income producing. Also, Medicare has made my physically in firmed age more tolerable, less stressful, addressing each of my advancing maladies.

What good is a government that has neither a true policy to enhance the full life of a newborn or, at the twilight of life, which insures all a meaningful compassionate ending ? A liberal government that I am drawn to is not one which rattles its sabers for purely posturing purposes but, rather, stands tall in the worthy defense of the country's existence. Dialog, in these advancing centuries, must, in my mind, be the weapon of choice rather than nuclear confrontation, in other words, the end of the World as we have known it could become a reality.

Since its inception, our's is the greatest country ever conceived by humans. The United States of America is a country based on laws stated by a Constitution and administered as written by three bodies : the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. It is beyond my total comprehension, that in a country miles and miles more advanced than every third world country, voters could send to congress people confessed to undo our tested system of governance. Bent on obstruction are these forty or so House members who are subtly cheered on by some closeted Senators.

Yes, our country is strong enough to withstand this assault but, in doing so, we lose many chances to make ourselves better. Also in doing so, we develop a deep public cynicism which undergirds a "can do" attitude based on accomplishments. As a cancer invades a person this, attitude of a cynic, permeates a society, and erodes the publics' health. I will not ever side with this fringe element, they are as a plague in a civilized society.

Ronald C. Downie