What happens if no presidential candidate gets 270 Electoral votes?

In an extremely close presidential election it is possible that no candidate could get the needed majority of 270 Electoral votes. The Constitution of the United States makes provision for this scenario.

The Twelfth Amendment (ratified June 15, 1804):

This states in layman’s language that if no one presidential candidate gets the required majority, than the House of Representatives would choose immediately, by ballot, the President. However, it is important to note the vote would be by states, the representation from each state would have one vote. So each Representative does not get one vote, rather each state represented in the House gets one vote.

Again if no one vice-presidential candidate gets a majority of Electoral votes, then the Senate would choose the Vice-President from the two candidates with the most Electoral votes.

This system raises an interesting scenario. If both the presidential and the vice-presidential candidate did not receive a majority of Electoral votes, both would be elected by Congress, the House of Representatives the President, and the Senate, the Vice-President. This election if the Senate stays Democratic and the House stays Republican as expected then the likely scenario in this rare case would be President Romney and Vice-President Biden for the next four years.

What an interesting administration those would be. History consists of what-if scenarios. Some come true and others don’t. Watch closely to see what happens here.

B-17 Flying Fortress: Up close and personal with a legend.

Nose art featuring Betty Grable’s famous pinup. Photo: Steve Davis

Recently I had a chance to get up close and personal with a World War II legend, the famous American B-17 Flying Fortress.

The B-17 was a heavy, multi-engined (4) bomber used in the Allied strategic bombing of German war industries. The Flying Fortress was heavily armed and had a crew of 10, pilot, co-pilot, navigator, radio operator, bombadier, and gunners.

There was a tail gunner at the rear, a ball turret under the plane, two waist gunners at the midsection, top turret, and forward guns. Even with this impressive armament losses were heavy. The problem in the beginning was lack of fighter support all the way to the targets in Germany. Because of fuel constraints the fighters had to turn back and return to base, then the German fighters attacked. The B-17 was known for its ability to absorb damage and yet still limp home to base. Eventually long range fighters were developed such as the P-51 Mustang and the P-47 Thunderbolt which could escort the bombers all the way to the target and back home. This reduced the Allied losses significantly.

The Commemorative Air Force, Arizona Wing based out of Mesa, Arizona visited Calgary as part of the Calgary Aviation Expo. This particular B-17 is restored and flight ready, in fact, it flew all the way up to Calgary from Arizona.

It is known as the “Sentimental Journey” and is adorned with one of the most famous pinup pictures of World War II as its nose art. Permission was granted by Betty Grable’s widower Harry James to use the poster art. It is beautiful to say the least. Crews painted these on their planes as good luck charms.

It’s hard to imagine, but most of the crews of these fearsome craft were in their late teens and early twenties. It was not unusual for the commander to be only 18 or 19 years of age. Sadly many of these young men never came back.

The most famous movies made about these planes and the young men who flew them are “Twelve O’Clock High” with Gregory Peck, and “Memphis Belle” with Matthew Modine. Real B-17s along with actual wartime footage was used in both these films.

Some of the young men who flew in these planes later became famous, James Stewart and  Clark Gable, the actors, Tom Landry, NFL player and coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Norman Lear, producer of All in the Family, and Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek.

It is wonderful to see these planes restored and used to tell the history of that era.

Choreographed death: legal execution in the United States

Lethal injection gurney-AP Photo

The death sentence is an acceptable punishment in the United States. It is the ultimate sentence that can be given to a criminal. Once a person is convicted and sentenced to die they are sent to death row to await their execution. Because of the appeal process the sentence may not be carried out for many years. There are thousands of prisoners languishing on deathrow in the United States awaiting their time.

The accepted method of execution in most States now is lethal injection. This usually consists of the administration of three drugs given is stages. The prisoner is strapped down on a gurney in the execution chamber and an IV is started. The first drug given is a sedative, then a saline flush is given to clear the lines. Next a drug is given which paralyzes the inmate. Finally the last drug given stops the heart resulting in death within seconds. The execution is deemed completed when a doctor pronounces the inmate dead. All in all I pretty relaxing way to die for these violent offenders who in most cases killed their victims in the most callous and evil ways.

Other methods still exist in some States. These are usually alternative measures which the inmate can select instead of lethal injection. They include the gas chamber, the electric chair, hanging and firing squad.

Electric chair:
Before lethal injection this was the most common method of execution. First used in 1924. The first night 5 men were executed using the chair or “Old Sparky” as it is sometimes referred to. Improper use of the chair resulted in painful death.

Gas chamber:
This was another very common method used in many States. The gas used was hydrogen cyanide. Execution was in a sealed chamber which in some cases could be used to execution two individuals at once. It was expensive because of the maintenance needed to ensure the chamber didn’t leak. Death in the gas chamber was slow and painful.

Firing squad:
Not a common method it is still legal in Utah. It consists of a firing squad of five shooters, four have loaded rounds, and one has a blank round. The shooters don’t know which one has the blank. The inmate is seated and strapped in with a target placed over his heart.

Hanging:
Little has changed with this method since the 1800′s. A noose is placed around the inmate’s neck, he is bound and dropped through a trap door. He drops until the rope snaps his neck. Proper executions using this method rely on an accurate calculation of the prisoner’s weight and length of rope needed. The noose should break the neck resulting in death. Improper calculations resulted in decapitations and injury without death.

Because the death sentence is mandated by the court proper legal and application procedures are always followed. Unfortunately it is likely that innocent prisoners have been executed in the past. Over the last few decades since the advent of DNA testing many prisoners on death row have been exonerated of their crimes. Without this recourse they would have been legally killed.

In the case of a death sentence the prisoner is entitled to all appeals available to him or her. Some States like California have separate penalty phases of trials to determine the appropriateness of the death sentence once the person has been found guilty. The prosecution and the defence both have the opportunity to present evidence and witnesses related to whether the prisoner should receive the death sentence for the crime.

Some interesting facts:

• last public execution in the U.S. was in 1936 in Kentucky when 10,000 attended
• Texas, Virginia, and Ohio are the States carrying out the most executions
• the last hanging was in Delware in 1996
• in Texas victims families have been allowed to witness executions since 1995
• it is illegal to record and execution with camera, camcorder, audio recorder or any other method
• usual witnesses to executions are lawyers, relatives of the inmate, and media

Expensive Oil coming soon.

Crude oil and subsequently gasoline and jet fuel are about to get much more expensive and hard to come by. The Middle East is heating up again. Iran has just shut off the taps to the UK and France for imposing sanctions. Iran is close to becoming a nuclear power. If that doesn’t scare you it sure should. Iranian leaders have publicly stated on several occasions that they intend to wipe the State of Israel off the map. Israel will be sure to make a preemptive military strike in an attempt to stop Iran. That will light the fires.

A nuclear exchange of any kind in the Middle East could contaminate the oil fields for thousands of years let alone kill millions. Unfortunately the government of Iran consists on Islamic extremists who could care less about consequences.

Almost all of the crude oil imported by the United States comes from the unstable Middle East. Any restriction of exports from that region will be catastophic to the American economy and will force them to take action to maintain oil flow. That action is sure as hell not going to be sanctions, but will surely be military intervention.

Unless the West can break its reliance on oil imports from unstable, unfriendly countries and soon war is imminent.

 

D-Day 67 years later – we must remember.

On this the 67th anniversary of D-Day we must remember the sacrifice the servicemen of the Allied Powers (Canada, Britain, the United States, France and Poland) made on the beaches of Normandy, France that fateful June day in 1944.

When you look at the photos of aged veterans commemorating that event, realize that on June 6, 1944 these were mere boys and young men who dashed from the landing craft across the beaches under murderous fire from the entrenched German positions. A terrible number of these young men died there on that beach in the battle against tyranny.

The Second World War had been raging for four long years to this point. The invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 resulted in the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of the war in Europe less than one year later. It was the turning point of the war in Europe. If the invasion had failed the war would have dragged on for many more years.

The Boomer Generation

When the Second World War (1939 – 1945) ended millions of men returned home to wives and girlfriends most hadn’t seen in years. Guess what happened? Nine months later there began a baby boom the likes of which had never been seen, and hasn’t been seen since. In Canada anyone born between 1947 and 1967 is considered a “baby boomer” or “boomer” for short.

Truly effective birth control, the pill, wasn’t available until the mid 1960′s, so in most cases sex resulted in babies, lots of them. This was not a bad thing, after all these men and women wanted to return to a normal life after six long years of war abroad and on the home front.

Couples wanted to put the war behind them. They wanted marriage and family, and did they ever succeed. Some factoids on the baby boom:

• During the years 1947 to 1966 in Canada there were over 400,000 babies born each year. The highest year was 1959 with 479,000 born.
• In the United States during roughly the same period over 4,000,000 were born each year.
• At the height of the boom Canadian women averaged four offspring each.

I am a “boomer” as are my siblings. We were born in 1949, 1951, and 1955 respectively. Now over sixty years later our generation is beginning to enter our retirement years.

Our generation makes up the largest individual segment of the Canadian population (more than 30%). With retirement comes two key questions for Canadian society,

• Can the pension plans handle the massive numbers of retirees?
• Can the expertise lost by industry and government be replaced?

Most boomers are healther and wealthier than previous generations, but the cost of living has skyrocketed. Better health means longer lives and more stress on retirement income sources.

The anticipated retirement of workers from the workforce will mean more opportunity for the younger generations coming into the workforce.

Baby boomers have a tremendous impact on Canadian society and will continue to be a factor for many years to come. Some factoids on the impact of the boomer generation today (stats are from the United States, but are similar here in Canada.):

• Control over 80% of personal assets
• Control over 50% of discretionary spending.
• Account for more than half of consumer spending.
• Purchase 77% of all prescription drugs.
• Account for 80% of all leisure travel spending.

Stay tuned for more postings on my experiences as part of the Boomer Generation.

Kennedy Sworn in as President – 50 yrs Ago Today

President Kennedy - official White House photo

 Fifty years ago today John Fitzgerald Kennedy took the oath of office at exactly 12:00 p.m. Eastern time in Washington, DC.

Kennedy’s inauguration signaled a new generation ascending to power. His predecessor, President Eisenhower was of a previous generation and had served 8 years, since 1954-1961.

Kennedy, or JFK as he was affectionally known, was the youngest man ever elected president at age 43. Teddy Roosevelt was younger when he became president, but he became president after McKinley’s assassination.

Kennedy was also the first person of the Roman Catholic faith to be elected to the office.

The other fascination for people was his young family and his war service. He exuded personality and vigor. New ideas and renewed energy brought hope to young people.

When he was elected it was the height of the Cold War. The United States and the USSR had enough nuclear tipped missiles targeted at each other to destroy the world several times over. This wasn’t just an American or a Soviet issue, but a world living in the shadow of destruction. In fact the official policy of both nations was Mutually Assured Destruction or M.A.D. for short. Simply put if one country attacked the other it was assured both would be destroyed. Sounds crazy, but it was a fact that all of us lived with during that period. No wonder people were looking for new ideas and fresh hope.

Although his presidency was short-lived Kennedy began the dialogue with the Soviet Union on disarmament signing the Test Ban Treaty. This was a first step towards reducing nuclear arsenals.

I remember President Kennedy today for those steps he initiated towards reduction of nuclear tensions.

eBook Published – Near Miss: Attempted Assassination of JFK

My book has now been ePublished  and so far is available at the following sites.

Check it out, http://tinyurl.com/2432nrz Amazon, and http://tinyurl.com/24jlqrc Barnes and Noble.

If this interests you please consider purchasing it at the low price stated.

It will soon be available at Borders.com and Kobobooks.com