On December 30, a small ship bearing 16 passengers, including Cynthia McKinney, was rammed by Israeli warboats. The purpose of the visit was to deliver medical supplies to Gaza, and to transport some physicians. This link has the compiled CNN stories. The second film, narrated by CNN reporter Karl Penhaul, a passenger on the ship, lasts 6 minutes. The first and third films are interviews with McKinney.

Israel’s Consulate in Atlanta issued a statement on December 30, saying “Cynthia McKinney has taken it upon herself to commit an act of provocation, leading a small boat of supposed assistants into the conflict zone. She endangered herself, her assistants, and the vessel’s crew. The Israeli navy hailed Ms. McKinney but the former Congresswoman failed to respond.” But according to CNN’s reporter on the boat, the boat’s radio was operational throughout the incident and no message was received from the Israeli boats. The incident was in international waters.

Stewart Alexander has declared that he will seek the Peace & Freedom Party gubernatorial nomination in California in 2010. He was the Socialist Party’s vice-presidential nominee in 2008.

No member of the Socialist Party has ever before captured a Peace & Freedom Party nomination for a top office (president, vice-president, governor, or U.S. Senator). But Alexander has deep ties with the Peace & Freedom Party. If he gets the nomination, he will be the first male Peace & Freedom Party gubernatorial nominee since 1970. The party has always run a woman for Governor in all the years in which it was on the ballot, for the period 1974 through 2006.

Tennessee’s Constitution provides that County Election Commissions be composed of 5 members. Three are appointed by the party that has the most seats in the State House of Representatives, and two are appointed by the party with the second-largest number of Representatives.

Because Republicans won more seats than Democrats in the House of Representatives, in the November 2008 election, control of all 95 county commissions now switches from Democratic majority to Republican majority, for the first time since the 1968 election. See this story.

The Tennessee legislature appoints the Secretary of State. The current Secretary of State, Riley Darnell, is a Democrat who has served since 1993. He hopes to keep his job by persuading some Republican legislators to support him. See this story about Darnell.