FRONT PAGE

READING BETWEEN THE LINES
Do any of them speak for working people?
The energy wasted on campaign nonsense should lead us to ask the question the media avoid: Who are the candidates really in touch with?

NATIONAL NEWS

Persecution without end
Sami Al-Arian is facing another extension of his incarceration--and has been forced to take desperate action in protest.

Green light for restarting executions
After a seven-month halt on executions, death penalty opponents faced a setback when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection was constitutional.

Health hazard in a Harlem school
I teach at an elementary school in East Harlem, where we recently learned that there are high levels of cancer-causing PCBs in our building.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Class struggle rocks a U.S. ally
As strikes and protests play out in Egypt, one thing is certain: one of the pillars of U.S. domination in the Middle East is in for trouble.

Haiti's poor driven to the edge
A growing number of Haiti's poor have been pushed beyond endurance by price increases in staple foods.

MORE THAN A GAME
A torch that lights the way for oppression
The journey of the Olympic torch has been a public relations apocalypse--with protesters holding a light to the hypocrisy of the Games.

Workers pay a high price for the Games
Behind the 31 gleaming new Olympic venues built by China to impress the world lie repression and exploitation.

EDITORIALS AND COLUMNS

EDITORIAL
In defense of bitterness
Ordinary people, whether they live in Pennsylvania or not, have many legitimate reasons to be bitter about the condition of their lives and the world.

EDITORIAL
Do you now or have you ever known Bill Ayers?
His history as a radical antiwar activist is the real heart of the "Are you now or have you ever been a dinner guest of Bill Ayers?" attack.

THE MEANING OF MARXISM
No choice between the capitalist parties
The U.S. political system creates an institutional arrangement whereby only two parties are presented as legitimate options.

ON THE PICKET LINE

The roots of the crisis in the SEIU
The SEIU's conflict with the California Nurses Association is about an Ohio organizing drive, but the issues involved run much deeper.

ILWU shuts down docks for May Day
Dockworkers voted to shut down West Coast ports on May 1 to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

NEWS FROM OUR STRUGGLE

May Day protests challenge ICE raids
Vowing not to be intimidated by a wave of raids, activists are mobilizing for May Day marches for immigrant and workers' rights.

San Diego protesters challenge budget cuts
Teachers were among the groups of people who marched twice in San Diego to protest Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget cuts.

News and reports
Justice for José Luis Buenrostro-Gonzalez | Demonstrating for Mumia Abu-Jamal | Support the Appalachian State Six | Brown University Palestine solidarity

VIEWS AND VOICES

Who will control Mexico's oil?
Proposed legislation on Mexico's oil industry could create for the U.S. an "association of capitals"--privatization, by another name.

Views in brief
Discrimination in Providence | Time for us to take a break | Obama doesn't offer a solution | Don't stereotype Iraqis

BOOKS AND ENTERTAINMENT

All the wrong conclusions
Without a critique of the war, the film Stop-Loss concludes with a supportive tone for the war in the guise of duty to one's fellow soldiers.