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This Memorial Day, we think about the more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers dead and the tens of thousands wounded in body and mind in a war based on lies, pushed by a clique of right-wing militarists and their corporate backers.

If Marx and Engels were around today, listening to the corporate media pundits on cable and in print, they might have started their Manifesto with, “A specter is haunting the U.S. 2008 elections — the specter of communism.” All of a sudden these folks have discovered the working class. Talk about the disappearing middle class.

ST. LOUIS — Over the last few months one of the most important electoral struggles of 2008 played out in Missouri. The deceptively-named Missouri Civil Rights Initiative (MoCRI), which would have outlawed affirmative action programs here was blocked May 4 because petitions to get the measure on the ballot were not submitted.

Peace advocates are calling May 15 a historic day — when the House of Representatives voted “no confidence” in President Bush’s Iraq war policy passing a series of antiwar and domestic-needs measures and defeating, temporarily, additional war funding.

As the June 3 state primary approaches, all eyes are on New Jersey’s First Congressional District, in the south part of the state. Last December Mahdi Ibn-Ziyad, a peace activist, declared his candidacy to run against the incumbent, Democratic Rep. Rob Andrews. Andrews, who has served for 18 years, is a long time supporter of the Iraq war and occupation.

CHICAGO — Wherever John McCain goes, despite efforts to keep his schedule under wraps, labor is there letting everyone know that his election would be a third term for President Bush.

WASHINGTON — Top company officials at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Huntington, Utah, where nine miners perished in August 2007, concealed facts that would have prevented the deaths and should be criminally charged, according to a Congressional report released May 8. The report also charged that the company should never have asked the government for permission to remove coal from the area of the mine collapse and federal officials should never have approved the request.

Cuba: International Day Against Homophobia

South Africa: Protecting water rights

Israel: Different health outcomes

Brazil: Environment takes a hit

Canada: Victims confront multinational giant

Australia: Coal mine canary dies

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon and Kentucky primary voters May 20 gave Barack Obama the majority of elected delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, virtually assuring his nomination as that party’s candidate for the presidency.