In 2006, Massachusetts started Commonwealth Care, a system designed to insure the uninsured and not cut out the private health insurance corporations. It is now held up as a model for healthcare in the U.S. The Obama administration would like to spread it throughout the country.

“First, we have to take back the White House, the Senate, and the House...” That was when Barack Obama said a single-payer healthcare system would be possible. The "we" was the Democratic Party - which today controls the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. But hold off the jubilation -- the single-payer health system was just thrown under the bus!

California’s state budget is facing an enormous $24 billion shortfall. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking a lesson from his silver screen days to “terminate” the state’s welfare programs.

As the politicians in Washington, D.C. debate over how large a band-aid to stick onto the corpse of our for-profit U.S. health care system, millions of working people stand dumbfounded. Why is the obvious solution – a single-payer system – simply declared “off the table?”

Frustrated by the inaction of the Obama Administration and unwilling to continue to accept their oppression and second-class status, gay rights activists have called for a National March for Equality in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, October 11. There is the potential for this to be one of the largest demonstrations for LGBT rights in U.S. history, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to D.C., if a bold lead is given.

Obama is tapping the anger of millions of people at the healthcare system. But he is not willing to replace the insurance companies, killing his chances of delivering the reform we need. Instead, his policies reflect his overriding priority since his inauguration: fixing Corporate America and its crisis-ridden capitalist system.

Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman (D-GA) and 2008 Green Party presidential candidate (and one of 21 people detained by the Israeli military in late June for attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza), spoke at St. Mary’s Church in Harlem on Sunday, May 31 to announce the formation of a new group called DIGNITY.

On May 31 Dr. George Tiller was shot dead in his church. His death marks the first murder of an abortion provider in over a decade.

President Obama has declared “the stars are aligned” for sweeping reform in 2009. But, can the system really be fixed without rooting out the private, for-profit insurance companies who make massive profits off healthcare and often deny us coverage?

The negative aspects of Obama’s education policy are becoming clearer. In a major speech in early March, the president came out squarely in favor of linking teacher pay to “performance” based on students’ standardized test scores.

The document describes in detail the correct way to waterboard a prisoner: the interrogator lays him down at a 15 degree angle, smothers his face with a wet cloth, and pours water continually onto the cloth, making it impossible to breathe.

The history of severe economic crises under capitalism shows that unless a working-class, socialist alternative is built there is a danger of right-wing, populist movements gaining ground. This is despite the fact that the right wingers, along with the liberal wing of big business, are responsible for the economic system causing the crisis.

While polls show high popularity for the new Obama administration, the disconnect between the perception and the reality of the administration and its policies remains high as well.

In the last few weeks, anger at Wall Street bankers and other bailed-out executives has reached fever pitch in the U.S. The latest bonus scandal involving executives at AIG has become the last straw.

While taxpayer-bailed-out AIG is giving away $165 million in “contractually obligated” bonuses, this past week Ford workers conceded, yet again, to the demands of the company, Washington and the UAW (mis)leadership. The breach of contract includes a decrease in pay, shorter breaks, no paid leave and forfeiting the Christmas bonus, just to name a few.