Secretary Gates's visit to Afghanistan is considered a move to manage Americans' expectations on the war, writes Brian Katulis. But defining victory in the region is still up for grabs. Brian Katulis

Rami Nashashibi, a community organizer in Chicago, talks about what being an American Muslim means to him. CAP

Report from Robin Chait and Raegen Miller on how state policy should act on differences in teacher performance to improve teacher effectiveness and equity. Robin Chait, Raegen Miller

Members of Congress should consider the Senate health reform bill's significant strengths, writes Karen Davenport. Karen Davenport

The World Bank could consider integrating its laudable microcredit and community lending strategies with a focus on community-owned wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects. CAP

Sally Steenland interviews Rami Nashashibi about his community organizing work in Chicago. Sally Steenland

A study of teacher evaluation in five charter schools from Morgaen L. Donaldson with Heather G. Peske. Morgaen L. Donaldson, Heather G. Peske

Report from Robin Chait explores the reasons that teacher dismissal is rarely pursued and opportunities for change. Robin Chait

It's headed for Montana.

Back in September the powerful water district delivered a message to California’s senior senator; it appears that she got it.

FWS holds off on endangered listing

Lower credit risk means a lower price for protection. Zero implies zero risk. The higher the basis points, the higher the implied risk. When U.S. credit default swaps were first introduced, the price of protection was around two basis points. According to Bloomberg, the price for five-year protection was around 38 basis points (per annum) on Friday. But the price in the over-the-counter market — where this stuff actually trades — was almost double or around 75 basis points.

Since most traders in U.S. credit default swaps don’t think the U.S. will default any time soon, why are they trading U.S. credit default swaps? They are speculating on price movements the way a day trader buys and sells stocks to speculate on stock price movements.

via Janet Tavakoli: Washington Must Ban U.S. Credit Derivatives as Traders Demand Gold.

Another Janet Tavakoli piece, this one about the market for CDS on the United States.

I’d like someone to explain to me how trading a credit default swap on a U.S. Treasury note isn’t gambling. This is purely betting on crowd behavior — after all, nobody really thinks the U.S. will default.

It’s weird enough living in a country where a man can legally own an arsenal of machine guns, but his neighbor growing a pot plant will send a team of DEA agents kicking his door in with a no-knock warrant. But this goes even beyond that. If I go online today to HaveNoLifeAndBetOnSports.com and bet fifty dollars on the Bucks against the Celtics tonight, I’m a criminal. But some gazillionaire firm in New York can legally bet against the United States of America in unlimited amounts in a trade that has nothing to do with anything, but a guess about how many other people will make the same bet.

Jesus, are we a weird country.

In January, a cabal of five Supreme Court corporatists arrogantly overruled the founding fathers, congressional law, a century of court precedents, and basic common sense to declare that corporate money equals "speech," thus freeing these behemoths to dump unlimited sums of their cash into our elections. This constitutes a black-robed coup against the American people's democratic authority, and both President Obama and congressional Democrats promised immediate action to overturn the Court's destructive decree.

Uh... did I mention that this all happened back in January? Hey, Obama! Hey, Congress! Where's the action?

Perhaps our Democratic leaders fear that the public is not ready for any sort of bold action to restrict corporate political spending. If so, their jittery reticence shows just how out of touch they are. For an injection of courage, they might check the numbers in a recent scientific poll commissioned by People For the American Way:

• Seven out of 10 Americans say that corporations already had too much influence over our elections;
• Nearly eight out of 10 believe corporate spending should be limited;
• 75 percent say that any corporate election spending should require prior approval by a majority of shareholders;
• And, by more than a two-to-one margin, people support a constitutional amendment to reverse the court's ruling.

By the way, America's Republicans are just as supportive of these reforms as are Democrats and independents – a stark fact that puts the party's corporate-hugging congressional leaders at odds with the overwhelming desire of the GOP rank and file.

To help both parties grow a spine and keep our democracy from drowning in a tsunami of corporate money, contact FreeSpeechForPeople.org and MoveToAmend.org.

Latinos expect President Obama and Democrats in Congress to deliver on immigration reform, and no reform may mean no support come election time, writes Henry Fernandez. Henry Fernandez

Los números de empleo no cuentan la historia completa de cómo el alto desempleo afecta desproporcionadamente a los hombres de bajos ingresos y a sus familias, escribe Joy Moses. Joy Moses

The World Bank should follow the recommendations of several independent organizations to bring more transparency to the process of project selection. CAP

Efforts within states to stop health care reform will prevent much-needed federal dollars from coming in, writes Emma Sandoe. Emma Sandoe

They roll into Washington from the West, the North, the South – good ideas to make our national policies better, to make our economy fairer, to improve our nation. And these good ideas – still sparkling with freshness and common sense – are delivered into the welcoming arms of our members of Congress, who with great fanfare and promise, carry them into the majestic Capitol building, the sanctuary of our democracy.

But then, lobbyists appear from out of the shadows to whisper to lawmakers and slip checks into their pockets. Time passes, and the fresh ideas show signs of wilting. Next, they moved into closed committee rooms where they get dissected by members representing special interests. Then – with Republicans sourly opposing anything fresh and good, and with Democrats timorously trying to appease sour Republicans – the ideas are taken down into a dark, secret chamber for "negotiations."

From there, the good idea emerges as a bill. Only – Ohmygod, don't look! – it's been turned inside out, stuffed, and twisted into a bad idea. Republicans, who forced this grotesque gut job, spit on their own creation and walk away, but Democrats say they need to pass something, so they pass the bad idea, and call it progress.

This has been the sad journey of a bill to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, a good idea that surfaced a year ago to stop Wall Street and other banking hucksters from ripping off consumers. That idea is now being "negotiated" in the senate, where it is expected to be perverted from an independent watchdog with real teeth into a puppy kept by the Federal Reserve System, where it will be taught not to bark at bankers, much less bite.

The hope for us consumers is that the house will reject this fraud. For more information, contact Consumer Federation of America: www.consumerfed.org.

Jitinder Kohli offers lessons learned from the British government's experience getting agencies to focus on effective strategies to accomplish their goals. Jitinder Kohli

Ruy Teixeira looks at a recent Pew report documenting the rise of the Millennial Generation--a very progressive group of voters. Ruy Teixeira