BBC reports that The Ben Bernanke gave a speech to the European Central Bank defending Quantitative Easing:

Ben Bernanke hits back at Fed critics

For a little background, Energy Depletion thinker Richard Heinberg narrates 300 Years of Fossil-fueled Addiction in Five Minutes.

Again I feel remiss for not keeping up with Amy Goodman.

New $600B Fed Stimulus Fuels Fears of US Currency War

In today's Wall Street Journal, Kevin Warsh, one of the Governors of the Federal Reserve, brings back the M word to justify borrowing $75 million pro-liquid and pro-growth dollars.:

The New Malaise and How to End It

John Michael Greer

Nate Silver grades the pollsters and finds Rasmussen biased.

Well that's a relief. At Forbes Magazine, Editor-in-Chief, former Republican presidential candidate, Heritage Foundation trustee and Fox News panelist Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes, Jr. proclaims that hydraulic fracturing will not only make money but will also solve US energy woes.

Our bridges are collapsing, but the Infrastructurist notes that other countries are investing in their infrastructure, even in the face of austerity:

Britain Cuts Spending While Investing in Infrastructure

From Ezra Klein at the Washington Post:

The end of the 'do-something' Congress

Lunch Keynote on Energy and Policy: Ralph Nader.

Why stay in college? Why go to night school?
Gonna be different this time?
Can't write a letter, can't send a postcard
I can't write nothing at all

OK, say you're leading a religious flock in a city characterized by gun violence. This is what you read almost every day: