As a political economist of a certain age, I naturally had a certain amount of Marxist writing inflicted on me, and found one particular thought of great insight. In “The 18^th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon,” Marx commented that Hegel noted that history repeats itself, but neglected to mention that the first time was tragedy, and the second time farce. A decade ago, I published “The Farce this Time” about fears of peak oil, but since then, we have experienced another energy ‘crisis’ which has remarkably resembled a commodity price cycle but which, many pundits observe, is ‘different’ this time.…

Also in USA Today, it’s reported that the Mineral Management Service has given the green light to the Cape Wind project, which has been fought by the Kennedy’s as a visual blight from the giant Kennedy Compound. The MMS announced that it sees no major environmental problems with the project, which would take it one step closer to actual development.

Cape wind would put up about 130 windmills on about 25 square miles of ocean. The wind turbines would be 400 feet tall with a blade pointing upward. supposedly, Cape Wind could produce 75% of Cape Cod’s power demand, though my bet is they’re talking about installed capacity, rather than actual probable power generation from fickle winds). Fighting Cape Wind has been a family exercise for the Kennedys, with Robert Kennedy Jr.…

According to USA Today, the energy elements of Obama’s “stimulus” package add up to about $58 billion. He’d use $32 billion to fund a smart electricity grid;$20 billion for Renewable energy tax cuts and a tax credit for research on energy efficiency and clean energy, plus a multiyear extension of the green energy production tax credit; and $6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes.

There’s not all bad here.…

Today’s Houston Chronicle has two takes on the recent decision by hometown Dynegy to pull back from participating in the construction of new coal plants and concentrate on expanding capacity at its existing plants.…