Lifeblood from the ocean floor: the lame-duck Congress has the opportunity to tackle U.S. dependence on foreign oil and save hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of jobs with a deep-ocean drilling bill.(ENERGY)

Energy dependence has always been an Achilles' heel for Fidel Castro's decrepit communist regime. From 1959 to 1991, Castro relied on his Soviet sponsors for subsidized oil supplies. More recently, he has been forced to turn to Comrade Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who has been more than willing to supply his fellow Marxist with discounted oil, to the tune of about 98,000 barrels per day, more than half of Cuba's daily consumption.

But Cuba is set to break out of its decades-old status of energy dependence and economic backwardness. It is sitting on an offshore energy treasure chest that is estimated to contain 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet ...