How do you know that an Italian newspaper report that Hezbollah is looking to establish a presence in Cuba is bogus?  When Rep. Michelle Bachmann picks up the story and runs away with it.

"There’s reports that have come out that Cuba has been working with another terrorist organization called Hezbollah. And Hezbollah is potentially looking at wanting to be part of missile sites in Iran and, of course, when you’re 90 miles offshore from Florida, you don’t want to entertain the prospect of hosting bases or sites where Hezbollah could have training camps or perhaps have missile sites or weapons sites in Cuba. This would be foolish.”

Actually, there has been just one report, in an Italian newspaper, which then got picked up and spread around by a number of conservative U.S. blogs.  I am in no position to evaluate the intelligence collected by that newspaper (and it doesn't offer sources), but, as the Wall Street Journal's blog Washington Wire points out, Cuba's presence on the U.S. terrorism list isn't due to any Hezbollah link - it's largely become a political bargaining chip.  And if you doubt that, just ask Bill Richardson.

While Bachmann frets over that one, a group of her colleagues fire off a threatening letter to Spain's Repsol, warning the company to dump its Cuban deep water exploration plans, you know, if you know what's good for you.  The signers warn that "grave civil and criminal" penalties come with violations of the "comprehensive" Cuba embargo.  But even the embargo isn't so comprehensive as to stop a foreign company from drilling in Cuban waters, so long as there aren't U.S. parts, people or expertise involved.  Which, of course, is exactly what scares so many in the industry about the impending exploration in Cuba. 

Not this group, though.  Nowhere in the letter does the group express any concerns around what impact drilling could have on the environment, particularly in the event of a spill.  But it could certainly "harm [Repsol's] commercial interests with the United States," and it might "run afoul of pending legislation."   I think that was a mistake.  In fact, I'm sure had Ros-Lehtinen and Sires, the leaders of the letter effort, invited her to join them on their letter, Michelle Bachmann could have come up with one heck of a nightmare scenario that would have capped the letter off quite nicely.

Oh, I jest.  Serious industry experts warn us to be prepared to prevent or respond to any disaster before drilling begins.  According to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement Director Michael Bromwich, the issue has gotten - as it should - attention at "very high levels of the government."