MONTPELIER - The standoff continues over Vermont's attempts to conceal its nuclear weapons
program from the White House and the world. Chaos erupted last week when officials at
Entergy's nuclear power plant in Vernon announced that two fragments of a Uranium fuel rod were missing from a spent fuel pool within the plant. The two sections (one seven inches long,
the other 17 inches) could be used to build a radioactive "dirty bomb." The highly lethal Uranium
could also be sold to terrorist nations such as nearby Canada.
Speaking from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, President Bush explained the threat this way:
"Vermont is real close to Canada... suspiciously close. They speak a lotta'
French there. It's evildoers." Bush referred to the state's congressional delegation (Sen.
James Jeffords, Sen. Patrick Leahy, and Rep. Bernard Sanders,) as a 'green axis of evil.' "We're
going to liberate them Vermonters. [spits chaw on ground, smiles.] We'll
liberate the hell out of 'em."
Vice President Cheney listed the administration's demands at Friday's emergency press
conference: "All we've asked [Vermont] to do is account for the missing sections of fuel rod...
well, account for the missing sections of fuel rod, fix the civil union thing, vote for Dubs in
November, and stand on one leg, spinning each arm in opposite directions while they chant the
pledge of allegiance... with feeling. They refuse to cooperate."
The U.S. is now working round-the-clock to win support from New York and New Hampshire,
which will be essential if the Pentagon opts for a ground-based assault. Unnamed sources in the
State Department have said that Massachusetts is already on board.
"There are things we know, and things we don't know. There are things I know, and there are also
things I know I don't want you to know that I know." Defense Secretary Donald "Tintin"
Rumsfeld explained in an enigmatic, exclusive interview with Black Cow Press.
Vermont is a teeny-tiny state in New England, lurking way up next to Canada. The terrorist
stronghold is about the size of El Salvador and has a population comparable to that of Bahrain.
