ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD><TITLE>Barry Lank's Teeny Tiny Brain</TITLE> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR=#99CCCC LINK="#CC3333" VLINK="#CC3333" ALINK="#FFFF99" MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0 LEFTMARGIN=0 TOPMARGIN=0> <!-- ImageReady Slices (BARRU.jpg) --> <TABLE border="0" CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0> <TR> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/BARRU_01.jpg" WIDTH=110 HEIGHT=46></TD> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/BARRU_02.jpg" WIDTH=16 HEIGHT=46></TD> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/BARRU_03.jpg" WIDTH=474 HEIGHT=46></TD> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/BARRU_04.jpg" WIDTH=50 HEIGHT=46></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_05.jpg" WIDTH=110 HEIGHT=23></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_06.jpg" WIDTH=16 HEIGHT=23></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_07.jpg" WIDTH=474 HEIGHT=23></TD> <TD WIDTH="100%" BGCOLOR="#000000"><IMG SRC="images/space.gif" WIDTH="500" HEIGHT=1 border="0"></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_09.jpg" WIDTH=110 HEIGHT=20></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_10.jpg" WIDTH=16 HEIGHT=20></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_11.jpg" WIDTH=474 HEIGHT=20></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_12.jpg" WIDTH=50 HEIGHT=20></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_13.jpg" WIDTH=110 HEIGHT=28></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_14.jpg" WIDTH=16 HEIGHT=28></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_15.jpg" WIDTH=474 HEIGHT=28></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_16.jpg" WIDTH=50 HEIGHT=28></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD valign=top BGCOLOR="#100A16"> <IMG SRC="images/space.gif" ALT="" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1"> </TD> <TD valign=top><A HREF="mailto:barrylank@hotmail.com"><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_18.jpg" WIDTH=16 HEIGHT=441 border="0"></A></TD> <TD valign=top> <TABLE cellpadding=10 border="0"><TR><TD rowspan=2><IMG SRC="images/space.gif" ALT="" WIDTH="30" HEIGHT="1"></TD> <TD valign=middle><IMG SRC="images/archive.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="17" align=left><A HREF="http://www.barrylank.com"><IMG SRC="images/back.gif" WIDTH="73" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="right" border="0"></A> <BR><BR> </td></tr><TD><BR> WHERE - AND HOW - DOES NOVAK GET OFF?<BR> <i>Air America Radio</i><BR> 12/18/2004<p> We would all like to know who told columnist Robert Novak the name of an undercover CIA officer. That constituted something akin to treason, particularly since Novak published the covert officer s name. The question that has been flooding newspaper reports recently is, should a reporter have to reveal his sources?<p> But that s not the question for Robert Novak.<p> Sure, his revelation compromised national security. It also endangered the wife of a former ambassador who just happens to have very publicly criticized President Bush.<p> But instead of applying visible pressure to a conservative columnist who looks like he s owed a favor by the president of the United States, the court has crashed down on a <i>Time</i> magazine reporter and a <i>New York Times</i> reporter who were able to confirm Novak s story and now won t say with whom they chatted. Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller have been held in contempt of court. And you know what? It wasn t even their story.<p> Now, if you think a reporter should be allowed to keep sources confidential, then no one should be prosecuted in this case. But if you think a reporter should NOT be able to keep sources confidential, then Robert Novak ought to be prosecuted. <p> And if this discrepancy had arisen under President Clinton instead of Bush, conservatives would be screaming bloody murder and I d be forced to agree with them. Someone committed treason, and Robert Novak helped them do it. Not Cooper, not Miller  mostly, they simply confirmed that the treason Novak abetted was, indeed, accurate.<p> Let s reiterate: In January 2003, Bush  who can afford to hire as many fact-checkers as he needs  claimed in his State of the Union address that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger. Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson then wrote a newspaper opinion piece saying he had investigated that possibility for the CIA in 2002 and that Bush had exaggerated intelligence to justify war.<p> Eight days after Wilson s piece appeared, Novak s column incidentally revealed that Wilson s wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA operative. Novak cited two senior administration officials as sources. Cooper and Miller used their own sources to check out what he said, though Miller herself never wrote a story from it. Now these two ancillary journalists could end up staring a hole inside of a jail cell for a year and a half. <p> As for Novak, the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> merely says (way far down in a recent story)  It is not known whether Novak has been subpoenaed in the investigation. He and his lawyers have declined to comment. As the hoary debate over press freedom splashes over this case, Novak has become a footnote in his own story.<p> Maybe he s exposed his sources to the court, while he s kept it secret so he avoids mistrust among other potential sources. In any case, I haven t seen any senior administration officials called on the carpet for this. So let s just presume the court made a special exception of him, and we can play that popular party game & What If Other Notorious People Throughout History Had Been Allies Of George W. Bush?<p> For example, let s say Lee Harvey Oswald had run into a very young Bush at some Dallas barbecue in 1962. So in 1963, while everyone acknowledged that Oswald actually shot President Kennedy, the weight of prosecution would actually have landed on, oh, let s say TV funnyman Steve Allen. Why not? He was up and around back then. Or let s suppose that, in the 1960s, Bush found some common ground with Charles Manson  probably in the area of substance abuse. When police connected Manson to the Sharon Tate murder, they would have prosecuted & how about Buzz Aldrin? Yeah & sure. Buzz Aldrin.<p> Set aside for a moment the question of whether a reporter should have to reveal confidential sources, and let s ask another question: Do our courts and Congress have any integrity about this case whatsoever?<p> <A HREF="http://www.barrylank.com"><IMG SRC="images/back.gif" WIDTH="73" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="right" border="0"></A> </td></tr></table></TD> <TD> <IMG SRC="images/BARRU_20.jpg" WIDTH=50 HEIGHT=441></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD BGCOLOR="#100A16"><IMG SRC="images/space.gif" ALT="" WIDTH="50" HEIGHT="100%"></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_22.jpg" WIDTH=16 HEIGHT=18></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_23.jpg" WIDTH=474 HEIGHT=18></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="images/BARRU_24.jpg" WIDTH=50 HEIGHT=18></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <!-- End ImageReady Slices --> </BODY> </HTML>