Bush Family retainer and Republican dirty trickster Karl Rove, under grand jury investigation for leaking the fact that Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife Valerie Plame is a covert CIA operative, may face a stiff prison term, since "outing" an agent like Plame is a federal crime.

Rove, allegedly a closet homosexual like other top leaders of the Republican Party, including RNC chairman Ken Mehlman and Republican apparatchiks Ralph Reed and Gary Bauer, may be preparing himself for the eventuality of prison, writes Al Martin, author of "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider."

"We have an update on Karl Rove, the Fairy Queen of the Gay Old Party. That's G.O.P. to the unenlightened," writes Martin in his column
"Asset Protection: A Timely Update." (7-4-05)

"The speculation is the grand jury will finger Karl as the leaker with regards to the Valerie Plame CIA situation. Then he's going to put Bob Novak right in the frame."

In a recent interview, Martin confirms that Rove has deep family ties to the Bush Family through Prescott Bush, who was a sales agent for the Portugal-based subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel, which sold war materiel to the Nazis during World War II.