Judith Miller, known to some as journalist with the New York Times and to many as one of the main cheerleaders of Bush jr’s Iraq war, is supposed to testify in the Plame case. The Plame case boils down to finding the person who told another reporter that Valerie Plame - wife of Joe Wilson, who unmasked one of the many lies used to promote the Iraq war - was a CIA operative. That’s a federal offense (aka crime - for those who prefer simple words).

Mrs Miller now refuses to testify. Which is interesting. For example, if it turns out that someone from inside the Bush White House leaked the information about Mrs Plame, we’d have the Bushies’ Watergate. You’d imagine that a reporter with the New York Times had an interest in either making sure that doesn’t happen - as, I’m assuming, Mrs Miller, the former cheerleader, would be happy to do - or in making sure that the truth comes out. Not Mrs Miller. Now she’s casting herself basically as a defender of democracy who has the right to keep her secret. Quote: “For all the mistakes that we journalists make at times, try running a functioning democracy without us.” (source)

Wow, imagine that - if you have the time while trying to run a functioning democracy with journalists. As we have just seen during the presidential elections, that is not the easiest thing to do if those journalists aren’t really that interested in doing their job properly.

Maybe Mrs Miller simply isn’t the kind of journalist who I would associate with a functioning democracy. But, I’m sure, if worst comes to worst she could always emigrate and move to places where they can make good use of her. I heard Russia is moving back towards some sort of pseudo-democratic autocracy. I bet they could use some cheerful journalists…

PS: I happened to read the US constitution the other day, and it didn’t say anything about journalists in there.