Say what you want about her reporting, but Judy Miller is a hero

A judge locked up a heroic person today.

Judith Miller, a reporter for the New York Times, refused to burn her sources in the out-of-control federal investigation about who leaked what about CIA operative and liberal activist Valerie Plame.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan ordered Judy locked up for not revealing her sources to a federal grand jury, and said she must remain in jail until the grand jury dissolves in October, or until she submits to his diktat, whichever is first.

Forget about the liberal spin in her reporting or the sleazy lawyer who's representing her. Judy Miller is among the courageous few in an age when government is encroaching ever further into our lives and subverting our freedoms. She didn't weasel out like her counterpart at Time magazine, even though she didn't even write a story about Plame.

It isn't often I would agree with agree witih New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., but he was right when he said today: "There are times when the greater good of our democracy demands an act of conscience. Judy has chosen such an act in honoring her promise of confidentiality."

Way to go, Judy. I wish our senators whom the nation entrusts with classified information could keep secrets as well as you can.