† Why Elites Don’t Serve In The Armed Forces (second item): Pat Saperstein, a senior editor at Variety, writes an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times about her initial reaction, and the varying reactions of her friends, when her 18-year-old “not-terribly-athletic, bookish” son, Sam, joined the Marine Corps:

We didn't know a single person who served in any branch of the military, other than the grandfathers who fought in World War II.

In some circles, Sam's decision might have seemed practical, even heroic. But in our liberal, antiwar sphere, his desire to enlist was met with shock - even hostility. …

Often the reaction was pity or even anger. A friend with anarchist leanings pleaded with me to get him counseling. One mother stated firmly that she felt her job as a parent was to raise her daughter so that there would be no chance she would ever join the military. A few people warned that even though he had selected a noncombat job category, the Marines might still require him to face combat. Was that supposed to make me feel better? Because it didn't.

Once I got over my initial reticence and started talking to other parents about his choice, I found out that Sam wasn't the only kid we knew who was interested in the military. …

My friend's 20-year-old son recently decided to emigrate to Israel, where he will be required to serve in the Israeli army. "College is a joke if you're not into it," my friend wrote. "Just an expensive waystation for bored kids."

"It's the first lesson in learning to release them," he typed. "To let them do what they feel passionate about."

And then: "Entering the military and serving your country is a lost art among us privileged Angelenos."

† Police Chief Crashes Car In Alleged Drunk Driving Incident: Alexandria Police Chief David Baker, 58, announced his retirement after his arrest on drunken-driving charges this past the weekend, reports The Washington Times. Baker had been with the department since 1991, and became police chief in September 2006.

† Updates To Previous Posts (sixth item, Now Is Not The Time To Talk About Race): Dallas Morning News columnist Mark Davis writes that what he learned from the Gates arrest is not the take-away message that professional race-baiters intended:

Gates … obliterated any respectable legacy of fighting real racial profiling by engaging in some poisonous racism of his own: profiling a white police sergeant with the purpose of creating a false image of misbehavior.

From the contrived martyrdom of "This is what happens to a black man in America!" to the thuggish "I'll talk to your mama on the porch!" Gates launched a racist attack on an officer doing his job properly.

When will the panel convene to reach that conclusion? When is the White House meeting that focuses on that reality? In a nation that still cannot conduct a grownup conversation about race, the answer is never.

Knowing this, authorities dropped a valid arrest, a gift to those desperate to find some reason to believe Crowley was in error.

But amid this sickening parade, I find hope in the African-American Obama voters who have not allowed race or politics to obscure their clarity. If there is learning to be done, let it be from them.

Many are Cambridge cops themselves, like Sgt. Leon Lashley, who shared color-blind truth with reporters: that the mere existence of racial profiling does not justify asserting it falsely.

Kelly King, who also works for the department, cannot believe the president she supported was so willing to condemn her colleague. "I voted for him. I will not again," she told CNN.

Should there ever be a White House meeting on reverse racism and on race-baiting, perhaps our post-racial president will explain why he jumped to the conclusion that the police acted stupidly without knowing the facts and why liberals jumped to the conclusion that the woman who called 9-1-1 was a racist without knowing the facts.

And what lesson will Lucia Whelan - who sounds like a kind and reasonable person (“I am proud to have been raised by two loving parents who instilled in me values including love one another, be kind to strangers and do not judge people based on race, ethnicity or any other feature other than their character”) – have learned when people who falsely accused her of racism crossed the line of reasonablness and perhape even legality and “said threatening things that made me fear for my safety?”

† Updates To Previous Posts (Hospitals Sending Uninsured Illegals Back Where They Came From): In a lawsuit that is likely the first to ascertain whether a hospital can get an uninsured, brain-injured illegal alien off its hands by deporting him, a six-member Stuart, FL, jury unanimously decided that Martin Memorial Medical Center’s actions were not “unreasonable and unwarranted under the circumstances,” reports The Associated Press:

Health care and immigration experts across the country have closely watched the court case in the sleepy, coastal town of Stuart. The hospital had cared for Jiménez, who was uninsured, for three years. But it was unable to find any nursing home to take him permanently because his immigration status meant the government would not reimburse his care.

"Hospitals are not intended to become long-term housing," said Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association. "The issue is that there are no long-term providers required to take people for whom they know they are not going to be paid."

She said that as a result of the case, hospitals will likely begin planning for discharge as soon as they admit patients they suspect cannot pay and could require long-term care.

Martin Memorial, a nonprofit hospital that receives Medicaid and Medicare funds, spent $1.5 million over a three-year period to care for Jiménez and took the step of deporting him when it was unable to discharge him to a skilled nursing home as federal law requires, because he was in the country illegally and was unable to pay for his care.

† Updates To Previous Posts (eighth item, We Fight Them Over There So We Don’t Have To Fight Them Over Here?): Minnesotan Salah Osman Ahmed, 26, is the second Somali man to plead guilty to one count of providing material support for traveling to Somalia to fight with Islamic militants, reports The Associated Press:

According to court documents, Ahmed went to Somalia in December 2007. He has been in custody since his arrest in mid-July. …

Another man, Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, 25, pleaded guilty in April to one count of providing material support to terrorists.

Ahmed and Isse were among as many as 20 young men who traveled to Somalia to possibly fight. Family members say at least three others have been killed, including Shirwa Ahmed, who the FBI has said was the first known U.S. citizen to carry out a suicide bombing when he died Oct. 29.

According to U.S. Census estimates, 32,300 Somalis live in Minnesota, with Minneapolis being home to more Somalis than any other city in the nation.

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, A Court Of Law, Not Of Justice): An investigation by The Legal Intelligencer that “interviews with dozens of sources and extensive research of court records and prior news accounts” finds that former Luzerne County, PA, Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan “ran the courthouse like a mafia family”:

The Legal Intelligencer has previously reported that federal investigators are looking at allegations of case-fixing in Luzerne County, particularly UM/UIM arbitration cases, as well as criminal case-fixing. … An investigation by The Legal Intelligencer has shown that parties with ties to the two judges often won favorable rulings when challenging their tax assessments, particularly the builder of juvenile detention facility PA Child Care, Mericle. …

The case-fixing was done in conjunction at times with payoffs from lawyers, sources have said. The payoffs took the form of either cash payments or sometimes campaign contributions. Both Conahan and Ciavarella raised more than $280,000 for their retention campaigns, campaign contribution reports show, and, according to a Wilkes-Barre Times Leader article, at least $120,000 came to each of the judges from lawyers and law firms. Campaign finance reports show that Conahan and Ciavarella each spent more than half of the money in their coffers to pay off debts from their initial runs for the bench in 1993 and 1995, respectively. Judicial experts and election lawyers have described the amounts as unnecessary given the nature of retention campaigns and the size of the county. …

The number of lawyers who paid the judges is unknown. However, multiple sources have told The Legal Intelligencer they believe the payoffs were widespread and considered necessary by some lawyers in order to practice successfully in the county. Courthouse sources have expressed with confidence that at least a dozen lawyers have come under the scrutiny of federal investigators. Also, multiple sources have independently identified several attorneys by name as those who were allegedly involved in the scheme.

† Updates To Previous Posts (fifth item, Pearson's Knickers Still In A Knot Over His Pants): U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle tossed a wrongful-termination lawsuit former D.C. judge Roy Pearson, who was fired from his $100,000-a-year job as an administrative judge after filing a $54 million lawsuit over a pair of pants, reports The Associated Press.