VoteVets just released an ad featuring Brandon Woods, an Iraq War veteran. The message — that McCain's Iraq War plan sucks — is one I don't dispute. But the thing that struck me most about the ad was that I went to college with its star. Small, small world.

• Damon Dash and Rachel Roy just signed a $4 billion licensing deal for Roy's clothing line. This should put to end those Dame-Dash-is-bankrupt rumors. [NR]

• This is sort of preaching to the choir, but still. The war sucks. [JJP]

• Want to learn about the black family? CNN'll school ya. [CL]

• More on R. Kelly's pervy past. [SOHH]

• True, Chris Brown is younger than Rihanna. But she doesn't like them this young. [SR]

Brave New Films asks an important question of all of us: What would you do with $3 trillion dollars? George W. Bush started an awful war with that amount, but that's not the only option, trust me!

Using the images of the 4,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq, Nico Pitney of the Huffington Post today drops a not-so-subtle attack on John McCain's campaign vis-à-vis the war. For the large image, go here.

GRIM MILESTONES Not soon after the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, the deaths of four soldiers in a roadside bombing in Baghdad Sunday increased the U.S. death toll in Iraq to 4,000. Last year was the deadliest year for the U.S., with 901 Americans (and countless Iraqis) dying in Iraq. Probably preaching to the choir here, but let's not give up on a Democratic victory come November.

Today is the Iraq War's fifth birthday. While more realistic people might take this time to reflect upon five years that have been marked by death, disappointment, and the most insidious of lies, the Bush Administration continues to try to make this disaster of a war look like something that's actually working.

Said Bush to an invite-only audience at the Pentagon today, “By defeating al Qaeda in Iraq, we will show the world that al Qaeda is the weak horse… On this anniversary, the American people should know, that since the beginning of the surge, violence is down." Funny Bush would bring up al Qaeda right now, after what we always knew has been unequivocally proven — there was no link between Saddam Hussein and the big A.Q. There's an important lesson to be learned from the Bush administration's endless train of disillusionment — and this is directed at the "I won't vote for Barack if Hillary loses/I won't vote for Hillary if Barack loses/fuck them all, I'm voting for Nader" camps — this will only continue if we allow another GOP warmonger to take the White House. Just sayin'.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? Well, I've been blown away by a lot of things since I became a blogger, but this really goes above and beyond. The Pentagon has just released a study called “Saddam and Terrorism: Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents” that concludes there was NO LINK BETWEEN AL QAEDA AND SADDAM HUSSEIN. Conveniently, there will be no press briefings on the study, which we should think of as a special anniversary present from our government to the war. The two will have been intimately involved for 5 years on March 19th. Wish the lovers well! [NYT]

• Once upon a time, blacks were fighting for their right to be admitted into the Marines. Now that they have it and there's a stupid war going on, they're not quite as interested. [CBS]

• Didn't we learn in elementary school that seatbelts are cool? Sixty-seven percent of blacks in Florida wear seatbelts compared with 75 percent of Hispanics and 83 percent of whites. [DNJ]

• Houston's big corporations lack diversity at the top. [HC]

• Making confederacy lovers travel to an all-black neighborhood to visit a memorial for confederate soldiers creates a nice balance. [CST]

• Poor blacks are less likely to be on kidney transplant lists. [USNWR]

I believe race expert Bill O'Reilly put it best when he said, "Black people are finally starting to think for themselves." But this certainly wasn't what he had in mind.

Defense Department statistics show the number of young black enlistees has fallen by more than 58 percent since fiscal year 2000. The Army in particular has been hit hard: In fiscal year 2000, according to the Pentagon statistics, more than 42,000 black men and women applied to enlist; in fiscal year 2005, the most recent for which a racial breakdown is available, just over 17,000 signed up.

The unpopular Iraq war is the biggest reason, according to military analysts, Pentagon surveys, and interviews with young African-Americans. But they say mistrust of the Bush administration is adding to the problem - along with the notion that black soldiers are being steered to combat jobs, a lingering perception from the Vietnam War.

[BG]

• Clearly, Jay-Z is really feeling the American Gangster angle. [C&D]

• Kind of like what Casper the Friendly Ghost would look like if he had a black wig and 12 nose jobs. [MG]

• Rihanna's taking lessons at the Beyonce School of Oversaturation. [PH]

• Timbaland wants a showdown with Dr. Dre, if Detox ever actually comes out. [SP]

• Nineteen thousand dead insurgents. More than 3,000 dead troops. Twenty-seven thousand troops wounded. The Iraq War? Priceless. [Politopics]

Quote of the Week

50 Cent on President Bush and war:

"Me and George Bush were both actually born on July 6, he's just a little older than me. And he does have a talent: He has less compassion than a regular human being." He added, "Me and George Bush are so different. … I actually go to war, when I go to war. Bush just sends [people] to war. When I took a trip to Iraq — 'cause I went to perform for the soldiers in Iraq — they had the same vehicles that I ride around in New York."

Stereohyped's theme of the day is obviously involves former big-money rappers that are now famous for something else (in Hammer's case, I think we can all agree that the parachute pant is his legacy) speaking out in favor of our nation's troops. Flavor Flav made his point clear on his way out of Mr. Chow's in LA last night. And I quote:

"Bush wanna be fly, tell that mother f**ker to send the troops home from Iraq!"

Flav also wasn't too happy about Ms. Hilton getting more attention than the troops in Iraq, but defended her plight anyway, telling our camera, "Paris is still the mother f**kin' bomb and she's gonna blow up sh*t!"

Maybe we should let the troops stay in Iraq, because, if Flavor Flav is to be believed (and why wouldn't he be!?!), Paris Hilton will be turning the homefront into a war zone momentarily.

Wait, why am I talking about Paris Hilton and Iraq in the same post? Blame Flav.

[TMZ]

I was speechless as I watched this new anti-war video by my favorite former rap star and yours, Hammer. The mixture of heartfelt earnestness and pure awfulness in the clip above makes it difficult to make fun of, so I'm going to play this one straight.

Here, ladies and gentleman, is Hammer, sending a message to our government the only way he knows how — through the power of song. Enjoy.

[BWE]

Why? Because it's not a "black peoples'" war. Using that logic, everyone should hate the war, because it isn't really for anyone but a small handful of rich Republicans. But according to the Boston Globe, more of us oppose it than anyone else.

As much as everyone hates (or should hate, in my humble opinion) what we're doing in Iraq, black soldiers seem to hate it even more. They're showing their displeasure by either not reenlisting or not joining the military at all. African American presence in the military has dropped 9 percentage points — to 13.9 percent — since 2000.

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