Wherein you, the readers, talk amongst yourselves.

Speaking of drafts, have you ever or would you ever joined the military? Why or why not?

Despite John McCain's hefty military credentials and Barack Obama's lack thereof, the latter candidate has received six times as much money from troops deployed overseas than John McCain. Anti-war Ron Paul received four times the amount John McCain did. Looks like our men and women in Iraq aren't really trying to stick around for 100 years.

Despite McCain's status as a decorated veteran and a historically Republican bent among the military, members of the armed services overall — whether stationed overseas or at home — are also favoring Obama with their campaign contributions in 2008, by a $55,000 margin. Although 59 percent of federal contributions by military personnel has gone to Republicans this cycle, of money from the military to the presumed presidential nominees, 57 percent has gone to Obama.

As hard as McCain has been trying to push the narrative that Obama doesn't care about the troops, it looks like the troops don't care much about McCain. [TPM]

When Private LaVena Johnson, a 20-year-old Missouri native, died near Balad, Iraq in 2005, the official cause of death that the Army gave Johnson's family was suicide. The story didn't seem right to the young woman's family, and once her father saw his daughter's body, he knew it wasn't. The Army was forced by the Freedom of Information Act to release her autopsy information, and it was uncovered that at the time of death, Johnson "had a broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, burns from a corrosive chemical on her genitals, and a gunshot that seemed inconsistent with suicide." It has been suspected that chemicals were used to destroy DNA evidence after rape. As of now, the Army has agreed to "look into" her death.

CONTINUED »

President Bush has approved the first execution of an American soldier in almost half a century. Private Ronald Gray was convicted of a series of rapes and murders 20 years ago, before being sentenced to death.

As commanders in chief, presidents have the final authority to approve capital punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, occasionally choosing instead to reject or commute the sentences to life in prison, as President Kennedy once did in 1962.

The last time a solider was executed was in 1961, following a 1957 order from President Dwight Eisenhower.

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.

At his show at New York’s Nokia Theater on Tuesday night, 50 Cent, the marble-mouthed rapper once suspected of burning down his ex-wife’s home, donned a US marine uniform – complete with cockeyed cap – for part of his set. ‘Twas an odd choice for a wartime concert, especially considering the fact that the getup was probably used to enhance Fiddy’s performance of “My Toy Soldier,” the less than patriotic lyrics of which are as follows:

CONTINUED »

Black guys, join the Marines. They'll teach you to swim (so you won't be a statistic), and then you'll have an exciting adventure in a raft… And not got sent to Iraq, of course.

For those of you who mentally check out a little early on the Fridays before three-day weekends, today marks the start of Memorial Day weekend. And to commemorate the start of Memorial Day weekend, I'm commemorating the soldiers whose contributions to this country's wars are often overlooked.

US naval forces today launched a missile attack on Somalia, the East African nation that has for years been embroiled in terrorist strife.

Once a haven for Islamists, a joint American-Ethiopian offensive in early 2007 partially squelched Somalia's radicals. But the Islamists are said to be making a comeback, capturing towns in the nation's southern region and inflicting several attacks on Ethiopian peacekeepers.

According to a Pentagon spokesperson, today's strike was intended to bring down one of these resurgent rebels, a "known Al Qaeda terrorist." Somali residents say the attack's actual casualties were three wounded civilians, three dead cows, one dead donkey and a partly destroyed house.

• 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]

Only two out of 28 the soldiers are still alive, but the Army is finally pardoning them — with honorable discharges and back pay — for a 1944 conviction for a riot that ended in the lynching of an Italian P.O.W. An Army review board recently ruled was "fundamentally unfair."

CONTINUED »

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]