I don't watch television. That's mostly true. I don't have cable -- just a broken set of rabbit ears for an antennea. So, for the most part, there's not anything to watch.

I do watch netflix. However, the television shows that I occaisionally watch on DVD don't have commercials.

In the last few months, I have also been watching Comedy Central and sometime the Sci-Fi Network (does that make me a stereotypical male nerd?) while running on the ellipical machine at the gym. This practice has reminded me how much I hate commercials, especially the same commercials over and over and over -- especially long infomercials that repeat almost every commercial break. No I don't want your diet pill, exercise machine, or financial advice. And I'm fine with my hairline.

Seeking an alternative, I have recently begun downloading sermons and other talks from various folks in the Emergent Church movement. This morning, I listened to Brian McLaren's talk on "A Christian Response to War." This feels like a much better use of my time -- and I can fast forward through any commercials at the beginning or end of the podcast.

I was particularly struck by McLaren's challenge that before declaring war, we should commit to spending twice as much on humanitarian aid for the people of that country (and to rebuild the infrastructure that we bomb!) as spend on the actual violent part of the war. That would make war three times as expensive, and it would make going to war more cost prohibitive. It might make us think more critically about whether it is worth it to go to war, and it would also likely bring healing in the aftermath of war.

Along these lines, McLaren convincingly argues that any way is already a defeat for all sides because any act of violence is always already a failure to live out God's dream of peace: "God shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Micah 4:3).

To end with a sign of hope, the lead story in the local paper today reporting on the statewide smoking ban that began on January 1, 2007. You can't smoke in restaurants in Louisiana. That's unbelievably awesome. I am grateful that sometimes good does triumph, sometimes systemic change does happen.