ABC is running their infomercial for The Da Vinci Code again, "Jesus, Mary, and Da Vinci." I've seen it before, when the National Geographic channel ran it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's an opportunistic bit of yellow journalism that serves little purpose aside from lending a veneer of scholarship to crackpot conspiracy theory. Occasionally, Elizabeth Vargas, who anchors this hour-long commercial, will say something noncommital like, "While there's no actual existing proof to substantiate these claims, many people consider it a definite possibility."

I really, really dislike television news. I learned my lesson during the California fires last October, getting an informed look at what really happens underneath the surface of the average news report - botched or fabricated facts, sloppy research (if they bother to do any at all), sensationalist exaggeration, and narcissistic reporters instead of informative camerawork - and "investigative reports" like this slanderous garbage only prove my cynicism.

I've written to them a couple of times to complain about this sort of thing, and [again] predictably, I didn't get any kind of response. Not that I really expected one, but still, it's annoying. So many people take the word of these people as gospel that it worries me. I guess that explains why John Kerry has so many adherents.

Ha! I made a political stab!

[Seriously, the man frightens me, though admittedly I don't know if it's his reported extreme leftism or his apparent lack of any sort of convictions (aside from "Hey, don't you guys hate Bush? Isn't he a jerk?") to build a platform on that frightens me more. At the moment, the thing that troubles me the most about him (aside from the fact that some people seem to be rallying around him...I could only hope that it's just the Twin Cities area) is how he'll go on record as saying things like, "I personally am against abortion," but then won't do anything about it. Am I supposed to be relieved to know that he won't personally go out and get an abortion?

Not to mention that, for a person who spoke so much about unifying people, he never reserves his rancor for Bush or anyone who supports him. Okay, enough politics.]

Not much to report outside of the topic of Public Things That Frustrate Me. Today was beautiful, though I spent much of it inside playing "Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain" on the PS2, which I have to take back to the video rental store tomorrow. The Twin Cities Festival, a big Christian event featuring a preacher named Luis Palau and a number of Christian bands, will be at the state capitol this weekend. It's supposed to be humungous, from all reports. Ironically, on the radio today, Todd Friel was wandering around the capitol asking people how they would describe God - no evangelism, no pushiness, just asking for words - and the police made him stop. Odd, that.

Um, that's all. Nothing earth-shattering.