This announcement arrived by email and is worth spreading around:

The Case Foundation has launched an online civic engagement campaign–“Change Begins With Me”–that calls on Americans everywhere to “be the change.” People across the nation are invited to visit the Case Foundation’s web site and make a personal pledge to “be the change” in 2009. By finishing the sentence, “Change begins with me…” individuals can share their commitments to change their neighborhood, community or the world in 2009. One lucky participant (and guest) will be selected to come to Washington, DC to attend the Inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama and related Inaugural festivities. And, in the spirit of giving and active civic engagement, this person will be part of the Washington, DC Martin Luther King Day of Service.

I spend many of my hours in airports, trying to read, write, or talk quietly. Very often the following noises are laid on top of each other:

• Boarding announcements
• TSA security announcements
• Music
• The CNN Airport Network on overhead TVs
• Promotional announcements about the airport or city
• Beeping trucks
• People’s voices, and
• (Unnoticeable but apparently quite audible) the sounds of the airplanes themselves.

I don’t mind my fellow passengers–not even the screaming babies, who are expressing my own feelings with simple eloquence. It’s the unnecessary layers of noise that offend me, especially when I learn that airports derive revenue from that piped-in TV advertising. Not only is the combination of CNN plus music-radio jarring and distracting; the actual content of the news is insidious and often inappropriate for kids. Sometimes one can lower the decibel level by shifting location, but in some airports (e.g., Dayton, OH), CNN is pumped everywhere, including the toilets and the business lounge.

Airports are local monopolies, subsidized by tax dollars but basically unaccountable to consumers. They profit from advertising and pay no price for noise. They may create health risks by exposing people to noise. They certainly reduce productivity by making it hard to concentrate. Noise-canceling headphones haven’t worked for me, and even if they did, what gives an airport the right to make me wear expensive and uncomfortable hardware?

I’d favor a legal remedy–possibly a class-action lawsuit on behalf of airport workers or an amendment to such legislation as the Noise Control Act of 1972 or the Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990. (The latter deals with aircraft noise and seems mainly aimed at blocking local anti-noise regulation.)

Meanwhile, we travelers can at least express our opinions–I would say, “raise our voices,” if I weren’t trying to increase the peace. There is already a lobby that fights the noise of aircraft landing and taking off. That’s a problem that harms finite, identifiable minorities (homeowners in affected neighborhoods), who are therefore likely to organize in their own interests–even at some cost to the average person. Airport noise is a different kind of problem. It sporadically harms many people, but not enough for them to organize. Fortunately, the Internet lowers the cost of organizing. I just created a Facebook page called “travelers for quiet airport terminals.” I hope like-minded people will join and post complaints, praiseworthy examples, tips for finding quiet spots, and strategies for reform.

This is actually a movie from our 2006 family trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. I hope it brings cheer (even to those, like me, for whom neither Christmas nor Bavaria is unambiguously good).

(en route to Georgia for the holidays) The effort to impeach Gov. Blagojevich seems to have stalled, on the ground that the legislature cannot find him guilty of corruption without a lengthy trial–complete with an elaborate defense–that might undermine the federal prosecution.

I’d make this simpler. I’d move to impeach and remove Gov. Blagojevich without presuming or showing that he’s guilty of the charges in the indictment. I’d impeach him because he’s been indicted and he cannot perform the state’s business in that condition. A governor could be falsely indicted–he could be completely innocent. However, if the indictment concerns a felony that relates to his position, he should probably resign to concentrate on fighting the charges and to save the state from being led by a criminal defendant. That might not be the best decision in every conceivable situation–for instance, a prosecutor might bring transparently baseless felony charges just to force a resignation. But it seems within the competence of the legislature to decide that this particular indictment is plausible and that Blagejovich cannot serve. That sounds like grounds for impeachment to me, and it should take just a couple of hours to do the deed.

Two obvious objections arise. (1) The impeachment could deprive an innocent man of his rights. I reply: No one has a right to be governor. That is a privilege. One should only hold the office if doing so is good for the people of the state. Even if Blagojevich is innocent, it is not good for Illinois for him to serve. (2) A politically motivated legislature could remove a governor simply because they didn’t like him. I reply: that would be wrong, and the people should punish such a legislature at the next election. But it’s not the situation here. The legislature deeply disliked Blagojevich months ago, but they didn’t think about impeaching him. They should impeach him now because any person indicted for felonies that directly relate to his public duties cannot credibly perform those duties. It’s time to get this over with.

(By the way, Kenneth Starr never indicted Bill Clinton.)

I had written the following post last night, and today the same story is on the front page of the New York Times. …

CIRCLE once received a smallish grant from the JEHT Foundation (which stands for Justice, Equality, Human Dignity, and Tolerance). JEHT funded lots of other work in the areas of criminal justice and fair elections. Alas, its donors’ funds were managed by Bernard L. Madoff, the alleged Wall Street swindler. The funds are gone and JEHT has closed, apparently forever.

I serve on the board of several nonprofits and I work (in various ways) for several more. Almost everyone who holds a management position in one of these organizations is cutting programs or even laying people off. I have no solutions, forecasts, or advice, but I feel this blog should reflect the main reality of our field right now.