It’s always the little things that really get on your nerves. From ProJo.com…

07:09 AM EST on Thursday, December 16, 2010

By JOHN E. MULLIGAN
Journal Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It may be, as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse put it, “far from the most serious issue we face,” but he may be in for some serious fan mail with Wednesday’s enactment of his bill to crack down on noisy TV ads.

The Rhode Island Democrat was on hand at the White House as President Obama signed the measure, known formally as the CALM Act, for Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation.

“Most Americans experience the frustration of abrasively loud television commercials, with advertisers grabbing for our attention by ramping up the volume,” Whitehouse said in a news release issued by his office. “Quieting these commercials to normal volume will mean one less annoyance in our daily lives.”

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., sponsored the House version of the CALM TV ad bill. She told the Wall Street Journal recently that the CALM Act is the most popular piece of legislation she’s sponsored in her 18 years in Congress. “If I’d saved 50 million children from some malady, people would not have the interest that they have in this,” she said.

This won’t take effect for a year or two, but it will make my home a more peaceful place. So many times, my blogging is rudely disturbed when the game (whatever, there’s always a game being played somewhere on Earth), which is white noise to me, is interrupted by a blasting commercial for male enhancement, or feminine protection, or ‘free’ insurance for the already insured.

I like to sit with Mr. Green, but this kind of thing drives me to declare that television is the voice of Satan (two words–’buy this’) and stomp off to a quieter place. Thank you, Senator Whitehouse. It may be a small thing, but so is a mosquito.