I shoveled my walk this morning at 630 AM.
It's funny because the last two books I've read have been about Chicago & Democracy. So, this morning when I heard that Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois was charged corruption, I had to laugh. HOW DARE HE BESMERCH THE GOOD NAME OF CHICAGO POLITICS~! (Yes, the capital is Springfield - but he was born, raised and lives in Chicago - though there is a executive mansion that I believe he also occupies for part of the year.) One of Fareed Zakaria's first statements is that in 1900, no country was really allowing all male & female citizens of legal voting age (regardless of religion, land ownership or race) to participate in elections. Chicago in the 19th century certainly had some especially egregious cases of fraud, corruption and voter intimidation.

Your rock music for the day: Elbow - Grounds for Divorce. It's about getting drunk at the pub. (The cocktail is called, "Grounds for Divorce".) It's from an Esquire Music Article. Rest of the list is nothing to pay attention to though.