Steel magnolia?

Beacon Hill, home of the Massachusetts State House, isn't Chicago, but there are certainly similarities. There's a significant amount of corruption, and the last three (that's three consecutive) Speakers of the House in the state legislature have been led out of the State House (at least symbolically) in handcuffs. This is obviously a tribute to the state Attorney General, right?

Well, it would be if she'd actually done any of it, but no, the corruption busting in Massachusetts has all been done by the Feds. But never fear - that doesn't mean that our top law enforcement officer isn't busy, no indeed. Just look what frightful scourge on the public weal our Attorney General-cum-Senate-candidate Martha Coakley is up to:

Attorney General Martha Coakley’s crackdown on Bay State gardening clubs for failing to file financial disclosure forms has left some green thumbs fearing arrest - and many sore at the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.

Linda Jean Smith, president of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, has been besieged with calls from frightened, angry members after a prickly Jan. 4 letter from Coakley’s office declared many of them were breaking the law for failing to file their financial records for the past four years.

Well. This is why we here in Massachusetts sleep well in our beds each night. Imagine! A garden club not filing financial disclosure records! The nerve! This assault on the public has terrorized the citizenry for too long! But no more - no, Martha's on the case!

Because, after all, the state and federal governments really have nothing better to do than monitor financial statements of people that get together to plant flowers...