Presidential abuses of power. We're so used to them by now that we feel a little cheated if the Commander-in-Chief doesn't have his way with us every now and then. There was Thomas Jefferson's dogged insistence that someday we would need states in the middle of the country. William Henry Harrison's relentless desire to assume the presidency despite being too frail to endure just a few hours outdoors in D.C.'s balmy March climate. William Howard Taft's tendency, at state dinners, to eat the meals meant for foreign dignitaries in addition to his own. But no one, regardless of how many Patriot Acts one might pass, could ever match the unparalleled chutzpah of our 32nd President.

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Quote of the Week

At the National Portrait Gallery:

A woman marches up to the portrait of FDR, plants herself firmly, and then turns to her companion and says sourly: "Imagine, the gall of that man, running four times."

After the jump, wild turkey, Barbie alternatives, and the new ambition.

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Photo by Flickr user dcJohn.

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That turkey couldn't have been any happier. Well, unless he'd lived.

One thirtysomething guy to the other thirtysomethings at an adjacent table, commenting about the turkey dinner that had just arrived:

"You can really taste the free-range!"

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The other six tiny clerks agreed.

In a high-end toy store:

Woman: "My kid likes Barbie but we're not buying any Barbie. Do you have any pretty dolls, that aren't Barbie?"
Bearded 20-something male clerk: "Well, there are Disney Princesses. The Little Mermaid. Right here."
Woman: "Hmmm."
Bearded 20-something male clerk (in a kind of tender voice): "My favorite is Snow White."

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Alexis Carrington would have had someone do her shopping for her.

At a reading of her new book in the National Press Building:

Joan Collins: "Well, I am an expert in department stores."

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Only success can fail her now.

Red line, evening rush hour:

Woman #1: "I am broke as #$*!"
Woman #2: "Girl, don't ever make no money. That way you never have to get to work on time."