I loved Bea Arthur, one of the funniest women in comedy. Maude, her 1970s era sitcom spin-off from All in the Family was groundbreaking. Golden Girls made her an icon. And as the below (semi-NSFW) video, her last performance shows, she never lost her stride.

The day after her death, on April 27, 2009 a letter was released by PETA, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, from Bea Arthur to acclaimed chef Curtis Stone, pleading with him to stop using foie gras. That was, according to PETA, her dying wish.

The world is wacky and zany in GOP politics: Rush Windbag has ordered a fatwa on Newter Gingrich.

This whole Maya calendar end of the world whoohaa has reached such a pitch that White House.gov for goodness sakes created a link about the idiocy which sends you/me to the answers.USA.gov site with further links to NASA’s point of view on the subject.

Gaze upon their immaculate fur and happy expressions, and let all the cares of the day melt away. Woof!

Don’t forget about the Nationwide Day of Mass Action tomorrow. I will be Occupying a dentist’s chair in the morning, unfortunately, and missing the LA event, which is at 7am.

I just got back from watching a taping of two episodes for Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers and I think Dr Drew needs to have Andrew Breitbart and John Hagee on to get some hugs. And not from Rick Perry.

Anonymous’ #opBART dox dump of user names, emails and passwords presaged Larry Flynt’s Huffington Post blog today in which the free speech advocate wrote:

“Any information you put out into cyberspace could come back to bite you in the ass.”

These past five decades have been really exciting, thrilling, overwhelming, full of noise and laughter and music, world tragedies and huge advances, personal sorrows and joys. Close friends have died, married, divorced, remarried, had babies, been denied the right to marry, lost their homes. I have loved well, but at times not wisely.

I won’t lie to you. Unless someone’s coming over, I tend to let things around the house go. Watching TV or playing Scrabble with Mr. A after dinner often takes precedence over doing the dishes immediately. I mean, the place isn’t filthy. We have pets, so we make sure to do maintenance regularly so the place doesn’t smell like We Have Pets, but I don’t always sort the mail or hang up my coat right away when I get in the door at night.

Are you a neat freak? A slob? Do you do spring cleaning?

Joan Rivers is one of the smartest, funniest comics imaginable, and her new “reality” show Joan Knows Best has some really bright, touching moments, like her scattering her friends ashes throughout Beverly Hills and ending up doing a routine in a West Hollywood bar, dancing with the guys. Or visiting her daughter’s childhood home.

But Episode 7, “Home Alone” (which featured the latter segment) also had a bit which I am still trying to parse.