The King of Queens: Arthur and Slavery

One reason I love syndication is it makes it easy for me to check out series I ignored when they originally aired. A show I've recently been getting into via reruns is The King of Queens starring Kevin James and Leah Remini as Doug and Carrie Heffernan. Although the entire cast of the long-running sitcom is solid, my favorite character is Arthur Spooner (played by Jerry Stiller). As Doug's irascible, scheming, basement-dwelling father-in-law, Stiller has the ability to steal every scene in which he appears. With his unique way of delivering lines and punctuating them with hilarious physical gestures, he can take something which isn't funny on paper and turn it into sitcom gold.

The player below contains scenes from the season 6 episode "Affidavit Justice". In the episode, the subplot deals with Arthur's discovery that his ancestors were slave owners and how he tries to make things right with Doug's best friend/co-worker Deacon Palmer (played by Victor Williams).

If you enjoy Jerry Stiller's work on The King of Queens, someone with the username ArthurSpoonerFan has a You Tube channel devoted to some of Arthur's best scenes from the show.

The History of Slavery in the U.S., Courtesy of Michele Bachmann

During a recent speech she gave in Iowa, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) attempted to rewrite American history by proclaiming that our founding fathers ended slavery.  Minnesota Tea Partyer who wants to be President of the U.S. but never will be say what?!  Come on man!  You can find a 3rd grader who's failing history and they'd know that the founding fathers didn't end slavery!  The antics of people like Michele Bachmann are just one reason why I and many others are leery of Republicans/the Tea Party movement.  Not to mention the fact that they put up with the antics of the Michele Bachmann's of the world. 

Below is a segment from the January 25th edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews, with Tea Party Express founder Sal Russo and Salon.com managing editor Joan Walsh.  The segment contains footage of Michele's controversial/non-factual comments about slavery.  Just watch how Russo squirms when Chris grills him on Michele's comments about slavery and slavery in general. As a fan of Chris Matthews' pressing style of interviewing, this was an instant classic for me.  It's right up there with the time  when he destroyed Michelle Malkin or when he tore talk show host Kevin James a new one.

A GOP Group Gives Us Their Version of the "Southern Experience"

South Carolina Sen. Glenn McConnell (center) flanked by two members of the Gullah-Geechee cultural group

In early September, The National Federation of Republican Women held its annual fall Board of Directors meeting in Charleston, SC.  One of the sponsored events connected with the meeting was a themed one dubbed "The Southern Experience".   This involved people dressing in attire from the Civil War era such as military uniforms and slavery garb.

Why would anyone think this was a good idea? Even if this were 1970, I'd ask the same question. It's incidents like this which is why I think many in the GOP are clueless when it comes to race matters in this country. Oh and just to be clear, the blacks who dressed up as slaves for this event aren't off the hook either!

Below is the segment in which WCBD-TV Channel 2 in Charleston covers the incident: