For those on Fox News trying to convince us that the idea of separation of church and state is a recent invention, yeah not so much.

As you can see there is no date on the comic to tell us when it was printed, however a quick Google search of the cartoonist Watson Heston tells us that he died in 1905.

So that should provide insight into how long this debate has been raging.

Especially considering the fact that it was not until 1870 that all of the states at that time even had public schools.

If we are to continue to provide our students with a well rounded education job one should be keeping religion as far away from our schools as humanly possible.

Indianapolis Star runs racially insensitive comic, responds to criticism by removing character's mustache, before finally pulling the entire comic and apologizing for it.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Responding to criticism that a cartoon depicting undocumented immigrants coming through a window to share Thanksgiving dinner with a white family was racist, an Indiana newspaper edited out the stereotyped housebreaker’s mustache, ostensibly to make the cartoon seem less racist. 

The Indianapolis Star ran the cartoon by editorial cartoonist Gary Varvel showing a family coming in through the window to share in the holiday meal, with the house owner announcing to his family and guests, “Thanks to the president’s immigration order we’ll be having extra guests this Thanksgiving.”

In the original version up above the male character has a ball cap over his eyes and a rather prominent mustache, which suggest to many a Hispanic stereotype. After being mocked on Twitter the newspaper decided the best course was to remove the offending mustache.

See? All better.

Yeah, except it WASN'T all better and the outrage continued until the executive editor responded with this: 

On Friday, we posted a Gary Varvel cartoon at indystar.com that offended a wide group of readers. 

Many of them labeled it as racist. Gary did not intend to be racially insensitive in his attempt to express his strong views about President Barack Obama's decision to temporarily prevent the deportation of millions of immigrants living and working illegally in the United States. 

But we erred in publishing it.

Gee, ya think?

My favorite part of this story is that they really believed that the mustache was the problem, and not the showing of dark haired, clearly Hispanic, people invading the home of white people uninvited.

Which of course is exactly the kind of thing that fans the flames of racial hatred in this country.

The Canadians think us mad.

Just a letter in support of reelecting Senator Mark Begich.

Below is a letter sent to the Juneau Empire by an Alaskan voter. I think it sums up the reasons to keep Begich in office quite succinctly. 

It’s not easy being a Democratic politician in a red state like Alaska, but Sen. Mark Begich does it with integrity. One of Sen. Begich’s first votes in the Senate was for the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. He also co-sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act. It matters that he was raised by a single mother of six kids. He saw first hand how his mom had to struggle to make ends meet. Sen. Begich says equal pay for women is a fairness issue, which is what women have been saying for decades. 

In March of last year, he issued a statement in favor of marriage equality. The arc of recent history is definitely bending towards marriage equality, and Alaska, the state of new beginnings, is finally on board. 

Dan Sullivan is stuck in the 1950s. He is against a woman’s right to choose in all cases. He even has issues with birth control. He’s against gay marriage, against the Affordable Care Act, and won’t say if he supports equal pay for women. If you look closely at Mr. Sullivan’s TV ads, you see that many of them are paid for by the Koch brothers under the names of Americans for Prosperity, Crossroads GPS, Freedom Works, Freedom Partners, and a long list of others. If Charles and David Koch are in his corner, you know they expect to get less regulation and lower taxes under his administration. 

This past week, I was startled to see Condoleezza Rice’s face filling our television screen touting Dan Sullivan’s qualities to be the Governor of Alaska. Condoleezza Rice lied in front of the world about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and as a result, that terrible war cost thousands of lives, both military and civilian, and left thousands of American soldiers disabled. Why would Mr. Sullivan think her endorsement would be a plus to his campaign? Who’s next? Dick Cheney? 

Let’s face it. Alaskans only have two working members of Congress. We’re lucky that both of our Senators are thoughtful, honest, and smart people who understand the value of compromise. Let’s keep Sen. Begich in Washington, D.C.

Barbara Belknap 

Juneau

I might quibble a bit with the idea that Lisa Murkowski is thoughtful and honest, but I agree wholeheartedly with the rest. 

In other 2014 voter news, Senator Mark Begich and Kentucky's Alison Lundergan Grimes receive important endorsements.

First up it's Mark Begich who recently received the very influential Alaska Federation of Natives endorsement:

The resolutions included an endorsement of Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, who is seeking to be re-elected Nov. 4, and an endorsement of the so-called “unity” ticket of independent gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker and his running mate, Democrat Byron Mallott. 

As you see the Walker/Mallott ticket also got an endorsement which might help to balance out the endorsement from the Wasilla Wendigo. 

To understand the importance of the AFN support, there are many who believe that it was they who were instrumental in helping Lisa Murkowski win against Joe Miller in 2010.

However they are not 100% behind the liberal agenda:  

The AFN delegates also approved a resolution in opposition to a ballot measure that would legalize and regulate recreational marijuana in Alaska.

That may seem counter intuitive until you realize how overwhelming of a problem substance abuse is in rural villages.  It is not at all surprising that they are officially against the measure.

Now let's take a look at Kentucky where Alison Lundergan Grimes received some very good news yesterday: 

Two major Kentucky newspapers have endorsed Alison Lundergan Grimes for Senate over incumbent Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R). 

The Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader both ran editorials Sunday in support of the Democrat, who currently serves as Kentucky's Secretary of State. 

In its endorsement, the Courier-Journal's editorial board praised Grimes' stance on issues like the minimum wage and early childhood education, while accusing McConnell of "lacking a vision for Kentucky." 

The Lexington Herald-Leader's endorsement strongly rebukes McConnell, who the editorial board says has "repeatedly hurt the country to advance his political strategy." 

"The Senate may never recover from the bitter paralysis McConnell has inflicted through record filibusters that allow his minority to rule by obstruction," reads the editorial. "He poses as a champion of the right to criticize the government, but it's really his rich buddies' right to buy the government that he champions." 

"If McConnell had a better record, he would not have to argue for six more years by obsessively linking Grimes to Obama, who will be gone in two years no matter what," the editorial continues.

Damn, that's going to leave a mark.

The most recent polls show McConnell still with a six points lead. But who knows, with this kind of support Grimes might just pull this off.

I have my fingers crossed for both of these races. If we can not only hold onto the Senate but also kick McConnell to the curb this may usher in a whole new era of bipartisanship moving forward.

I know, I'm a dreamer.