Of course. It just … makes so much … sense.

(h/t: thedopefishlives.)

Click to enlarge

President Barack Obama runs around his desk in the Oval Office with Sarah Froman, daughter of Nancy Goodman and Mike Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics, July 9, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The latest national CNN/ORC International survey is not good news for Mitt Romney; his unfavorable rating has jumped to 48%, and President Obama now has a 7-point lead.

It all adds up to a seven point advantage for President Barack Obama over the former Massachusetts governor, with 52% of registered voters questioned in the survey saying that they’d vote to re-elect the president and 45% backing Romney.

“Among independent voters, the poll indicates President Obama has a 53%-42% lead,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. “The president holds a nine point advantage among women voters and a smaller six point edge among men.” …

While Romney’s favorable rating has remained steady (47% now compared to 48% in July), his unfavorable rating has jumped from 42% last month to 48% now. The president’s 56%-42% favorable-unfavorable rating now is little changed from July.

Among independents, the poll indicates Romney’s image has taken a beating. In May, only 40% of independents had an unfavorable view of Romney. Now, 52% of independents have a negative view of him.

Professor of philosophy Barbara Forrest gave this presentation in May, describing the horrifying state of science education in Louisiana, where the stealth creationism bill signed into law by Bobby Jindal is having the intended effect of legitimizing the teaching of creationist fairy tales as “science.”

Dr. Forrest goes into great detail about the deceptive code language used by the Republican Party to get these bills through the legislature, and the links between Gov. Jindal and religious right group Louisiana Family Forum.

While the right constantly fear-mongers about “stealth shariah,” they’re engaging in a very real conspiracy to sneak religious doctrine into America’s public schools by disguising it as “academic freedom.”

NCSE board member Barbara Forrest digs into the LSEA, why it passed, why repeal will be very difficult, how the legislative message of science denial is spreading to other states (like Tennessee), and more. When: 5/20/2012. Where: 3rd Annual Orange County Freethought Alliance Conference, Irvine, CA

Remember the concept of separation of church and state? You know, that vitally important principle that’s spelled out in the Constitution, without which the United States probably wouldn’t even exist?

Well, the Republican Party is working constantly to subvert and undermine this concept, and one of the ways they do it is by fomenting grievances, and by instilling a false sense of victimhood in the religious right base.

And Mormon Mitt Romney is right in there with the worst of the far right fundamentalist Protestants, fear-mongering about a nonexistent “war on religion” in his new campaign advertisement.

Romney’s bogus “war on religion” is not only a blatant lie — as governor of Massachusetts, Romney himself instituted measures almost identical to the Affordable Care Act’s provisions on contraception.

As governor, Romney greatly expanded access publicly-financed contraception through his 2006 health care reform law. The state’s Commonwealth Care, established under Romneycare, offers subsidized, low or no-cost insurance to low-income residents and provides primary and preventive care that includes “family planning services” and prescription contraceptives. In 2005, Romney also “signed a bill that could expand the number of people who get family-planning services, including the morning-after pill” and asked the Department of Health and Human Services to require Catholic hospitals to issue the morning after pill to rape victims.

In fact, the Obamacare rule Romney is now characterizing as an affront to religious liberties is very similar to a 2002 state law he tacitly supported. Like more than two dozen states across the country, Massachusetts required insurers that provide outpatient benefits to cover hormone replacement therapy and all FDA-approved contraceptive methods — well before Obamacare became law. The Massachusetts rule exempts “an employer that is a church or qualified church-controlled organization” from the mandate, but prohibits institutions such as hospitals, universities, and nursing homes from denying their employees birth control coverage.

Not just a lie — a hypocritical lie. Par for the course for Mitt Romney, who’s running the most dishonest, pandering campaign I’ve ever witnessed.