Free Republic

AT&T's top lobbyist, Jim Cicconi, sent a letter to all of the telecom giant's 300,000 employees on Sunday, urging them to express their concerns over a net neutrality proposal under consideration by the Federal Communications Commission. Check out his letter and comments on the Actuarian Outpost Web site. The letter was the latest move in a lobbying frenzy days before the FCC votes on a proposal to create new net neutrality regulations. High-tech giants wrote to the agency to support the rules, while dozens of lawmakers from both parties have protested the rules as potentially dangerout to economic growth. "We...

Advocates of imposing "network neutrality" say it's necessary to ensure a "free" and "open" Internet and rescue the public from nefarious corporations that "control" technology. Few proposals in Washington have been sold employing such deceptive language -- and that's saying something. But few public policy ideas can boast the unashamedly socialist pedigree of net neutrality. The modern Internet is a creation of the free market, which has brought about a revolution in communication, free speech, education, and commerce. New Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski apparently doesn't like that. He stated last month the way Internet service providers manage their...

An AT&T executive has asked employees to post opposition to net neutrality rules being considered by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on an FCC Web site using their personal e-mail addresses, prompting accusations of unfair advocacy by an opposing group. The AT&T letter, sent this week by Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs, asks employees to go to OpenInternet.gov and use a personal e-mail address to join the discussion forum there. The letter then gives five talking points that AT&T employees can use to argue against net neutrality in the days leading up to Thursday’s...

Extreme anti-choice groups including Operation Rescue just launched a new attack on personal rights. The groups are encouraging people to display their photos online with a sign stating that they are the "majority" who oppose federal funding for reproductive health care. The problem is, it's a lie. The groups are touting data from a year-old poll of only 2,481 voters that had a two percent margin of error. Since when did so few people represent the "majority" of the 3 million American citizens today? Almost more outrageous is the question this poll was based on. Respondents were asked, "President-elect Obama...

Politics: The administration stages a photo-op with handpicked doctors who support its health care reform. Fortunately, most doctors still believe that the first rule of medicine is to do no harm. It would seem some doctors still make house calls. Some 150 of them made one at the White House Monday in an attempt to give a booster shot to the administration's chaotic and stalled health care reform drive. Rather than a grass-roots uprising of physicians, this was a classic case of AstroTurfing. Attendance was by invitation only, and 40 of the 150 were said to be members of Doctors...

I walked by a bunch of Liberals today in San Francsico who work for Healthcare for America Now who were also pushing Gavin Newsom for Governor of CA. The keep parroting the Democratic party line of "big insurance" keeps us all from free healthcare...greedy CEOs... Who funds these people? Has anyone heard of them?

The Dems, with help from MoveOn.org (seriously, move on already) and ACORN plan to mobilize on health care this week. How's this for a "grass roots" effort? The plan for a series of grass-roots demonstrations Tuesday to promote President Obama's health care agenda calls for tightly scripted events.. Health Care for America Now (HCAN), which is backed by a coalition of labor unions and liberal groups including ACORN and MoveOn.org, organized the protests to target insurance companies and drafted the plan, which describes the demonstrations as part of its "insurance enemies project." The document, a copy of which was obtained...

At high noon on one of the hottest days of the summer, a small group of senior citizens sweated it out in front of state GOP headquarters in Raleigh, N.C., asking the Republican Party to stop using what they called "scare tactics" to turn senior citizens against overhauling the health care system. It could be the start of a silver backlash against what some say is a misinformation campaign about health care reform. The members of the Alliance for Retired Americans were angry about a recent column by national GOP Chairman Michael Steele, who said health care reform would lead...

NY Congressman Tim Bishop tried to pack his town hall with unions on the ‘take’ for nationalized healthcare. The people of his district erupt in open rebellion when one of the union goons tries to speak! Union members, many from outside the district, were snuck into the hall beforehand in an effort to stack the deck with a friendly audience. The last straw came when one of the union leaders from outside the district was asked to speak. The citizens erupted in open revolt which almost led to violence from the union goons.

A local union leader was booed out of Rep. Tim Bishop's town hall meeting last night in New York.Like they tried to do here in St. Louis, union members, many from outside the district, were snuck into the hall in an effort to stack the deck with a friendly audience. There are reports that as many as three busloads were brought in.Things boiled over when Mr. Mitchell, head of the Long Island Federation of Labor, steps up to the podium and announces that he in fact does not reside within the borders of NY's First Congressional District.

More than 900 residents met U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop's promise to approve only a health care bill that "improves on a status quo that is unacceptable" with a mix of cheers and boos at a packed town hall meeting in Farmingville Thursday night.

Via Gateway Pundit, although I’m certain there’s an alternative explanation. Maybe the leader of the Long Island Federation of Labor couldn’t make it to the town-hall forum in his own district, or perhaps his Representative was busy hiding, like many House Democrats this August. His attempt to pander to the actual constituents of Rep. Tim Bishop results in catcalls and a full minute of disruption. Jim also reports that the Magical Mystery Bus Tour continued for this meeting, with unions sending three busloads of people to the event. Even so, the angry constituents shout them down fairly effectively … or...

After enraged constituents started showing up at Congressional town-hall forums to oppose ObamaCare, the unions acted quickly to counterdemonstrate on behalf of the Democratic agenda item. In at least one case, union representatives used violence to intimidate and harrass ObamaCare opponents. The same union, which represents a large percentage of government workers and would be presumably immune from any health-care reform action, issued memos demanding volunteers to “drown out” opposition to ObamaCare. But why? This report from the Detroit Free Press explains that the unions....

...by stacking the deck in their favor, encouraging members (Obamabots) to come early, per this e-mail I received today from Brandyn Keating, Virginia State Director of the DNC front group "Astroturfing for Obama" (aka Organizing for America). "I wanted to send you an urgent invitation to an important town hall with Rep. Jim Moran this Tuesday, August 25th.He'll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback. Whether you ask a question or show your support with a sign, attending this town hall is a powerful way to show where you stand and thank those in Congress who are fighting for reform....

The national healthcare movement was doomed from the start. TV clips of shouting matches at town halls and fear-mongering by cynical politicians may be lamentable, but we are witnessing something more profound than the collapse of civic discourse. The failure of a movement that could rightly claim over 70 percent public acceptance just a month ago, exposes the inherent failure of movements of any kind to effectively address our society’s ills. That’s right. Mass organization may just have been a twentieth century thing: collective actions of all sorts—good and bad—were responses to the corporatization of government and industy. As such,...

In town hall meetings billed as opportunities for Americans to ask health care questions of an "open" and "transparent" administration, the White House may be selecting President Obama's own supporters to ask non-compromising questions. The White House insists that attendees are selected at random, but a closer look reveals many questioners range from Obama campaign donors and Organizing for America volunteers to single-payer health care lobbyists and Service Employees International Union members. Medicare backer and a 6th grader The blogosphere is still on fire with stories about possible "plants" at an Aug. 11 Portsmouth, N.H., health care town hall. An...

Will media that savaged Joe the plumber now go after the fake doctor? When regular citizen "Joe the Plumber" asked an innocent, heartfelt, but challenging question of presidential candidate Barack Obama last year, he ended up getting skewered by the "mainstream" media. Every detail of his past was looked at for possible motives and nefarious associations. Democratic state officials in Ohio even thumbed through his records illegally to find dirt on him. That somehow doesn't happen with liberals. A woman at Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee's town hall meeting in Texas recently claimed to be a pediatrician and stood up to...

On Monday, President Obama will be coming to speak in Phoenix. Special interests are attacking the President and his principles for health insurance reform, and we need to show that the American people are standing up for change. So we're inviting supporters like you to gather nearby to publicly show our support. Please join us -- here are the details: What: Show of support for President Obama Where: Northeast corner of Washington Ave. & Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85003 When: Monday, August 17th 7:00 a.m. Last fall, when Swiftboaters and special interests attacked President Obama, folks like you came to...

Patterico and Lone Star Times capture yet another banner moment from a town-hall forum hosted by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) . In this clip, Roxana Mayer introduces herself as a doctor (a general practitioner for four years) in order to support ObamaCare and Jackson-Lee in a fairly hostile crowd. For her efforts, she gets a big hug from the Congresswoman, an image which the Houston Chronicle featured prominently on their website coverage of the event. But was Mayer really a doctor? Not only was Mayer not a doctor, Roxana Mayer was an Obama delegate, as Patterico discovered with some digging....

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said today she does not know the woman who falsely claimed to be a physician when she made a statement supporting the White House's health care overhaul at the congresswoman's town hall meeting Tuesday. The woman, a University of Houston student named Roxana Mayer, is not a licensed physician, although she called herself one at the meeting and was incorrectly identified as such in Wednesday's editions of the Chronicle. In an e-mail to the Chronicle today, Mayer said she'd been advised not to talk further about the matter, but did not say who counseled her....

Plant at now infamous town hall where Sheila Jackson Lee answered her phone claimed to be a doctor... but she lied... she isn't Houston Chronicle DID zero homework. Also, falsely representing yourself as a physician may be illegal under TX law (still developing). more at link

Taking Rep. Lee's (D-TX) track record into account, and knowing her fondness for all things Obama, I would say that it's a pretty fair assumption that she did. Thanks to Patterico's Pontifications and Lone Star Times we have the video clip and story of Roxanna Mayer at a town hall meeting, hosted by Rep. Lee, introducing herself as a doctor (general practitioner) of four years. Turns out that she's not a doctor (nor a Sheila Jackson Lee constituent) at all, but an Obama delegate.

I was reading the Chron’s piece about Sheila Jackson Lee’s town hall, when something caught my eye: One supporter, Dr. Roxana Mayer, a physician who does not live in Jackson Lee’s district, praised the reform plan for overhauling a broken system. “I don’t know what there is in the bill that creates such panic,” she said. In this video, Mayer claims to be a general practitioner, eliciting applause and even a hug from Queen Sheila: I’m not sure why, but something didn’t smell right. So my colleagues and I did a little digging, and wouldn’t you know it? Roxana Mayer...

A new coalition on Thursday is launching $12 million in television ads to support President Barack Obama’s health-reform plan, in the opening wave of a planned tens of millions of dollars this fall. The new group, funded largely by the pharmaceutical industry, is called Americans for Stable Quality Care. It includes some odd bedfellows: the American Medical Association, FamiliesUSA, the Federation of American Hospitals, PhRMA and SEIU, the service employees’ union. The ads start airing at about 11 a.m. ET Thursday. The group is likely to be the biggest spender in support of health reform. The campaign will serve as...

Facing a barrage of questions Wednesday over the friendliness of the audience at President Obama's New Hampshire town hall meeting, the White House insisted that all questions were selected at random -- including one from an 11-year-old girl whose mother worked as an Obama organizer. Julia Hall of Malden, Mass., grabbed the microphone Tuesday during Obama's town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., and told the president she saw signs "outside saying mean things about reforming health care" as she walked into the building.

Since at least May, this newspaper has received suspiciously uniform letters to the editor expressing support for Democratic health care reform plans. The letters come in the same format, use the same talking points and often contain the exact same language. We have found that they came (and are still coming) from Organizing for America. That's President Obama's own campaign organization. Its Web site is www.barackobama.com. That's interesting because last week White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed thousands of Americans who have protested against Democratic health care plans. He said these citizens displayed "manufactured anger," and he warned of...

Here is video of a man telling Neil Cavuto yesterday that a person at Democrat John Dingell's recent Town Hall Meeting in Michigan seen carrying an "Obama as Hitler" sign was also seen after the event outside handing out Dingell literature. The man said, "it appears he was part of the Dingell operation to start with." It has become a fashionable Democrat talking point this week to say the anti-ObamaCare protesters showing up at events are carrying "Swastikas" or that they are "Nazis." . . . . . (Watch Video)

If you haven't already heard the news about Obama's townhall yesterday and his assertion that he doesn't want anyone thinking he has a bunch of plants in the audience: [VIDEO AT SITE] But then cute little Julia stands up.....awwww, how cute. Ain't she darling? She asked a question about those big meanies who say mean things about ObamaCare and how do kids know what to believe which of course allowed Obama to seguewa to the fearmongering. But: Julia’s mother was an early Obama supporter in Massachusetts during the presidential election, so she had previously met First Lady Michelle Obama, the...

Republican strategists and their media rabble-rousers cleverly thought they could dispatch their shock troops this month and kill health reform once and for all. Instead, they're on the verge of generating what they've been desperate to avoid -- an urgent, national, rational conversation on how to make the health-care system fairer and more affordable. To be sure, many details of health reform are still to be ironed out. But in the end, what is likely to emerge from this conversation is a health system that looks more like what President Obama has in mind than what Republicans have been peddling...

PORTSMOUTH — Having spent four years living with England's government-run health care system, longtime Republican Dave Best says he isn't sold on President Barack Obama's plan for reform. However, he's willing to listen. Best, 57, of Bow was among the hundreds who traveled to Portsmouth High School on Monday to pick up their tickets for today's "Town Hall" forum, where Obama will pitch his plan during a visit to the Port City. Organizers are expecting large crowds both inside and outside the high school, which will play host to a national debate that has some pushing for reform and many...

Any FReepers attending today that can check in and give us on-site info? C-Span will be broadcasting but no link available yet...I have a feeling that this may be one for the history books! Sounds like a lot of folks are already there protesting for both sides from the tidbits FOX is showing! Prayers going up for everyone to be safe, especially from the SEIU union goons!

Anyone even know where you go to register for an Obama Town Hall?

Today's New Hampshire town hall was billed as a real one. The President was going to take questions from everyone, both pro and con. Asked about the town hall, White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said today that there will be about 1,800 people in the audience, including members of the general public and those who received tickets through members of Congress... "We expect that there will be a vigorous debate, as there have been at plenty of town halls that President Obama has had as president and as candidate, and we look forward to it," Burton told reporters...

This was the biggest 30 minutes of complete propaganda known to man, how bout that first question from the girl? Those mean signs outside? good grief....

Here is video today of Fox News breaking away from President Obama's Town Hall Meeting in New Hampshire, and saying it appeared the crowd assembled was more of a "campaign stop." The fox analyst said it is clear the atmosphere was very "friendly," and that it had been prepared by staff that way. Fox carried the President's opening statement and the first few questions, all of which were total "softballs," including one from what looked like a nine year old girl. . . . . (Watch Video)

LAST week on Long Island, opponents of the Democrats' government-take over health-care legislation outnumbered Obama supporters 10 to one. The ObamaCare foes toted American flags and signs that read "We Can't Afford Free Health Care" -- prompting one foe to stalk into the peaceful crowd, gesticulate wildly and shout unintelligible threats at the top of his lungs. These protests are an outgrowth of the broad Tea Party movement -- the coalition of fiscal conservatives and independents that caught fire after the Democrat majority rammed through the stimulus. The same Democratic Masters of Astroturf who encouraged their followers to use "in-your-face"...

These town hall protests against ObamaCare are truly the product of a vast right wing astroturfing conspiracy. And they are racist to the core as well. It is indeed common knowledge that if you oppose Obama's policies that you are a racist, but you are now part of the vast right wing astroturfing conspiracy as well. The word is out. Who exposed this "vast right wing astroturfing conspiracy?" Why, Dick Turban, Nancy Pelousy, and the State Run Media of course! You see, when liberals come together to fight for what they believe in it can't possibly be anything other than...

In eight years of writing about politics, nothing gets people angrier than when I try to make the case that most activists and most journalists practice politics differently, have different worldviews, and are both forces for good in the democracy. 3....2.... It is easy and comfortable to assume that because you've discovered the presence of Astroturf activism, there is no there there, or there is nothing that sustains or nourishes the Astroturfing. The point is not to question whether conservatives are artificially magnifying their voices -- yes of course they are, predictably and not in secret -- it's that real...

Drudge has a link to prove Obama is "Astroturfing" healthcare. It amazes me that Zero often has to pay people to support him.

If you believe the White House, there are 30 million Americans who support a government health care takeover. But if you look at the funding behind the Obamacare Astroturf campaign, it’s the same few Leftist billionaires, union bosses, and partisan community organizers pushing the socialized medicine agenda. Let’s connect the dots

So I am in an online discussion with a couple of Canadians about health care. They maintain that their's is cheaper (they say their taxes are fairly comprable to ours) and that American health care is considered the worst system in the world and that very few Canadians actually seek treatment in America. They say we pay too much and that conservatives are just fear mongering when it comes to how bad Canadian health care is. Help me out here please.

As the 110th Congress nears its close, the impact of a record-breaking campaign of obstruction by a conservative minority in the Senate is now more clear than ever. The right-wing strategy of "block and blame" has driven the public perception of a "do-nothing Congress." In reality, the 110th Congress would have achieved truly landmark accomplishments—including safely bringing the troops home from Iraq, reducing America's dependence on foreign oil and its contribution to global warming, and funding long-neglected domestic priorities—had it not been for conservative obstruction. As the 110th Congress nears its close, the impact of a record-breaking campaign of obstruction...

When someone tries to promote a fraudulent public image, the best way to counter the forged image is to see how the forgery is constructed. Astroturfing is a David Axelrod specialty. He is seeking to use the methodology to promote his fraudulent affirmative action candidate for president. It is a purposed deceit. From wikipedia: DEFINITION = Astroturfing in American English is a neologism for formal public relations campaigns in politics and advertising which seek to create the impression of being spontaneous "grassroots" behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, The goal of such a campaign is to disguise the...

LAKEVILLE, Minn. - The anger is getting raw at Republican rallies and John McCain is acting to tamp it down. McCain was booed by his own supporters Friday when, in an abrupt switch from raising questions about Barack Obama's character, he described the Democrat as a "decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States." A sense of grievance spilling into rage has gripped some GOP events this week as McCain supporters see his presidential campaign lag against Obama. Some in the audience are making it personal, against the...

This reader out-Andies Andy: Well I have gone outside and pulled up my Mcain/Palin sign. This election is over. I will vote for Mcain but I know that come Nov. 5 Obama will be our president-elect. I feel sorry for Sarah Palin. A once promising career will be permanently connected to the landside loss of John McCain. I weep for my children and their families. Steady on. This next month is going to be a long month. Lots of things will happen. But McCain has to make some of them happen. His charge that Obama doesn't know the difference between...

A group of Christian supporters of Barack Obama – who has a 100 percent pro-abortion Senate voting record – have created a website touting the Democratic presidential candidate as the most pro-life choice in November's election. The Pro-Life Pro-Obama website argues that Obama's economic and health care plans and support of programs for the poor will do more for reducing abortions in the U.S. than the positions of his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.

The media love covering grassroots attacks on major political candidates. The attacks signal a large base of Americans disturbed by a particular candidate or issue. When those grassroots attacks are manufactured by public relations firms, they aren’t real: they’re astroturfed -- fake attacks designed to look like a grassroots movement. David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s chief strategist, is a master of astroturf campaigns. It should come as no surprise then that Axelrod and the Obama campaign appear to be behind anonymous attacks against Sarah Palin surfacing on the internet. The attacks on Palin started online shortly after McCain named her his...

HERE IS THE ORIGINAL FR STORY OF THE SMEAR ON SARAH PALIN WATCH THE COMMERCIAL ON THIS PAGE FROM MYPETJAWA WEBSITE OF VICKI KAYWOOD - listen to her 1-min commercial From THIS SOURCE I found some of the female voice over talent in the Chicago area. The Talent Speaks By Milt Smith The column for this Issue ought to be bannered "Sounds Good To You" because we're going to be talking about and to six of the premier voice talent artist in the Chicago area who, together, represent over 100 year of 'voice work experience~ I'm going to shut...

On to the propaganda piece statement: Statement of Ethan Winner The following is in response to questions I have received regarding the post on the Jawa Report website. I produced and posted on the Internet the video entitled "Sarah Palin: A Heartbeat Away." The idea for the video was mine. No one paid me to produce it. The only out-of-pocket cost will be the fee for the voice-over narrator, which I will pay personally when I receive an invoice. Contrary to the allegation in the Jawa Report, the voice-over artist has never done any work for the Obama campaign. I...

Ethan Winner, an executive with a Public Relations firm connected to a senior Obama campaign advisor has admitted to distributing a video designed to smear Republican Vice Presidential nominee Governor Sarah Palin. An investigation has shown that David Axelrod, chief media advisor to Obama had previously worked with the PR firm chief Chuck Winner on another campaign.In 1996, a group of investors penned Proposal E in Detroit which allowed for casinos. The investors hired the firm Winner/Wagner & Mandabach to study the chances of passing that proposal. As told in an article written by Laurence B. Deitch, an attorney for the proposal...