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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: AstroTurf

AstroTurf stories: 5 news summaries
ANALYSIS

Insurer Urges Employees to Protest Health Care Reform

UnitedHealth Group lays down AstroTurf

Aug 19, 09 3:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s second-biggest health insurance firm, has been encouraging employees to attend events protesting health-care reform, Talking Points Memo reports. In a clear-cut example of “Astroturf”—fake grassroots action—a memo to employees urges them to call an “advocacy specialist” who can provide talking... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health insurance • protests • grassroots • health care reform • UnitedHealth • political protest • Talking Points Memo • AstroTurf • tea parties • America's Independent Party

(Newser) - The mob-like scenes at recent town halls are "something new and ugly," writes Paul Krugman, who notes that 2005's protests against Social Security privatization never saw baying crowds and congressmen hanged in effigy. The New York Times columnist is unconvinced that the mobs are in the pay... More »

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health care • Barack Obama • Medicare • health care reform • Paul Krugman • town hall meeting • racial tension • AstroTurf • birther

 Turf-Makers Sued Over Lead 

As fake grass ages, toxin levels 20 times legal limit

Sep 4, 08 12:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - California has sued three top turf-makers, claiming they are deliberately hiding the fact that their products contain lead, the Los Angeles Times reports. State law requires labeling of products containing the metal, which gives a "natural" green color to fake grass. Lead can cause cancer, birth defects, and... More »

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cancer • California • health • lead poisoning • lead • consumer advocacy • AstroTurf • birth defect

 Celebs Face Off in
 Green Arms Race 

Bill Nye, Ed Begley compete for smallest carbon footprint in Calif. neighborhood

Jul 10, 08 2:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - It could only happen in California—a pair of celebrity neighbors, actor Ed Begley Jr. and "Science Guy" Bill Nye, are involved in a contest of environmental one-upsmanship, the AP reports. Since Nye moved onto Begley’s block in Studio City 2 years ago, the two have been competing... More »

MORE ABOUT:
California • carbon footprint • environmentalism • green technology • solar panel • pesticide • AstroTurf • Ed Begley Jr. • Bill Nye

Site's Grass Roots Planted in Right-Wing 'AstroTurf'

Backed by big names, money, AngryRenter.com poses as underdog foe of mortgage fix

May 16, 08 3:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - AngryRenter.com might look “underdoggy and grass-rootsy, with a heavy dose of aw-shucks innocence,” the Wall Street Journal reports, but the anti-mortgage bailout website is actually the work of publisher Steve Forbes, former House majority leader Dick Armey and other Republican bigwigs. It’s a paragon of “... More »

MORE ABOUT:
subprime crisis • bailout • AstroTurf • Dick Armey • Steve Forbes

5 Stories


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