Originally, "astroturf" was coined to describe efforts by some lobbying firms that included sending emails to Congress on pending legislation generated from lists of email addresses without the permission of the owners of those email addresses. Clearly, that is astroturf. For me, what defines astroturf are tactics deliberately used to create the false image of an inflated level of public support. For example, when Leni Riefenstahl marched a column of Nazi troops in a continuous loop through Neuremberg Stadium, around the outside of the stadium, then back through the stadium, while filming just the troops as they entered (in the classic film Triumph of the Will), she created the false image of an army larger than it actually was. When organizations bus people into townhall meetings from outside a Congressional district to give the Member of Congress the sense that public opinion against health reform within the district is larger than it is in reality, that is astroturf. But organizing a campaign to activate people among the citizenry who believe in a cause is not astroturf. As Mr. Harber says, that is campaigning. If we want to criticize the campaign to mobilize grassroots action against health reform, we are better served to focus not on whether it is astroturf or not, but whether the campaign organizers are using lies to scare the grassroots to take action. The more we get bogged down on debating the use of a metaphor, the less we focus on on the shameful lies being used by the right to attack health reform. We are better off focusing on debunking the lie that health reform will destroy private health care. How can that be true if about 100 million Americans already have government health insurance (Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans, and active duty military all have public insurance), while private health insurers are making ridiculous amounts of money? In fact, the lie that our health care system is great because it is a free market system simply ignores the fact that with 100 million on public insurance already and another 47 million uninsured, private insurance only covers about half of the population. Or how about the lie that health reform will put bureaucrats between patients and doctors? As far as I can tell, currently, insurance company bureaucrats are between me and my doctor. To the extent that health reform legislates that doctors, not bureaucrats make decisions about health care, then health reform is the only way to remove bureaucrats from their current position between patients and doctors. So, rather than waste our time talking about whether or not it is astroturf, let's talk about the issue at hand. Let's talk about facts. Let's expose the lies at the heart of the campaign to derail health reform. It is long overdue.