Moving on Over to Astroturfing

The following is text from a MoveOn.org asking people to post the Will Ferrell pro-Obama care video on their facebook and twitter statuses. They were even so kind as to tell you exactly what to re-tweet.

I've got one question for you, who are the Astroturfers now?

I have the email if you would like me to forward it to you. I thought text would be more helpful than just screen shots. I took out the name of the original person this was sent to for his privacy.

>>> "Kat Barr, MoveOn.org Political Action" <moveon-help@list.moveon.org> 9/22/2009 5:24 PM >>>

Dear MoveOn member,

Earlier today, we sent you a funny video featuring Will Ferrell talking
about the plight of insurance company executives--the "real" victims in
the health care fight.

The video is catching FIRE! Already over 600,000 people have seen it, and
it's on the verge of going truly viral. Can you help make sure it does by
posting this as your status on Facebook, with a link to the video?

No health insurance company should have to lose one cent of their billions
in profits just because sick Americans need health care. If you agree with
Will Ferrell, please post this as your status for a
day: http://bit.ly/kNKpA

You probably saw a couple weeks ago when a similar--but serious--status
update went viral on Facebook. Let's make it happen again, this time using
the power of snark to continue to spread the word about how crucial health
care reform is.

And watch the video if you haven't yet! It's pretty darn funny, if we do
say so ourselves. ;)

--Kat, Laura, Stephen, Marika, and the rest of the team

P.S. If you're on Twitter, can you tweet this, too?

RT @MoveOn Will Ferrell's sticking up for the "real" victims--the
super-rich health insurance executives: http://bit.ly/sW8uN #sickofit

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 5 million
members--no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny
staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

References

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Why I Marched

Why did I go to the march in Washington?

Someday I am going to have kids and if all these bailouts/health care/stimulus continue to pass they are going to be in debt up to their eyeballs. They are going to ask me why I let this happen and why they can't have the same opportunities I did.


I want to be able to tell my kids that I was fighting for them.



And hopefully, I won't have to answer those questions because I and a couple hundred thousand of my closest friends spoke out to stop the madness and the people in Washington actually listened.


And that is why I marched on 9/12.

Remember.

Take time to remember the lives lost on 9/11, say a prayer for our leaders and thank God for the freedom we have in this country.



And on Saturday we will remember the people we were on 9/12/01.

See you all on the Mall.

Glenn Beck 1, Van Jones 0

Major win for Glenn Beck today. Only about 30 more to go. I am going to put my effort behind getting Mark Lloyd outed next.

If you don't know, Mark Llyod is the FCC Czar and likes to say things like:

"It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies.

"[T]he purpose of free speech is warped to protect global corporations and block rules that would promote democratic governance."

Sounds pretty dangerous to me.

It was a close one between going after Cass Sunstein and Mark Lloyd, but I think Lloyd presents a more present danger at this point. They are going to want to shut down the right (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Malkin, etc) as fast as they can at this point. They are causing major damage. Expect a couple blog posts on Mark Lloyd in the next few days.

I Pledge Allegiance

Now I know that I have been out of school for a little while, but I don't remember the pledge going like that.

Elementary schools are turning into indoctrination camps.

No thanks, I prefer the original version.

El Guacamole de Emily

I have had two avocados sitting on my counter for less than 24 hours, this means I must make guacamole. That's just the way it is:

El Guacamole de Emily

2 avocados
3 Tbsps. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. lime juice
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. chili power
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Hot sauce to taste


Mash it all together to as lumpy or smooth as you like it.

Que Bueno!

I like my fruit as unhealthy as possible...

Mmmm, fresh fruit. The only way fresh fruit is better is doused in sugar and baked with pastry on top.

I have made a lot of cobblers lately using recipes. I decided that I have gotten to the point where I don't need a recipe anymore because it is pretty much impossible to screw it up.

I started with strawberries, peaches, cherries, and blueberries.



Number One important thing to do when using fruit. Wash it wash it wash it. You don't know what was sprayed on it, who picked it, what kind of truck it came in on, and who handled it at the store before you. A way to solve this is to grow your own fruit, but I live on the 6th floor of an apartment at the moment. Rinse in cold water and move fruit around. Let drain. Play with Daphne while fruit is draining... if you have a Daphne. Or just continue to next step.

The Blueberries
First, preparing the blueberries: do nothing to them, throw them in a bowl and move on to strawberries.

The Strawberries
Chop the tops off all the strawberries and any discolored spots.
Chop them up into whatever size you want, I made my pieces about the same size as the blueberries. Then throw them in with the blueberries and move onto the peaches.


The Peaches
Peaches can be a pain to peel. So I have a solution, don't. I flash boil peaches when I want to peel them. Bring a pot of water to a boil, lower the peach in the water for 10-20 seconds. Then transfer to ice water. Sometimes the skin will split on its own, other times you need to lance it with a paring knife. Either way, the skin should peel off easily, meaning you save the fruit that you usually cut off when peeling and the hassle of peeling fruit in the first place. De-pit the peach and chop the pieces up. Put the pieces in the bowl of blueberries and strawberries.



The Cherries
Cherries are by far the messiest. (Note to self, buy a cherry pitter) De-pit all the cherries. I just ran a knife around the edges and pulled the pit out. I left the cherries in halves, mostly because it already looked like I had slit my wrists by the time I was done taking out the pits. Put the cherries in the bowl with all the other fruit. Now you are a ready to make the syrup for all the fruit.




The Filling
I have found the cornstarch and sugar are the best things to use to create the syrup that makes cobbler so good. I have about 6 cups of fruit, so I used 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and a 1/2 cup of sugar. Mix it all together and the cornstarch and the sugar absorb the liquid making the juice. It will be runny right now, but after it bakes, it will be thicker and darker.

Transfer the fruit mixture to a greased pan. Any glass pan will work as long as it is deep enough that it won't run over the sides when it starts bubbling in the oven.

Cut up 2 tablespoons of cold butter and dot it all over the top of the fruit. This helps the dough on top cook and just makes it all around healthier...maybe.


The Dough
The dough on the top of cobbler can be made lots of different ways. Some of it is almost like pie crust, others it is more like granola. I like the biscuit type that you drop on top of the fruit. I also like to use cornmeal instead of oatmeal like most recipes.

Mix dry ingredients together:
2/3 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cup cornmeal
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg (if desired, i desired)
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup vegetable oil and add to the dry mixture. Mix it all together until just moistened. If you are using an 8x8 pan, make half of the dough mixture.

Cover the top of the fruit with the dough mixture. If you don't like as much dough on top, feel free to use less. I like lots of dough on the top of my cobbler so I usually try to cover the entire pan.





Baking
Place pan in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or until the top is brown and the fruit is bubbling.

I recommend putting the cobbler on the top rack and placing a baking sheet on the bottom rack. Sometimes cobbler boils over and can make a pretty big mess on the bottom of the oven.

Remove from oven and let it cool a little bit before serving.

Viola!

Share with Daphne and/or husband if desired.