The King of "Astroturf Advocacy" has lots of Corporate Money to poison real Grass Roots efforts!

Astroturf Advocacy groups are Corporate Fascism's answer to Grass Roots movements. While there are now fake advocacy groups in all facets of the political spectrum, the most dangerous by far are those that are over-fed by corporations who have learned to BUY favorable legislation, lax regulation and misplaced public approval.

CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) has done a bang up job of pursuing and exposing Richard Berman, one of the "Kings" of colorfully-painted corporate images but there is an added danger to his handiwork. They look like responsible consumer action groups who have the best interests of the public at heart.

These carefully-scripted and factually-challenged pseudo-grassroots organizations are really just another way powerful, moneyed interests paint pictures of themselves as kinder and gentler "movements". In reality, they are clever manipulators of public opinion who express and promote their elitist agendas by morphing into "organizations". Of course, they are not really organizations in the true sense of public groundswells but rather are defense mechanisms for corporations and trades. Their sole purpose is to protect the status quo and usually at the expense of honesty and prevailing public opinion.

Look at how CREW has exposed the power behind the promotion.

Also take the time to carefully look at the imagination used in naming all the corporate propaganda "organizations". It seems incredible that these deceptive names should be given "tax exempt" status but free speech does trump the idea of censorship. We should, however, know about and spread the word about these fake citizen advocacy sites

At the very least, there should be disclaimers and published information about the backers that accompany any descriptions of those "organizations". In other words, people should be told about entities like Fishscam.com and mercuryfacts.org that put out misleading information about mercury levels in fish. They should be warned of the Employment Policies Institute that fights any initiatives for higher minimum wages for workers. The individual backers of these sites should be listed in bold print on the HOMEPAGE.

Here is the CREW website page that shows how Berman and his team "cross over" and do the media contact and PR jobs for so many of these "front" organizations. It's like a "Puppy Mill" only they breed corporate manipulation.

How about the Center for Consumer Freedom? Hey, we ought to be able to buy flammable pajamas for our kids if we want to! Right? And no one should tell us if McDonald's fries are the most grease-laden in the fast food industry! Right?

Even the Berman site on lawsuits is comical. I mean why is it that some overpaid plaintiff attorney can deprive me of the right to kill my whole family with smoke inhalation when I want to fall asleep on a foam sofa cushion with a cigaret? It's like Berman is paid to make people think they should have the right to buy defective products that could maim or kill them if they really wanted to do so.

Check out these pages:

http://bermanexposed.org/facts

http://bermanexposed.org/associates

CREW Homepage:

http://www.citizensforethics.org/ (they are equal opportunity trackers of Congressional abuse - John Murtha is on their hit list, too.)