Now that people are paying attention, the Astroturfers are coming out of the woodwork:

Jan Chen of Seattle writes to the Northwest Asian Weekly (a small Asian paper serving the Seattle area):

As one listens to the Republican anger over health care reform, one can imagine an anti-government protester cheerfully paying premiums on insurance policies that drop you after you make a claim, or happily sauntering out of an emergency room that denied them treatment because of a coverage problem. One can imagine a town hall sign-waver enthusiastically forking over most of their pay to bill collectors after suffering a catastrophic injury, thinking, “Wow, the free market system is great.”

Meanwhile, Gloria Elle writes to the Baltimore Chronicle — on the same page as Mark Spivey and Ellie Light:

As one listens to the Republican anger over health care reform, one can imagine an anti-government protester cheerfully paying premiums on insurance policies that cancel you for making a claim, or happily sauntering out of an emergency room that denied them treatment because of a coverage problem. One can imagine a town-hall sign-waver enthusiastically forking over most of their pay to bill collectors after suffering a catastrophic injury, thinking, “Wow, the free market system is great.”

Jan Chen and Gloria Elle certainly have a similar writing style, don’t they?

To the word. Thanks to liberrocky on Twitter for the find.

[UPDATE: Greg McCoy e-mails to note that Cherry Jimenez of Bloomington had this exact same verbiage -- and much more -- in an essay at the Indiana Daily Student.]

Freepers discovered another one: Janet Leigh. (Cute.) This one is explained here. [UPDATE: To make it clear and explicit, the link shows that the very same pro-Obama letter was written by Janet Leigh to NewburgGraphic.com, and by Earnest Gardner to the Memphis Flyer. She also finds Janet Leigh next to Mark Spivey in the Santa Barbara Independent.]

The story is exploding. There is Astroturf everywhere.

Go find some yourself. Just take phrases from suspicious-looking letters and put the phrases into Google and see what you find. Then report back here.

UPDATE: Liberrocky found another one: Jen Park and Lars Deerman writing the same letter to different publications. Lars Deerman writes to the Deccan Herald:

I hear the Obama Administration talk of getting a health bill passed by compromise.

Maybe the so-called public option can be used as a bargaining chip to bring the Republicans to the table.

So what do the Republicans say? That Obama is not a U.S. citizen, and has no right to be President, that his plans are Socialist and contain death panels.They hope the Obama Presidency fails.

I cannot think of a single nice thing that a Republican Congress member has ever said about Obama or his plans. Not one. Can you? Where does Obama get the idea that Republicans want to work with him? They clearly don’t want to.

Lars Deerman

And Jen Park writes at the Baltimore Chronicle:

I hear the Obama Administration talk of getting a health bill passed by compromise. Maybe the so-called public option can be used as a bargaining chip to bring The Republicans to the table. So what do the Republicans say? That Obama is not a U.S. citizen, and has no right to be President, that his plans are socialist and contain death panels, and that they hope the Obama Presidency fails. I cannot think of a single nice thing that a Republican congressmember has ever said about Obama or his plans. Not a one. Can you? Where does Obama get the idea that Republicans want to work with him? They clearly don’t want to.

This is the very same Baltimore Chronicle page with letters from Ellie Light and Mark Spivey.

Oh — and there’s also one from Lars Deerman.

Can we get a Big Media investigation yet? Anyone want to tell the Baltimore Chronicle that its “representative letters” page is filled with garbage from Astroturfers?

UPDATE x2: Another pairing: Jen Park and John F. Stott.

Jen Park writes in The Source Weekly:

So let’s get this straight. Obama’s predecessor took America to war under false pretense, citing “weapons of mass destruction” that everyone agrees did not exist, and today’s Republicans don’t want Obama addressing children because of “indoctrination?”

Our previous president preached war against Iraq to anyone who would listen, children, adults, young and old, making us partners in his blunder, and the Republicans dare talk of keeping their children safe from Obama’s ideas? What are Obama’s ideas? That the government can be an active partner in change, rather than a nuisance? And this notion is suppose to be bad?

The Republican Party seems determined to be “against” everything Democratic.

[UPDATE: A couple of readers expressed concern that the "Source Weekly" link is setting off anti-virus programs. If you want to go to the link, be warned that it may have malware. Here it is.]

And at our favorite Baltimore Chronicle letters page, John F. Stott writes:

So let’s get this straight. Obama’s predecessor took America to war under false pretense, citing “weapons of mass destruction” that everyone agrees did not exist, and today’s Republicans don’t want Obama addressing children because of “indoctrination?” Our previous president preached war against Iraq to anyone who would listen, children, adults, young and old, making us partners in his blunder, and the Republicans dare talk of keeping their children safe from Obama’s ideas? What are Obama’s ideas? That the government can be an active partner in change, rather than a nuisance. And this notion is suppose to be bad? The Republican Party seems determined to be “against” everything Democratic.

Thanks to Mitchell B.

UPDATE x3: wtfci on Twitter writes:

John Stott, Gloria Elle, and Mark Spivey all have #astroturf published by Buzzflash. Mark Karlin & Associates runs Buzzflash.

(I added the links.)

Mark Karlin & Associates is a Chicago-based public relations firm specializing in “Media Relations,” “Issues Management,” “Strategic Positioning,” “Public Interest PR” and “Advocacy Campaigns.”

For what it’s worth.

UPDATE x4: And still more, courtesy of astute reader James O:

First, we have a letter from Gordon Adams in Connecticut’s Danbury News-Times, [cached version], published on 11/20/2009.

On Saturday, Nov. 7, a bipartisan majority of the House of Representatives made history by passing H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

After nearly a century of false starts, this was the first time a chamber of Congress has ever passed comprehensive health insurance reform. This is a historic accomplishment.

Representatives who voted for this bill deserve thanks for resisting tremendous pressure from the insurance industry lobbyists and standing up for their constituents.

Those who did not vote for the bill have one last opportunity to reconsider and support reform in the upcoming final House vote — and they should do so.

A vote for this bill was a vote to provide secure and stable coverage for Americans with insurance, expand coverage for those who do not have insurance, lower costs for families and businesses, and begin to reduce the deficit.

Adams lists a home town of Newton, CT.

An identical letter appears in Texas’s Baytown Sun, published on 11/10/2009. Author Joe Rodriguez lists a residence of La Porte, TX.

The final three paragraphs of this letter are identical to one published in the Austin-American Statesman by one Robert Stephenson of Austin.

See this search for many, many, many more. [UPDATE: Including Ron Avila in the San Francisco Chronicle; Mary Acosta of Baldwin Park in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune [cached version]; Nancy Speed of Tulsa in the Tulsa World; Sheila Price of Valencia in the Santa Clarita Valley Signal, and Clarence Ndangam of Clarks Summit, PA in The Citizen’s Voice. Interestingly, Mr. Ndangam’s unusual name allows us to learn that such a person really exists, as an Intelius search (no link) reveals.] [UPDATE: Still more: Vernetta Mason in the Suffolk News-Herald; Greg Mitchell of Fort Mitchell, OH in the Cincinnati Enquirer; Ermelinda Giurato of Elk Grove Village, Illinois in Chicago's Daily Herald; J. Scott Piper of Cape Coral, Florida in the Cape Coral Daily Breeze; Robert Vander Molen of Camdenton, Missouri in Missouri's Lake News Online -- and finally, Terri Reese of Vista, CA in the North County Times. (Calling Bradley J. Fikes!)]

If this isn’t an Organizing for America deal, I’ll eat my hat. [Probably something very similar to this Organizing for American letter-writing campaign. H/t: Reader Michele and the blog Because No One Asked.]

[UPDATE: I don't think I should have to eat my hat. Michele at Because No One Asked figured this one out, and it's Astroturfing. But it's not Organizing for America, it's The Democratic Party. Nice job, Michele! This may be worth a separate post. And I will ask Bradley J. Fikes to ask his editors if they're embarrassed at reprinting this talking points nonsense.]

Also, It’s Only Words investigates a letter from a Bambi Lin Litchman in Tacoma, to the Seattle Times — and notices that it is identical to one from a Bambi Lin Litchman in Honolulu, to the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

UPDATE x5: Ellie Light speaks further to the Cleveland Plain Dealer — but does not explain why she lied about where she lives.