Health care town halls are fast becoming ground zero in the battle over health reform, with attempts to hold a civil discussion sometimes being intentionally disrupted.
Just yesterday HuffPost's Eyes and Ears reporter Denise Dennis attended a health care town hall meeting in Philadelphia where a group of protesters from the Tea Party Patriots movement interrupted the proceedings. Dennis wrote:
A well-organized, belligerent and loud group of right-wingers stood in the aisles and across the back and disrupted the town meeting throughout. They yelled, shouted and jeered, and it was clear that they were not there to participate, but instead to try to disrupt the meeting and make it difficult as possible for anyone else to ask questions.
Sunday's health care town hall was only one of over a hundred that will take place across the US in the weeks to come, and conservative protesters with ties to the Tax Day Tea Parties plan to disrupt many of them. To help us cover these important conversations and the efforts of those who wish to stifle dialogue, we need your help. We're looking for more Denise Dennises to report on their local town hall meetings on health care, whether it's by videotaping the event, writing an article, or sharing photos.
Sign up to report on the town hall meeting nearest you by clicking "Join Now" at the bottom of the page and we'll follow up with further instructions.
While recording the confrontation between protesters and the town hall moderators will be exciting, we also stress that citizen journalists should report on the substance of the policy debate since conversations held around the country this month could determine our health care system for decades to come.
The map below shows many of the town hall meetings planned for the next month, though it is not exhaustive. If you know of one that we've missed, just press "Participate" and add it to the map.
Here is a list of additional events in Arizona.