From the Greenwald movie website

In 2006, Wal-Mart "had a long-haired employee infiltrate an anti-Wal-Mart group to determine if it planned protests at the company's annual meeting. ... The company also deployed cutting-edge monitoring systems made by a supplier to the Defense Department that allowed it to capture and record the actions of anyone connected to its global computer network." The system "could detect the degree of flesh-tone on a viewed Internet image, and alerted monitors that a vendor sharing Wal-Mart networks was viewing pornography." The giant retailer "also directed its surveillance operations at critical shareholders." These revelations come from internal memos and Bruce Gabbard, a former member of Wal-Mart's "Threat Research and Analysis Group." Gabbard was fired in March 2007, "for unauthorized recording of calls to and from a New York Times reporter and for intercepting pager messages"; his claims have been confirmed. After the revelations surfaced, Wal-Mart "apologized to several shareholder groups that the company had earlier evaluated as potential threats." The retailer has apparently not apologized to Wal-Mart Watch, ACORN, or Up Against the Wal, groups also targeted by Wal-Mart's "threat research" operations.

PR maven Rick Berman, the right-wing lobbyist who has made a lucrative career of starting and managing industry-funded front groups such as Center for Consumer Freedom and ActivistCash.com, gets a CBS 60 Minutes work-up this weekend. A teaser piece on the CBSNews.com website says, this 'Dr. Evil' "doesn't disappear when movie credits roll. He's a constant gadfly to other lobbyists and do-gooders who label him evil for taking money from corporations to fight causes like animal rights, healthy food, labor unions — even Mothers Against Drunk Driving." Berman excels at turning puffy media attention into ever more business from his secret clients in the fast food, booze, tobacco, drug and other industries, providing him with millions of dollars a year to front for their interests.

"The National Institutes of Health has temporarily suspended" the consulting firm Sciences International, which "had been reviewing the health dangers of chemicals for the government while also working for the chemical industry," reports Marla Cone. The evaluation of the firm's work is ongoing, and its $5 million government contract, "which runs through June 2008," remains in force. After Cone's earlier reporting, the NIH asked Sciences International "to conduct its own internal investigation." The self-reporting admitted that Sciences International had been "paid by three industry associations" -- the American Chemistry Council, the United Soybean Board, and "a styrene industry trade group" -- "to perform consulting work on three chemicals that it also reviewed for the government reproductive health center." However, Sciences International claimed that "no conflicts existed that impaired judgments or objectivity," and that employees doing government work "have historically been insulated" from industry contracts. The director of the Environmental Working Group, among others, expressed skepticism and called for "an independent investigation."

A white-tailed prairie dog, one of the species that Julie MacDonald fought to unprotect

A newly-released report by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Interior details harassment of government scientists by Julie MacDonald, who was appointed by President Bush as Assistant Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. MacDonald, a former hydraulics engineer with no educational background in biology or other natural sciences, "has been heavily involved with editing, commenting on, and reshaping the Endangered Species Programs' scientific reports from the field." The report cites a former director of the Endangered Species Program who says her activities included "often intimidating and bullying" field staff "into producing documents that had the desired effect ... to minimize the Endangered Species Act as much as possible or ensnare it in court litigation.” MacDonald also violated federal rules by sending confidential internal government documents to industry lobbyists with the right-wing Pacific Legal Foundation and other opponents of the Endangered Species Act. Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus notes that MacDonald is one of many examples of what she calls "fox-in-the-henhouse government."

PBS journalist Mark Glaser has written a laudatory article featuring the Sunlight Foundation, which cosponsors our own Congresspedia project on SourceWatch, along with numerous other citizen journalism projects such as their exposing earmarks campaign. Glaser calls Sunlight a "shining example of independent citizen action ... The group has had far-reaching success not only in making Congress more accountable to the people they are supposed to serve, but also in creating bi-partisan fervor in the blogosphere for reform on Capitol Hill. Though the Foundation’s grants and projects, average citizens have been given the tools and resources to make a difference."