“Wal-Mart Stores” on The Daily Caller

The inevitable pictures of pelicans covered in oil finally surfaced, solidifying this oil spill as the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. We have not seen this many pictures of unintelligent animals covered in oil since the first season of “Jersey Shore.” (more)

As Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has grown into the largest grocery seller in the U.S., similar battles have played out in hundreds of towns like Mundelein. Local activists and union groups have been the public face of much of the resistance. But in scores of cases, large supermarket chains including Supervalu Inc., Safeway Inc. and Ahold NV have retained Saint Consulting to block Wal-Mart, according to hundreds of pages of Saint documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and interviews with former employees. (more)

Tomorrow morning, Apple Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs is expected to unveil the next iteration of his company’s hot-selling iPhone at a gathering of Apple software developers in San Jose. (more)

MILLVILLE, N.J. (AP) — A recall of 12 million cadmium-tainted “Shrek” drinking glasses sold by McDonald’s raises questions about the safety of millions of similar cheap promotional products that have been sitting in Americans’ kitchen cabinets for years. (more)

It has become alarmingly apparent that pop culture is more important than substantive news reporting. Infamy, which allows vapid “stars” or dubious “celebrities” to insert themselves into the public discourse, has become commonplace. (more)

SECAUCUS, N.J. — For years, hotels, airlines, banks, online retailers and other data-driven businesses have turned to powerful computers to help determine the optimal price for their products, or to find ways to recommend items that groups of customers with similar tastes might want to buy. (more)

LONDON (AFP) – Supermarket chain Asda said on Thursday that it is to sell cancer drugs at cost-price and called on its peers who make massive profits on the treatments to follow suit. (more)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wal-Mart said Wednesday it is pulling an entire line of Miley Cyrus-brand necklaces and bracelets from its shelves after tests performed for The Associated Press found the jewelry contained high levels of the toxic metal cadmium. (more)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, said Tuesday that its first-quarter profit rose a better-than-expected 10 percent, helped by expense control and gains from Canada to China, offsetting a decline in the U.S. (more)

In the world of education, it was the equivalent of the cool kids’ table in the cafeteria. (more)

Wal-Mart has agreed to hold an unprecedented face-to-face meeting with organized labor in a last-ditch attempt to break the stalemate that has stalled its planned Chicago expansion, City Hall sources said Wednesday. (more)

Unless you want to be in a minority party for the rest of time, you need to start being competitive with voters in the 18-35 age range. Sure, we haven’t been the most prolific voters historically. But things are about to get serious, and if you think we’ll continue to stay at home on Election Day you’re wrong. The good news is that we’re open-minded enough to listen, if you talk the right way. Here’s how:  (more)

From volunteering at a local community hospital in high school to cramming for MCATs to pulling all-nighters in medical school to working 30-hour shifts every fourth night in residency, much of my 26 years has been devoted to medicine. (more)

I hate it when David Brooks writes a column on a subject that I have been researching on and planning to write about for weeks. And he did it to me Friday morning, with a great column about “The Wal-Mart Hippies.” (more)

Congress dragged Toyota to Washington to testify in one of the indignant show trials they so love. I wish they would subpoena themselves and bring Congress before a Senate hearing, under oath and under the hot lights of TV cameras. Then we might get to the roots of most problems in America: too much government intervention, confusing rules, and second-guessing politicians. (more)

Silicon Valley company Bloom Energy revealed its heavily hyped and closely guarded solid oxide fuel cell on Wednesday, heralding the technology as a likely clean-tech game-changer. (more)

1.) American success in global marketplace depends on Obama, says Obama – Pres. Obama is expected to make a case for health care, tighter business regulations, and more government involvement in the economy during a speech today to the Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs from the country’s largest corporations. In classic limousine style, the president dined privately last night with some of those executives (“AT&T, Boeing, GE, JPMorgan, State Farm, and Wal-Mart” according to CBS correspondent Mark Knoller), and perhaps reassured America’s coddled titans that corporate welfare is alive and well under the Chicago crew. Ironically, the president’s speech is likely to bring proponents of regular-person welfare to the brink of rolling-eyed ecstasy, what with its earnest references to “growing prosperity shared widely” and all that. (more)

Color of Change, the grassroots nonprofit founded by former Obama Green Jobs Czar Van Jones in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, appears to be mounting a challenge to the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). The New York Times recently reported the group has used funds from “corporate backers such as Wal-Mart, AT&T, General Motors, Coca-Cola and Altria, the nation’s largest tobacco company” to pay for glitzy CBC events and pay off CBC debts. (more)

Retail king Wal-Mart (WMT: 54.07, n.a., n.a.%) posted a 22% fourth-quarter increase in profits on Thursday but Wall Street fretted about the discounter’s revenue and guidance for the current quarter. (more)

The battle for 2012 began in Arkansas on Tuesday night when Sarah Palin brought her celebrity to an arena filled with state GOP elite and Tea Party commoners who had never attended a political event. (more)