(Editor's note: As we've noted, Josh Fox's documentary, GASLAND, is an Oscar contender this weekend, and the Big Gas industry has been doing everything it can to block this powerful film from winning. Below is the latest in this saga against a film which will open your eyes to the expanded drilling operations and the devastating consequences so far. Josh's film is just a day away from the Oscar ceremony. Visit our water portal page on SourceWatch to find out more about the dangerous practice of horizontal fracturing, "fracking," of the earth with a cocktail of chemicals. Here is a note from Josh on the latest news in the corporate PR spin campaign.)

From Documentary Filmmaker Josh Fox--

Something bizarre just happened at the Wall Street Journal. At 6 p.m. I was reading a home page story on WSJ.com called "Oscar's Attention Irks Gas Industry" by Ben Casselman which contained perhaps the most honest and revealing quote from the gas industry that I have read to date about their obsession with attacking my film GASLAND. The quote reads "We have to stop blaming documentaries and take a look in the mirror," said Matt Pitzarella, a spokesman for gas producer Range Resources Corp. Just thirty minutes later the quote mysteriously disappears, edited out and in its place is a far more typical spin controlled statement from Tom Price of Chesapeake energy saying, "We need to be able to respond objectively and accurately." Sounds like a robot at a PR agency, more than a person.

Madison -- The heat ratcheted up on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker as more questions were raised about the 20-minute phone call from a Buffalo-area alternative news reporter posing as David Koch, a billionaire whose corporate PAC directly supported Walker and who has given millions to groups that have run ads to aid Walker's rise to the state's highest office. (Find a transcript of the call here).

The section of the tape that has come under the most scrutiny involved Walker's comments that he considered planting "troublemakers" into the crowd. People on the ground here in Madison were quite aware that the first five days of protests were packed with children. The Madison school district and many surrounding districts were closed. Thousands of elementary school children and their parents marched at the capitol in support of local teachers. On the first day and second days, thousands of high school students walked out on their classes and headed to the capitol. The atmosphere was festive and fun, popcorn stands on the corner and thousands of homemade signs.

SATURDAY NIGHT ENERGY AT CAMP CAPITOL

11:00 p.m. - Lynn Welch reporting: On the last night the State Capitol will officially be open to the public, those inside describe a festive atmosphere as a larger crowd has gathered. A circle of drummers and dancers engaged a larger group of overnighters with a real "Saturday night energy," described Oma Vic McMurray, a Madison resident staying her second night in the building.