U.S. lawmakers accuse Walmart of tax evasion and money laundering

Jared C. Benedict, Creative Commons

U.S. lawmakers accuse Walmart of tax evasion and money laundering
Aug 16, 2012 | Raw Story / Agence France-Presse

Two US lawmakers probing bribery allegations against Walmart in Mexico say they have documents suggesting the US retail giant may also have engaged in tax evasion and money laundering.

The congressmen, Elijah Cummings and Henry Waxman, made their claim in a letter to Walmart Chief Executive Michael Duke dated Tuesday, urging him to respond to requests for information about allegations that the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

"We have obtained internal company documents, including internal audit reports, from other sources suggesting that Walmart may have had compliance issues relating not only to bribery, but also to 'questionable financial behavior' including tax evasion and money laundering in Mexico," said the letter, dated Tuesday.

Cummings and Waxman gave Walmart until August 28 to answer their call for documents and briefings.

"Although you have stated on multiple occasions that you intend to cooperate with our investigation, you have failed to provide the documents we requested, and you continue to deny us access to key witnesses," they wrote.

Walmart's head office had no immediate comment on the letter.

But its Mexico subsidiary Walmex said in a brief statement that it had no knowledge of any investigation by Mexican authorities into tax evasion and money laundering allegations.

The US congressional investigation is running in parallel to inquiries from the US Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Mexican government.

The scandal broke after the New York Times reported in April that the retail giant's largest non-US subsidiary made illicit payments to win market dominance and tried to cover them up.

During Walmart's rapid expansion of its Mexico operations in the early 2000s, the company allegedly shelled out $24 million in bribes to Mexican officials, according to the newspaper.

Speaking to shareholders in June, Walmart chairman Robson Walton vowed the retailer would not tolerate corrupt acts, promising "a thorough and comprehensive inquiry" into the Mexico accusations and said the company was cooperating with government investigators.

Secrets of the Nomen: The History of Keeping Time

The History of Keeping Time
Aug 16, 2012 | TEDEducation

Neolithic Man: The First Lumberjack?

A polished axe from the PPNB period.

Neolithic Man: The First Lumberjack?
Aug 15, 2012 | Terra Daily

During the Neolithic Age (approximately 10000-6000 BCE), early man evolved from hunter-gatherer to farmer and agriculturalist, living in larger, permanent settlements with a variety of domesticated animals and plant life. This transition brought about significant changes in terms of the economy, architecture, man's relationship to the environment, and more.

Now Dr. Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations has shed new light on this milestone in human evolution, demonstrating a direct connection between the development of an agricultural society and the development of woodworking tools.

"Intensive woodworking and tree-felling was a phenomenon that only appeared with the onset of the major changes in human life, including the transition to agriculture and permanent villages," says Dr. Barkai, whose research was published in the journal PLoS One. Prior to the Neolithic period, there is no evidence of tools that were powerful enough to cut and carve wood, let alone fell trees. But new archaeological evidence suggests that as the Neolithic age progressed, sophisticated carpentry developed alongside agriculture.

Evolution of axes

The use of functional tools in relation to woodworking over the course of the Neolithic period has not been studied in detail until now. Through their work at the archaeological site of Motza, a neighbourhood in the Judean Hills, Dr. Barkai and his fellow researchers, Prof. Rick Yerkes of Ohio State University and Dr. Hamudi Khalaily of the Israel Antiquity Authority, have unearthed evidence that increasing sophistication in terms of carpentry tools corresponds with increased agriculture and permanent settlements.

The early part of the Neolithic age is divided into two distinct eras - Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB). Agriculture and domesticated plants and animals appear only in PPNB, so the transition between these two periods is a watershed moment in human history. And these changes can be tracked in the woodworking tools which belong to each period, says Dr. Barkai.

Within PPNA, humans remained gatherers but lived in more permanent settlements for the first time, he says. Axes associated with this period are small and delicate, used for light carpentry but not suited for felling trees or other massive woodworking tasks. In PPNB, the tools have evolved to much larger and heavier axes, formed by a technique called polishing. The researchers' in-depth analysis of these tools shows that they were used to cut down trees and complete various building projects.

"We can document step by step the transition from the absence of woodworking tools, to delicate woodworking tools, to heavier woodworking tools," Dr. Barkai says, and this follows the "actual transition from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture." He also identifies a trial-and-error phase during which humans tried to create an axe strong enough to undertake larger woodworking tasks. Eventually, they succeeded in creating a massive ground stone axe in PPNB.

Home makeover

Whether the transition to an agricultural society led to the development of major carpentry tools or vice versa remains to be determined, says Dr. Barkai, who characterizes it as a "circular argument." Whatever the answer, the parallel changes led to a revolution in lifestyle.

Beyond the change from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural economy, a new form of architecture also emerged. Not only did people begin to live in permanent villages, but the buildings in which they lived literally took a different shape. The round and oval structures of earlier domiciles were replaced by rectangular structures in PPNB, explains Dr. Barkai. "Evidence tells that us that for each home, approximately 10 wooden beams were needed. Prior to this, there were no homes with wooden beams." In addition, humans began to produce limestone-based plaster floors for their homes - which also represented a growing use of wood, since plaster is manufactured by heating limestone.

These architectural developments, along with building pens and fences for domesticated animals, also necessitated the felling of trees in large quantities.

Huge sinkhole causes mass evacuation in Louisiana

Screenshot from YouTube user xViralsx

Huge sinkhole causes mass evacuation in Louisiana
Aug 15, 2012 | RT.com

A potentially explosive and radioactive sinkhole near Assumption Parish, Louisiana has led local authorities to order a mass evacuation.

After the now 400 feet deep hole was discovered on August 3, the mayor of the town ordered between 100 and 150 households to vacate their homes.  The same day, Gov. Bobby Jindal issued a declaration of emergency.

Bubbling water in the sinkhole and in nearby areas, where there has been oil and gas exploration in the past, led authorities to believe that it might have caused the release of radioactive material. While state tests did not detect radiation, a nearby road, Highway 70, was ordered shut after officials discovered the sinkhole caused a 36 inch natural gas pipeline to bend, heightening concerns that explosions might occur. To make the situation even more combustible, the hole neighbors a well containing more than a million gallons of liquid butane, a highly flammable vapor.

Officials hypothesize that the spontaneous depression was caused by the collapse of a defunct cavern owned by Texas Brine Company. On Saturday, the mining outfit agreed to authorities’ demands to offer relief to victims “After Pressure from State and Local Officials,” according to a press release from the Governor’s Office.It also pledged to help investigate the structural integrity of the mine linked to the disaster. Drilling equipment is expected to arrive in the next few days, according to company president Mark Cartwright, and testing is expected to begin soon thereafter. But it might take the company 40 days to get into the cavern.

Residents are infuriated that the situation has put them at risk caused them to uproot temporarily.

“We want to know when we can come home and be safe,” one local woman told Texas Brine officials at a community meeting on Tuesday, according to ABCNews. “Because you all go home after a days work. You're safe, but we're not.”

Nazca Lines: Mysterious Geoglyphs in Peru

The animal mounds were found in a region
famous for a series of ancient geolyphs,
called the Nazca Lines, which are now considered
a World Heritage Site in the Nazca Desert
in southern Peru. Here, Nazca Lines resembling
a humming bird, as viewed from a plane.
CREDIT: tr3gin | Shutterstock

Nazca Lines: Mysterious Geoglyphs in Peru
Aug 14, 2012 | Owen Jaris

The Nazca (also spelled Nasca) Lines are geoglyphs located in an arid coastal area of Peru that cover an estimated 170 square miles (450 square kilometers).

Scratched on the ground, they number in the thousands and depict creatures from both the natural world and the human imagination. They include animals such as the spider, hummingbird, monkey, lizard, pelican and even a killer whale. Also depicted are plants, trees, flowers and oddly shaped fantastic figures. Also illustrated are geometric motifs such as wavy lines, triangles, spirals and rectangles.

How old are they?

The vast majority of the lines date from 200 BC to 500 AD, to a time when a people referred to as the Nazca inhabited the region. The earliest lines, created with piled up stones, date as far back as 500 BC.

Who made them?

The Nazca people were an ancient prehistoric culture that was successful in using engineering techniques to bring underground water to the surface for irrigation. Some of the theories regarding the purpose of the lines connect them to this need for water.

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One of their largest settlements is Cahuachi, a place of ceremony that overlooks some of the lines. It contains more than 40 mounds, including pyramids made of adobe.

When were they “discovered”?

Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe was the first to study and report the Nazca Lines in detail after coming across them, on foot, in 1927. In the 1930s as air traffic in the area increased, the lines became better known, eventually attracting a steady stream of tourists.

It’s often stated that the lines can only be seen from the air; however, this is a myth. A 2007 study that looked at 1,500 drawings in the Palpa region found that “each and every geoglyph” can be spotted from the ground.

Theories and significance

The purpose of the lines continues to elude researchers and remains a matter of conjecture. Ancient Nazca culture was prehistoric, which means they left no written records.

One idea is that they are linked to the heavens with some of the lines representing constellations in the night sky. Another idea is that the lines play a role in pilgrimage, with one walking across them to reach a sacred place such as Cahuachi and its adobe pyramids. Yet another idea is that the lines are connected with water, something vital to life yet hard to get in the desert, and may have played a part in water-based rituals.

In the absence of a firm archaeological conclusion a number of fringe theories have popped up, such as the idea that the Nazca people used balloons to observe the lines from up high, something which there is no archaeological evidence for.

— Owen Jarus

The Groundwater Footprint: Over-Population Threatens Water Resources

The Groundwater Footprint: Over-Population Threatens Water Resources
Aug 14, 2012 | Susanne Posel

A study published by McGill University in Montreal and Utrecht University in the Netherlands, analyzed data from global ground water use against computer generated models of underwater aquifers and concluded that the “groundwater footprint” of reliable resources above ground is 3.5 times larger than the known aquifers.

UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Council of the International Hydrological Program (HIP) estimates that there is 366 million, trillion gallon of water on Earth.

The IPCC document HS 15332 Climate Change Impacts: Securitization of Water, Food, Soil, Health, Energy and Migration explains how the UN plans to secure resources to use at their disposal. Through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under-developed countries are forced to sell their resources to the global Elite as “full cost recovery” to the global central bankers. Once those resources are under the complete control of the IMF they become assets to be reallocated back to the enslaved nations for a price.

This scheme makes water sources under central privatization cost more and become less accessible to those who desperately need it. Water prices rise while the quality of it diminishes. This forces natives in places like South Africa and India to collect water from polluted streams and rivers, which compromises their health. The cycle in complete when those who had their water stolen from them through coercion die from contaminated water that they were forced to use.

With over-population factored into the algorithms, underground water reserves and their native ecosystems are under the growing threat of human necessity.

Geophysicists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research states that only 282 billion people could be “packed onto the planet”. With the current number at nearly 9 billion, alarmists are pointing out that water will become a highly sought after commodity.

As exampled in South-east Asia, because of the 1.7 billion people using water reserves, the “sobering” fact concluded is that people are over-using groundwater in regions like Asia and North America.

With proper management, Tom Gleeson, lead researcher from McGill University, believes that underground water sources that make up 99% of the world’s fresh and unfrozen water will become crucial to the growing human population.

The UN Environmental Program (UNEP) in a UN-Water Survey of 130 Countries Status Report has forced reformation through international water laws that apply pressure under the guise of “expanding populations, urbanization and climate change”. While clean drinking water for humans is controlled, improvements designed to ensure freshwater reserves for the ecosystem are first and foremost.

Management and use of water under the international agreement known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) was back at the 1992 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. This is a part of the Agenda 21 plan. Cooperation of the UNEP and the UN-Water, an inter-agency mechanism to control freshwater resources, relates UN policies to governments on how to allocate their assets.

In Asia and North America, where researchers conclude that water resources are being allocated wastefully, agriculture is being attacked because of its use of water for irrigation. Gleeson says: “The relatively few aquifers that are being heavily exploited are unfortunately critical to agriculture in a number of different countries. So even though the number is relatively small, these are critical resources that need better management.”

Gleeson claims that agriculture’s effect on “the supply of available water” has not had a quantifying measure until his study to show “the impact of such agricultural groundwater use in any consistent, global way.”
By mandating international restriction on water extraction combined with the promotion of meat-less diets, Gleeson asserts that water resources could be shared more sustainably.

The British Geological Survey and the University College London have surveyed African underground aquifers and concluded that there are more than 100 times the amount of water found underground than on the surface of the continent.

Andrew Mitchell, the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for International Development is delighted by this find. “This is an important discovery. This research, which the British Government has funded, could have a profound effect on some of the world’s poorest people.”

This discovery could become the largest attempt at water privatization. Water resources worldwide have succumbed to privatization, turning life’s most essential molecule into a global commodity.

In North Africa, uncontrolled plans to extract underground water resources have been deemed unsustainable by the UN.

In disbursement of water resources, while trying to mitigate waste , the use of sewage effluent and other wastewater could preserve wildlife, rivers and ecosystems that are being destroyed by human necessity according to eco-fascists in a new study.

Stanley Grant, lead author of the study and a UC Irvine civil & environmental engineering professor, states: “This is the only path forward to provide water for humans as well as for ecosystems. We need to focus on improving the productivity and value of existing supplies, which basically means getting more out of a glass of water.”

Water shortages could be rescinded by creating drinking water from wastewater while reducing the total waste from compromised piping in private-owned homes. How water is priced and managed must be reworked to make the most of “scare freshwater resources” say the researchers.

The securitization of water is a conflict of control over society and the right to life. It is a non-negotiable aspect of life on Earth. The false flag threat of water pollution (which is being committed by the global Elite through multi-national corporations) is a cover story for the march toward complete control over all basic necessities required to live.

Pursuit of water security means whoever has the water, choses who lives – and who dies. With the emergence of water regimes, land grabs where known aquifers reside underground make sense. Workshops designed to recruit more alarmists are popping up all over the academic world as the global Elite seek to convince as many scholars as possible that the UN would be the best and only chance at fair allocation of our water resources.

Simply put, the securitization of water on a global scale (if the Elite get their way) will be run by the UN only. Their target recommendations will then be directed to individual governments to be made into laws. The citizens of those nations will have no choice but to follow the laws of their countries; if they are to get their ration of life-giving water.

Huge Pumice 'Island' Floats in Pacific

© livesceince.com

Huge Pumice 'Island' Floats in Pacific
Aug 10, 2012 | Megan Gannon

An "island" of floating pumice rocks bigger in area than Israel has been spotted in the South Pacific, New Zealand's Royal Navy said.

Officers on a Royal New Zealand Air Force ship saw the rock raft southwest of Raoul Island yesterday (Aug. 9). It measures an astounding 300 miles (482 kilometers) in length and more than 30 miles (48 km) in width, the Navy said.

Lieutenant Tim Oscar, of the Royal Australian Navy, described the rocks as "the weirdest thing I've seen in 18 years at sea," according to the Australian Associated Press.

"The rock looked to be sitting two feet above the surface of the waves, and lit up a brilliant white color in the spotlight," Oscar told AAP. "It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf."

Pumice forms when lava from a volcano cools rapidly. Trapped gas in the hardening lava creates pores in the rocks, which allow them to float. The Navy said scientists believe these chunks off New Zealand's coast were likely spewed to the surface by an underwater volcano, possibly the Monowai seamount, which has been active along the Kermadec arc. Officials said the phenomenon is probably not related to the eruption at New Zealand's Mout Tongariro, which sent ash 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) into the air earlier this week.
A group of researchers from GNS Science, a government-owned firm, were traveling nearby on another military ship. That group changed course to collect samples of the pumice, which will be analyzed to determine where the rocks came from, the Navy wrote on its Facebook page.

Recent studies have suggested that pumice floats played an important role in the evolution of life on Earth since these "islands" can float across long stretches of ocean, ferrying animals, plants and even colonies of microbes across water barriers.

North American freshwater fishes race to extinction

image source

North American freshwater fishes race to extinction
Aug 10, 2012 | ScienceBlog.com

North American freshwater fishes are going extinct at an alarming rate compared with other species, according to an article in the September issue of BioScience. The rate of extinctions increased noticeably after 1950, although it has leveled off in the past decade. The number of extinct species has grown by 25 percent since 1989.

The article, by Noel M. Burkhead of the US Geological Survey, examines North American freshwater fish extinctions from the end of the 19th Century to 2010, when there were 1213 species in the continent, or about 9 percent of the Earth's freshwater fish diversity. At least 57 North American species and subspecies, and 3 unique populations, have gone extinct since 1898, about 3.2 percent of the total. Freshwater species generally are known to suffer higher rates of extinction than terrestrial vertebrates.

Extinctions in fishes are mostly caused by loss of habitat and the introduction of nonindigenous species. In North America, there are more freshwater fish species in a typical drainage to the east of the Great Continental Divide than to the west, where a greater proportion of species have gone extinct or are found nowhere else.

Estimating the number of extinctions relies on scrutiny of historical records and careful estimation procedures, since the last populations of a species are often recognized as such only in hindsight - there is typically a lag of several years from the last observation of a species and its estimated year of extinction. Estimates are complicated by the fact that, on average, 6.7 new species are discovered each year, and occasionally a species thought to have gone extinct is "rediscovered." Nonetheless, Burkhead concludes that between 53 and 86 species of North American freshwater fishes are likely to have gone extinct by 2050, and that the rate of extinction is now at least 877 times the background extinction rate over geological time.

PLANETS ALIGN THIS WEEKEND: August 11th-13th, 2012.

PLANETS ALIGN THIS WEEKEND: August 11th-13th, 2012. 
Aug 9, 2012 | Skyywatcher88

Indigenous Lessons from Ecuador

image source

Indigenous Lessons from Ecuador
Aug 9, 2012 | John Perkins

As I travel around Ecuador I continue to be impressed with the strength, resilience, and wisdom of the indigenous people. Two examples – one global and one personal:

The Global

On July 25, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the government of Ecuador violated the rights of the Kichwa people of the community of Sarayaku by not giving them a fair hearing and not providing a platform for informed consultation before starting oil development on their lands in the late 1990s.

The ruling is a major victory for the Kichwa and all of us who believe that indigenous people are trail-blazing the way to a more sustainable and socially just world. And it is much more than that. It sets a precedent for the way governments deal with indigenous communities – and by broader implication, with all communities. In essence it requires that communities give their consent before governments sell or lease land and resources to corporations.

The Kichwa of Sarayaku – supported by many other indigenous communities and NGOs like Amazon Watch and The Pachamama Alliance – have struggled to keep oil companies off their lands for many years. They resisted military intervention, threats, bribes, and a vicious propaganda campaign. They are an amazing model of courage, persistence, and commitment to future generations and the earth. They are an inspiration for all of us who understand that this time of prophecies is a time for rising to higher levels of consciousness.

The Personal

I returned to the home of the Tamayos, an Otavalan family of shamans with whom I first starting working more than two decades ago. I spent many hours talking with three generations – from the oldest, 70 year old Don Esteban, to the youngest, 4 year old Ñusta (who is a shaman in training). We discussed many subjects, but our main focus was on the need for humans to feel our connection to, love of, and responsibility for Pachamama (Mother Earth/Universe).

"We all know that the glaciers are melting," Jorge (Don Estaban's son and the father of my 15 year old godson, Joel) told me, "the world is in deep crisis. We must all come together to change the way we think and live."

I've experienced many shamanic readings and healings during the past 4 decades but none more powerful than the one administered this week by the Tamayos.

They read my energy and saw that, like so many activists, I've been worn down. "There are many forces trying to rob your energy," I was told. "Take that as a sign that you're succeeding." They performed a powerful limpia (cleansing) on me. They used earth, air, water, and fire and evoked the powers of the three sacred volcanoes that surround their community. Afterwards, I truly felt like a new person, one who is reinvigorated to be (as they put it) "a lover of and warrior for Mother Earth."

I do not idealize indigenous people. I know they have their share of problems; they are human. However, they have managed to live in harmony with the earth for millennia. In these times of extreme global crises, they offer insights about how we can change ourselves. We are wise to listen.

By the time you read this, I'll be deep in the Amazon – arriving there by small plane, dugout canoe, and along jungle trails. With about 30 members of The Pachamama Alliance, I will learn more from the Achuar and Shuar— people I first met in the late 1960s. The powerful lessons continue. . .

Above all, the indigenous people teach us to have hope. They know we can shapeshift ourselves and our institutions. Together we will create a sustainable, just, and peaceful world where all beings can thrive.

John Perkins' books on economics and geo-politics have sold more than 1 million copies, spent many months on the New York Times and other bestseller lists, and are published in over 30 languages.