CAN it actually get any worse than it is? Bermuda's inability to uphold the checks and balances ... RANDOM NOTES by Nicolette R

CAN it actually get any worse than it is? Bermuda's inability to uphold the checks and balances of a functioning democracy have been picked up by overseas media and we look pretty incompetent. I refer, of course, to the Auditor General's office fiasco, clumsily choreographed by that "Master of Disaster" Colonel David Burch.

And I questioned why our feckless leader, one Alex Scott (aka P), insists that he would never consider releasing the surly Senator from his duties until the answer came to me clearly. Burch is the Premier's fall-guy and without him in Cabinet causing at least 50 percent of the Progressive Labour Party's public relations problems single-handedly, Alex Scott himself would be receiving all the heat.

Let's face it, folks, if Burch wasn't around, the number one politician receiving all the negative attention would be Alex Scott. As long as there's a bigger trouble maker, the sheer incompetence of our Premier will receive less focus. Smart strategy Alex, but it didn't fool us for very long!

Having worked in the private sector as a qualified accountant I have been employed twice by companies that moved offices and it's not rocket science to plan and execute a move with minimal disruption to the day-to-day operations of the company moving.

And it is no secret that there is a great deal of enmity between the Government and its Auditor going back some three years when Larry Dennis made his report on the Berkley mess, after which Derrick Burgess (a PLP MP and former head of the BIU) publicly labelled him as racist with our Premier announcing his intention to effectively eradicate Mr. Dennis' office in an Independent Bermuda. It looks like these threats are now bearing fruit to an extent.

This year in his report, Mr. Dennis was unable to account for some $800 million in Government spending and stated that the Government has lost control of the public purse.

Of course Government has not taken any remedial or punitive action, nor has our Governor stepped up to the plate and attempted to rectify this deplorable situation.As the Auditor General stated: " … because the alternative is that (the lack of filing is) deliberate, and designed to prevent or defer the audit process … suspicions arise about possible wrongdoing or even fraud."

This is why I have and will continue to campaign against Independence until we have a change in leadership. I do not necessarily believe we need a change in Government but as long as Alex Scott and his "hit man" Colonel Burch and the ineffective Walter Roban are running things, I will protest any change in the constitutional arrangements of this precious island.

If the Scott Government can render the Auditor General's office ineffective now, imagine the damage that it could do under Independence when it has promised to dismantle the AG as an autonomous watchdog and absorb its role into the civil service.

If the Scott Government can deny human rights to a section of Bermudians now, then imagine the rights violations that it could unload on an Independent island's residents.

I got a perverse thrill reading the comments emanating from the few outspoken bigots we have living among us. Their thought processes have as many twists, turns and hairpin bends as as a rollercoaster!

One questioned why Ms Webb and her supporters only attacked the Christian church when many other religions also took the same stance on homo- or bi-sexuality. Newsflash: only some factions (see the recent wonderful column by the Arch Deacon of the Anglican Church in the Bermuda Sun) of the Christian church came out to deprive some Bermudians of their rights. Had any other religious group done what these churches did, they would have been rightfully criticised as well.

There are no shortage of adulterers in Government. Adultery is not only condemned throughout the Bible – it is condemned in the 10 Commandments (homo- or bi-sexuality is not even mentioned on Moses' two tablets).

And in this regard I would like some advice from our learned reactionary clergy. While Leviticus 18:22 states that homosexuality is an abomination and cannot be permitted or approved of under any circumstances, Leviticus 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. Now I KNOW it's wrong to own slaves but since the Bible permits it. Could it be that the Bible is wrong in this regard? Please reconcile this obvious discrepancy in your belief system.

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