Scientology gets a judicial audit

The last time the Church of Scientology gets many critical. The Church of Scientology is recently accused of fraud in France.

Scientology is based on the book of the American L. Ron Hubbard. I’ve searched on the website of Scientology what they believe but there you find only long-winded videos with depositions of members. According to Wikipedia Scientology philosophy believe that the individual has an immortal spirit which has a body and a mind. According to the article they believe in a space alien overlord named Xenu. The Church of Scientology avoids the mention of Xenu in public declarations and it’s only be revealed to the members who have much money.

As I have already said the Church of Scientology is accused of fraud in France. You can read this in the article on the website below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8327569.stm

Three members of the Church of Scientology were already fined once but this is the first time that the organization itself has been accused. The Church appeal to a higher court and they say they will win this case.

The article don’t mention further information if there will be an audit or not. Maybe we will hear more from it after the law suit in France.

If there are really proofs of fraud, it would be a good idea to audit it. If they do an audit, maybe innocent victims would save money, but in America Scientology is a big religion with well-known members, so I think there won’t be an audit rapidly.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/10/scientology_gets_a_judicial_au.html

Utah county 911 system fails concerning audit

If you want police, fire or medical help in America you can call 911. But according to an audit in Salt Lake County there are postponements in the dispatching in certain areas of this county. This is because the calls need to be transferred from a primary call center (VECC) to a secondary call center (the sheriff's office). This transfer takes average 1 minute and 15 seconds. Afterwards the caller is asked some repetitive questions, so this means extra time passes before the caller really can be helped. Salt Lake County Undersheriff Scott Carver admitted that they were not being as prepared as they could be concerning communication and that this would really have been a disaster if there was for instance an earthquake. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office has already began to solve the problems that were indicated by the audit.

I think this problem is really serious because people who are in danger (fire, accident, fight, burglary,...) need to be helped as quickly as possible. Like the Salt Lake County undersheriff said, this could have been a disaster if there was happened a real catastrophe like an earthquake or a hurricane and they would get several calls at the same time. Thanks to the audit, the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office knows about the issues of its dispatch system and can now work on it.

http://www.ems1.com/ems-products/communications/articles/603378-Audit-calls-Utah-county-911-system-inefficient/

Eu calls for budget deficit cuts

Eu calls for budget deficit cuts

EU has decided after an audit off the budget deficits that thirteen members of the EU have to
take action in order to get their deficits back on track.

EU has set-up some requirements in which the deficit may fluctuate.
One of those is a maximum deficit of 3 percent to the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of which the deadline range from 2012 and 2014.

Belgium and Italy are getting a tough deadline to obtain, namely 2012, as were Germany and six other countries in 2013.

“Bite the bullet”. In due of financial crises several countries are suffering with a large deficit.
Also Greece, whose is suffering from a lot of critics. The EU’s economy commissioner stated that the country had taken “no effective action”.

Conclusion: Each country suffers from the financial crises in their yearly budget but in order to keep each country financial structure “alive”, they have to cut costs or rise taxes.

As a country you have to make the hard decision. Do you want to invest in the future but with the disadvantage to rise up the taxes in order to keep the budget in balance or do nothing? I think the choice is easy. On a long-term view, as a country, you have to invest to update the infrastructure, green projects,….

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8354438.stm

Audit reveals gaps in bowel cancer surgery care.

This week I found an article on the site of the BBC. The article talks about an audit led by the National Health Service information centre (NHS) and Specialist Bowel Cancer Surgeons. The report considers about 41,000 cases from 2006 to 2008.
The audit makes different conclusions: first of all there was improvement: post-surgery death rates are shrinking remarkably.
But the audit also revealed some problems. The first problem: only half of the patients obtain the support of specialist nurses that all cancer patients should receive. Secondly, a quarter of the patients has no access to specialist scans to check the progress of their disease. And thirdly more cases should be reviewed by a range of experts.
The NHS and the Specialist Bowel Cancer Surgeons draw some conclusions: they are pleased with the progressions, but it’s still necessary to improve some standards of care so it will be possible to save more lives in the future.

I recently lost someone who had cancer so this is a subject close to my heart. I’m glad to hear the death rates after surgery are shrinking because that means less families will have to bear the loss of someone they love. But I think it’s shocking that a quarter of all cancer patients in England don’t have access to specialist scans and only half of the patients obtain specialist support. But as the spokesman of NHS said: the report reveals which standards should be improved, and if we focus now on these issues that will be good for the future.

The article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8331934.stm

MSPs to consider funicular report

The Cairngorm Mountain Railway is the highest railway in the United Kingdom since 2001. It’s a two-kilometre long railway and the route is located in a very beautiful region, within the largest National Nature Reserve in Britain namely Cairngorms National Park. The ski area also lies within the Cairngorms National Park.
Cairngorm Mountain Railway is property from the government and it’s owned by the Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE - Scottish governments bureau for economic development)

A report on the financing of the railway is now been examined by the Scottish Parliament's public audit committee. The construction of these railway started in 1999. HIE gave £19.42m, almost £ 5m more than expected. The total costs have run to £ 26.75m. They said that these railway was necessary for the tourism in the region. For this reason the railway was approved.

Audit Scotland tells in their report that they don’t looked enough to the negative sides of this project. They had not taken into account with changes affecting skiing and operator CML. A decline of skiers was certainly one of the risks they had not taken into account. When they started the project, there were already less skiers (± 75.000 visitors per year). They said also that the project would bring such a 186.000 visitors, which is not happened. Audit Scotland say that CML has financial problems by the project. In 1997 and 1998 the company had a loss of £ 607.000 and £ 625.000.

The report made by the audit mentioned the possible costs for closing and disposing the railway. These costs are valued on £30m-£50m. What they will do isn’t sure yet.

In my opinion they should reflect first about the project, before starting it. And they should certainly examine the risks of this project which the HIE hasn’t done.

You can read the article here.

National audit of 315.000 students in the Czech Republic.

In the Czech Republic there will be an national audit of 315.000 students who've been graduated between the years 2000 and 2009. This audit is necessary because recently there has been determinated corruption at a Czech university. At this university, law-students were rewarded with a diploma after only a few months of study. This case is called the biggest scandal ever of the Czech education system. So now, the Czech Minister of Education has decided to organize an audit that's going to reveal every student's study length. First, the law faculties are going to be audited and afterwards other faculties to be sure that there isn't any corruption in other schoolings. This audit could be the beginning of a lot of lawsuits because the graduates, who have obtained their diploma after only a few months of study, have been implicated in cases that now probably need to be reviewed.

I think this is a big deal because the students who obtained this undeserved diploma went on to work while they didn't even had the knowledge to do this in a correct way. And it's even more worse that it concerns graduates in law because they are responsible for important cases. So I think it's a very good idea the Czech Minister of Education has decided to organize this audit to check if there are any other cases of fraud. It isn't fair these students got their diploma without working hard for it!

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20091106122033883

Carbon ration account for all proposed by Environment Agency

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee asked the Government last year, to do research on some kind of rationing scheme. Because Britain has to cut its emissions by 80% by 2050. And after this audit result, they started searching for a rationing system.

The Environment Agency proposes to give an annual carbon ration. When people exceed it, they should pay a certain amount.

How does this rationing scheme work? Well, at first you’ll get some kind of “carbon account”, and a unique number. When you go to a shop, and buy items that include carbon (for example petrol, electricity, airline tickets,…) it will show you how much or their carbon ration would be remained.
And when you don’t have any credits left within a year, you’ll have to buy some extra, from those who have some left. And when you have some credits left, you can sell them, and make a profit. So this measure should cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Lord Smith, Culture Secretary in Tony Blair’s Government, says people will think about what they buy, and how much carbon costs. And he believes it’s better to use these rations, instead of the taxes. Because these taxes make life too expensive for people on low incomes, for example.

Let me explain it by giving an example. If we use taxes, it’s very expensive to fly. But if we use the rations, people who fly a lot, will quickly use all their rations. So they’ll have to buy extra carbon credits.

In a report, The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, says people should be convinced of three things. At first, they should know it’s essential to reduce the emissions. Secondly, this can only work, when people try to reduce their own emissions. So you have to take personal responsibility. And Thirdly, people should know it’s better to use theses rations, instead of taxes.

So I think it’s good to use these rations. It’s fairer than taxes. Because taxes make life very expensive. And people don’t think about the carbon amount in those products, when they buy it. But this would change, if they used it.

Read this article here