Study/Prison Break

I've got my exam on Corporate Tax on next Monday, except i haven't done any real studying. From my impressions of this subject the material is quite hard. One of the main problems with the exam is that it's a closed book exam, in that we can only take in legislation and no notes. So I'm contemplating doing the above, ala Micahel Scholfield in Prison break and getting tatts of relevant tax cases and sections.

I should have been studying today, except I watched Season 1 of Prison Break in about 18 hours, from friday night 12.30am til 6am Saturdary morning. The show is so addictive and i couldn't let go and sleep. The show was just so intense and the plot had so many twists and turns. let's just say that the toe cutting incident by John Abruzzi was v crazy - I actually was so scared/stressed for Michael. I put it up there with my top Prison shows/movies. Impromptu list - see below.

DJ Ho's Top 5 Prison shows/movies:
1. OZ - hands down one of the best tv shows ever.
2. Prison Break - its all about the escape, the planning and the setbacks.
3. Shawshank Redemption - one man against the world
4. Escape From Alcatraz - classic, the original prison break out movie
5. The Longest Yard - absolutely funny, and their football team was sick!

Honourable mentions: The Green Mile, Lockdown, Con Air.

We just chilling, for the next 25 years.

I'm not sure what attracts me to Prison movies. I think its because it takes me to a world in which I will never see and I don't want to see. Its an intense environment, filmed in a compact area, and usually has a variety of really weird characters. What I also find interesting are the various groups that usually represented - the Black homeboys, Italian Mafia, The Latino's, White KKK types, and the loners.

Its in the way the various groups interact, the constant threat of violence in the air, the Correctional Officers ("CO's"/Hacks), the Warden and the elaborate and trafficking of drugs. Prison is all about survivial - and you do whatever it takes and of course you never rat on anybody, unless you want to get shanked.

Enough about AWB already!

Kickbacks to saddam? Just raise your hands in the air like you just don't care.

Is anyone else sick of hearing about AWB? Get over it! No one cares about it anymore. To be honest, I didn't really care when it first hit the news, and now the coverage is just blown out of proportion. In fact, its very hard to not know about it and I believe the average Australian doesn't really give a crap about it.

If you've been living under a rock, it was a scandal about the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) giving $300m in cash kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime, to allow AWB to supply tonnes of wheat to Iraq as part of the UN Oil for Food program. This was in breach of the UN conventions. The more recent debate surrounds whether the Australian Government knew about it and the Cole Inquiry was set up to investigate the issue.

Look ma, no kickbacks

The Cole Inquiry? I'll give you the short DJ HO Inquiry summary. It was wrong and immoral. It also bad business ethics from AWB's standpoint. Both John Howard and Alexander Downer had to know about it. The evidence suggests so. Thus they should face the consequences but because John Howard instituted the enquiry, handpicked Mr Cole, the lawyers never really grilled him in examination in chief or cross examined, its over. It was a kangaroo court. He was never going to go down and I don't think it'll be more than a blemish on his career. Both Howard and Downer will walk away unscathed. End of story. Now go report about more important issues like the NBA playoffs.

Kofi (thinking): I can't trust a guy with a cheesy grin.

Downer (thinking): I can't trust a guy with a name that goes with two sugars.

I'm out like kickbacks,

DJ HO.