Don’t Mess With Old People!

The IRS decided to audit Grandpa, and summoned him to the IRS office. The IRS auditor was not surprised when Grandpa showed up with his attorney.
The auditor said, “Well, sir, you have an extravagant lifestyle and no full-time employment, which you explain by saying that you win money by gambling. I’m not sure the IRS finds that believable.”
“I’m a great gambler, and I can prove it”, says Grandpa. “How about a demonstration?”
The auditor thinks for a moment and says, “Okay. Go ahead.” Grandpa says, “I’ll bet you a thousand dollars that I can bite my own eye.”
The auditor thinks for a moment and says, “It’s a bet.” Grandpa removes his glass eye and bites it. The auditor’s jaw drops.
Grandpa says, “Now, I’ll bet you two thousand dollars that I can bite my other eye.”
The auditor can tell Grandpa isn’t blind, so he takes the bet. Grandpa removes his dentures and bites his good eye. The stunned auditor now realizes he has wagered and lost three grand, with Grandpa’s attorney as a witness. He starts to get nervous.
“Want to go double or nothing?” Grandpa asks. “I’ll bet you six thousand dollars that I can stand on one side of your desk, and pee into that wastebasket on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in between.”
The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and decides there’s no way this old guy could possible manage that stunt, so he agrees again.
Grandpa stands beside the desk and unzips his pants, but although he strains mightily, he can’t make the stream reach the wastebasket on the other side, so he pretty much urinates all over the auditor’s desk.
The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just turned a major loss into a huge win. But Grandpa’s attorney moans and puts his head in his hands.
“Are you okay?” the auditor asks.
“Not really”, says the attorney. “This morning, when Grandpa told me he’d been summoned for an audit, he bet me twenty-five thousand dollars that he could come in here and pee all over your desk and that you’d be happy about it.”
Moral of the story is, don’t mess with old people!

The Unpublished Maxims of Tyrants and Would Be Tyrants

As I was reading the history of Magna Carta it occured to me that not a lot has altered down through the millenia. Tyrants have always wanted more power, control and money and most people just want to get on with their lives until they are so hampered by the tyrants that they rebel.

So much so that I am considering writing another book, “The Unpublished Maxims of Tyrants and Would Be Tyrants”.

Got the first 11 chapters sorted and I am sure you could help me round out the titles of the firt 50.

Chapter 1. Suppress free speech and criticism of you and your agenda.

Chapter 2. Progressively gather as much power unto thine self as possible.

Chapter 3. Weaken the power of your enemies and rivals.

Chapter 4. Gradually increase the taxation and compliance burden and economic duress on the populace so they have no free time to foment rebellion or protest.

Chapter 5. Regularly invent or stage or have staged real or imagined emergencies so the population will surrender more liberties in exchange for safety.

Chapter 6. When about to enact legislation that might otherwise be objected to, have an attention occupying distration well planned to grease the wheels. (Never a bad idea to have a couple of these up your sleeve at all times.)

Chapter 7. Learn the fine art of pursuasion, specifically being able to spin a positve benefit on any loss of liberty or freedom.

Chapter 8. Get evidence of the wrong doings of your enemies and potential rivals and have it ready for use when the need arises.

Chapter 9. Cultivate a band of rabid adherents willing to do anything you ask.

Chapter 10. Dole out money to create a dependence on your administration.

Chapter 11. Infiltrate all rival groups to gain intelligence and control the opposition.