Snake charmer releases cobras in tax office

A snake charmer in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was angry that the government did not grant him a plot of land to keep his reptiles. So he went into the state's tax office and released a slew of snakes, including poisonous cobras. From The Telegraph:

Workers stood on chairs and shook table clothes at the hissing reptiles as excited crowds gathered outside.
Hakkul later told reporters that a district magistrate had promised him a plot of land for his snakes two years ago.
"I am a conservationist and have been seeking the government's help. Having waited patiently for so long, I had no option but to leave all my snakes in this office."

"Indian snake charmer releases cobras in tax office protest"

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Antinous / Moderator

I have had it with these muthafuckin tax workers in my muthafuckin snake sanctuary.
sockdoll

“I am a conservationist and have been seeking the government’s help. Having waited patiently for so long, I had no option but to leave all my snakes in this office.”

No other options.

None whatsoever.

At least none that would make the news so quickly.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  No other options.
  
  My experiences with bureaucracy in India tend to support his story.
  - Guest
    
    I whole-heartedly concur regarding Indian bureaucracy, which is legendary. The snakes could only love it there.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      I went to buy a train ticket in Delhi, which apparently required some special permission for non-Indians, so I was directed upstairs to an office. There were eight men at eight desks in a circuit. I went to the desk closest to the door, and the guy stared silently at my passport for a couple of minutes before sending me to the next desk. Each one sent me to the next desk until I ended up back at the first desk after three quarters of an hour, at which point he gave me the form. There were no other customers, and the whole department was devoted to nothing but approving foreigner train ticket purchases.
danegeld

He’s part of the ninety nine serpent.
jimh

There, but for the lack of snakes, go I…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=737725502 Mike Haggerty

Hail Hydra!
http://twitter.com/criminalcrafts Miss Demeanor

he may be endearing, but not a charmer
10xor01

Won’t someone pleeze think of the cobras?
zuben

Hmm. Unleashing poisonous reptiles into a government facility…

Could dark overlords similar to these be what are really behind our plastic politicians’ smiles?

But then, at least he didn’t dump a bag of politicians into a snake pit. Those poor snakes wouldn’t even have the luxury of climbing up on tables to get away from the posturing rhetoric and inane talking points :~
- Ambiguity
  
  In the state I live in, we have some snake handling churches (you know, Pentecostals who drape rattlesnakes all over themselves so that God will protect them).
  
  If their God were truly powerful, they would handle politicians instead.
emo hex

THE LAST NICKEL

A father walks into a restaurant with his young son. He gives the boy 3 nickels to play with to keep him occupied. Suddenly, the boy starts choking, going blue in the face.

The father realizes that his son has swallowed the nickels, and starts slapping him on the back. The boy coughs up 2 of the nickels, but still he keeps choking. Looking at his son, the father is panicking, shouting for help.

A well dressed, attractive and serious looking woman in a blue business suit is sitting at the coffee bar, reading a newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. At the sound of the commotion, she looks up, puts her coffee cup down, neatly folds her newspaper and gets up from her seat and makes her way, unhurried, across the restaurant.

Reaching the boy, the woman carefully drops his pants, takes hold of the boy’s testicles and starts to squeeze and twist, gently at first and then gradually more firmly. After a few seconds the boy convulses violently and coughs up the last nickel, which the woman deftly catches in her free hand. Releasing the boy’s testicles, the woman hands the nickel to the father and walks back to eat at the coffee bar without saying a word.

As soon as he is sure that his son has suffered no ill effects, the father rushes over to the woman and thanks her, saying, “I’ve never seen anybody do anything like that before, it was fantastic. Are you a doctor?”

“No”, the woman replied. “I’m with the IRS.”
necronomipad

Cobras aten’t poisonous. No snakes are. (Cobras, and some other snakes, are venomous, though.) To paraphrase Sven Birkerts, language is the ozone layer of the soul, and we thin it at our peril.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  At least nobody was worried about being stung.
http://twitter.com/illusiodesign Chuck Spidell

King Ghidorah weren’t available so what’s a man to do?
opendna

Best anti-corruption protest EVAR.

For those who didn’t bother to read the subtitles: his permit was approved by the higher-ups but the low-level tax officials wouldn’t give him his documents until he paid bribe after bribe which, needless to say, he couldn’t afford.
kosmograd

If someone released a bunch of venomous, belly-slithering reptiles inside a UK Tax Office, would anyone be able to tell them apart from the staff?
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Although I have plenty of issues with the way that the IRS runs, I have to say that almost every agent that I’ve dealt with has been very nice and tried to help me minimize my tax burden. I don’t really understand how they can work in that situation.
frankieboy

I heard this story on the radio, had no idea there was film. Hilarious.