In Related News, Glenn Beck is from Everett

Our guest columnists are Representatives Cary Condotta, Jim McCune, Jason Overstreet, and Matt Shea, of the Great Weird State of Washington.

AN ACT Relating to establishing the 2012 gold and silver legal tender act of Washington state; adding a new chapter to Title 43 RCW; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. FINDINGS AND INTENT.

(1) The legislature finds that to secure property rights sound money is essential. Gold and silver currency retains earned wealth in the hands of the people and has provided civil societies with a fair, honest, and reliable medium of exchange for over six thousand years. Competitive currencies of gold and silver provide greater security to the people of Washington state in protecting their property and other assets from paper currency inflation. The absence of gold and silver coin wrongly exposes the citizens, businesses, and other residents of Washington state to the chronic depreciation of the legal tender fiat paper federal reserve note currency and significant losses in purchasing power which amount to the incremental confiscation of private property without just compensation. The due process clause of the fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and Article I, section 3 of the Washington state Constitution, both ensure the protection of life, liberty, and property. Only gold and silver may be recognized as government legal tender under Article I, section 10 of the United States Constitution, which gives the states the power to enact gold and silver based legal tender laws, “no state shall…; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” Private contracts are not limited to legal tender as furthermore provided in Article I, section 10, “No State shall…; pass any bill…, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts.”

(2) It is the intent of the legislature that gold and silver used as legal tender are treated in the same manner as United States currency for taxation purposes. The legislature intends to provide a choice of United States constitutional currency of gold and silver and does not intend to compel a person to tender or accept gold or silver. In addition to the United States constitutional authority giving the state’s authority to make gold and silver legal tender, the United States supreme court has held that congress lacks any constitutional power to specify what the states must use as “legal tender” or media of exchange in the exercise of their reserve sovereign function in the following cases: Lane County v. Oregon, 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 71 (1869); Hagar v. Reclamation District No. 198, 111 U.S. 701 (1884).

Sec. 2. SHORT TITLE.

This chapter may be known and cited as the gold and silver legal tender act of Washington state.

Sec. 3. MONETIZATION.

Pursuant to the monetary authority expressly reserved to the states in Article I, section 10 of the United States Constitution, the following is declared to be state legal tender:

(1) Federal specie gold and silver coin at any time issued by the
general government of the United States of America;

(2) Domestic specie gold and silver coin; and

(3) Foreign specie gold and silver coin monetized by any other state or country.

Sec. 4. FAIR MARKET VALUE OF GOLD AND SILVER CURRENCY.

(1) The states are in violation of the United States Constitution for failing to comply with national legal tender laws that require gold or silver coin to be the only legal tender:

(a) The general government has no constitutional authority to emit bills of credit or to enact tender in payment of debt laws forcing the use of fiat paper currency among the states;

(b) The power to determine legal tender is specifically given to the states;

(c) The general government has failed to abide by Article I, section 8 of the United States Constitution: “To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof and of foreign Coin,…” and provide market value for gold and silver coins for circulation as currency among the states; and

(d) The United States Constitution charges the states with ensuring only gold and silver coin are legal tender within their borders per Article I, section 10: “No State shall… make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”

(2) The state of Washington has determined to exercise its constitutional authority and provide its citizens with gold and silver coins as an alternative currency. Originally, the exact weight of the constitutional dollar was established in the coinage act of 1792 at 371.25 grains (troy) for fine silver; however, in order to implement an alternative currency for today’s markets:

(a) It is necessary for the state to establish a fair market value for coins of gold and silver;

(b) The state of Washington must use the common standard of the dollar as provided for in the U.S. Constitution; and

(c) The state treasurer must post daily the value of fine silver and the proration to gold per the average closing prices of the New York, London, and Hong Kong Metal Exchanges.

HB 2731 [Washington Legislature]

Washington Lawmakers Introduce Bill Claiming The Dollar Is Unconstitutional [ThinkProgress]

25 Comments

Dear world: please quit being so complicated and hard to understand. I want to go back to a time before I was alive, which was obviously so much better, despite all the bullshit that actually happened, and which I am completely ignoring. Yours sincerely, The Overwhelmed.

TJ/ So Komen defunds PP, but still seeks donations. Interesting.

@JNOV is like, Peace?: I’m waiting for somebody else to pick up on that. There’s the immediate politics — hiring an anti-abortion executive, then ginning up a rule to defund Planned Parenthood — but my vague understanding is that Komen’s track record is less than stellar. So there’s also some history that needs to be addressed.

Plus, I’m a dude.

@JNOV is like, Peace?, @nojo: Komen can choke on their fucking pink ribbons. Only a fraction of what they take in goes to actual research or services. Executives, of course, are exceedingly well compensated. Plus, they’ve actually sued other disease-related charities for using the word “Cure” in their names or events. Barbara Ehrenreich wrote a marvelous takedown of them in Bright-Sided.
BTW, PP has raised over $400,000 since announcing this kick in the teeth, $25 of it mine.

@JNOV is like, Peace?: You have to have breasts to get cancer in, oh wait…

So they’re giving up their credit cards, repaying their mortgages, and filling the woodshed?

@Mistress Cynica: Thank you — great piece: Welcome to Cancerland also found here for free. Free is good.

@Benedick: Yeah, I think men comprise 1-2% of breast cancer patients because they have approx. 1-2% of the breast tissue in the universe.

@JNOV is like, Peace?: With all the man boobs I’ve been seeing lately, that percentage should be up to about 10-12%. Also, Komen can suck it.

Ad is trying to sell me private jet service from NYC to LA starting at $22,900 … must be all the Mittens mentions.

@JNOV is like, Peace?, nojo, Mistress Cynica:
FWIW, Dept. of Lady-Bits weighs in. Sort of. Nothing profound. As much as I can without total head explosion or liver destruction.

And Washington State just legalized marriage equality. Prepare to be amazed as actual politicians say things that make you want to jump up and cheer rather than strangle them with your bare hands.

“Dear diary, you’ll never believe this.”

@¡Andrew!: Can we expect nuptials between ¡Andrew! y Senor ¡Andrew!, or did he already make an honest man of you in Vancouver 8 years ago?

/I love how gay marriage brings out my inner Jewish grandma yenta, but get pissed about Jewish grandmas pressuring heteros to get hitched. Discuss.

@SanFranLefty: We’ve been registered DPs since 2007 (together 14 years total so far), so apparently the new legislation is going to automatically convert us. How many Vegas-In-Space planets we’ll rule in the afterlife is being determined by House & Senate negotiatrons.

Tim Tebow is in for one helluva hate fuck.

Proposal to follow on the wings of white stallions.

@SanFranLefty: +1

@¡Andrew!: ¡Dude! I so owe you an email. I’m sorry. Soon <– yeah, it's relative, but soon.

@JNOV is like, Peace?: Dudes get breast cancer, too.. So I should devote less time to my prostate self-exams? Srsly:confused

@flypaper: Haha! Those are some long fingers, you rotten thing. I do hope you’re rolling around your nuts, though. http://tcrc.acor.org/tcexam.html Seriously.

I mammoed maybe four guys over three years. They had gynocomastia, and when it’s unilateral and in a young guy, it usually means anabolic steroid use. The older dudes had lumps. Don’t recall ever doing a biopsy, though.

@JNOV is like, Peace?: Nut, singular. So yeah: learned the hard way. I’ve got a Billy to keep my stubby digits out of harms way.

@flypaper: Glad you made it through that. <3

I'm still watching Twin Peaks. Josie is screaming in the nightstand or something.

@flypaper: Oh, Jeez! First Google suggestion for “Billy” is “Billy Crudup.” He’s massaging your prostate?

@JNOV is like, Peace?: Try Lelo -mine is blue, but they have burgundy as well.

@flypaper: Look. I know of some dude who uses a TENS chumpy on his chubby, so ratchet it up some.

Oh, and Anonymous allegedly hacked a white supremacist site outing Ron Paul. Allegedly.

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