To borrow Jeff Foxworthy’s vastly overused premise, if you’re a state legislator and you demand that your salary be paid in gold coins instead of government-issued currency? You might be a wingnut.
About the Author
Freethought Blogs
- A Citizen of Earth
- A Million Gods
- Ace of Clades
- Alethian Worldview
- Almost Diamonds
- Ashley Miller
- Biodork
- Black Skeptics
- Blag Hag
- Brute Reason
- Butterflies and Wheels
- Comradde PhysioProffe
- Dispatches from the Culture Wars
- En Tequila Es Verdad
- Greta Christina's Blog
- Heteronormative Patriarchy for Men
- Lousy Canuck
- Mano Singham
- Maryam Namazie
- Near-Earth Object
- No Country for Women
- NonStampCollector
- Pharyngula
- Reasonable Doubts
- Richard Carrier Blogs
- Rock Beyond Belief
- Sincerely, Natalie Reed
- The Atheist Experience
- The Crommunist Manifesto
- The Digital Cuttlefish
- The Indelible Stamp
- The Zingularity
- This Week in Christian Nationalism
- Token Skeptic
- YEMMYnisting
- Zinnia Jones
PostsCommentsArchives
Recent Posts
- Who’ll Stop the Rain for Obama?
- Barber Lies About DOJ Pride Pamphlet
- So, This Organization Exists
- Saudi Wingnut: Twitter Leads to Hell
- Texas Judge Uses ‘Morality Clause’ to Split Up Couple
- The Greatest Conservative Rap Songs
- American Atheists Donating Books to Georgia
- Daily Caller Editor Sends Insipid Emails to SCA
- No Oversight in Seizure of AP Phone Records
- Help Foundation Beyond Belief Help the Tornado Victims
Recent Comments
- Uncle Glenny on Saudi Wingnut: Twitter Leads to Hell
- lofgren on Barber Lies About DOJ Pride Pamphlet
- dingojack on Barber Lies About DOJ Pride Pamphlet
- jefferylanam on Who’ll Stop the Rain for Obama?
- lofgren on Barber Lies About DOJ Pride Pamphlet
FTB RecentFTB Active
FTB Recent
- What is becoming of Kamloops by aronra
- IRS hearing tomorrow has what conservatives crave by Stephen "DarkSyde" Andrew
- Thank you, Representative Mendez! by Brianne Bilyeu
- Wolf: "Do You Thank The Lord?" by Cuttlefish
- Why “Thank God I survived” or “God knows best” is a terrible thing to say in the aftermath of a fatal disaster. by Yemisi Ilesanmi
- Zoooom! He's off again! by PZ Myers
FTB Active
- I think we call that an own goal by PZ Myers
- Open thread on episode #814 by heicart
- More documenting the harassment by Ophelia Benson
- Leave Dan Brown Alone! by Ed Brayton
- Cis people: Help me get a sense of the landscape out there! by Zinnia
- Taking it Personally: Privilege and Women in Secularism by Ashley F. Miller

19 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
richardelguru
November 19, 2012 at 10:18 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I could well understand it if they have chocolate inside the foil.
eric
November 19, 2012 at 10:20 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
He’s talking about Article 1, Section 10, which says “No State shall…coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts…”
But of course the States don’t coin or print their own money; only the federal government does that. So its fine.
shouldbeworking
November 19, 2012 at 10:23 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Does he want payment in the face value ( $50) of the coins or value of the gold?.
eric
November 19, 2012 at 10:24 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I did like the subtle suggestion at the end of the article, that they pay him in American Eagle proofs. So the state takes his reglar salary ($7k/yr) and uses it to buy 3.5 such coins per year. Then gives those to him intead. Face value: $175.
Crip Dyke, MQ, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden
November 19, 2012 at 10:26 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
He can’t be asking for face value – then he’d be getting paid in dollars.
John Hinkle
November 19, 2012 at 10:35 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
OT but this reminds me of my favorite “you might be a hillbilly” joke:
You might be a hillbilly if your mother doesn’t bother to take the Marlboro out of her mouth when she tells the state trooper, “Kiss my ass.”
Gregory in Seattle
November 19, 2012 at 10:47 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I say, do it. The price of gold is currently at an all-time high, but like every commodity, the price fluctuates: gold valued at $7,000 today might very well be valued at $5,500 in two or three months. And 1 oz gold coins? Good luck trying to buy groceries with that, especially if he is going to demand gold as change.
Doug Little
November 19, 2012 at 11:01 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Must have been a D&D fan.
Raging Bee
November 19, 2012 at 11:04 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If he wants gold, why can’t he just use his paycheck to buy his own damn gold?
Another stupid paultard who hasn’t bothered to update his prejudices since the ’70s.
Gregory in Seattle
November 19, 2012 at 11:07 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@Raging Bee #9 – The 90s, actually. More correctly, the 1890s.
Randomfactor
November 19, 2012 at 11:52 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sounds like a specie-ous demand to me.
democommie
November 19, 2012 at 12:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
” Good luck trying to buy groceries with that, especially if he is going to demand gold as change.”
In the “End times” historgasm that idiots like O’Neil fantasize about, he’d better make sure he’s got a very strong second leg of that GOD-Gunz-Gold stool of his. Hell, it’s Montana; them as ain’t got gold or GOD still got plenty of gunz.
Sastra
November 19, 2012 at 12:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Not gold — gold-pressed latinum.
You can use that all over the galaxies. (Maybe wingnuts are really Ferengis. That would explain a lot.)
Abby Normal
November 19, 2012 at 12:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Wouldn’t a Venn diagram of puchlines for “You might be a wingnut…” and “You might be a redneck…” just be a circle?
zippythepinhead
November 19, 2012 at 1:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I love go-o-o-o-old. The look of it, the taste of it, the shmell of it, the texture. I love gold so much that I even lost my genitalia in an unfortunate shmelting accident.
Trebuchet
November 19, 2012 at 2:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
To my utter lack of surprise, he’s a Ron Paul supporter.
caseloweraz
November 19, 2012 at 4:25 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Wake me up when he organizes the team of female aviators to spray the nerve gas over Fort Knox.
Yes, I’ve got an old song ringing in my head: “Jer O’Neil… He’s the man, the man with the Midas touch— a spider’s touch…”
Ichthyic
November 19, 2012 at 8:28 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
if that were true, I’d ask for diamonds instead.
always have that ingredient on hand for any emergency resurrection spell!
Ichthyic
November 19, 2012 at 8:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Now why am I picturing Mr. O’Neil strapped to a table, a laser about to cut him in half lengthwise…