Alaska May Join States Allowing Gold and Silver As Legal Tender

Above, Alaskan totem poles. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Alaska may become the latest in a growing number of states to allow gold and silver as legal tender if a bill, just passed the House, gets passed by the senate and signed by the governor.

The Anchorage Daily News reported:

JUNEAU — In the final days of the legislative session, the Alaska House passed a bill that would allow gold and silver to be used as legal tender.

House Bill 3, introduced by Big Lake Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe, would allow business owners to decide if they want to accept the precious metals as currency. The coin or bar would need to be refined and its value would need to be authenticated, meaning gold dust or nuggets could not be used.

McCabe told the House State Affairs Committee earlier in the session that one of his constituents suggested the idea to him because they did not trust the national banking system. More than 10 states have passed similar bills, including Arkansas in April.

The bill specifically exempts local governments from collecting sales tax when U.S. dollars are exchanged for gold and silver. Sales taxes on purchases made with the bullion would still apply. 

To read more, go here. 

Monument Valley, Totem Pole and Clint Eastwood

Above, Totem Pole (center) as seen during my 2016 tour of Monument Valley. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

During his heyday as an action film star, Clint Eastwood often pushed the envelope to deliver the goods for his movies when outdoors doing action scenes.

One such time was in The Eiger Sanction (1975) in which Eastwood plays a college art professor who is also a retired secret agent for a secret government spy agency that specializes in eliminating (called sanctions) enemies. He is called back into service, reluctantly, by the agency head who is a full-fledged albino (played by Thayer David of Dark Shadows fame). 

Above a view of Totem Pole taken last October. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

He is charged to sanction someone connected with an international climbing team of Switzerland's Eiger mountain for murdering a fellow agent who was also a friend. He proceeds to Utah for his pre-climb training under the wing of George Kennedy. Scenes of his training include Zion National Park (Checkerboard Mesa, the Zion Lodge pool (now gone)) and Monument Valley Tribal Park, where Eastwood became the last person to legally climb the 400 foot tall Totem Pole. Scenes of his Totem Pole climb are spectacular, particularly when Eastwood and Kennedy pop open some beer while sitting atop it. While Eastwood climbed the world's tallest spire himself, Kennedy was airlifted onto it by helicopter.

During recent years, I took two tours of Monument Valley with Goulding's Lodge Tours and saw Totem Pole from two distant vantage points.