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Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and freshman state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione have a plan to create a "Fort Knox of Texas" so that the state can start hoarding gold.

Giovanni has filed a bill to establish a Texas Bullion Depository to store the $1 billion worth of gold bars that are owned by University of Texas Investment Management Co. (UTIMCO), which are currently being housed by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Speaking to conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Tuesday, Perry said that lawmakers were in the process of "bringing gold that belongs to the state of Texas back into the state." Beck has been a longtime paid spokesperson for the precious metal seller Goldline, which agreed to refund up to $4.5 million to former customers last year after being sued for marking up gold more than 50 percent.

"If we own it, I will suggest to you that that's not someone else's determination whether we can take possession of it back or not," Perry told Beck.

Former Rep. Ron Paul on Thursday explained to The Texas Tribune that the gold would be safer in the hands of Texans.

"If you think gold is a hedge, or a protection, you always want it as close to the individual and the entity as possible," Paul said. "Texas is better served if it knows exactly where the gold is rather than depending on the security of the Federal Reserve."

For his part, Capriglione said that he had gotten the idea while attending a tea party rally with Perry in Tarrant County earlier this year.

"Something on the scorecards of a lot of these businesses in deciding whether they want to come to Texas is stability and gold as being one of those items," Capriglione insisted. "I think it's been in his consciousness for a while in trying to get some sort of depository in the state of Texas."

"We don't want just the certificates. We want our gold. And if you're the state of Texas, you should be able to get your gold."

Tangent Capital Partners senior managing director Jim Rickards speculated to Yahoo Finance on Thursday that creating a "Fort Knox of Texas" could be a step in Texas creating its own currency and eventually moving to secede.

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For anyone who didn't think Gov. Rick Perry was a big enough wingnut to suit the state of Texas, there's an even nuttier one waiting to take his place -- secessionist Larry Kilgore. The Daily Show's Jessica interviewed Kilgore and his sidekick, Lynn Troxel, and it was a surreal enough segment that it could have been something you'd find over at The Onion.

Sadly, this guy is actually talking about running for office in Texas: With Stickers, a Petition and Even a Middle Name, Secession Fever Hits Texas:

Secession fever has struck parts of Texas, which Mitt Romney won by nearly 1.3 million votes.

Sales of bumper stickers reading “Secede” — one for $2, or three for $5 — have increased at TexasSecede.com. In East Texas, a Republican official sent out an e-mail newsletter saying it was time for Texas and Vermont to each “go her own way in peace” and sign a free-trade agreement among the states.

A petition calling for secession that was filed by a Texas man on a White House Web site has received tens of thousands of signatures, and the Obama administration must now issue a response. And Larry Scott Kilgore, a perennial Republican candidate from Arlington, a Dallas suburb, announced that he was running for governor in 2014 and would legally change his name to Larry Secede Kilgore, with Secede in capital letters. As his Web page, secedekilgore.com, puts it: “Secession! All other issues can be dealt with later.”

In Texas, talk of secession in recent years has steadily shifted to the center from the fringe right. It has emerged as an echo of the state Republican leadership’s anti-Washington, pro-Texas-sovereignty mantra on a variety of issues, including health care and environmental regulations. For some Texans, the renewed interest in the subject serves simply as comic relief after a crushing election defeat.

But for other proponents of secession and its sister ideology, Texas nationalism — a focus of the Texas Nationalist Movement and other groups that want the state to become an independent nation, as it was in the 1830s and 1840s — it is a far more serious matter. Read on...

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An Alabama man who started a petition calling for the White House to allow his state to peacefully secede from the Union says he's angry that the government forced him to close his topless car wash.

Disaffected Americans have created hundreds of “We the People” petitions on the White House website following President Barack Obama' re-election earlier this month. There have been petitions from each of the 50 states requesting permission to secede.

WKRG-TV managed to track down Derrick Belcher, the man responsible for the petition calling for Alabama's secession.

Gawker noted on Thursday that the 45-year-old trucking company manager was really just upset because his Euro Details topless car wash had been shut down by the government.

But according to Al.com, it was the Mobile city government -- not the federal government -- that arrested Belcher and charged him with obscenity after the state of Alabama enacted an anti-obscenity law in 1998.

"The government ripped my business away, and now they're choking America to death with rules and regulations," the secessionist explained.

"The American people are being mistreated by the federal government and there is absolutley no reason why we shouldn't end this treatment from the federal government," he told WKRG-TV. “And I guess there is a part of me that is angry because my government has mistreated me year after year after year, and I am fed up with it and I know there are several other people in this state and all across the country that are fed up with it as well.”

At the time of publication, Belcher's petition for secession had 29,124 signatures, meeting the 25,000 threshold needed for a White House response.

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The Young Turks Cenk Uygur with some follow up to the story Karoli wrote earlier this week, on the CEO's having fits over Obamacare -- Papa John’s owner can afford a turntable for his limousines, ‘but he doesn’t have enough money for health insurance for his employees’:

Cenk and Current TV correspondent Jacki Schechner call out Papa John’s Pizza owner John Schnatter for claiming he can’t afford Obamacare. Schnatter took home almost $3 million in 2011 alone, and holds Papa John’s stock worth $297 million. “He has a moat! This dude has a moat on his house,” Cenk says, and but he’s still complaining about needing to pitch in for his employees’ healthcare.

As Cenk rightfully pointed out, maybe they could afford to pay for health insurance if they just quit giving away so many of those free pizzas.

And as this article from Forbes reported, the cost per pizza may be quite a bit lower than was originally estimated -- Breaking Down Centi-Millionaire 'Papa' John Schnatter's Obamacare Math

Here's more from The Daily Show where, as Cenk opened with above, Jon Stewart tore into the CEOs as well -- Jon Stewart Rips Attempted Secessionists And CEOs For Whining About Obama's Re-Election.

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Keith talks to Jim Moore about how irresponsible Rick Perry's remarks about secession for his state were. Moore reminds viewers of the tragic incident with a separatist movement in 1997, the Republic of Texas led by Rick McLaren which led to a week long stand-off with the police.