A newly designed $100 bill debuts today. For those of us who only glimpse such denominations when grandma's feeling generous or in the bathroom at Dorsia, here is a photo of the very European-looking bill. Note that Benjamin Franklin is no longer surrounded by his trusty oval, and check out all the GOLD!

The right side of the bill features a gold inkwell, a gold liberty bell, a gold feather pen, and the number 100 that changes from green to gold. CNN reports that the new bill has several facets intended to thwart counterfeiters:

Those measures include a blue, 3-D security ribbon, as well as color-shifting ink that changes from copper to green when the note is tilted. That ink can be found on a large "100" on the back of the bill, on one of the "100's" on the front, and on a new image of an ink well that's also on the front.

Here's a cool 3-D interactive graphic that lets you see how the new bill changes when tilted and put under different light. CBS News reports that each bill costs around 4 cents more to produce than the old ones, costing taxpayers an extra $100 million a year to produce.

Media outlets are calling the color "copper," but don't be fooled—isn't it INTERESTING that all this gold appears on a new bill right when the federal government is secretly poised to return to the gold standard? And that the bill features an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence about "the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government"? Let one of those self-described "Conspiracy Nuts" explain the new note's hidden meaning:

The new $100's were going to be released on Feb 10, 2011 but the Federal Reserve announced a "delay due to production problems". Why wait so long? In this video it sure looks like they are in full production already...

Oh, did you notice that the bill in all the sample photos was printed in "SERIES 2009"? I believe that the new $100's are ready to go and HAVE BEEN READY SINCE THE ONSET OF THE CREDIT CRISIS! They were waiting for the crash and the return to a gold standard. With this announcement they might as well say ...WE ARE READY TO COLLAPSE THE SYSTEM!!

And let's not forget that in 1933 FDR was nearly taken out by a fascist coup when he dropped the gold standard, infuriating Prescott Bush and a cabal of wealthy American captains of industry.

Anyway, the boring old Benjamins will still be honored, so no need to stack them in a huge pile and set them ablaze. Unless you're into that sort of thing: