It's almost mid-March.
Do you know where your Texas lawmakers stand?
If you're from Tyler, your state Rep. Leo Berman gave the OK for a rally last Saturday at the Capitol to promote a November vote on whether Texas should secede from the United States.
Almost 15 years ago, another camp of Republic of Texas separatists staged anti-government standoffs, claiming they already ruled their own imaginary nation.
Today, a different camp of secessionists mainly peddles $1,000 "lifetime memberships," ball caps and bumper stickers.
But every now and then, they revert to their old, revolting ways.
This year, they're pushing a "Petition for a Free and Independent Texas!" and demanding a November referendum "regarding a declaration of independence."
What does Berman, 76, a Republican and former Arlington mayor pro tem, have to do with this?
Good question.
He didn't attend Saturday. He says he opposes secession.
But he signed the paperwork for the group to rally at the Capitol.
Also, Berman has said Texans should just ignore federal laws we don't like.
(Texas tried doing that with desegregation in the 1950s. It didn't work.)
Lately, Berman has been in the news for his House Bill 295, the "Birther Bill," which would require candidates for president and vice president to show an "original birth certificate" to run in Texas.
Berman told the Texas Tribune he's not sure that President Barack Obama's short-form Hawaii birth record proves he was born in Honolulu.
Berman thinks Obama was born in Mombasa, Kenya.
Asked for proof, Berman recommended YouTube.com videos, saying, "YouTubes are infallible."
The Saturday rally was promoted with the tagline "South Sudan. Egypt. Could Texas be next?"
Texas Nationalist Movement President Daniel Miller, a former president of a Republic of Texas separatist faction, said in the announcement, "It is time for the people of Texas to claim the nationhood that our unique culture demands."
He did not say which culture he considers Texan.
I guess he meant his.
In what must be a first for revolutions, the activists also have a "membership director."
According to their website, they meet weekly in a restaurant in McKinney.
They are plotting revolution in the Golden Corral.
Comments