Rep. Leo Berman (R-TX) "proud to be in Glenn Beck Army," calls Obama "God's punishment"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Texas lawmaker: Obama is ‘God’s punishment on us’
By Daniel Tencer
Monday, April 26th, 2010 -- 5:16 pm



It seems conservative firebrands are seeing God's punishment everywhere these days.

First there was televangelist Pat Robertson who in January told his audience that the Haitian earthquake was punishment for Haiti's founders having signed a "pact with the devil."

Then came radio host Rush Limbaugh, who last week suggested that the Iceland volcano was "God's punishment" for the US passing health care reform.

Now a Texas state representative has taken the notion a step further, declaring that an elected official -- rather than a natural disaster -- is a sign of God's displeasure.

"I believe that Barack Obama is God's punishment on us today," Rep. Leo Berman of Texas' 6th district told the audience at a Glenn Beck appearance in Tyler, Texas. Berman added, "But in 2012, we are going to make Obama a one-term president."

Berman, whose comments were first reported on by the Tyler Morning Telegraph, appeared alongside a number of other prominent Texas conservatives at the Oil Palace arena on Saturday night, including Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Perry "described Beck as a national leader of a powerful group sending a message to the current administration and Congress about Washington, DC, how to control spending and Americans taking their country back," the Morning Telegraph reported.

"I consider myself proud to be in that army," Perry said.

Rep. Berman has built a track record of controversial comments. Last year, activists launched a now-defunct Web site, CensureLeo.com, after Berman told a Chinese-American lawyer to "kiss his ass" and "go home," presumably to China.

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0426/lawmaker-obama-gods-punishment-us/

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

1. Another fucking wing nut!

It just gets weirder and weirder. Taking counsel from a minor broadcast celebrity who should be indicted for the equivalent of yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater every time he opens the microphone..... as Mark Twain, as a reporter once said, 'I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried'

[muntrv]

2. Obama's army would kick Beckerhead army's ass. Beck army is the

chickenhawk company.

[Bluebear]

3. Separation of church and state NOW

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Another old, white man who thinks his ilk rule the world.

[Bluebear]

5. There are plenty of old, white liberals too =)

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Do they believe that their ilk rules the world?

[opihimoimoi]

6. P Obama is GODs answer to GW BUSH installed by Satan

[Radical Activist]

7. I agree. God wants to punish conservative Republican leaders.

Obama is a good vehicle to dispense divine vengeance for conservative hypocrisy and wickedness. :evilgrin:

[spanone]

8. the house of representatives is truly the looney bin

[cloudbase]

10. Awwwww, man!

Just when everybody was looking over at Arizona, too.

[Initech]

11. Taking their country back = only having it ruled by republicans?

[Mister Ed]

12. So if Obama's presidency is God's will, how does this bonehead expect to defeat him at the polls...

...in 2012?

:shrug:

[TomCADem]

13. Rep. Leo Berman Proposed A Bill Allowing School To Grant Masters In Creationism

The fact that Republicans and Tea Partiers are supposedly on a role is truly scary when they push proposals like the following:

Texas legislator is waging a war of biblical proportions against the science and education communities in the Lone Star State as he fights for a bill that would allow a private school that teaches creationism to grant a Master of Science degree in the subject.

State Rep. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) proposed House Bill 2800 when he learned that The Institute for Creation Research (ICR), a private institution that specializes in the education and research of biblical creationism, was not able to receive a certificate of authority from Texas' Higher Education Coordinating Board to grant Master of Science degrees.

Berman's bill would allow private, non-profit educational institutions to be exempt from the board’s authority.

“If you don’t take any federal funds, if you don’t take any state funds, you can do a lot more than some business that does take state funding or federal funding,” Berman says. “Why should you be regulated if you don’t take any state or federal funding?”

HB 2800 does not specifically name ICR; it would allow any institution that meets its criteria to be exempt from the board's authority. But Berman says ICR was the inspiration for the bill because he feels creationism is as scientific as evolution and should be granted equal weight in the educational community.

“I don’t believe I came from a salamander that crawled out of a swamp millions of years ago,” Berman told FOXNews.com. "I do believe in creationism. I do believe there are gaps in evolution.

"But when you ask someone who believes in evolution, if you ask one of the elitists who believes in evolution about the gaps, they’ll tell you that the debate is over, that there is no debate, evolution is the thing, it’s the only way to go.”

[TomCADem]

14. Here Is Berman In 2006 Trying To Deny Education And Healthcare To Immigrants

I guess Berman was just ahead of his time, and Arizona has caught up to him.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1560643,00.html

Just how far are conservatives willing to go? Far, according to a bill pre-filled this week by Republican state Rep. Leo Berman, who serves a onservative constituency in the east Texas town of Tyler, "the rose capital of the nation." Under Berman's bill, children born in Texas to illegal aliens would be denied state unemployment or public assistance benefits like food stamps as well as professional licenses. In Texas alone, he argues, there are an estimated two million illegal aliens whose U.S.-born children get these benefits, which go largely un-reimbursed by the federal government. "This is costing us a fortune," Berman argues. Although he had to back down on plans to deny education and health care (the feds require it), the central tenet of his bill remains: to challenge the automatic birthright of citizenship given to children of illegal aliens — all the way up to the Supreme Court, if necessary.

How could Texas deny benefits to U.S. citizens, even if they were born to illegals? Berman notes that the 14th Amendment was a late addition to the Constitution, written after the Civil War to assure citizenship for the children of slaves. The courts later extended the amendment to include the children of illegal immigrants. But times have changed, he says. "There are 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. who have benefits that most U.S. citizens don't have," says Berman. "One of the most lucrative benefits is that pregnant illegal aliens can give birth in a U.S. hospital free of charge and be rewarded with citizenship while breaking the most basic of U.S. laws." To pay for all that free hospital care, he wants to tax all money transferred south of the border by individuals at 8% (citizens could apply for reimbursement). The fee could raise $240 million a year, he estimates.

The larger issue for both Berman and Colyandro is carrying on with the conservative agenda now that Washington is in Democratic hands. "The American people expressed extreme disappointment in the Republican Congress but they certainly did not make a turn to the left," argues Colyandro, pointing to conservative-oriented ballot issues on property rights, gay marriage and quota elimination that survived even as the South Dakota abortion ban went down in defeat. In Texas, three new abortion bills have already been filed, including one that would immediately invalidate state law permitting abortions if Roe v. Wade were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. "The Republicans didn't fare badly in Texas so we have to preserve the Republican and conservative message," says Berman. "We'll be carrying the banner, probably for most of the U.S."

[gratuitous]

15. Gosh Mr. Berman, tell us

What did Yazoo City do to earn such direct wrath from God? I only ask because Haley Barbour, Mississippi's governor, is from Yazoo City. And after reading your interpretation of events, I just have to wonder . . . you know? So please, enlighten us all with your (shall we say?) peculiar brand of exegesis?