The big news in Hovindology this week is an inroad into the Rand Paul campaign.
First some background for those who have not been following along
Hovindication
Independent Baptist minister and young earth creationist Kent Hovind, nearing the end of a long prison sentence for tax related crimes, finds himself facing more time in prison. In mid-March, he was convicted of contempt of court, while the jury hung on more serious fraud and conspiracy charges. He faces retrial on May 18th.
My biggest source of sympathy with Hovind is his apparent sincerity. When I look at how things have worked out for Kent Hovind as opposed to how they would be if he had followed the fairly mundane tax advice I or a few hundred thousand run of the mill CPAs, enrolled agents, tax attorneys or unlicensed tax advisers (rather than the three idiots he relied on) would have given him, how can I doubt his sincerity? He has spent over eight years in prison, had his wife sent away for a year and faces multi-million dollar deficiencies when he is finally released.If he had run his organization as a 501(c)(3) organization, taking most of his compensation as a tax free housing allowance and electing out of social security, he would probably have quite a little empire there in Pensacola without having paid much in the way of taxes. Clearly he was not motivated by greed in his war with the government. As one of the people Jonathan Schwartz interviewed mention “Hovind picked a strange hill to die on.”
Rand Paul?
One of the regular features of LoneStar1776 is a weekly meeting of Hovindicators to discuss how the campaign is going. Their perennial concern is to move the cause closer to the evangelical right wing mainstream.
The big news, a bit past the 25:00 mark, comes from Erin Davis. A Rand Paul delegate will be making an appeal to Rand to come out in favor of Kent Hovind. She was assured that the Senator is already aware of and sympathetic to Kent Hovind’s plight.
Hovindologists that I have mentioned this development to are dismissive of the notion that it might come to anything. I don’t agree with their analysis. Ed and Elaine Brown held similar view on the validity of the income tax to “I’m not a tax protester” Kent Hovind. They took much more extreme measures, holing up in their home with a stockpile of food and weapons. Nonetheless Presidential candidate Senator Ron Paul endorsed their stand comparing them to Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
If Rand Paul were to pledge that after his election one of his first acts will be to pardon Kent Hovind, there might be a good bit of upside for him. It just might bring a decent number of alienated voters into his fold. He can insulate himself from criticism from potential supporters who are closer to the center by focusing on IRS heavy handiness and the amount of time that Hovind has already served. I really think a pledge like that is a winner for him with little downside. There is a lot of alignment between the Hovindication movement and the Rand Paul campaign.
I have to say that I thought this piece was almost forbes worthy, but I think I’ll wait to hear something directly from a Rand Paul source. Also I have quite a backlog of straight tax material for forbes right now.
Peter J Reilly CPA hopes to be the first tax blogger to give up his day job. He has no interest in moving to China, but is open to other offers of all expense-paid travel.
Rand Paul is no Ron Paul and I don't think we'll be hearing from Rand Paul on this matter.
I don't have a problem with him doing so.
I think it would be a good thing.
If Rand Paul were to come out in favor of the Hansen/Hovind cause, it could really put a damper on both causes, in my opinion. It might be a good catalyst for getting a lot more, appropriate, mainstream consideration to both causes.
Sympathizing with Ed and Elaine Brown is quite a different matter than not having the appropriate organizational structure and vetting process to prevent one from falling for the False Hovind Narrative.
Rand Paul, do let us hear from you on the Hansen/Hovind matter. You or your people are more than welcome to contact me for a consultation before you "go public".
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kent-Hovind-and-Jo-Hovind-v-USA-IRS/339508739517135
Rudy may have already ticked off the Paul's He's already denounced Ron Paul and quite a few other well-known right winger as well. I think Rand was actually denounced at some point but I'm still looking for that video. Here's Rudy Driving While Birther:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H3RGAqFR-8
More Ron Paul disappointment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzErcJ0koEc
This one's fun for the "thinking" and the building excitement towards the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGDMRIZdGpE
Can't find a RAND Paul denunciation, but a lot of Ron. This one has Rudy burning Ron Paul book, Qur'an, and Talmud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtMG6bj1KI8
Enough of that. There are many more, Rudy used to support Ron Paul. Probably wouldn't make Rand very happy with Rudy. Browse as many as you'd like at
https://www.youtube.com/user/LoneStar1776/search?query=%22Ron+Paul%22
I think if Rand Paul made any declaration on the Hovind matter that stopped short of a complete denunciation, it would be a kiss of death on both campaigns — Hovind's and Paul's.
If Paul came out in favour, it would cement the perception that Paul's judgment is flawed, and that he would be a Palin-level dangerous choice. It would also open the door to mainstream awareness of Hovind's delusions, and that would do him no favors either.
Either Paul will say nothing (likely), or any successful attempt at enlisting Paul's support will explode spectacularly in everyone's faces.
I think it somewhat interesting that no Rand Paul "delegate" was named as being the messenger to Rand Paul.
I'm thinking it may just be a local character who happened to take part in some local political activism for Rand Paul and who may have access to the chain of command for the campaign.
How close will that anonymous "delegate" come to getting Rand Paul's ear and public support for Kent Hovind?
We will see!
I think it also continues to be interesting how many in the Hovind camp won't come out themselves in support of Kent Hovind but insist on protecting their own personal identities.
Hovindicator Hypocrisy, as I call it!
They want people to come out in support of Kent Hovind, but they won't do as much as they are asking others to do.
I don't think Kent Hovind is sincere at all. I think he believes he's absolutely right and he's willing to be a martyr for being absolutely right. You have to keep in mind that to some Christians, being a martyr for the cause of Jesus is really, really important. And he'll take anyone along for the martyrdom ride, willingly or not. (Poor Jo.) My argument against Kent's sincerity includes the actions taken by Kent's family and Paul Hansen towards Anthony Jaworski to try and eject the latter off the Hovind Holy Land. It also includes the fact that Kent puts out deceptive "debates" with "evolutionists," including dead people such as Christopher Hitchens.
He also has his followers concentrate on the 45 structuring convictions rather than the 12 convictions for failure to pay income tax and Social Security for his employees. See, there's some debate about what structuring means, but the standard for paying taxes and Social Security is pretty clear. And it was shown conclusively at the trial that Kent's employees were not missionaries, that they punched a time clock, they had vacation and sick time and he was running CSE and DAL as businesses. Except that Kent thought he was above the mundane business of paying taxes because he mentally doesn't live in the same USA the rest of us live in.
No, I strongly dispute Kent's sincerity of belief. One would think after 20 years of delusion he would have snapped out of it. Kent's operating more out of a feeling of superiority over us proles who don't understand it's all a big government conspiracy mixed in with a heaping helping of faux Christian martyrdom.
I think there is a difference between sincerity and intellectual honesty. Having decided he is right at a deep level trickery at the surface becomes acceptable.
The Rand Paul gimmickry may now have been revealed at:
https://www.facebook.com/2peter3/posts/834061860003888
and
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=652861468181859&id=339508739517135
Yeah, this ain't nothin' but another busted play by the true believers.
How Creationism Taught Me Real Science – The Conspiracy Against Kent Hovind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5spYZH5gGI
That was really good. I think I used it one of my posts. Don't remember which one at the moment.