Do Hovindicators Now Own The Internet?
The most exciting development in Hovindland this week has to be Rudy Davis’ announcement (around 12:00) that the people who want to free Kent, the Hovindicators as I call them, have conquered the Internet
Rudy reminds me a great deal of Fred Ward’s portrayal of Gus Grissom in the Right Stuff, so I was a little disappointed by the white shirt and cowboy hat. I hope he returns to the brown leather jacket. It is much more fitting. I have to give Rudy a lot of credit for chutzpah. While it is true that Hovindhate is pretty thin on the internet, none of Rudy’s innumerable videos in the last week have broken out of the low three figures yet.
Tony Reed’s skeptical treatment of the Hovindicators stands at 4,133 views as I write this.
Clearly, though the Hovindicators are spreading with Coach Dave Daubenmire now in contention with Wiley Drake to be the most prominent Hovindicator.
More Support For Kent Hovind
As it turns out, it is up to this tiny outpost of Hovindology to announce the latest breakthrough for the Hovindicators. The Creation Science Hall of Fame has come out with a statement supporting Kent Hovind.
Kent Hovind is in prison out of principle and not deceit. He has served more time than most with the same offense. Enough is enough. Its time to free Kent Hovind. To extend his sentence based on mail fraud and interference with the sale of his confiscated property is totally unjust. That is not how the American judicial system works. We are a republic that adheres to our Constitution.
The statement was by Nick Lally, Board Chair of CSHF, but for further comment Nick referred me to Terry Hurlbert, Secretary and Treasurer of CSHF. Terry indicated that he is largely responsible for CSHF’s well put together website. Terry is a 1980 Yale graduate with a degree in biomedical engineering. He ran medical labs into the nineties. Presently, he helps run a website called Conservative News and Views,
It’s About The Taxes Not The Dinosaurs
Terry believes that the ferocious attack by the government on Kent Hovind is related to Kent’s alternative views on taxation and the possibility that he is a deep pocket (I find the latter rather unlikely, for whatever that is worth).
Given the mission of CSHF
Honoring those who honored God’s Word as literally written in Genesis
Terry can give me a pretty good survey of the creation community. There are many organizations and many people active in them. CSHF applied for and received 501(c)(3) status and like Eric Hovind’s ministry is conventionally tax compliant. Terry knows of no other creation organization that has been the subject of IRS attention.
Our discussion more or less confirms my view that the government’s attention to Kent Hovind is about the taxes not the dinosaurs. Even though CSHF has recognized Kent Hovind as having made a great contribution, he does not believe the Kent’s suppression would cripple the movement.
Something Happened
One of the mysteries of creation science is how it could be that if as Kent Hovind and Eric Hovind and others claim evolution and an old earth have been thoroughly debunked, how do they continue to have such a strong grip on conventional science? Ernie Land explained to me that it is because evolution serves the purposes of the New World Order and is thus supported by far reaching conspiracies such as that of the Illuminate.
Terry does not believe that you need massive conspiracies to account for the persistence of old earth and evolution among conventional scientists. He notes that there is a distinction between operational science, where you can do repeated experiments and origins science, which is something of a detective work exercise. We can’t do repeat experiments on the earth’s origin.
He discussed the three ideas that conventional science embraces that support old earth and evolution uniformitarianism, abogenesis and common descent.
Of the the three uniformtarianism is the one that I find most fascinating:
Uniformitarianism is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe. It has included the gradualistic concept that “the present is the key to the past” and is functioning at the same rates.
Terry believes that roughly 5,300 years ago something dramatic happened that changed the world. Among other things the amount of carbon 14 in the atmosphere changed and radioactive material was redistributed. That throws off all the dating of things that is evidence of old earth.
The other relaxation of uniformtarianism has to do with a change in the nature of time locally on earth which allows for the earth to be 6,000 years old, while an observer on the edge of the galaxy would perceive 13.7 billion years. Frankly, I didn’t get that one.
So there you have the other possible explanation for the persistence of evolution besides conspiracies.
Creationists Not The Only Ones Who Think Something Happened
The something that happened 5,300 years ago in Terry’s belief system was of course the Flood which reduced the human population to eight. I find it rather fascinating that contemporary self designated radical feminists put the beginning of patriarchy, the systematic exploitation of women by men, at about 5,000 years ago. In Genesis, that human population consisted of four people who are named. Noah and his three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth. The other four people? Their wives. Talk about the foundation of patriarchy
.Deep Green Resistance argues that civilization was a wrong turn that humanity took around that time. DGR has a heavy radical feminist influence and advocates humans living in a more balanced relationship with nature. They might take note of the promise that God makes to Noah
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
I don’t know what to make of it, but this correspondence in origin stories of groups with radically different perspectives makes me think that there is something really worth looking at there.
Glad to see you mention Wiley Drake as one of the "big names" coming to ride Kent's coattails into some media coverage. This might be the last hurrah for Wiley Drake if he gets the publicity he warrants as a has been and should be retired old Southern Baptist turned, turned, turned what….UNregistered Baptist…is that what they prefer these days.
Drake has been telling what appears to be some really tall tales about the Hovind case, after bragging about his younger days as a trained private investigator and having used those skills to verify Hovind's story of how things are.
Not so fast, Wiley, not so fast!
WILEY DRAKE, WE ARE WAITING ON YOU!
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/58501524
Time Mark – 34:30ff
"…IRS thugs busting down the front door.
They DID NOT HAVE A WARRANT.
All they had was a gun and a badge
that said they were an IRS agent.
They busted in the front door…"
– Wiley Drake
– Friday, February 6, 2015
We are interested in where you came up with that version for the story, Wiley.
We are interested in what investigative skills you used to come to the conclusion that the version was correct, Wiley.
We are interested in whether you are going to maintain the accuracy of that version of events, Wiley.
I noticed this morning that in the following video Rudy asks Kent specifically about the door being "busted in", and Kent seems to contradict your claim about that. Kent's answer to Rudy starts about the 16:40 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQB9IBm8jwE
Wiley Drake, come out, come out!
You have some "splainin'" to do, Wiley Drake!
Wiley, you need to come out and come clean about that "no warrant" claim as well since the very public record shows that arrest warrants were issued for Kent and Jo.
There's other claims you made, Wiley, but we can deal with them if and when you come out, come clean and start bringing forth your works meet for your repentance.
As far as my work with Kent Hovind on the Hovindology site is concerned, it's all about the taxes, not the dinos (thanks Peter). I got the impression from Nick Lally that he's walking a very tight line between acknowledging there are no other young earth creationists facing tax issues yet wanting to say that Kent Hovind is being excessively punished. I disagree with him on the latter issue.
As I've studied this issue, I disagree that Kent is being excessively punished, based on the sentencing guidelines in place in 2007, because Kent has never admitted that he was wrong about his tax theories. That's why his allocution at his sentencing is so frustrating, because he does not ask for mercy but instead continues to insist on holding to his discredited beliefs in the face of his conviction by a jury of his peers. If Kent were to get out in August, and go off parole in three years, I could see him being hauled up on tax evasion charges again, because I do not think he can be conventionally tax compliant due to his beliefs. (I want to be wrong on this, I really do.)
Personally, I side with the evolutionists when it comes to the science. I absolutely do not claim expertise in the biological sciences, but I do have more than the average layperson's education in astronomy. (I'm that weird person who likes to read about Wolf-Rayet stars, brown dwarfs and the various supernova types.) It is my belief, based on the evidence from the best science, that we live on a planet that is around 4.5 billion years old in a universe that at best estimate (right now) is 13.7 billion years old. (Want to blow your miind? Imagine a time where the sun and the entire solar system was just a cloud of molecular gas.) And, when it comes to public policy, I believe we should only teach science in public schools, not religious dogma, and young earth creationism is religious dogma.
Let me reiterate, however, that at Hovindology, my purpose is to talk about Kent Hovind and his legal problems and not get into the content of his lectures and books except insofar as he may be pushing tax protester or sovereign citizen theories. As Ken Ham and Eric Hovind have shown, you can be conventionally tax compliant and be a young earth creationist.
I think there must be some misunderstanding about the relevance of someone claiming they are sticking to their principles.
It seems to me that Kent and the Hovindicators think that if they invoke "principles, principles" that it excuses their criminal behavior.
It doesn't excuse it, it just helps explain it.
I think Kent needs to detail out his principles so we can kick them around a bit and see just how it explains such things as:
1. Kent's willingness to send his wife to prison.
2. Kent's unwillingness to acknowledge his criminal conduct.
3. Kent's unwillingness to accept the jurisdiction of the Court.
4. Kent's promoting falsehoods about his legal issues.
Maybe they have given up and quit stalking me; the BatyHaterz.
That would be a good thing, but I'll wait until they make it official.
Just for comparison, Kent Hovind has spent longer in federal prison for tax evasion than Al Capone did–he at least was paroled early.
Who knows, there may be a lot of similarities between Al's case and Kent's, now that you mention it!
Al served about 8 years and Kent has served about 8 years as I figure it.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Al_Capone.aspx
(Begin excerpt.)
Capone suffered from syphilis, a disease passed from person to person through sexual contact.
The disease can affect the brain if left untreated.
Capone became physically weak and started to lose his mind.
As a result, his power within the nation's organized crime system ended.
Released on parole in 1939, Capone spent the rest of his life at his estate in Palm Island, Florida, where he died on January 25, 1947.
(End excerpt.)
I don't know about Kent's physical state, but I have long thought a mental evaluation would be a valuable addition to his record.
At a minimum, I happen to think he has Narcissistic Personality Disorder which has been attempted as part of the defense of Lawrence Cohen, one of Irwin Schiff right-hand, tax-cheatin' men. Because it was not considered in the trial phase the appeals court through out the Cohen conviction.
Actually Kent has spent 0 time in prison for tax evasion. He was not indicted for that. He was convicted of not filing payroll returns for his ministry, structuring and interfering with the administration of the Internal Revenue Code (There was more involved than praying in that)
His claims that he has not broken any laws and paid all the taxes that he owes do not stand up to scrutiny though
http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2015/01/13/looking-at-kent-hovinds-innocence-claims/