This post was originally published on ForbesFeb 13, 2015
My regular forbes.com readers might note that I have gone over two weeks without posting a Kent Hovind story here. For those of you unfamiliar with Kent Hovind or Doctor Dino as he is sometimes called, he is one of the leading lights in the field of Young Earth Creationism, the notion that there is scientific, not just scriptural, evidence that the world is about 6,000 years.
Doctor Hovind has been in federal prison for over eight years on tax related charges mainly concerning the manner in which he ran Creation Science Ministries, the organization that distributed his videos and ran the theme park Dinosaur Advetureland (One of the implications of YEC is that dinosaurs and humans must have co-existed). As his term ends, he is facing new charges related to the filing of a lis pendens on property that the Government had seized from the ministry. Trial is scheduled for March 2.
The Hovindicators
The new charges have sparked something of a Free Kent Hovind or Hovinidication movement, which I discussed here. If you want to keep up with the Hovindication viewpoint, your best source is probably the webite #FreeKent. #FreeKent will encourage you to avoid Kent Hovind and Jo Hovind v USA – IRS and Hovindology which in the view of some Hovindicators are likely run by disinformation agents who have the resources of the Federal Reserve behind them.
The most outspoken Hovindicator remains Rudy Davis, whose youtube channel LoneStar1776, which has covered many topics including geocentrism and the questionable citizenship of our President, has, for the duration, if you will excuse the expression, evolved, more of less, into All Doc Dino All The Time. Kent regularly calls Rudy, who keeps him informed through the mail.
Letters From Three Tax Pros
The limitations imposed by Kent Hovind being in jail and not having access to the internet slow things a bit. Among the evidences that Kent often cites to support the notions that he is not a tax protester, has not broken any laws and has paid all the taxes that he owes are three letter that he solicited from tax professionals that indicated everything he was doing was fine. Up until now nobody has been able to find the letters and, as he told me, Kent can not remember the names of the tax professionals.
Earlier this week Rudy told Kent that copies of the letters that were floating around on the internet had come to him. He had to print them out and mail them to Kent in order to authenticate them. As of this morning’s call that has not yet happened.
Owning The Internet
At this point, the main story is the efforts of the Hovinidicators to work their way closer to mainstream media. A spike in traffic to my October post Government Coming Down Harder On Kent Hovind is a sign of their progress. As far as I can tell the most prominent addition to the ranks of the Hovindicators is Coach Dave Daubenmire who leads his piece with
I have to be honest with you. I think about it often. Not a night goes by when I do not think about it as I crawl in my warm bed beside my sweet wife of 35 years.
“Will this be the night that the black limos pull in my driveway? Is this the night that the SWAT Team goons bust down my door and haul me off to the slammer?”
I am being dead serious. I really do think about it every night because that is what they did to Dr. Kent Hovind.
There has been coverage by Pete Santili
Pete called the office of Judge Margaret Casey Rodgers, who sentenced Kent eight years ago and is scheduled to preside over the upcoming trial. I have to tell you when it comes to Hovindicators and Judge Rodgers, don’t get them started. Steve Quayle has also picked up the story.
Rudy has gone so far as to announce that they own the internet. The great white whale of Rudy’s media campaign is Alex Jones Info Wars. Rudy has taken to calling their tip line every morning and has begun to think that Info Wars lack of attention to the matter may be a sign that Alex Jones is actually controlled opposition.
The Creation Hall of Fame has come out in support of Kent Hovind. Their support is somewhat measured and does not embrace the entire Hovindication narrative.
To Me It Is About The Taxes Not The Dinosaurs
It is important for me to point out that this is a legitimate tax story. It comes out of my routine reading of Tax Court decisions, finding a decision that had an interesting story behind it and sticking with it. My coverage begins with the Tax Court decision in the case of Jo Delia Hovind on October 3, 2012, As the situation has heated up in the last few months I realized it was ovewhelming my coverage of tax issues that are of interest to people who are,what I call conventionally tax compliant. You know, The people who think most ordinary Americans with more than insignificant earnings are required to file individual tax returns. The traffic spike, however, makes me realize that I am an important source for Kent Hovind coverage, most of which I have moved to my alternative blogs.
Here is a partial round up of that coverage for the last few months,
Kent Hovind – Trial Delayed – Documents Uncovered – The documents are the tax pro letters mentioned above. They have still not been authenticated by Kent Hovind, but I think it unlikely that they are fabricated.
To me the most interesting development has been the publication of Kent’s parable on prison issues called The Kennel. I believe it was inspired in part by Animal Farm. This is one area where I find quite a bit of common ground with Kent Hovind. I wrote a review of sorts titled An Awesome Critique Of The Prison Industrial Complex By One Who Knows It Well. My good friend, Tom Cahill, who is about as far Left as Kent Hovind is Right liked it too. He wrote me:
Elijah Green’s parable “The Kennel” is not just about the failure of justice in the USA, but also the failure of the entire United States Government. More than ever before in US history, it is evident to many of us that our country has never, ever been a democracy. Instead, since the “founding fathers,” America has been a combination oligarchy and plutocracy.
Back To The Salt Mines
Absent a major development, I will probably be taking a break from Hovind coverage. There are a couple of other tax stories I feel pressing and there are those tax returns, including quite a few accounting method changes to tend to. I will close by once again reminding everybody that if something truly awful were to happen in your community the outpouring of generous support from across the country would include offerings from people who believe that Kent Hovind is a godly man persecuted by a godless government and others who believe creation science is an oxymoron. So stay compassionate.
