Originally posted by scottishinnz In your opinion, Kent Hovind is infallible?
I haven't formed an opinion regarding Hovind one way or another, never having read any of his stuff. However, I have formed an especially emphatic opinion of the life-sucking piracy that is the IRS.
Originally posted by masscat His beliefs aside, I wonder if his arrest had anything to do with the fact that he had sued the IRS in the past.
Actually, some months ago I looked at some court documents that explained why he's in trouble. Basic gist was that he flat lied repeatedly about his money. Then when he argued it with the court, he claimed that all the money belonged to God. He had said something about filing himself as an alien of the US ('Be in the world, but not of the world, I guess). Simply put, besides being a deranged anti-science twit; he is also a deranged anti-government twit too.
Originally posted by FreakyKBH I haven't formed an opinion regarding Hovind one way or another, never having read any of his stuff. However, I have formed an especially emphatic opinion of the life-sucking piracy that is the IRS.
Check out his crap. Even the other wacko Creationists distance themselves from him.
Originally posted by telerion I just read about this on another board that I frequent.
"Dr." Dino has been arrested and charged. Too bad dj2becker isn't around anymore to celebrate with us. I hope (though I don't hold my breath) that this will prevent honest xians from using his fraudulent material.
Originally posted by KellyJay How is this a blow to YEC here? I didn't even know this guy's name
till I looked at the link.
Kelly
It's a blow to all the YEC's who use his garbage to support their belief. By the way, his popular name among YEC's is "Dr." Dino. Plenty of crazies have come through this forum spouting his nonsense (dj2becker was the first that came to my mind)
Originally posted by telerion It's a blow to all the YEC's who use his garbage to support their belief. By the way, his popular name among YEC's is "Dr." Dino. Plenty of crazies have come through this forum spouting his nonsense (dj2becker was the first that came to my mind)
How is that he cheats on his taxes (IF he cheats on his taxes) a "blow" to YECs? Surely the correctness of their ideas has no relation to their personal conduct. If Einstein cheated on his wife, would that mean Relativity would have received a "blow"?
Originally posted by telerion It's a blow to all the YEC's who use his garbage to support their belief. By the way, his popular name among YEC's is "Dr." Dino. Plenty of crazies have come through this forum spouting his nonsense (dj2becker was the first that came to my mind)
Okay, didn't realize that was what was going on.
Kelly
Originally posted by no1marauder How is that he cheats on his taxes (IF he cheats on his taxes) a "blow" to YECs? Surely the correctness of their ideas has no relation to their personal conduct. If Einstein cheated on his wife, would that mean Relativity would have received a "blow"?
Because I and others have long argued that the man is a scam artist. His "doctorate" is essentially fake. He purposefully distorts or outright lies about empirical data. His mission was to raise a lot of money, and he'll break the law to do it as evidenced by his ridiculous tax evasion (if you haven't you should actually read up on the case, it's astounding how stupid he is)
Finally, and probably the best of all, Hovind fans are always citing his $250,000 challenge. Apparently if you prove evolution then you get $250,000 from Kent Hovind; but he's telling the US government that he doesn't have any money, so he's clearly lying to some one (actually he's lying to both).
Edit: Notice that I said it was a blow to YEC's, not to YECism.
Originally posted by telerion Because I and others have long argued that the man is a scam artist. His "doctorate" is essentially fake. He purposefully distorts or outright lies about empirical data. His mission was to raise a lot of money, and he'll break the law to do it as evidenced by his ridiculous tax evasion (if you haven't you should actually read up on the case, it's astound 's lying to both).
Edit: Notice that I said it was a blow to YEC's, not to YECism.
Sorry, I fail to see how it's a blow to YECs in general. That Hovind may be a tax cheat or a scam artist has no bearing on others who hold YEC's beliefs. As a non-YECs, I don't consider it a "blow" when some geologist or biologist who doesn't believe such nonsense gets a speeding ticket or shoplifts a bagel or eats his children.
Originally posted by no1marauder Sorry, I fail to see how it's a blow to YECs in general. That Hovind may be a tax cheat or a scam artist has no bearing on others who hold YEC's beliefs. As a non-YECs, I don't consider it a "blow" when some geologist or biologist who doesn't believe such nonsense gets a speeding ticket or shoplifts a bagel or eats his children.
It is a blow to the YEC's that use his material. They see him as a champion for truth in a world of lies. Your regard for any biologist or geologist comes nowhere close to the awe a lot of these folks have for Mr. Hovind.
It's a blow when you find out that your hero is a criminal. It's a blow to the YEC organizations that stood with him. It's a blow to the churches that invited him into their company. It's a blow to all the YEC's who have been sending his "ministry" their hard-earned dollars.
Obviously, I'm not going to argue that YECism is false because Kent Hovind's a cheat. It's just nice to see one more smug YEC scam artist get his just desserts (and don't worry ATY, he will. The current judge is already pissed as hell with his crazy shenanigans.)
Originally posted by telerion It is a blow to the YEC's that use his material. They see him as a champion for truth in a world of lies. Your regard for any biologist or geologist comes nowhere close to the awe a lot of these folks have for Mr. Hovind.
It's a blow when you find out that your hero is a criminal. It's a blow to the YEC organizations that stood with him. It's a blo ...[text shortened]... Y, he will. The current judge is already pissed as hell with his crazy shenanigans.)
You're being irrational; your contempt for the man is leading you to make unsupportable conclusions. I've seen Creationists make the same sort of arguments regarding the personal foibles of Darwin; these arguments are just as ridiculous when applied to Hovind.
The only link I found regarding the charges against Hovind was on Wiki. 12 counts regard unpaid FICA and other employee taxes; failure to pay these is endemic among small businesses and rarely gets a criminal indictment (the total is $400,000+ which seems a lot, but isn't that unusual). There are 45 counts regarding making banking transactions just under $10,000 to avoid disclosure to Federal authorities; this is an extremely dubious charge. And there is one all purpose conspiring to screw with the IRS. In short, this isn't exactly John Gotti material.
BTW, in our system judges don't make determinations of guilt (unless defendents want them to); juries do. I'd wait a bit before declaring Hovind a "criminal" though the scope of US criminal law is so vast and all encompassing that pretty much everybody could be declared a "criminal".
Originally posted by no1marauder Sorry, I fail to see how it's a blow to YECs in general. That Hovind may be a tax cheat or a scam artist has no bearing on others who hold YEC's beliefs. As a non-YECs, I don't consider it a "blow" when some geologist or biologist who doesn't believe such nonsense gets a speeding ticket or shoplifts a bagel or eats his children.
I don't consider it a "blow" when some geologist or biologist who doesn't believe such nonsense ... eats his children.
No, but that would be a strange story -- worthy of a section on crimelibrary.com.