The New York Times has an
article
about the Indian River School District case.
Basically, the area is populated by religious bigots. Their entire argument seems to be “we’re all Christian. We’ve always been Christian. If you don’t like it, you can either convert or leave.”:
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Back when Kent Hovind
was arrested,
the judge :
Hovind argued that he needs his passport to continue his evangelism work. He said “thousands and thousands” are waiting to hear him preach in South Africa next month.
But [Judge Miles] Davis agreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Heldmyer, who argued that “like-minded people” might secret Hovind away if he left the country.
Right on cue, “like-minded people”
asked the judge
to let Hovind leave the country.
Now, alert reader
Corey Schlueter
points out
another
article
saying that judge Casey Rodgers denied Hovind’s request to have his passport back.
We can only speculate that he applied the time-honored legal principle of “Mama Rodgers didn’t raise no dummies.”
Nearly two weeks after Hovind’s arrest, there’s still nothing about it on drdino.com, but now Kent has posted
an entry
on his weblog.
Dan Manassas, Th.D., writes to the author of All Things Human:
The shameful persecution of Kent Hovind, one of God’s most upright and dedicated ministers, shows that it’s you Darwinist Marxists who really control the U.S. government. The founder of Creation Science Evangelism, he works entirely for God, has no income, no property and no expenses. Despite this, he is able to make continuous bank withdrawals for $9,500 or $9,600 (just below the federal reporting limit). Instead of seeing this as a miracle and a sign of the grace that God has bestowed on his faithful servant, the government has indicted him for tax evasion.
(HT FSTDT)
Update, Jul. 25, 2006: If you doubt the authenticity of this message, I can’t blame you. It might be tongue-in-cheek, or it might not. Given that there are no blatant blinking smileys,
Poe’s Law
applies.
Today’s Pensacola News Journal has an
update
on what’s happening with kent Hovind.
The Pensacola News Journal reports that Kent Hovind
was in court
yesterday:
Hovind’s attorney [said] his client did not want to enter a plea because he does not believe the United States, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office “have jurisdiction in this matter.”
When pressed by Davis to enter a plea of either guilty or not guilty, Hovind said he wished to enter a plea of “subornation of false muster.” […]
When pressed by Davis, Hovind said he was entering a not guilty plea “under duress.”
The South Dakota GOP has a
list of resolutions for 2006. It’s just a bunch of non-binding, chest-pounding, talking-point-centric rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb, but Resolution 16 caught my eye:
WHEREAS, education on species origin is a vital aspect in the understanding of nature and the purpose of human life; and,
WHEREAS, evolution is a theory that is taught in public schools as fact and at the exclusion of all other theories; and
WHEREAS, the South Dakota Republican Party believes there are other plausible theories, including creationism;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the South Dakota Republican Party supports efforts to expand beyond evolution the knowledge, scope, and debate in public education on the theories of species origin.
(emphasis added)
I understand that these people are reactionaries who never got over women’s suffrage, but come on! This is the 21st century! Didn’t they get the memo that says they’re supposed to call it “intelligent design” these days?
From the
Pensacola News Journal:
Pensacola evangelist who owns the defunct Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola was arrested Thursday on 58 federal charges, including failing to pay $473,818 in employee-related taxes and making threats against investigators.
Of the 58 charges, 44 were filed against Kent Hovind and his wife, Jo, for evading bank reporting requirements as they withdrew $430,500 from AmSouth Bank between July 20, 2001, and Aug. 9, 2002. […]
The indictment alleges Kent Hovind paid his employees in cash and labeled them “missionaries” to avoid payroll tax and FICA requirements. […]
The indictment also says the Hovinds’ made cash withdrawals from AmSouth Bank in a manner that evaded federal requirements for reporting cash transactions.
The withdrawals were for $9,500 or $9,600, just below the $10,000 starting point for reporting cash transactions. […]
Over Kent Hovind’s protests, the judge took away his passport and guns Hovind claimed belonged to his church.
Hovind argued that he needs his passport to continue his evangelism work. He said “thousands and thousands” are waiting to hear him preach in South Africa next month.
But Davis agreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Heldmyer, who argued that “like-minded people” might secret Hovind away if he left the country.
Update: As of this writing, the top story at DrDino.com is “Exciting new developments at CSE”.
Today’s nominee for Stupidest Person on the Planet O’ the Day is Pete from March Together for Life, for his post condemning Miss Caroline Weber for looking forward to her abortion. The only problem… let me take that back. The first obvious problem is that the article he’s criticizing is from the Onion.
(Note to Very Stupid People With No Sense Of Humor: the Onion is a satirical publication. The stories that appear in it are not true.)
A patient wakes up in a hospital and says, “Doctor! I can’t feel my legs!” The doctor replies, “Yes, we had to amputate both of your arms.” (Paraphrased from The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, by Douglas Adams.)
The reason this joke works is that when we read the first sentence, we build a certain mental image of the situation. But the second one, the punchline, causes us to rethink this image to make it fit not the facts that we imagined, but the facts that we are given.
What does this have to do with apologetics?
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