Kent Hovind, prison bitch

So, Kent Hovind was sentenced to his prison term this past Friday for what has been an adult lifetime of Lying for Jesus and raking in all the profit he can get his hands on, while doing his best to conceal his earnings from the IRS. Over the years, this charlatan has failed to pay over $800,000 in employee taxes, living a life of luxury while maintaining the illusion that he is but a humble servant of God.

The most telling quote in that article is as follows:

“If it’s just money the IRS wants, there are thousands of people out there who will help pay the money they want so I can go back out there and
preach,” Hovind said.

How ... interesting ... that he would put the burden on his "followers" rather than, I don't know, actually paying the friggin' taxes himself!

So typically like the self-proclaimed "righteous" to duck all personal responsibility when it comes to existing in society. This guy is a loon (I mean, many his arguments against evolution are so stupid that other YEC orgs, notably Answers in Genesis, have actually told him to STFU in the past), who failed to pay taxes for years, who claimed to have no incomes despite owning a lucrative business (his "Dr. Dino" theme park), and who actively and maliciously attempted to hide assets from the IRS. It doesn't get much more slam-dunk than that. In this case, his coup de grace was actually talking about his crimes on the prison telephone system! Sign this man up for MENSA right away...

And yet all his sheep seem to jump out of the woodwork at the news and talk about how wonderful a person he is. The commenters on the article I've linked to are truly frightening - mindless robots whose brains have been completely shut off. The ease with which so many people buy into the dominionist mindset does not bode well for one's faith in humanity.

Irony #1: one of the reasons that all of these loons shun science, evolution, secularism, etc., is that they believe that these things drive humanity against God, and that without God, humanity is necessarily destined for depravity and immorality. And yet, when one of their own is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to behave in a depraved and immoral way, they are oh-so quick to rush to their defense. The Religious Wrong lunatics are already coming out of the woodwork to call him a martyr.

Irony #2: Isn't it interesting how so many of these antigovernment types are so hawkish when it comes to bombing the infidels? I have one of them that works in the plant with me - an electrician who has gotten into trouble with the IRS, who has bought the lie that the federal income tax amendment was never ratified, and who passionately supports the war in Iraq, but who doesn't think he should have to pay taxes. Um WTF? One wonders how we would afford the war in Iraq if not with tax money.

A commentator on a blog I refuse to link to puts it nice and succinctly:

He didn’t pay taxes…
So he didn’t give the government its money.
So this money cannot be used, for example, to found the war in Iraq
So in fact, this man didn’t support the soldiers and worse! deprives them of money to buy supplies to win the war!
He is clearly a terrorist!

Sad fact #1: Hovind's wife, Jo, while clearly not a bastion of intellect and rationality, appears to be as much of a victim in this as you'll find as her crime seems to consist mostly of buying into the Biblical lie about the subserviant role of women. She committed crimes, but no doubt at her husband's behest, and while she might be a good candidate for cult deprogramming, probably doesn't deserve to be in prison. She will be sentenced on March 1.

Irony #3: Isn't it weird how these Jesus-happy hypocrite liars just hapen to shed light on the appeal inherent in believing that there is a Hell?

Thankfully, I don't need an imaginary place of eternal punishment to see that justice is done, since, despite my libertarian tendencies, I support the right of the federal government to prosecute and imprison those that fail to pay taxes. Ten years of actual Hell is much more appropriate, in this case, than an eternity in an imaginary one.